Six wins and a mediocre bowl game should no longer be the goal. Should aim higher. Bajakian has now coached 2 out of 3 seasons to horrible records. Not clear how much of that has to do with the last 2 out of 2 horrible seasons with JON's defense, although most likely a lot. The offense for a long time has been anything but stellar, and under Bajakian in 2020 they won the Big West (with Hank, whose defense was a big part of that). I don't believe the jury is in on Bajakian, although it certainly is on JON. If Fitz REALLY wants to turn the current situation around and aim for better than 6 wins and a bowl, he needs to relieve both coordinators at the end of this season, find much better, and give them the reins. If he relieves only JON, he needs to find another HANK. If he does neither, KAPLOOI!!
Fitz must go
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Says you. I would love to find out who NU could get as a coach. I think it would surprise you and many others the quality NU could attract.
Hello, my friend. Thanks for the thoughtful and kind response to my post. I'm a bit flummoxed. On one hand, you guys are constantly whining about how universities take advantage of college athletes, but on the other, you now write that they should be left to their own devices.
I'm also a bit amazed by your anger at what I wrote. To my discredit, I responded in kind to another poster on this subject. After reading your respone, I realize I shouldn't have.
I was presenting another side of Fitz. You think its “bullshit“. Fine. Now let's take a shot of brown liquor and calm down.
For a decade or more, our O was based on protecting our D, not ,making mistakes and being opportunistic. That works well enough when we had the D we had but when that is gone, that model doesn't really work. Right now, we are caught in between
Changing one coordinator is difficult enough. Jake has put a successful product on the field JON has not.
Only when the D was stellar. A successful offense should be able to rest on it's own merits. Jake is not an improvement over McCall to be honest.
I just read these posts. How do I get a shot of that brown liquor?
McCall was never really that bad. What really went wrong is some missteps in recruiting QBs. Some wasn't his fault (Adkins) but after it happened it really did not mater and it was time to move on.
With that said, hard to replace both coordinators at the same time. Jake probably gets another year or so but JON should be gone
WE are not coming up with the money for the $800 m stadium. Ryan and associates are. You would have to go back to those same people for the buy out money and they are solidlly in Fitz's corner so unless YOU are going to pay the buyout etc, not getting done
Soon you will be getting $100M a year from the B1G. Or... You call Fitz in and tell him he is re-assigned to the athletic department. Give him a cube. Do not allow him to speak to media or players. Lets see how long that lasts.
Lets discuss your buyout Fitz? Can we talk about the last four years? Do you think you've earned your money comparatively to your peers? Lets part ways amicably. Or we can take decades to pay you and lose it all if you come anywhere near a football field while we litigate?
What many of you don't realize is the "buy-out" was to prevent Fitz being poached by outside entities. Not to "keep" him here. NU thought he'd continue to win; not handcuff him to the school if he sucked.
At OSU Fitz would've won 8 nattys, and all players would be drafted in the 1st round!
Not anymore! Kansas is going bowling and have been very competitive, even in in losses against good teams.
Please stop with the no titles. Championship game started in 2011 and since then only 5 teams have won. Even going back to 2006 it is the same 5 teams that have won. WIS is the only team from the current WEST and as I recall, dOSU was undefeated and not allowed in 2012 game while in 2011, they beat a 7-1 MSU team. In 2012, a 4-4 Wisconsin team beat NEB I am just saying that it is harder to get a title now than it has ever been. As far as getting a HC for half the cost, make that 1.5 times the cost as you still have to buy out the rest of Fitz's contract and unless you are paying for it, it is not going to get done
Then add 20 kids to each year's class. So we no longer have (for example) 2,369 kids in a class but 2.389,
Then no seats are taken away. Plus there are faculty who actually like going to the games.
On a number of scoreboards, he is.
Character, leadership, sportsmanship, those sorts of things.
Ryan Day has never met a rule he wouldn't violate.
You think Jim Harbaugh is a maker of men? Yeah, right.
If you're in a foxhole, who do you want in there next to you? PJ Fleck maybe, because he could be a one man killing machine, maybe James Franklin - he has those cold eyes. Okay, obviously Greg Schiano. It sure as hell isn't Ryan "I'm buggin out" Day.
And if you go outside the Big Ten, you'll find a bunch of Lane Kiffins, who would set a world record sprinting to the nearest helicopter at the first sign of trouble.
Perhaps I digressed...
I think that's the key issue with the offense perhaps more than the OC.
The issue is offensive philosophy within the context of a defensively oriented team; we've all discussed this many times but Fitz's preferred way to win is Tressel ball. That's what won for 15 years here and it's what he wants to keep winning with..., but perhaps the time has come to move on if we don't have Hank's defense anchoring the team.
Obviously you have to get the players to run a high flying offense, but I think we need to figure out how to get there because it's pretty clear that nobody (outside of maybe Michigan this year) is playing that kind of ball.
Teams like Alabama, Ohio State, Tennessee (point to anybody good) are focused on putting up a ton of points through the air. They have good defenses as well, but they're not trying to win tightly controlled games where the offense focuses on minimizing mistakes and emphasizing time of possession. Everybody's trying to score as fast as possible even if it means taking risks.
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Character- Hmmn is it 'character' as to why we don't see Alex Spanos coverage any longer? How about the kid from Iowa who he wouldn't ever let him say he was from Iowa? Nice.
Leadership- Most leaders I know are accountable., "Stats are for losers..." Leadership is making the tough decision like; asking under performing staffers to leave.
As a "maker of men" give me examples of "men" he has "made"? I know a good chunk of players going back a few years and not one of them has said, "Fitz made me a man..." Seriously, find me that quote from one player and I will shut up. NU kids have Dads and good parents with great backgrounds. I have yet to see a kid on that team who needed "saving". So this character line is just BS. The families of Bergin, Larkin, Gallagher, Butler, Slater, Jackson, Thorsen, Quiero, Stovall, Heald, Boatman, Snodgrass, Fisher, and more didn't need Pat Fitzgerald to raise their sons. I can assure you.
You used the "foxhole analogy"--Hey Fitz we are being over-run and your subordinates are failing. "Not my fault.."
Dec 14, 2009 — "Stats are for losers. The final score is for winners." Bill Belichick
Chris Petersen: ‘Stats are for losers’ 2014
“Statistics are for losers and assistant coaches. Head coaches worry about wins and losses.” Steve Spurrier, head football coach at Florida 1998
New York Jets coach Weeb Ewbank “Statistics are for losers." 1966. Won the Super Bowl 2 seasons later.
Its just a line used by football coaches who are upset they lost a winnable game.
As for the rest of your comment... You are totally overreacting and since you claim to be tight with former players, I'm a little embarrassed for you. Perhaps you don't understand "character?" Fitz is a good role model for players he recruits. Thats all I'm saying. Find somebody else to (attempt to) drag down.
Teams still won titles prior to 2011 without divisions, so 2006- still counts for no titles, and let's face it Michigan vs Ohio State usually was the title game anyway.
I'm an Illini fan so I have no skin in the game as far as Pat Fitzgerald and NW goes but maybe some Wildcats fans need some perspective. How many winning seasons has Fitz had? How many bowl games has he taken the Wildcats to? Sure, it's easy to be upset about the last two seasons but IMO he has earned the chance to turn this around. You know how many bad seasons and bad/mediocre coaches Illini fans have had to endure over the last 50 years? Jim Valek, Bob Blackman, Gary Moeller, Lou Tepper, Ron Turner, Ron Zook, Tim Beckman, Bill Cubit, Lovie Smith.
It isn't like the Illini ADs weren't trying - hiring really good head coaches is hard. Notre Dame went through Faust, Davies, Willingham, Weis. Nebraska is still trying to get it right, same with Auburn. Go back and look at Wisconsin's football records before they finally hired Barry Alvarez. USC, Alabama, Texas, and many others have all made failing HC hires. NW has been blessed by 3 really good hires in a row in Barnett, Walker, and Fitzpatrick - the odds are they won't have the same success with the next hire. Fitz shouldn't have a lifetime contract but his track record should give him the opportunity to get this turned around. Two more years is sufficient.
And I end with this: if hiring really good head coaches isn't hard, then explain your miserable men's basketball program.
It isn't like the Illini ADs weren't trying - hiring really good head coaches is hard. Notre Dame went through Faust, Davies, Willingham, Weis. Nebraska is still trying to get it right, same with Auburn. Go back and look at Wisconsin's football records before they finally hired Barry Alvarez. USC, Alabama, Texas, and many others have all made failing HC hires. NW has been blessed by 3 really good hires in a row in Barnett, Walker, and Fitzpatrick - the odds are they won't have the same success with the next hire. Fitz shouldn't have a lifetime contract but his track record should give him the opportunity to get this turned around. Two more years is sufficient.
And I end with this: if hiring really good head coaches isn't hard, then explain your miserable men's basketball program.
Have you sought CrippleCat's opinion--or read any of his posts??
I would agree if it wasn't for the fact that the program seems to be on the verge of collapse right after the best 4 year run in program history. I am all for giving Fitz time to right the ship, just not sure he will do it. Will he actually institute a modern day offense that will attract top qbs and receivers? Will he get quality coaches that can coach and develop players? Or will he still hire just friends that are sub par coaches. It is quite apparent that Hankwitz was the one mainly responsible for the great run the Cats had. Fitz needs to enter into the 21st century with regards to the offense and get a proven DC as well, or at least an ambitious up and comer. Our staff seems to be a bunch of bums.
I, too, believe he deserves a chance to turn it around, so long as he does something-anything- different. He can't ignore that he failed two coordinator hires and trots out an ineffective scheme. Change? OK to stay. Stubborn? GTFO
Ryan Field. West Lot. 10 a.m. NU-Illinois game. Jameson’s is our brown liquor of choice. I trust that will be suitable.
"HAS" is right. The successful season showed that he could succeed with enough talent, but he past two seasons shows he can't recruit it. It is time to admit the mistake and start over. It's not easy being an OC at NU and you must be strong recruiter. That's apparently not Jake. We've seen what Jake can do and it's not enough.
Considering Fitz' refusal to admit his two huge hiring mistakes, you may be right, but NU football will be stuck where it is until it gets a new OC AND DC.
Who the hell is this guy? The reincarnation of Droski? The backup TE at Loyola? Was Kyric's fumble the highlight of the 2020 season for him?
He's a bitter ex-athlete (baseball?) who has some kind of weird grudge against NU. 99% of his posts are negative.
Big picture, you got it right. It's just that at this point in his career, Fitz needs a swift kick in the ass and a wakeup call. The game is passing him by and he is in denial.
Really this is way too early to say anything on his recruiting. Hard to know what he was part of. Again, it is difficult to change one coordinator in a year as a lot has to be focused on that area when the new guys comes in. To have to do that in both areas at the same time would create a lot of problems.
He also has set up and maintained an environment where that was the norm and expected. Did he get good guys? Absolutely. But he also kept them that way when other programs might have let them get distracted.. You also have to look at how and why he recruited this group. For the middle class he could offer a value proposition that was not as true for other groups
Thanks for the statistical analysis. Look at my avatar, NU dedicated basement, season ticket holder, alum, and having talked a kind into walking on. I diverted my honeymoon trip specifically to get to fan appreciation day. Attended the 1st practice in the new facility in 2018. Froze my ass off at a pin stripe bowl. Got rained on at a Holiday Bowl. 2x B1G Championship games (yes I was there in 2020 also) Bitter? Grudge?
No. Just refuse to accept shitty football like the rest of you.
The question for me is how much of the NU offense performance is based on Fitz's preference for a ball control style offense. Fitz wants an offense that plays it safe, limits turnovers, and maximizes each possession. That is not where college football is these days (only Michigan is pulling that off right now).
If Fitz is willing to change the offensive strategies, I think Bajakian can be given a year or two to try to implement it.
If we're just sticking to the same game, then yeah I don't see how Bajakian can make this work absent finding another Peyton Ramsey.
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