Is Gragg Forest Gump?

[wildcatcoaster]

Stupid is as stupid does. But just continues to blunder into things turning out well. Luckiest AD in the country.

Screwed up baseball coach situation -- but overshadowed by Fitz

Screwed up handling of Fitz (in Europe on vacation, not even present), but Braun pulled off the miracle season, overshadowing Gragg incompetence.

Incompetent on basketball -- but CCC has led team to two impressive NCAA berths.

And was equally rudderless on the stadium renovation and where we were going to play this year -- but the powers that be moved them to what could be an incredible lakefront facility for NC games plus Wrigley/Soldier/Lambeau for some conference games.

And WLax remains dominant and other teams are solid too.

What seems to happen time and time again is the guy is clueless or not present -- but then factors -- wholly unrelated to him end up working out great for NU.

Might make it impossible to get rid of the guy as he takes "credit" for these accomplishments in NU Athletics that happened in spite of him not because him.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Stupid is as stupid does. But just continues to blunder into things turning out well. Luckiest AD in the country.

Screwed up baseball coach situation -- but overshadowed by Fitz

Screwed up handling of Fitz (in Europe on vacation, not even present), but Braun pulled off the miracle season, overshadowing Gragg incompetence.

Incompetent on basketball -- but CCC has led team to two impressive NCAA berths.

And was equally rudderless on the stadium renovation and where we were going to play this year -- but the powers that be moved them to what could be an incredible lakefront facility for NC games plus Wrigley/Soldier/Lambeau for some conference games.

And WLax remains dominant and other teams are solid too.

What seems to happen time and time again is the guy is clueless or not present -- but then factors -- wholly unrelated to him end up working out great for NU.

Might make it impossible to get rid of the guy as he takes "credit" for these accomplishments in NU Athletics that happened in spite of him not because him.

#NegativelyGragg

 

[techtim72]

It will look good on his resume for his next job.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Stupid is as stupid does. But just continues to blunder into things turning out well. Luckiest AD in the country.

Screwed up baseball coach situation -- but overshadowed by Fitz Decision was made by wealthy donors and admin gave Gragg no real choice

Screwed up handling of Fitz (in Europe on vacation, not even present), but Braun pulled off the miracle season, overshadowing Gragg incompetence. I think he was in Europe because he knew what was coming. The decision was all Schill and Gragg was savvy to be in Europe during the fallout.

Incompetent on basketball -- but CCC has led team to two impressive NCAA berths. He put Collins on notice which lit a fire under his butt and resulted in the hiring of Lowery.

And was equally rudderless on the stadium renovation and where we were going to play this year -- but the powers that be moved them to what could be an incredible lakefront facility for NC games plus Wrigley/Soldier/Lambeau for some conference games. I made a post earlier about out of the box thinking. Credit to Gragg for not settling for Soldier Field's terms and putting up with their BS.

And WLax remains dominant and other teams are solid too.

What seems to happen time and time again is the guy is clueless or not present -- but then factors -- wholly unrelated to him end up working out great for NU.

Might make it impossible to get rid of the guy as he takes "credit" for these accomplishments in NU Athletics that happened in spite of him not because him.

I think maybe he knows how to navigate the politics behind the scenes quite well. I've seen incompetent bureaucracies and the most effective people in those systems are not always the loudest.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I think maybe he knows how to navigate the politics behind the scenes quite well. I've seen incompetent bureaucracies and the most effective people in those systems are not always the loudest.

You haven’t been around him have you?

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

 

[FeralFelidae]

You haven’t been around him have you?

I'm not on a first name basis with him. Are you?

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I'm not on a first name basis with him. Are you?

Nope, that wasn’t what I asked.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Nope, that wasn’t what I asked.

Okay.

 

[zeek55]

At the very least, he's sticking his finger out in the wind and realizing which way the wind blows.

There's something to be said for that.

I can imagine a lot of athletic directors pushing ahead with whatever contingency plan they came up with because there's a lot of huge egos in that position around the country but at least Gragg has the sense to let a better idea take hold even if credit openly goes to others.

Quite frankly this on campus stadium may turn out to be a gigantic win if it is full of students and raucous even if small. I'm sure Braun and the players would love to have a Welsh-Ryan on the lake for 2 years.

Yeah all of this feels like it's being done at a late hour but I can't be upset at this situation reaching a good result.

This on campus stadium should be miles better than what the basketball team went through for example.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

Stupid is as stupid does. But just continues to blunder into things turning out well. Luckiest AD in the country.

Screwed up baseball coach situation -- but overshadowed by Fitz

Screwed up handling of Fitz (in Europe on vacation, not even present), but Braun pulled off the miracle season, overshadowing Gragg incompetence.

Incompetent on basketball -- but CCC has led team to two impressive NCAA berths.

And was equally rudderless on the stadium renovation and where we were going to play this year -- but the powers that be moved them to what could be an incredible lakefront facility for NC games plus Wrigley/Soldier/Lambeau for some conference games.

And WLax remains dominant and other teams are solid too.

What seems to happen time and time again is the guy is clueless or not present -- but then factors -- wholly unrelated to him end up working out great for NU.

Might make it impossible to get rid of the guy as he takes "credit" for these accomplishments in NU Athletics that happened in spite of him not because him.

Who’s our Lieutenant Dan?? 🤔

 

[Sheffielder]

At the very least, he's sticking his finger out in the wind and realizing which way the wind blows.

There's something to be said for that.

I can imagine a lot of athletic directors pushing ahead with whatever contingency plan they came up with because there's a lot of huge egos in that position around the country but at least Gragg has the sense to let a better idea take hold even if credit openly goes to others.

Quite frankly this on campus stadium may turn out to be a gigantic win if it is full of students and raucous even if small. I'm sure Braun and the players would love to have a Welsh-Ryan on the lake for 2 years.

Yeah all of this feels like it's being done at a late hour but I can't be upset at this situation reaching a good result.

This on campus stadium should be miles better than what the basketball team went through for example.

Not a Gragg fan...I have my pitchfork in one hand and torch in the other.

But I will acknowledge: it sounds like he was generally against the lakeside stadium option out of respect for the sports teams who play there (are you really going to displace the women's lacrosse dynasty/reigning national champs?) - this isn't Ohio State where the football team obvious gets whatever it needs at the expense of anything else.

I also agree the lakeside stadium has great potential to be one of those unique things happening on the college football landscape...I have no doubt it will garner some press from gameday shows and be generally portrayed in a positive light.

None of this excuses the lack of actual planning and last minute hairpin turns, or the fact that no one has tried to sell me season tickets yet, but given that this man has bungled just about every high-profile decision he's had to make so far, I want to tip my hat when he does something adjacent to right.

 

[phatcat]

: it sounds like he was generally against the lakeside stadium option out of respect for the sports teams who play there

This is a BS excuse. There are 3 fields over there and we are going down to 2, not including what might be done indoors or at Long Field. He's just a dope. I won't join the blow fest of St Patrick for coming up with the idea, but this happened despite Gagg's efforts to prevent it

 

[Overly_Invested_Cat]

Students typically aren’t around for the first few games. Classes for Fall quarter start on 9/24, which means that the first and only game they’ll attend on the lakefront will be on 10/5 versus Indiana. So the lakefront is mostly for STHs. And if there is a strong wind off the lake, it will mostly be a running game.

 

[zeek55]

Not a Gragg fan...I have my pitchfork in one hand and torch in the other.

But I will acknowledge: it sounds like he was generally against the lakeside stadium option out of respect for the sports teams who play there (are you really going to displace the women's lacrosse dynasty/reigning national champs?) - this isn't Ohio State where the football team obvious gets whatever it needs at the expense of anything else.

I also agree the lakeside stadium has great potential to be one of those unique things happening on the college football landscape...I have no doubt it will garner some press from gameday shows and be generally portrayed in a positive light.

None of this excuses the lack of actual planning and last minute hairpin turns, or the fact that no one has tried to sell me season tickets yet, but given that this man has bungled just about every high-profile decision he's had to make so far, I want to tip my hat when he does something adjacent to right.

This is a BS excuse. There are 3 fields over there and we are going down to 2, not including what might be done indoors or at Long Field. He's just a dope. I won't join the blow fest of St Patrick for coming up with the idea, but this happened despite Gagg's efforts to prevent it

The issue was that the original plan required the field hockey team to vacate the field. That was the original concept, so FH would have had to find a different home despite using a specialized field.

I don't think there was any way that lacrosse or field hockey was going to be moved; those are the 2 most successful programs in the history of the school; field hockey has been to 3 straight national championship games and won 1 of those (lost the most recent one in PSO).

Obviously KAH has reached untouchable status given her 8 championships and 14 final fours, but Fuchs resume is above pretty much every other team coach at NU at this point given the program that she's singlehandedly built.

Football is obviously the cash cow, and KAH/Fuchs would be accomodating at any length to help the football team, but I think the football staff also respect what those 2 have accomplished and not want to displace their teams.

Either way the current concept works for everyone, so it was likely pretty easy to reach consensus once the concept was changed.

 

[Gatabowl]

Stupid is as stupid does. But just continues to blunder into things turning out well. Luckiest AD in the country.

Screwed up baseball coach situation -- but overshadowed by Fitz

Screwed up handling of Fitz (in Europe on vacation, not even present), but Braun pulled off the miracle season, overshadowing Gragg incompetence.

Incompetent on basketball -- but CCC has led team to two impressive NCAA berths.

And was equally rudderless on the stadium renovation and where we were going to play this year -- but the powers that be moved them to what could be an incredible lakefront facility for NC games plus Wrigley/Soldier/Lambeau for some conference games.

And WLax remains dominant and other teams are solid too.

What seems to happen time and time again is the guy is clueless or not present -- but then factors -- wholly unrelated to him end up working out great for NU.

Might make it impossible to get rid of the guy as he takes "credit" for these accomplishments in NU Athletics that happened in spite of him not because him.

Did we watch the same movie? Forest Gump was a friendly, brave, and loyal war hero who inspired those around him through his positivity and physical abilities. He was very accomplished and made the most of the opportunities presented to him despite having a 75 IQ.

I don’t think that’s a good comparison to Gragg who may have a high IQ based on his credentials, but has screwed up many of the opportunities presented to him and is quite uninspiring for someone in a leadership role. He isn’t brave and although he says he’s positive I’m not so sure that he is…

 

[phatcat]

the original plan required the field hockey team to vacate the field

Seems to me that it would take about 5 seconds to look at Google Maps and revise the original plan. It's not like they are extending the Lakefill

 

[zeek55]

Seems to me that it would take about 5 seconds to look at Google Maps and revise the original plan. It's not like they are extending the Lakefill

These engineers/architects have their billable hours too lol.

But yeah, once they fit it in without affecting Lakeside Field, it was more a matter of just building support.