Fitz to replace Freeman as the next ND Irish Head Coach?

[EvanstonCat]

Braun might be adopting another page from the PF philosophy of college football: screw O, D wins games. No need for a QB, OL or any of the crap. Chew up some time and let the D rest. They will score the points and stop the opponent.

Doubt it. He hired the OC of one of the most prolific offenses in FCS, and a program that produced 3 top 3 overall picks in recent years at the QB position. And that doesn’t count his most recent QB who was the Heisman equivalent winner at FCS last season. But thanks for the completely unsupported speculation as always anyways.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

As gcg made me read the 400 page complaint, they claim the PF has been reduced to a hamburger flipper at McD. If I was the D lawyer, I would take full advantage of that verbose pleading to argue that somewhere between hamburger flipper and B1G head coach lies the truth and PFs refusal to pursue anything contributed to his damages. Coupled with his recent production the offset of last years success with this years results - would not be difficult to argue he had lost his mojo before getting fired.

I could see the argument the only thing he had was that contract. He had zero marketability as P5 HC and most likely destined to position coach in nfl.

Now you’re just blatantly trolling. The complaint is about 85 pages, including attachments and “filler” pages.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Fitz’s bubble, ego, and nepotism led to his firing. His philosophies will get him run out of South Bend quickly.

I don't know what "nepotism" you're talking about. His son joined the team as a backup; big deal. If you're trying to say that Jim O'Neil falls under the umbrella of nepotism (as a "buddy hire"), that's quite a stretch, but Fitz did fire him after two seasons. What other assistants could you possibly be claiming as nepotism?

 

[TheC]

You can say the program was tanking, but if you simply swap in Braun at the DC for O'Neil, its a different story. And obviously Braun won with Fitzgerald's guys, so its pretty far-fetched in my opinion to think that NU wouldn't have had a good season last year with Fitz as head coach. A flawed-logic argument for the Fitz bashers.

It's a pointless debate as we'll never know what would have happened, but.... I don't think this team would have been as good last year with Fitz still in charge. There were things about last year's team that I didn't recognize and I don't think would have happened with Fitz in command, like all the downfield passing, throwing with a lead, something called a field goal (am I saying that correctly??).... just an aggressiveness that was missing for so long under Fitz-led teams.

 

[Hkjb]

Lost the locker room? Now you’re just making shit up. And let’s not forget there is no Braun without Fitz. Fitz proved he was making the necessary adjustments in reshaping the staff with the hirings of Binns, Hicks and Foster. I have little doubt Bajakian would have been next. No reason not to believe we’d be looking at an incredible staff of Fitz at the helm with Braun and Lujan as amazing coordinators. Couple that with the recruiting successes of the last couple years of Fitz’s tenure and the program was poised to step up to the next level with the opening of the new stadium (despite the University obstacles regarding admissions and transfers).

I'll admit to some making up of shit as it relates to the locker room - because I wasn't in it. Still, are you suggesting that when we went 1-8 in the conference for two consecutive years (the years we had players who went reasonably high in the draft) that we had a motivated locker room? Fitz himself repeatedly blamed the losses on execution - so it doesn't seem a stretch to think that player motivation was part of the problem. Braun delivered a bowl with the same players from those abysmal years, without the aforementioned NFL draftees, and had to contend with a pre-season crisis. I think it's pretty clear from what we saw on the field that Fitz's last two seasons did not exemplify a highly motivated football team - particularly in light of what Braun proved was possible.

We're all speculating - including part where Fitz hires Lujan and we're poised for the next level shortly after going 2-16 in conference. Could happen, but hard to know on either side of the coin.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I'll admit to some making up of shit as it relates to the locker room - because I wasn't in it. Still, are you suggesting that when we went 1-8 in the conference for two consecutive years (the years we had players who went reasonably high in the draft) that we had a motivated locker room? Fitz himself repeatedly blamed the losses on execution - so it doesn't seem a stretch to think that player motivation was part of the problem. Braun delivered a bowl with the same players from those abysmal years, without the aforementioned NFL draftees, and had to contend with a pre-season crisis. I think it's pretty clear from what we saw on the field that Fitz's last two seasons did not exemplify a highly motivated football team - particularly in light of what Braun proved was possible.

We're all speculating - including part where Fitz hires Lujan and we're poised for the next level shortly after going 2-16 in conference. Could happen, but hard to know on either side of the coin.

Braun did a fine job, nobody is disputing that. However, Gregg gets my vote for MVP. Since nearly everyone including players, staff, parents et al can’t stand the man, their was a common bond was to prove him wrong. Others, already give him credit for the CCC ultimatum that resulted in a magical season. How can NU not hang on to this master motivator?

 

[stpaulcat]

How to make a rant board thread without the rant board--just include both Fitz and ND in the title.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Lost the locker room? Now you’re just making shit up.

That was my reaction as well. We know Fitz had lost at least one player, but losing sucks and it would be unusual for players to be feeling great in that situation.

It's a pointless debate as we'll never know what would have happened, but.... I don't think this team would have been as good last year with Fitz still in charge. There were things about last year's team that I didn't recognize and I don't think would have happened with Fitz in command, like all the downfield passing, throwing with a lead, something called a field goal (am I saying that correctly??).... just an aggressiveness that was missing for so long under Fitz-led teams.

I agree with your criticisms of Fitz when it came to aggressiveness. I think that reflected lack of confidence in some/several QBs. Bryant was pretty damned good last year, with Cam Johnson, Henning and a healthy Kirtz boosting the receiving corps. Fitz brought the first 3 guys in via portal. My belief is we would have had a good year with Braun as DC, better than what we got with Braun as head coach.

If you think about it, with Sullivan at QB for Braun, we looked like those losing Fitz teams on the offensive side.

 

[CappyNU]

Amazing that an entire thread was created based off of absolutely no real information just to rile everyone up for 3 pages.