Interesting comment....
- Thread starter DarthCat
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I'm not at all surprised by that. He's had a lot of time to think about it.
And, significantly, had an opportunity to watch Randy Walker and Fitz be able to continue the work he started and build up the program.
And, significantly, had an opportunity to watch Randy Walker and Fitz be able to continue the work he started and build up the program.
This may be Barnett's one big failing. At the time, everyone knew this but him.
I don't know.....CO seemed to be where his heart was, I can't fault him for going home. It just didn't work out for him.
I think thats totally ridiculous. Almost everyone in the coaching profession would have left earlier. He had to beg NU for everything and got little administrative support. AD Rick Taylor may have been the single biggest douche bag to ever wear purple. I think Barnett made the right decision at the time. But now when he looks back at his legacy and tenures at both NU and Colorado..I can understand why he feels like he may have made a mistake.
So true. Rick Taylor was the worst. Hard to believe he was a football coach. I think he was somewhat jealous of Barnett’s succese.
His leaving for Colorado I understand. He was very enamored of being in demand (also understandable, but he did come just short of having an 800 number).
Rick Taylor is part of the equation, of that there can be no doubt.
But the bottom line is, Barnett was interested in "better" jobs. That he saw Colorado as one is, again, quite understandable. But even had that job never come open, he had some bags packed for a while.
I think his definition of what a "better" job is has evolved, as it would for any intelligent and reflective person.
Rick Taylor is part of the equation, of that there can be no doubt.
But the bottom line is, Barnett was interested in "better" jobs. That he saw Colorado as one is, again, quite understandable. But even had that job never come open, he had some bags packed for a while.
I think his definition of what a "better" job is has evolved, as it would for any intelligent and reflective person.
I agree with you about Rick Taylor, and would agree with you about "ridiculous" also, were it not for Barnett's whoring around with anyone who he could talk with before taking the Colorado offer, and for the fact that both Walker and Fitzgerald were able to build upon the groundwork laid by Barnett and increasingly build a successful program. Barnett is a "grass is greener" kind of guy which suggests Taylor may not have been the main reason he left. After all, Barnett overcame 20 years of Dark Ages--but he couldn't overcome Taylor? No, he had the "itch" and an imagined Nirvana at Colorado proved false--it existed in Barnett's mind but not in reality.
I'm relieved to hear I finally have some competition!
Fitz’s heart is at NU. Why couldn’t Barnett’s be at Colorado? Fitz interviewed with other schools. Why couldn’t Barnett? He’s no more of a whore than any other coach. His choice to move just work out as well as he wanted.
I agree Barnett was looking for a "better" job. But the NU job was the definition of a sucky job. Regardless of the success, Being vastly underpaid compared to your peers, Always having to beg for more money for yourself, assistant coaches, facilities and for the little support staff they had... every year! The facilities were beyond horrible and working for a total asswipe like Taylor that gave Kevin O more money than Barnett without him winning a single basketball game.
Really the only people who would have taken the NU job when Barnett left were MAC level coaches like RW. Nobody who was established or had a record at anyplace that could be called a football school would have taken the NU job. They heard the horror stories about the lack of support which are too numerous to mention.
More interesting is that Fitz is at $4.5M a year. Pretty sure that’s in the top 25 in the country.
I don't argue your points.
Yet Barnett himself now has second thoughts about his decision.
They'd refurbished Ryan Field. Henry Bienen wasn't hostile to athletics (though apparently partial to hoops). Maybe Barnett now thinks he could've outlasted Taylor if he'd stuck around.
Things worked out for the best for Northwestern; we got Walk and he brought back and mentored Fitz. The chain of Barnett/Walk/Fitz will always be what built the foundation for long-term success that we are enjoying now.
As far as Barnett goes, it's just tough to see how it could have worked out better for him staying in the short term. He got out when his stock was still high, and it was nowhere near clear that Northwestern at the time was built for long-term success like it is now.
The financial resources available right now are at least 20x greater than what we had back then; even if you adjust for inflation that still leaves a 8-10x boost. And of course the support isn't just financial, it's across the board support from the trustees to the AD to the alumni on a scale that wasn't present back then.
It's just tough to imagine a scenario where Barnett stays more than 10-15 years here, and it works out as well as what actually came to pass...
As far as Barnett goes, it's just tough to see how it could have worked out better for him staying in the short term. He got out when his stock was still high, and it was nowhere near clear that Northwestern at the time was built for long-term success like it is now.
The financial resources available right now are at least 20x greater than what we had back then; even if you adjust for inflation that still leaves a 8-10x boost. And of course the support isn't just financial, it's across the board support from the trustees to the AD to the alumni on a scale that wasn't present back then.
It's just tough to imagine a scenario where Barnett stays more than 10-15 years here, and it works out as well as what actually came to pass...
That's the point I'm making. Barnett now sees what others saw when he left. Colorado for Barnett, unlike NU for Fitz, was a mirage. He was too ambitious. He had a good gig here, which he himself created, and couldn't see it. Proof? Fitz sees it.
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That's the irony--ultimately NU is better off for Barnett leaving, most likely.
I guess this means you finally ditched that old rag grey sweatshirt?
We will never know for sure. One thing that we DO know for sure is that the succession of Walker and Fitz (and the high profiles of Murphy and Phillips) has established beyond any doubt to reasonable observers that NU's success has been institutionalized. It is not wholly dependent on a single coach. Other good coaches could be attracted here, come here and succeed. If Barnett were still here, even if MORE successful than we are now, that part of the story would be missing, or at least open to reasonable question.
Nah. But you may be pleased to know I wore a new one for the bowl game.
That is what I was thinking. BY leaving, NU was faced with the reality that a good coach could not be held on to without more support. Staying would have made Barnett and enabler and after a few more years with mediocre support his stock would have dropped and the program would have been none the better.
Barnett's rise and departure woke up NU's thinking that being successful in football was a good thing and paid many dividends but it couldn't be maintained with the previous attitudes.
and
None of our current success could have been had without Mr Ryan who doesn't really gain much money or notoriety out sind of the NU community for his efforts .
I'm not so sure it is this pat. As a yesteryear season ticket holder , I sure thought he blew it. Coach Poach et al. But at the time, many people outside of the confines of virtual Evanston thought that GB simply caught lightning in a bottle here-that you could not really win here consistently. That moving on made more than a measure of sense. And indeed, this theory had legs for a very long time. It is only recently that we have been above .500 in conference, year in and year out. NU has been seen as a coaching jewel for a very short time.
But, in the end, to translate the poet Mayakovsky: The incident is closed.
Time has softened everything. Gary Barnett now realizes that Northwestern is indeed rarified coaching ground-where winning and character and academic interest come together as in no other place. But he is the one who helped make it this way. So, the bitterness borne from November 1998 has faded. I will be forever grateful for what Gary Barnett was able to do here. He really did the impossible. He turned around a football program in the right way. Those were bright young men who won the '95 title. No Gary Barnett, no Rose Bowl. He dared to think it and then proclaim it openly. He dared to proclaim it openly and then create a team of young men who could believe it into reality. No Gary Barnett, no Pat Fitzgerald. And the rest, as they say, is history. Time softens everything, because time gives a wide perspective to those who care to reflect.
And a related point: there are those few right now who think Fitz is a sucker for not jumping at the chance to coach the Packers, Michigan, etc.
But a much larger number of people DON'T think that - and not just because "Fitz has job security for life." It's also because people see the investment made in the program, because they see that Fitz sees our identity as something enviable and worth selling, and because success here by a succession of coaches has made ours a job worth having- and keeping.
But a much larger number of people DON'T think that - and not just because "Fitz has job security for life." It's also because people see the investment made in the program, because they see that Fitz sees our identity as something enviable and worth selling, and because success here by a succession of coaches has made ours a job worth having- and keeping.
Fitz is a super hero in Evanston and Evanston alone. This is not a bad thing. Most of us are not super heroes anywhere.
But after the pair of 5-7 seasons Fitz had not long ago...he would not have been able to retain both coordinators in Ann Arbor, or Austin, or wherever. Anywhere else, including/especially in the NFL, he does not get to have things all his way - it's decision by committee - whether we're talking about GMs, boosters, or prima donna players - or their parents, or their agents.
I would not blame Fitz for wanting to try something new, and if/when that day should come, I will be more grateful for his service to NU than bitter about his departure...but Evanston is where he stands to have the most impact, find the most success, and the most enjoyment out of coaching. We (and I count him in "we") are all fortunate he realizes that.
But after the pair of 5-7 seasons Fitz had not long ago...he would not have been able to retain both coordinators in Ann Arbor, or Austin, or wherever. Anywhere else, including/especially in the NFL, he does not get to have things all his way - it's decision by committee - whether we're talking about GMs, boosters, or prima donna players - or their parents, or their agents.
I would not blame Fitz for wanting to try something new, and if/when that day should come, I will be more grateful for his service to NU than bitter about his departure...but Evanston is where he stands to have the most impact, find the most success, and the most enjoyment out of coaching. We (and I count him in "we") are all fortunate he realizes that.
He may not be a super hero elsewhere, but there are lots of fans and coaches who have great respect for him--some of the Utah fans I met on Monday among them.
This is really thoughtful. It’s good to have you back.
I think the chain of events leading to Fitz’s appointment *could* have happened had Barnett stayed. But I also know Fitz is a better coach for having spent that time learning from Coach Walker. (The decade-old whiteboard scribbles being preserved in the new building speak to his influence.)
Bear in mind, Walker also had the foresight to privately name Fitz coach-in-waiting. Walk’s last contract was to be his last contract ever, and Fitz was going to take over in, I think 2012. The fact that Walk had shown that confidence impacted Fitz’s own self-confidence, and also no doubt influenced Murphy's confidence to make that impossible call in 2006.
(As an aside , what I’ve enjoyed most over the past five years is Fitz relaxing a little [except for the chippy post-loss press conferences —he’s much better 1x1]. Those early interviews - when he was wide-eyes and cramming “student-athletes” in every chance he got were simply painful...)
He made the wrong decision, but an understandable one. A mistake that he himself admits.
But, you're completely right, Rick Taylor was a total douchebag and basically drove him out the door.
You get to a point where making some more money doesn't really matter. There is only so much money can buy. Once you are sufficiently comfortable, other things matter more.
I think we could have ended up with Fitz without Walker being in the middle. It's not as if there was no connection between Fitz and Barnett. I know many disagree, but I still think we went through a dip in our development as a program (especially relative to Wisconsin) with Barnett's departure. I thank Walker for bringing the spread to NU though. If we had a Walker offense to go with a Hankwitz defense, we'd be winning B1G titles.
That's a fair point, and I don't think anybody should discount that Barnett may have been able to carry it forward on his own and get us to a handoff to Fitz.
It just seems to me though as if Barnett may have always had that itch to go "home" or look around whereas Walker was determined to lead the program until he retired and could hand the program off to Fitz (per his widow that was ultimately his plan).
As always in life, hindsight is 20/20. Barnett had arguably the hardest job in CFB history resuscitating a program left for dead in the 70s with a leadership hostile to varsity athletics, many disadvantages in the form of facilities and support, and during a period in which it was hard to get on national television and get the program in front of the eyes of the nation and recruits.
Despite all that, he set the program back on path to return to the ranks of good programs and receive the proper investment that it's always needed.
Now, given all the investment we've seen over the past 6 years as well as what we're going to see over the next 5, it's hard to argue that this isn't one of the better jobs in college football, so when Fitz does leave here (hopefully not for another 20-25 years); the program will be able to keep moving forward.
I'd imagine it also will help that Fitz is building his own coaching tree and someday there may be a bunch of NU grads that want to return here to be HC after Fitz (not that it has to be a "Northwestern man" leading the program, but it's just going to be nice to have that option given how different we are from most programs with our academic requirements).
According to this USA Today story, $4.5 M would put him between Ferentz and Dantonio at #18.....but still trailing Lovie!
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/
There are a lot of reasons why Lovie was not a good hire, especially because Whitman was only negotiating against himself.
Yeah Teddy snuck that one into his article this morning. Harlan must have told him that. I think the last reported number was like $3.2 or $3.3M? They must have quietly negotiated a raise or extension sometime over the last year or so. $4.5M is a great number for Fitz, he totally deserves it. Hope he continues to negotiate out sufficient comp to attract and retain quality assistants.
I was told by a member of his staff that he would only leave for the job at Colorado.
Yep, I feel this is the real reason Gary left here, adding to the lack of support in both facilities and money for assistants. He didn't think he could sustain it. That's why Fitz has called his new facility a "game changer."
The last reported number I saw was 3.6 million, and that was not terribly long ago.I cannot remember where I saw it, but I think it was in more than one place
So another 0.9M. I guess it's possible that is performance-related bonuses of some kind, but that seems like a lot.
