How exactly did our program get to this point?

[CrippleCat]

For those who may know:

Recruiting?
Coaching?
Luck?
Injuries?
Transfer Portal?

What the actual F happened to this once modestly proud program???

If you go back and look at my posts years ago, I did predict a drastic decline when Hanks retired. Replacing the best DC in college football is hard to do. With Hanks, you didn't have to recruit athletes, every Wildcat on the field was basically in the opposing teams hudle. Hanks knew football better than anyone I ever knew, and he was very good at knowing who to recruit to complete his defense. We will have to recruit smarter and more athletic players to get the same results as we did with Hanks. It has always been our defense that carried our teams. We always had a good running back and a very good defense. And our players always fought hard and never quit. Coach Hanks retiring was a huge loss.

 

[CrippleCat]

People point to talent deficiencies because it's become quite obvious on the field.

Coach Hanks 👍

 

[phatcat]

If you go back and look at my posts years ago, I did predict a drastic decline when Hanks retired. Replacing the best DC in college football is hard to do. With Hanks, you didn't have to recruit athletes, every Wildcat on the field was basically in the opposing teams hudle. Hanks knew football better than anyone I ever knew, and he was very good at knowing who to recruit to complete his defense. We will have to recruit smarter and more athletic players to get the same results as we did with Hanks. It has always been our defense that carried our teams. We always had a good running back and a very good defense. And our players always fought hard and never quit. Coach Hanks retiring was a huge loss.

Replacing him with a career failure also hurt

 

[CrippleCat]

Replacing him with a career failure also hurt

There is no replacing Hanks. I honestly believe Hanks was the best DC in college football

 

[WestCoastWildcat]

My favorite coach for NU was Alex Agase. We had a successful program while he was there in the early seventies when I was at NU. He left for Purdue out of frustration with then NU President Strotz and Strotz’s lack of support for NU athletics. The dark ages started after Coach Alex departed. We are in a tough spot now because we seem to be locked in with Fitz and his expensive long term contract. He doesn’t seem capable of turning things around.

 

[peatymeanis]

What is Fitz’s actual coaching strength? Can anyone say besides the generic “representing the university well”? Our defense sucked with Fitz when Colby was DC, was good when Hankwitz was here, and now sucks again. What does Fitz bring to the table, coaching wise? This is not snark, it is a legitimate question for those who may be somewhat close to the program. What does Fitz actually do, week to week, that’s better than his peers?

 

[EvanstonCat]

People point to talent deficiencies because it's become quite obvious on the field.

So was there a talent gap on the field against SIU and Miami OH?

 

[NJCat]

So was there a talent gap on the field against SIU and Miami OH?

Sadly, yes.

 

[phatcat]

My favorite coach for NU was Alex Agase. We had a successful program while he was there in the early seventies when I was at NU. He left for Purdue out of frustration with then NU President Strotz and Strotz’s lack of support for NU athletics. The dark ages started after Coach Alex departed. We are in a tough spot now because we seem to be locked in with Fitz and his expensive long term contract. He doesn’t seem capable of turning things around.

You French speakers might say Pont was a bridge to the dark ages

 

[zeek55]

Sadly, yes.

If there really was a talent gap against SIU, Duke, or Miami (OH), then Fitz should be on the hot seat and shouldn't be retained past this year.

It's either the coaching or the players or both.

We just got annihilated by a team that fired its coach for "poor" performance (though I think any of us would be happy with Chryst's team records rights now).

 

[willycat]

If you go back and look at my posts years ago, I did predict a drastic decline when Hanks retired. Replacing the best DC in college football is hard to do. With Hanks, you didn't have to recruit athletes, every Wildcat on the field was basically in the opposing teams hudle. Hanks knew football better than anyone I ever knew, and he was very good at knowing who to recruit to complete his defense. We will have to recruit smarter and more athletic players to get the same results as we did with Hanks. It has always been our defense that carried our teams. We always had a good running back and a very good defense. And our players always fought hard and never quit. Coach Hanks retiring was a huge loss.

 

[DocCat2]

One of my work partners played RB for Duke (had a scholarship offer to NU but chose Duke because they had real grass at the time and NU played on artificial knee-ruining turf at the time) and played in the NFL for 2 seasons. He tells me that it's all talent level. He said "there's only so much play-calling and scheme designing coaches can really do". He thinks academic schools like NU and Duke will always have to settle for 2 and 3 star guys that are a tier below most other schools. Some years, we are lucky and those guys are actually better than anticipated and we have winning seasons. Some years, they are worse than expected and we have very painful seasons....

I don't really know how fair this assessment is, but that's what he said and he seems to have some pretty good insight into the situation...

 

[phatcat]

One of my work partners played RB for Duke (had a scholarship offer to NU but chose Duke because they had real grass at the time and NU played on artificial knee-ruining turf at the time) and played in the NFL for 2 seasons. He tells me that it's all talent level. He said "there's only so much play-calling and scheme designing coaches can really do". He thinks academic schools like NU and Duke will always have to settle for 2 and 3 star guys that are a tier below most other schools. Some years, we are lucky and those guys are actually better than anticipated and we have winning seasons. Some years, they are worse than expected and we have very painful seasons....

I don't really know how fair this assessment is, but that's what he said and he seems to have some pretty good insight into the situation...

Except it worked for most of the 20 plus years until 2019 then we went off a cliff. "Talent" doesn't excuse SIU or Miami.

 

[DocCat2]

The lack of talent could certainly explain SIU and Miami of Ohio- If the guys recruited are way worse than anticipated then the talent/ability could be fairly equal on both sides.

 

[Eurocat]

He thinks academic schools like NU and Duke will always have to settle for 2 and 3 star guys that are a tier below most other schools.

I don't really know how fair this assessment is, but that's what he said and he seems to have some pretty good insight into the situation...

So how did Harbaugh get it done at Stanford when he was there? He was getting nationally ranked classes when he was running that program.

 

[peatymeanis]

One of my work partners played RB for Duke (had a scholarship offer to NU but chose Duke because they had real grass at the time and NU played on artificial knee-ruining turf at the time) and played in the NFL for 2 seasons. He tells me that it's all talent level. He said "there's only so much play-calling and scheme designing coaches can really do". He thinks academic schools like NU and Duke will always have to settle for 2 and 3 star guys that are a tier below most other schools. Some years, we are lucky and those guys are actually better than anticipated and we have winning seasons. Some years, they are worse than expected and we have very painful seasons....

I don't really know how fair this assessment is, but that's what he said and he seems to have some pretty good insight into the situation...

That doesn’t explain us getting pancaked by SIU, nor Illinois resurgence under Burt

 

[kaTNap]

That doesn’t explain us getting pancaked by SIU, nor Illinois resurgence under Burt

Talent dictates your ceiling. This team is playing far below their ceiling, and that's on the coaches.

 

[phatcat]

Talent dictates your ceiling. This team is playing far below their ceiling, and that's on the coaches.

More precisely, "That's on us, as coaches"*

*From the mixed up files of Patrick Fitzgerald

 

[DocCat2]

Well, the appalling lack of talent on this team has given us a very, very low ceiling....