Gary Barnett endorses Pat Fitzgerald
- Thread starter BillMedleyFan
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I guess I'd expect Barnett to stick up for his guy....
Some interesting thoughts on this from my brother who played football at Ohio State in the mid-90s
1. In somewhat defense of Fitz, he said that John Cooper never had any idea what went on in their locker room. Coaches often took a hear no evil, speak no evil stance
2. That said, the kind of hazing crap that is being reported at NU never went on there. Some guys on the team were raging assholes (Mike Vrabel being one of the worst offenders, interestingly), but nothing that approached hazing
3. He also felt that if the coaches had truly built a culture of trust where the players thought that Fitz and others really had their backs, then someone who was feeling abused would have felt it was possible to come forward. Instead, it seems likely that the hazed players were terrified of speaking out because they would be ostracized by the other players and coaches for rocking the boat.
While we may never know exactly all that happened, it seems most likely to me that Fitz probably did not know what was happening, but created a culture such that it could happen. I imagine he wanted a culture where the players policed themselves and the coaches stayed out of it. I'd like to think, while he may not have had a problem with a little tough love from the older players to the younger players, he did not know exactly what that entailed. I can't imagine Fitz would have condoned the kind of crap we're hearing about, but he also clearly didn't create an environment where a young player could come to him (or any other coach) and tell him they thought this was too much.
Thus, I can imagine how Fitz might think his dismissal was totally unfair, yet I don't believe Northwestern had any other choice.
Some interesting thoughts on this from my brother who played football at Ohio State in the mid-90s
1. In somewhat defense of Fitz, he said that John Cooper never had any idea what went on in their locker room. Coaches often took a hear no evil, speak no evil stance
2. That said, the kind of hazing crap that is being reported at NU never went on there. Some guys on the team were raging assholes (Mike Vrabel being one of the worst offenders, interestingly), but nothing that approached hazing
3. He also felt that if the coaches had truly built a culture of trust where the players thought that Fitz and others really had their backs, then someone who was feeling abused would have felt it was possible to come forward. Instead, it seems likely that the hazed players were terrified of speaking out because they would be ostracized by the other players and coaches for rocking the boat.
While we may never know exactly all that happened, it seems most likely to me that Fitz probably did not know what was happening, but created a culture such that it could happen. I imagine he wanted a culture where the players policed themselves and the coaches stayed out of it. I'd like to think, while he may not have had a problem with a little tough love from the older players to the younger players, he did not know exactly what that entailed. I can't imagine Fitz would have condoned the kind of crap we're hearing about, but he also clearly didn't create an environment where a young player could come to him (or any other coach) and tell him they thought this was too much.
Thus, I can imagine how Fitz might think his dismissal was totally unfair, yet I don't believe Northwestern had any other choice.
This whole thing has been a disaster from day one. It is a complicated and messy situation, but Fitz did not deserve to be treated as he has, particularly after all he has done and sacrificed for NU. Even if the facts are completely against Fitz, he deserved to be treated better than this kind of firing without comment. It is clear that Schill is a demonstrably poor leader in crisis, and he is making very costly mistakes.
In this current culture, people don’t get a chance to correct their problems. He says he was not aware, the report says there was no evidence the coaches knew this was going on (from what I understand), while a small number of players say he was. It’s hard to know what is true, without hearing more details. Why not slow down, and explain what is going on? At least to the participants. Fitz has run a clean program, above the standards of most other Division One programs. Many have said, including Barnett, his players, and Fitz himself, that Fitz would never approve of this kind of alleged behavior.
Real problems, but maybe the response could have been more forthcoming, humble, and perhaps redemptive. The NU administration is not forthcoming with the facts, making decisions that seem sudden without informing the key participants, and not answering questions.
Troubling on numerous levels. I just hope Braun can pull together the team for a good season. I know Fitz is encouraging the team behind the scenes to stick together, and is the number one NU fan right now. If they hold it together and Braun is good, they could have a fair season. They are bleeding their recruiting class out though. Going to have to make up a lot in the portal next season.
In this current culture, people don’t get a chance to correct their problems. He says he was not aware, the report says there was no evidence the coaches knew this was going on (from what I understand), while a small number of players say he was. It’s hard to know what is true, without hearing more details. Why not slow down, and explain what is going on? At least to the participants. Fitz has run a clean program, above the standards of most other Division One programs. Many have said, including Barnett, his players, and Fitz himself, that Fitz would never approve of this kind of alleged behavior.
Real problems, but maybe the response could have been more forthcoming, humble, and perhaps redemptive. The NU administration is not forthcoming with the facts, making decisions that seem sudden without informing the key participants, and not answering questions.
Troubling on numerous levels. I just hope Braun can pull together the team for a good season. I know Fitz is encouraging the team behind the scenes to stick together, and is the number one NU fan right now. If they hold it together and Braun is good, they could have a fair season. They are bleeding their recruiting class out though. Going to have to make up a lot in the portal next season.
While I think Fitz' firing was unavoidable, I do agree it could have been done with more clarity and class. This new President clearly got caught off guard and was not prepared for this so early in his tenure. At the same time, it tells you a lot about his basic instincts and his own character, which is not very encouraging for the university. I really can't imagine he'll last long.
If anyone involved had erred on the side of transparency, Fitz would have a job today and would be suspended for a reasonable time (a season or a month or the non-conference, I don’t know). NU didn’t *want* to fire Fitz. After all, they didn’t at first.
Further, if Fitz had been willing to admit a mistake, a shortcoming, a blind spot — he would have a job. “I had no idea for sure never never” is not the response of a leader. It’s just not. It rings as true as every single “It’s on me” of the last two seasons of losses.
Fitz changed a lot at NU. Maybe it was when he “I’m gonna be here forever” after the Holiday Bowl, or maybe it was that contract for life thing. But he sounded a lot different (expectedly) early in his tenure as compared to recently. He went from bright eyed and excited to defensive and churlish.
I also don’t discount the idea that he was resentful of Gragg’s existence. Phillips was Fitz’s boy, and Polisky was Phillips’ #2. Gragg came in as a clear second (or third or fifth or 12th choice), and who knows to what degree Fitz was willing to work with him and how angry Fitz was that the investigation was actually happening.
Fitz could have taken responsibility, even if he didn’t actually know a thing. He should have known that it was his job to know.
A six-month suspension, and I’m not sure we’ve ever heard of Runsmas. A six-month suspension, and perhaps we even get a defense of the Shrek clap. A six-month suspension, and nobody’s ever heard of Ramon Diaz.
It is a bummer, but the cover up is always always always always always worse than the crime.
(I haven’t listened to Gary’s audio, but I bet he doesn’t says Pat Fitzgerald was never involved in hazing and I do not believe he ever would have condoned hazing.)
I agree with the change in Fitz. The program as a whole pulled back from the fans and became overly secretive. If you’re winning that’s fine I guess. But when he kept losing it just felt like he knew better than what we could all obviously see and he eventually had to acknowledge, by firing JON.
All fair points NUCat . I don't disagree that Fitz has changed over the years and in the ways you have described. And I hope I am not mindlessly defending Fitz. I acknowledge that he could have and should have demonstrated and communicated much more contrition in this situation. In the interview, Barnett does say, that it is a fine line how much independence and trust a coach places in his players/leaders in the locker room. He also said, "NO coach would ever approve of all the things that are being alleged in this situation, not a single coach he knows." He describes the relationship between the coach and his players in the locker room as a 'tight rope', that must be monitored.
GB is also likely right about Fitz not coaching again at the college level "because of the cancel culture." Maybe Mike Kafka is talking to his bosses about adding Fitz to the NY GIant's staff, which would not be a terrible landing spot.
Bullshit, not that I disagree with most of what Barnett said. But what was it that he started off saying? That he rooted out hazing at Colorado that he found out about right after he took the job and it took him 2 years? So he found out about it right away and Fitz who has been at the helm forever had no idea? Bullshit. Hazing was probably going on at NU under Barnett’s watch. There is no way Fitz didn’t know, maybe not every gory detail but he ****ing knew. Period. Now if it’s a bit of within limits hazing where the young ones get their chops busted a bit I have no issue with that really, the perverted crap - the naked shit described? That’s sexual assault, Racism? WTF?? is way out of line and yes, it’s the head coach’s responsibility (maybe his biggest - citing Fitzs own mantra here) to make sure that locker room is reasonable when it comes to that. Barnetts lying, Fitz probably experienced it under his watch. Again it’s the extremity and perversion of the specifics which are so much of a red flag something had to be done. Nothing in 17 years as a coach. That’s bad judgement and hypocritical. I’m all for due process but any way you spin it fitz is accountable. Yes the handing of it by Gragg and Schill is abominable, I hope the media outrage continues so both of them get canned.
On a side note, I don’t believe the hazing culture is the same in hoops but FFS god forbid any scandals pop up in the hoops program or I’m combusting altogether
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And with our admission pretty hard to do that. We already have had a lot of problems getting anyone but graduates in. You think a young Braun is going to get even as much leeway as Fitz got?
As what? He never worked as a coordinator and the last time he was anything other than HC was as LB coach something like 18 years ago
When Barnett took over Colorado it was a real issue that he was aware of when he walked in the door and that's why he spent those two years rooting it out. That was likely a whole lot different that what the situation was for NU. Fitz also did numerous things to try to prevent it from happening. Including being very vocal against hazing, having open door policy etc.
The only things I have seen on any Racism was that right after he took over he was overly tight and wanted hair cut and dreadlocks were originally treated differently than other types of long hair. A stance that he fairly quickly backed off of. And Diaz's statement as far as some of the things that happened with him. Diaz was at NU before Fitz took over and overlapped with Fitz. From the statements he made, pretty hard to say any of that was on Fitz. Again all this was in the first couple years of Fitz being a head coach, Have you seen anything from anyone after that time? I have not.
