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Flynn Nagel will be good for NU

julescat

Well-Known Member
May 29, 2001
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Good job by Fitz poaching from Duke. Welcome Flynn. Be better than your brothers!
 
Wait!!!! I thought Fitz was too classy to recruit a kid that was committed elsewhere.
 
That narrative is getting old, if it was ever completely true. It's well known B1G coaches used to have sort of a gentlemen's agreement among themselves about poaching the other guy, but the entry of Meyer and now Harbaugh into the league have completely blown that up. If Fitz is human, which I assume, he's probably gotten a little pissed over getting poached the last couple of years and has come to the conclusion that turnabout is fair play. We'd already picked up a kid from Georgia Southern (as did Nebraska). I'm sure he was aware that, unlike Perry, NU was Nagel's first choice and that a phone call could be productive. Had Fitz been keeping in touch with Nagel all this time? I don't know that.
 
Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

offered a scholarship. What he doesn't do is continue to recruit a player who has rebuffed an actual NU offer and committed to another program. None of the players that he's recently flipped had an NU offer until just recently.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

Poaching is poaching. Nagel was committed to Duke. Perry as recently as Jan. 31 had not been contacted by Michigan, according to what he told Lou.
 
Help me understand the "Fitz Rules".


Hypothetically, we have a WR commit flip on us, leaving one open scholarship.

Two candidates - - a 4-star WR highly coveted by NU throughout, but who picked a major program over NU ("rebuffing" the NU offer), or a 2-star WR who did not get an offer from NU and signed with Georgia State.

The 4-star has had a change of mind (due to a coaching change...whatever).

Fitz fills the open slot by offering the 2-star because he, unlike 4-star, has not rebuffed an NU offer previously?

I am not questioning that this may be indeed the Fitz Rule, but it seems silly in today's recruiting world.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

Dont b so negative when you hear good things about our recruiting. Just give fitz credit. Its not poaching.
 
Re: Help me understand the "Fitz Rules".

I'm guessing that if the 4-star declared that he was no longer committed to the other major program, Fitz would have no problem re-recruiting him.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

poaching is not bad.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously


Originally posted by Evanstonian:
Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously [/URL]offered a scholarship. What he doesn't do is continue to recruit a player who has rebuffed an actual NU offer and committed to another program. None of the players that he's recently flipped had an NU offer until just recently.
Michigan didn't offer Perry. He committed to Northwestern. Harbaugh offers Perry. He commits to Michigan. Harbaugh is scum.

Fitz didn't offer Nagel. He committed to Duke. Fitz offers Nagel. He commits to Northwestern. Fitz is a stand up moral guy in all recruiting practices.


I love Fitz and think that he's a stand up moral guy, but the myth that he's a saint is really getting old.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

Originally posted by pawildcat:
Poaching is poaching. Nagel was committed to Duke. Perry as recently as Jan. 31 had not been contacted by Michigan, according to what he told Lou.
Yeah. And this isn't really a problem. No one should be offended that Perry and Nagel took new opportunities presented to them. Glad Fitz got a good replacement.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

I never said Harbaugh is scum. I don't fault him for offering Perry.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

Poaching is a term that defines an illegal action. What fitz did isnt poaching,
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

Not necessarily. Miriam Webster provide this definition among others: to attract (as an employee or customer) away from a competitor.
 
I think generally, he does not go after guys that have gone elsewhere in the BIG unless the kid calls. But outside of the BIG, no gentleman's agreement. The issue is it seems that the recent addition of Harbaugh, Meyer and Franklin sort of destroys the gentleman's agreement that existed.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

The word poaching in recruiting, as far as I know, refers to the practice of recruiting a player to your school, then recruiting that player when you take a new position.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously

Originally posted by Evanstonian:
I never said Harbaugh is scum. I don't fault him for offering Perry.
but he is though. just watch
 
Originally posted by pawildcat:
That narrative is getting old, if it was ever completely true. It's well known B1G coaches used to have sort of a gentlemen's agreement among themselves about poaching the other guy, but the entry of Meyer and now Harbaugh into the league have completely blown that up. If Fitz is human, which I assume, he's probably gotten a little pissed over getting poached the last couple of years and has come to the conclusion that turnabout is fair play. We'd already picked up a kid from Georgia Southern (as did Nebraska). I'm sure he was aware that, unlike Perry, NU was Nagel's first choice and that a phone call could be productive. Had Fitz been keeping in touch with Nagel all this time? I don't know that.
A head coach's first responsibility is to the program that employs him. I think Fitz initially wanted to be better than the seemingly unethical behavior of recruiting players who committed elsewhere, but has finally come to realize that it's far more unethical to let your own program suffer in the process. I actually do admire what I perceive to be his position on wanting to encourage high school players to honor their commitments, but rules are rules, and the status quo is not consistent with his vision.

The best thing Fitz can do to encourage the behavior he'd like to see in recruiting is not to sit idly by and take a moral high ground, but to very pro-actively advocate for a change in the rules. Fortunately with Phillips election to the NCAA council, he's got a captive and powerful audience.
 
BS, we've been poaching kids for years. It's the sanctimonious bull on this board that has created this holier than thou view of Fitz.

Fitz has a problem with our verbally committed recruits dancing with others, nor should he. I don't agree with his policy of pulling an offer if a kid had second thoughts and wanted to make sure (I could agree that he shouldn't consider them committed, but that's different from saying you're no longer welcome), but he's never had a problem poaching kids from other programs. All these excuses (coaching changes, test scores came in, whatever...) for the dozens of examples out there are just BS. Tell me, did David Cutliffe leave Duke yesterday? Did Nagel's test scores come in? Oh, now we have no excuses so it's - Fitz had no choice but to succumb. BS, BS HORSE MARRIOTTI.

Tell NIU, whom we have been leaching off for years since Walker at least. And Barnett brought in plenty of flips - Kevin Bentley flipped 3 times before ending up at NU, and had a great career here and a championship ring.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH RECRUITING KIDS UNTIL SIGNING DAY. THAT IS WHY YOU HAVE SIGNING DAY.
 
Re: Fitz doesn't mind poaching a player if he has not previously


Evanstonian posted on 2/3/2015...
Not necessarily. Miriam Webster provide this definition among others: to attract (as an employee or customer) away from a competitor.
The term "poaching" is typically employed in illegal hunting. The colloquial use of this word in the business world, similar to the word "headhunting," is merely an incidental meaning.
 
If you're responding to me, the point is that others poach and so do we. No one should be surprised or suggest that we are above it, as has been suggested repeatedly. IT WAS ALL HORSE MARIOTTI. I'm glad Fitz poaches. He better be poaching all he can to get the best talent to Evanston or he ain't doing his job. And doing so does not make him scummy nor does it make Jim Harbaugh scummy (if JH is scummy, that can be separately debated but it would be for different reasons altogether). That's the effing "so what."

I'm not sure I agree with Fitz's policy on pulling offers for visiting other schools, and think it's shortsighted, but that's an entirely different topic. Programs and coaches that want to continue recruiting our commits aren't scummy or lack ethics. And our program and coaches are not above doing the same with commits of other schools such as Flynn Nagel. The sanctimony on this board is unreal.
 
No, my post was only to comment on the use of "poaching," a digression from the earlier digression (Fitz's recruiting practices) to the main topic of this post: the very welcome news that the Wildcats landed Flynn Nagel. To reorient discussion back to the topic post, please find below analysis from one of Duke's fan support sites describing what Nagel brings to the table.




Duke wide receiver commit second team All-American by MaxPreps.com on Sunday. Nagel caught 94 passes for 1,428 yards and 28 touchdowns (one short of an Illinois state record).
The three-star wide receiver didn't just run routes though. He also punted, played cornerback, ran the ball and returned kicks and punts (taking two to the house). Nagel expects to play both in the slot and outside at Duke, but the staff told him he'll have a chance to get on the field in the return game early in his career as well.
 
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