Here's a transcription of what Fitz had to say while I sat at his round table for about 20 minutes on Friday at Big Ten Media Days....
On burden of recruiting: “It takes us three offers to get one kid. A lot of schools are sitting at four to one, five to one, six to one. Think I want to be text messaging all of them. I want to be a little bit of a father and husband. Or we’re going to start losing coaches to the NFL. You can’t be in college football if you don’t love recruiting. I love it. It’s the lifeblood of your program. There could become a tipping point, though, for everybody. I’ve got a lot of friends in the NFL. (They say) how’s that recruiting nonsense going, buddy? Great. How’s moving every two years going, buddy? It’s not perfect. I wanted to be a high school coach. I just got lucky and got a GA job.”
Interested in NFL job? “I don’t know. I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. I’m fired up to be the head coach at my alma mater and I love every minute of it. Every minute of it. It doesn’t matter what I think, anyway. It depends on what Stacy wants to do.”
Early signing period? “I think we have to go down the path two ways. I think we have to look at the current model and look at the singular variables underneath it – early signing – and start tweaking it that way. Or we have to look at an alternative model that would be ideal for where recruiting truly is. And both are going to take a lot of work.”
Allegations against Beckman: “I haven’t seen all the facts yet…I’m always sad to see someone not have a great experience. I don’t care if you’re playing grade school football or basketball. And then you get to the collegiate program, and you put together the resources and an expeirnece for the guys that they can grow, develop and get better. But knowing that you have 112 guys – at least at Northwestern – I’m sure that if you’ve polled every guy that’s played for me over nine years, youre going to find some guys that didn’t enjoy their experience. And I would be disappointed. And I would say, Why then, didn’t you help me help (you). And why didn’t we communicate better, and why didn’t we have a better relationship to make your experience better. If they didn’t like that they didn’t play, I don’t care. Because they have every opportunity to fix that, and I could probably point to very specific reasons why a guy didn’t play. They may not like the truth, but they would go, Yeah, you’re right. But if it’s from a structural standpoint, a resources standpoint, a development standpoint, a coaching standpoint – again, have I shredded a guy? Absolutely. But have I gone and put my arm around him and had lunch with him? Yeah. Because they know that I’m not attacking the person, I’m attacking the action. I’ll say that. I’ll go back to when I was a linebacker coach. I reserve the right to coach the hell out of you. If you don’t want to be coached hard, if you don’t want to be developed to be the best that you can be, then you probably shouldn’t come here. Because this window’s going to go like that (snaps fingers). Am I gonna be disrespectful, am I gonna be demeaning? No I’m not. Am I gonna get mad? Yes. Am I Irish? Yes. Do I use that I shouldn’t? Yeah. …As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten a lot more patient….I look at my coaches and now and I’m like, Why the hell is he doing that again? What drills are we doing? What’s the disconnect? Why doesn’t he understand? It’s the old coaching thing…you’re teaching it, or you’re allowing it to happen.”
Drew Smith starting at OLB? “Yeah, coming out of spring. Yeah.” Is he strongside? “I don’t know. He made a lot of plays in the nickel package, in the box. So I don’t know, we’ll see how that unfolds. I like Drew, though. I think Jerry Brown’s got a pretty good nickname for him. He calls him Destructo, or something like that. He’s pretty reckless.”
Who will play the open linebacker spot? “I know Anthony’s going to be playing in the middle, based on the way he played a year ago, and I know Drew is going to be in the conversation. I like what Jaylen has done. I like what Joe Jones has done. This offseason Joe got married and I think the pressure of all that is off his shoulders. I like what I’m seeing from Cam and Nate. I like the things I’m seeing from Brett, now that he’s healthy. There’s a lot of guys in that mix.”
All at OLB? “It’s a little different. The way Batesy teaches it, and it’s something I did as linebacker coach, the middle position is kinda the anomaly. Going through it, you’re going to learn Sam and Will. You’re going to learn both outside positions because they’re sort of mirrored in our defense. It’s hard to learn two positions early on, but they you have position flexibility and multiplicity.”
Do you know your DT starters? “Probably not. We have CJ, then we’ll see. We have maybe 10 guys that I feel we can play with right now, coming out of spring. And that’s including getting Lancaster back. I really like where he’s at. I REALLY like where he’s at. I really like what I’ve seen from Ben Oxley. I like it a lot. We’ll see how that progresses. Another position where I’m not afraid to play young guys at all.”
Perception of B1G changed? “I got here in the league 16 years ago, and we were pretty good – when did Tress win it? (2002). Then there was a time where we weren’t in the conversation for the national title. You know, I said it on the dais, your conference is evaluated in like three non-conference weekends, and that’s the perception for the year. And then, you either change it for the offseason or you don’t in bowl season. And for a number of years for the conference as a whole, the early narrative wasn’t good, and the bowl season was even worse. And I think that’s what drove the perception nationally. And I get that. I respect that. Now that it’s national. Back when I was playing, the Chicago Tribune or whatever wrote about the Big Ten, and that was it. It was more regional based. You know what I mean? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote about the SEC. I didn’t even know what that was. It’s more national. Which I think is cool. It’s awesome for fans. When I retire, it’s going to be so cool. You don’t hear the AFC East saying we’re so much better than the AFC West. But that’s college football, and I think that that’s really cool.”
College football going toward NFL style (playoff, etc.) Do you like that? Should ND join a conference? “That’s their deal. I don’t care what they do. I think it’s unique because of the conferences and the rivalries within the conferences. I think although the names change of who’s in the jersey, the traditions of the schools don’t… Wasn’t the playoff push by fans? And that’s great, and I get it. I liked it a lot last year.”
Would you rather have attention on you then players? “I’d rather totally deflect it off the players. I’d rather have them go to class, Snapchat away and play ball. Have fun. It’s college.”
Then Fitz went into his great and very funny idea…”What I thought I should do is totally put it on me. Put a hashtag out there and have our fans and media #DoThisFitz. Send it to me by noon on Monday. Attach your name to it. Why not? And then on Saturday, when everything goes wrong, just make it #WTFitz. What the Fitz, you know? Why not? Then, to have transparency, why don’t I send the coaches were playing, I’ll just send them the game plan. #HereYouGoShaw or #HereYouGoCutcliffe or #HereYouGoBeck. Then, at the end of the game on Saturday, when I use your ideas and I’ll text out, you put your name on it, I’ll put out #WTLouie, What’s the deal? We’d kill it. It would be a lot of fun.”
On playing memories: “I don’t remember Barnett’s pregame speech before we played at Notre Dame. I remember the party afterward, though, and the jokes that go along with it. And the In-and-Out Burger truck being in the tunnel at the Rose Bowl, I remember those things. Those were the stories we were sharing (at the Rose Bowl reunion), not the wins and the losses. It’s that brotherhood, and I would hate to see it ever depart. It’s all part of the uniqueness of college. Because the guys go up in the pros, it’s just different. Fifty-three independent contractors. You’d hate to see that ever happen.”
On Harbaugh Mania: “I think it’s the preseason hype machine. As a colleague, I think he’s handled it really well. I think he’s embraced it, had fun with it. I’m speaking me now, my opinion, but I think he goes home at night and laughs his ass off. I would if I were him. If it were me, I’m sure he’s really excited for whenever his team reports and just go coach football.”
Long hair of Vitale Brothers and Steven Reese: “I told them, if you guys think you can meet girls or whatever you want to do with long hair, you go ahead and do it. But on game day, we’re going to have our hair up inside our helmet. So I just don’t want it outside their collar. But your style, good for you. You want to look like Krusty the Klown, go ahead, man. I definitely would not recommend my haircut.”
I still have a little more transcription to do, but thought I'd throw this out now. I'll post more later....
On burden of recruiting: “It takes us three offers to get one kid. A lot of schools are sitting at four to one, five to one, six to one. Think I want to be text messaging all of them. I want to be a little bit of a father and husband. Or we’re going to start losing coaches to the NFL. You can’t be in college football if you don’t love recruiting. I love it. It’s the lifeblood of your program. There could become a tipping point, though, for everybody. I’ve got a lot of friends in the NFL. (They say) how’s that recruiting nonsense going, buddy? Great. How’s moving every two years going, buddy? It’s not perfect. I wanted to be a high school coach. I just got lucky and got a GA job.”
Interested in NFL job? “I don’t know. I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. I’m fired up to be the head coach at my alma mater and I love every minute of it. Every minute of it. It doesn’t matter what I think, anyway. It depends on what Stacy wants to do.”
Early signing period? “I think we have to go down the path two ways. I think we have to look at the current model and look at the singular variables underneath it – early signing – and start tweaking it that way. Or we have to look at an alternative model that would be ideal for where recruiting truly is. And both are going to take a lot of work.”
Allegations against Beckman: “I haven’t seen all the facts yet…I’m always sad to see someone not have a great experience. I don’t care if you’re playing grade school football or basketball. And then you get to the collegiate program, and you put together the resources and an expeirnece for the guys that they can grow, develop and get better. But knowing that you have 112 guys – at least at Northwestern – I’m sure that if you’ve polled every guy that’s played for me over nine years, youre going to find some guys that didn’t enjoy their experience. And I would be disappointed. And I would say, Why then, didn’t you help me help (you). And why didn’t we communicate better, and why didn’t we have a better relationship to make your experience better. If they didn’t like that they didn’t play, I don’t care. Because they have every opportunity to fix that, and I could probably point to very specific reasons why a guy didn’t play. They may not like the truth, but they would go, Yeah, you’re right. But if it’s from a structural standpoint, a resources standpoint, a development standpoint, a coaching standpoint – again, have I shredded a guy? Absolutely. But have I gone and put my arm around him and had lunch with him? Yeah. Because they know that I’m not attacking the person, I’m attacking the action. I’ll say that. I’ll go back to when I was a linebacker coach. I reserve the right to coach the hell out of you. If you don’t want to be coached hard, if you don’t want to be developed to be the best that you can be, then you probably shouldn’t come here. Because this window’s going to go like that (snaps fingers). Am I gonna be disrespectful, am I gonna be demeaning? No I’m not. Am I gonna get mad? Yes. Am I Irish? Yes. Do I use that I shouldn’t? Yeah. …As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten a lot more patient….I look at my coaches and now and I’m like, Why the hell is he doing that again? What drills are we doing? What’s the disconnect? Why doesn’t he understand? It’s the old coaching thing…you’re teaching it, or you’re allowing it to happen.”
Drew Smith starting at OLB? “Yeah, coming out of spring. Yeah.” Is he strongside? “I don’t know. He made a lot of plays in the nickel package, in the box. So I don’t know, we’ll see how that unfolds. I like Drew, though. I think Jerry Brown’s got a pretty good nickname for him. He calls him Destructo, or something like that. He’s pretty reckless.”
Who will play the open linebacker spot? “I know Anthony’s going to be playing in the middle, based on the way he played a year ago, and I know Drew is going to be in the conversation. I like what Jaylen has done. I like what Joe Jones has done. This offseason Joe got married and I think the pressure of all that is off his shoulders. I like what I’m seeing from Cam and Nate. I like the things I’m seeing from Brett, now that he’s healthy. There’s a lot of guys in that mix.”
All at OLB? “It’s a little different. The way Batesy teaches it, and it’s something I did as linebacker coach, the middle position is kinda the anomaly. Going through it, you’re going to learn Sam and Will. You’re going to learn both outside positions because they’re sort of mirrored in our defense. It’s hard to learn two positions early on, but they you have position flexibility and multiplicity.”
Do you know your DT starters? “Probably not. We have CJ, then we’ll see. We have maybe 10 guys that I feel we can play with right now, coming out of spring. And that’s including getting Lancaster back. I really like where he’s at. I REALLY like where he’s at. I really like what I’ve seen from Ben Oxley. I like it a lot. We’ll see how that progresses. Another position where I’m not afraid to play young guys at all.”
Perception of B1G changed? “I got here in the league 16 years ago, and we were pretty good – when did Tress win it? (2002). Then there was a time where we weren’t in the conversation for the national title. You know, I said it on the dais, your conference is evaluated in like three non-conference weekends, and that’s the perception for the year. And then, you either change it for the offseason or you don’t in bowl season. And for a number of years for the conference as a whole, the early narrative wasn’t good, and the bowl season was even worse. And I think that’s what drove the perception nationally. And I get that. I respect that. Now that it’s national. Back when I was playing, the Chicago Tribune or whatever wrote about the Big Ten, and that was it. It was more regional based. You know what I mean? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote about the SEC. I didn’t even know what that was. It’s more national. Which I think is cool. It’s awesome for fans. When I retire, it’s going to be so cool. You don’t hear the AFC East saying we’re so much better than the AFC West. But that’s college football, and I think that that’s really cool.”
College football going toward NFL style (playoff, etc.) Do you like that? Should ND join a conference? “That’s their deal. I don’t care what they do. I think it’s unique because of the conferences and the rivalries within the conferences. I think although the names change of who’s in the jersey, the traditions of the schools don’t… Wasn’t the playoff push by fans? And that’s great, and I get it. I liked it a lot last year.”
Would you rather have attention on you then players? “I’d rather totally deflect it off the players. I’d rather have them go to class, Snapchat away and play ball. Have fun. It’s college.”
Then Fitz went into his great and very funny idea…”What I thought I should do is totally put it on me. Put a hashtag out there and have our fans and media #DoThisFitz. Send it to me by noon on Monday. Attach your name to it. Why not? And then on Saturday, when everything goes wrong, just make it #WTFitz. What the Fitz, you know? Why not? Then, to have transparency, why don’t I send the coaches were playing, I’ll just send them the game plan. #HereYouGoShaw or #HereYouGoCutcliffe or #HereYouGoBeck. Then, at the end of the game on Saturday, when I use your ideas and I’ll text out, you put your name on it, I’ll put out #WTLouie, What’s the deal? We’d kill it. It would be a lot of fun.”
On playing memories: “I don’t remember Barnett’s pregame speech before we played at Notre Dame. I remember the party afterward, though, and the jokes that go along with it. And the In-and-Out Burger truck being in the tunnel at the Rose Bowl, I remember those things. Those were the stories we were sharing (at the Rose Bowl reunion), not the wins and the losses. It’s that brotherhood, and I would hate to see it ever depart. It’s all part of the uniqueness of college. Because the guys go up in the pros, it’s just different. Fifty-three independent contractors. You’d hate to see that ever happen.”
On Harbaugh Mania: “I think it’s the preseason hype machine. As a colleague, I think he’s handled it really well. I think he’s embraced it, had fun with it. I’m speaking me now, my opinion, but I think he goes home at night and laughs his ass off. I would if I were him. If it were me, I’m sure he’s really excited for whenever his team reports and just go coach football.”
Long hair of Vitale Brothers and Steven Reese: “I told them, if you guys think you can meet girls or whatever you want to do with long hair, you go ahead and do it. But on game day, we’re going to have our hair up inside our helmet. So I just don’t want it outside their collar. But your style, good for you. You want to look like Krusty the Klown, go ahead, man. I definitely would not recommend my haircut.”
I still have a little more transcription to do, but thought I'd throw this out now. I'll post more later....
