This is my deepest fear, and I fear you are right. It's really incredible when you pause to realize how important it is for the university president to give a damn about this...but then again the dude came from Oregon. Was Phil Knight just too much of a force to be denied, and is Pat Ryan not the same?
It’s still Fitz’s program, and it’s atrocious
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Pat Ryan is the same, that’s why Fitz got the initial 2 week suspension
Schill is a nerd who knows no better. Gragg is an AD for a BT P5 program, and is completely unqualified for his position. Keep in mind these two were never the top picks for NU and it shows. Gragg left the AD world to work for the NCAA, little shocking. And Schill was the lead that hired the PAC10 commissioner, how did that work out. And these two will guide NU to the promised land???
nah, you must be confused. It's only Fitz's program when we lose. It's Braun's program when we win.
Looked pretty good against a team that lost to Jacksonville St., which is, thankfully, better than looking bad in losing to Southern Illinois.
But just like last year, Fitz’s program remains better than Nebraska’s.
I am as thrilled with the win as anyone, and a win is a win...but no, this program really didn't look good today.
I'm not going to be pessimistic today. Yes, anybody can point out the opponent, but we were only 1 point favorites (or dogs the other day) to this UTEP team.
We won 38-7 and the 2nd half was about as dominant a performance as the team could realistically put together in all phases.
We'll have to see how the team looks going forwards, especially given the harder tests come fast with @Duke on deck, which may be one of the toughest games we play all year.
Pleasantly surprised to get to watch a fun game. I’m not going to start crowning any kings just yet. Let’s see how the next 3-4 games play out.
Just about a complete night and day turnaround from last Saturday to this Saturday. If we go bowling and hit the 7 win mark, I think a lot of us will be very happy! It is time to move on from Fitz and the debating about whether he was going to turn it around. You are exactly right though, he really didn't evolve much at all during his tenure here.
No, the narrative now is that Braun has this team winning more games than Fitz would've.
This is the most fun I’ve had watching Wildcat football since 2020. Thankfully, at some point Braun got them to buy in and play with enthusiasm. That enthusiasm was missing in the season opener.
I stand by everything I wrote there, except “will subject us all to misery”.
Too bad the remnants of a Fitzball offense have this team at 4-5 rather than 5-4 or 6-3 or 7-2.
(Srsly, Iowa and Nebraska and maybe even Rutgers could’ve been wins with a competent offense.)
I hate Fitz trashing, however, he alone is responsible for NU's horrible offense since about the time Hank was hired. Fitz is why NU is where football is currently, and can take credit only for hiring Braun who has at least been able to bring defense back, at this point.
The real problem has been the lack of any deep threat receivers. You can not run this modern passing offense when the D backs can play tight coverage without fear of getting beat deep.
No time to run deep routes because the oline is trash and has been for years. Top qb recruits didn’t want to come here because Fitz had a philosophical aversion to scoring points. The qbs we did get didn’t have the arm strength to throw deep, with exception of Hunter Johnson. Plus the wide receivers coach for years had been beyond worthless.
Fine credit for Hank. And Jon and Cushing and Springer and Anderson and bak and every single member of the S&C crew from the beginning so final grade: F+
Can’t go deep if QB doesn’t even 3 seconds in the pocket.
Certainly, but that was sort of like putting the house fire out, rebuilding the house, and then relighting the fire.
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Well you can, but the QB has to get the hell out of the pocket before he is tackled.
People are sort of ignoring less black/white possibilities. I assume that is deliberate.
Lets say Fitz started as a decent defensive coach, learning as he goes. He hires Hankwitz, who is a wizard. The defense plays well for a long time. Then the wizard leaves and Fitzgerald hires a fool. Biggest mistake of his coaching career. The defense is suddenly a joke. People declare Fitzgerald had nothing to do with the prior years of defensive prowess. Fitzgerald fires the fool and brings in a promising young wizard apprentice. Great hire. The defense bounces back to respectability, despite losing a few players due to administrative malfeasance, not to mention losing Fitzgerald himself.
It isn't too unlike Chris Collins situation 18 months ago. He hired a defensive wizard and that probably saved his job. Had he hired a fool, he'd certainly be gone. And, like Fitzgerald, his teams have tended to be better defensively, with obvious limitations on offense.
It is also interesting to me that people can trash the offense and ignore the impact of losing Ben Bryant to injury. Losing your starting QB is almost always crippling for your offense. Bryant is (or was) at least as good as Peyton Ramsey. Sullivan is not. My guess is that there is a very high correlation between the Fitz-trashers and the people who pretend Sullivan is almost as good as Bryant, because that enables them to continue trashing. Of course that requires ignoring the possibility that Skip Holtz is even worse than Fitzgerald.
At some point the trashing has to be supported by some logical set of facts. And most of it isn't.
Bajakian and Anderson should have been gone. (Springer, thankfully, is.)
Bryant’s injury is a direct result of Anderson and Bajakian’s incompetence.
A slow-developing pass play on the goal line against a fast aggressive defense, and an offensive line that can’t even touch the defender before he flattens Bryant. That wasn’t luck; that was a combination of scheme, playcalling, and coaching.
Amazingly, it is not illegal, though rare, to fire two coordinators in the same offseason. Thankfully, we’ll have a new offensive staff in two months or so.
Bryant’s injury is a direct result of Anderson and Bajakian’s incompetence.
A slow-developing pass play on the goal line against a fast aggressive defense, and an offensive line that can’t even touch the defender before he flattens Bryant. That wasn’t luck; that was a combination of scheme, playcalling, and coaching.
Amazingly, it is not illegal, though rare, to fire two coordinators in the same offseason. Thankfully, we’ll have a new offensive staff in two months or so.
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No. I am not a Fitz lover (I think there is a silver lining in his departure as unfair as it may have been and I definitely blame him for JON and our woeful offense, stupid and limited recruiting approaches, and boring complementary (lol) Fitzball even as I credit him for the facilities (and at least he hired Hank and Braun).
I think Sully is not nearly the QB that Bryant is and am the anti-Corbi in most ways but especially when it comes to evaluating our QBs.
My disgust of Fitzball and the offense he fielded for his entire tenure has nothing to do with Sully but everything to do the years and years of mediocre to downright atrocious offenses we have fielded throughout his tenure.
"Disgust" just seems like you were taking things way too seriously.
"years of mediocre to downright atrocious offenses we have fielded throughout his tenure" is factually incorrect unless your definition of "mediocre" includes "pretty good."
Fitz was a conservative head coach who relied on his defense to win games. And he did enough winning to satisfy most realistic NU fans. Winning is what matters. Not scoring points.
Do you despise Chris Collins too?
This Saturday is all that counts.
Careful Bob, you might alienate your Basketball buddy PWB, but to answer you question, played in a couple B1G championship games.
Oh, then what’s the problem. Sounds like the team undeniably was successful and the envy of college football. Surely, PF will land a step up job since he was railroaded and was proving to be an amazing, top shelf HC. So odd he hasn’t been swept up yet and given a nine digit contract…
Difference thus far is that we haven't seen CC keep making the same mistake like we have for Fitz (which really calls into question his decision making).
Fitz already had poor experiences with read & react schemes with Colby and McC, so did he really need a 3rd time around with it to realize that it was a bad idea?
Many of us knew that it was a disaster waiting to happen, so why couldn't Fitz see that?
Fitzgerald was a first or 2nd year assistant and got promoted to linebackers coach when Colby was brought in by Randy Walker in Jan 2002.
Walker died in Jun 2006. Northwestern had Fitzgerald leapfrog the other assistants and become head coach.
Firing either coordinator at that point would have been insane.
After two bad seasons of NU defense, Fitzgerald terminated Colby.
A month later he hired Mike Hankwitz and Mick McCall. NU went to 9 bowl games in the next 11 seasons.
Fitz screwed up when he hired Jim O'Neil to replace Mike Hankwitz. Its pretty obvious that hiring David Braun to replace O'Neil solved that problem.
You seem to be grasping at straws.
Facts. Braun gives off major Hank 2.0 vibes to me.
Now explain why Bajakian is still OC.
Is it because trotting out awful offenses most years of his tenure earned him another shot? Or is it because Fitz knew he had ultimate job security, and he could put together a nice, slow four year plan to return to competitiveness?
Fitz lost his hunger, and it was our own doing. He enjoyed being the proud AFCA poppa, and became way too devoted to supporting the coaching profession, at Northwestern’s cost.
Stability when you suck is not advisable. No other P5 school would have put up with this.
But don’t worry…the state of the program has never been better.
Edit: If this post pisses off some of the players, remember that YOU are why Fitz is no longer coaching. It wasn’t us detractors who got him fired. If ever there was a time for thumb pointing….
Which part?
I take it Jake earned another year, in your eyes? Everyone’s entitled to their opinion.
And if NU players weren’t hazing each other, Fitz would still be coaching the team. They F’d him over.
Fact.
Edit: Perhaps an effective counter argument would be to list the schools which would put up with what we’ve witnessed the past number of years. The problems were not exclusive to JON. (Nor to Bajakian, for that matter.)
Edit 2: I guess I should add one more thing. Never once have I posted that Fitz should be fired, at least before the scandal broke, and I don’t think afterwards either, given my feeling that he got screwed. I didn’t even post that JON should be fired until late in his second season, when it had become an untenable situation. I would rather have walked away.
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There are many problems with what you have written.
But first, I'd agree that Bakajian is not noticeably better than McCall and may be worse.
Beyond that though - no player was suspended or apparently even disciplined for the stuff that allegedly happened in the locker room. That sound you hear is the administration screaming "It wasn't that bad." I suppose it is possible that the guy who complained simply refused to name names, but if thats the case, then his complaints should have been dismissed. The only responsible way to handle that was to name the players involved and then question them as to motive, etc, and discipline them, if warranted.
Fitz is no longer the head coach because Schill is inept, vindictive and power-obsessed.
If NU had a) negotiated a buyout or b) suspended Fitzgerald for 2 weeks I'd be fine with either.
Instead, Shill chose to pursue his own petty culture war, trying (with partial success) to ruin Fitzgerald's reputation, trying (and failing) to destroy the football program, although I'm afraid he's not finished, successfully trying to harm Northwestern financially and reputationally, deliberately casting all of the football players of the last 15-20 years as twisted "barbarians" who enjoyed abusing weaker teammates, etc.
I compare Fitzgerald's "not knowing" with Schill's imbecilic efforts to save NU by destroying it and I can't believe the sanctimonious Schill is still in Evanston.
Root cause analysis leads to a Runsmas poster in the locker room. Schill, the trustees, and the Daily wouldn’t have had anything to say, nor any decisions to make, if there had been no hazing.
And I don’t think anybody has asserted that it was more than a subset of players who engaged in hazing, and most have surely graduated.
”If NU had a) negotiated a buyout or b) suspended Fitzgerald for 2 weeks I'd be fine with either.”
Me too. I was frustrated with Fitz, but still grateful for all he had done as both a player and a coach. He got scapegoated. That said, I was repelled by his behavior in some of his press conferences. And I really do believe he had lost much of his sense of urgency. One thing I like about Braun is that he reminds me of the earlier version of Fitz.
Edit: 320 is right. Changed the name of the poster to Runsmas.
And I don’t think anybody has asserted that it was more than a subset of players who engaged in hazing, and most have surely graduated.
”If NU had a) negotiated a buyout or b) suspended Fitzgerald for 2 weeks I'd be fine with either.”
Me too. I was frustrated with Fitz, but still grateful for all he had done as both a player and a coach. He got scapegoated. That said, I was repelled by his behavior in some of his press conferences. And I really do believe he had lost much of his sense of urgency. One thing I like about Braun is that he reminds me of the earlier version of Fitz.
Edit: 320 is right. Changed the name of the poster to Runsmas.
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Well, when troubleshooting a system in the lab, we usually check one thing at a time. We don't check everything at the same time. It's easier to isolate the problem by checking one thing at a time and holding everything else steady.
