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It's time for McCall to go

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BigNUFan51

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Nov 29, 2015
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Ive been calling for this for a couple of years now. He was a good coach for us, but it's time for him to go for the following reasons:

#1-The guy has been here way too long, and there is too much film out there at this point. Do you really think Duke is this good?

#2-Trevor Siemians success is a HUGE indictment on McCall and Fitz. Don't be surprised to see Thorson thrive in another system

#3-There are way too many negative plays/miscommunications. The offense is either too complicated or the players are poorly coached

#4-Player development-Really lacking here
 
BigNUFan51 said:
Ive been calling for this for a couple of years now. He was a good coach for us, but it's time for him to go for the following reasons:

#1-The guy has been here way too long, and there is too much film out there at this point. Do you really think Duke is this good?

#2-Trevor Siemians success is a HUGE indictment on McCall and Fitz. Don't be surprised to see Thorson thrive in another system

#3-There are way too many negative plays/miscommunications. The offense is either too complicated or the players are poorly coached

#4-Player development-Really lacking here
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LOL. It never fails. NU plays poorly and the fire McCall chants start. What a joke.
 
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BigNUFan51 said:
Ive been calling for this for a couple of years now. He was a good coach for us, but it's time for him to go for the following reasons:

#1-The guy has been here way too long, and there is too much film out there at this point. Do you really think Duke is this good?

#2-Trevor Siemians success is a HUGE indictment on McCall and Fitz. Don't be surprised to see Thorson thrive in another system

#3-There are way too many negative plays/miscommunications. The offense is either too complicated or the players are poorly coached

#4-Player development-Really lacking here
Click to expand...
Maybe it's time to stop overreacting to one game.
 
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Repeat after me, McCall is not the problem. McCall is not the problem!
 
The Chicago tradition, the most popular player on the team is back up quarterback and the most popular coaches are the ones not here.
 
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I'm. It calling for McCalls job, it's the O-line. Look in terms of recruiting rankings and they are middle of the road yet Indiana and several other big ten schools consistently outperform our OL and I know they are not the end all be all but every year except for one( first bowl win year), our o-line has been subpar to terrible. Who has been the mastermind of this-- Cushing. At any other university he would have gotten his walking papers. How many o-linemen are in the NFL because of him ... Zero!! They should fire him today. He should be like Colby who was terrible and Fitz got the cajones to fire him. Look money for an assistant should not be an issue. It certainly isn't for basketball so why for football. Enough is enough!!
 
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Let's first acknowledge that very few of us...if any of us...truly know the dynamic between Fitz, McCall, and the offensive assistants.

From public information I can infer that Springer found his way to NU due to the McCall connection from years ago. I can also infer that Cushing has and keeps his job because his kids play with Fitz's kids, and Fitz can't imagine what it would be like to fire his bro. As for whether McCall is happy with the arrangement or not...who knows?

The Thorson interceptions today make me snicker that there was any NFL talk at the start of the season, but I also expect that by next year, Thorson is as good as any of the QBs McCall has coached over the past 10 years, and that's a good thing. As for offensive game planning...I don't truly know how much autonomy McCall has, so I'm leery of faulting him.
 
I am always curious to know what kind of offensive game plan you develop for a poor ineffective offensive line? I think a quick passing game and run, no? Which both Nevada and Duke planned for by putting 7 or 8 in the box....which means we get one on one a lot....we beat Nevada's dbs but were not able to beat Duke's who were much better than Nevada's. Probably what we will see the rest of the year. We will probably see way more of McGowan, Lees and Brown at WR...as we need receivers who can get separation and take advantage of one and one situations. It means that even though we are strong at Superback they are going to have to stay in and block. This is the same deal as with Simeon...good qb but with a poor line, putting him in a tough situation.....Also makes it tough on Coach McCall.....Seems like we repeat this scenario a lot.!!!!! So now we know that we will most likely be out-dueled at the line of scrimmage in the important games we need to find another way..be interesting to see how we counter punch and if we are successful?
 
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loyolacat said:
I am always curious to know what kind of offensive game plan you develop for a poor ineffective offensive line? I think a quick passing game and run, no? Which both Nevada and Duke planned for by putting 7 or 8 in the box....which means we get one on one a lot....we beat Nevada's dbs but were not able to beat Duke's who were much better than Nevada's. Probably what we will see the rest of the year. We will probably see way more of McGowan, Lees and Brown at WR...as we need receivers who can get separation and take advantage of one and one situations. It means that even though we are strong at Superback they are going to have to stay in and block. This is the same deal as with Simeon...good qb but with a poor line, putting him in a tough situation.....Also makes it tough on Coach McCall.....Seems like we repeat this scenario a lot.!!!!! So now we know that we will most likely be out-dueled at the line of scrimmage in the important games we need to find another way..be interesting to see how we counter punch and if we are successful?
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That's why the offense found success in recent years with mobile QBs like Persa and Colter. They could scramble out of trouble and thus exploit defenses that stacked the box.
 
I don't think changing assistant coaches mid season would be very productive and we all know that Fitz isn't going anywhere. Maybe if a real gem of an OL coach becomes available toward the end of the season due to a shake up of a top program or something. Meanwhile, Hank is a great DC and McCall has developed some good QBs in his career, that may not make him the best OC but he is a valuable asset.
NU could still have a very good season. Look where we were last year after two games.
 
beetlemania74 said:
That's why the offense found success in recent years with mobile QBs like Persa and Colter. They could scramble out of trouble and thus exploit defenses that stacked the box.
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I hate to say it because I think in a good system CT is a much better QB, but I think we need to give Alviti some reps to shake things up.
 
BigNUFan51 said:
Ive been calling for this for a couple of years now. He was a good coach for us, but it's time for him to go for the following reasons:

#1-The guy has been here way too long, and there is too much film out there at this point. Do you really think Duke is this good?

#2-Trevor Siemians success is a HUGE indictment on McCall and Fitz. Don't be surprised to see Thorson thrive in another system

#3-There are way too many negative plays/miscommunications. The offense is either too complicated or the players are poorly coached

#4-Player development-Really lacking here
Click to expand...

Agreeing with you, but I'm beginning to think it's time for Fitz to go. The idea that we can't do better is BS. Barnett won 2 titles. And recruited a 3rd. The trajectory CCC has the hoops program should be the benchmark. I have no doubt we will win a B1G hoops title before we win a football one right now. Fitz talks about championships, but we are so far from winning even the West that it's insulting and a joke for him to speak of it. He can't even fire his incompetent OL coach who has produced nothing but terrible OLs for his entire tenure. And why is that a surprise given his lack of experience? This is not so much on Cushing as it is on Fitz to allow this to happen.

Phillips brought in CCC. I trust his ability to bring in someone of a similar calibre for football. Fitz has done a lot for NU football, and I'm thankful for it, especially what he did as a player. But, he may not be the answer. How much time do we need to give him? This is becoming Carmodyesque and so are all the excuses that are inevitably going to be made in response to this post, but the reality is, the program deserves better.
 
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EvanstonCat said:
Agreeing with you, but I'm beginning to think it's time for Fitz to go. The idea that we can't do better is BS. Barnett won 2 titles. And recruited a 3rd. The trajectory CCC has the hoops program should be the benchmark. I have no doubt we will win a B1G hoops title before we win a football one right now. Fitz talks about championships, but we are so far from winning even the West that it's insulting and a joke for him to speak of it. He can't even fire his incompetent OL coach who has produced nothing but terrible OLs for his entire tenure. And why is that a surprise given his lack of experience? This is not so much on Cushing as it is on Fitz to allow this to happen.

Phillips brought in CCC. I trust his ability to bring in someone of a similar calibre for football. Fitz has done a lot for NU football, and I'm thankful for it, especially what he did as a player. But, he may not be the answer. How much time do we need to give him? This is becoming Carmodyesque and so are all the excuses that are inevitably going to be made in response to this post, but the reality is, the program deserves better.
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For the first time I feel like it could be time to move Fitz along. It's not because of this game as much as the inability to do anything about the OL deficit which as gone on a long time now. The recent shake up strategy just did't seem right to me and I could see it sapping the confidence right out of that whole group, even the team.
The coaches have three weeks to pull it together. It would be a shame to spend $300million on an athletic facility and not know what to do with it.
 
Deeringfish said:
For the first time I feel like it could be time to move Fitz along. It's not because of this game as much as the inability to do anything about the OL deficit which as gone on a long time now. The recent shake up strategy just did't seem right to me and I could see it sapping the confidence right out of that whole group, even the team.
The coaches have three weeks to pull it together. It would be a shame to spend $300million on an athletic facility and not know what to do with it.
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He's not going anywhere, so we should all acknowledge he has major faults we need to live with and just talk about other solutions.
 
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Fitz51 said:
He's not going anywhere, so we should all acknowledge he has major faults we need to live with and just talk about other solutions.
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All the solutions seem kind of impossible (Unless this experiment just takes a few more weeks) due to his established pattern.
 
Just purely and logically based solely on the track records of the two respective gentlemen in question, and taking all the emotional attachment and fond memories out of the equation, I believe that a Fitz firing and a hiring of a new football coach by Dr. Jim Phillips would be a reasonable cause for optimism about our program. I'll explain:

Fitz has proven incapable of assembling a team capable of taking us to the next level.

And Dr. Jim has proven himself not only capable making head coaching hires that take us to the next level, but he has proven himself quite excellent at it.

So if you want NU football to get to the next level, as I assume is something most people here want, it's not unreasonable at all to think that the most logical way to get there - as emotionally unfathomable as this may seem - would be to let Fitz go while we still have Dr. Jim here to choose his successor.

The fans are restless. You can feel it in the parking lots from those who bothered to show up last week. Fitz needs to do something or one way or the other, something could very well get done for him.
 
D_C_B said:
Just purely and logically based solely on the track records of the two respective gentlemen in question, and taking all the emotional attachment and fond memories out of the equation, I believe that a Fitz firing and a hiring of a new football coach by Dr. Jim Phillips would be a reasonable cause for optimism about our program. I'll explain:

Fitz has proven incapable of assembling a team capable of taking us to the next level.

And Dr. Jim has proven himself not only capable making head coaching hires that take us to the next level, but he has proven himself quite excellent at it.

So if you want NU football to get to the next level, as I assume is something most people here want, it's not unreasonable at all to think that the most logical way to get there - as emotionally unfathomable as this may seem - would be to let Fitz go while we still have Dr. Jim here to choose his successor.

The fans are restless. You can feel it in the parking lots from those who bothered to show up last week. Fitz needs to do something or one way or the other, something could very well get done for him.
Click to expand...

Fitz the player was great for us. No question about that. I don't think he's done anything as a head football coach to merit being safe for life. A shit ton of talk about championships, but absolutely nothing remotely able to back it up. Unless you apply the same standards to performance that we apparently are applying to our OL coach, what has he done to merit being untouchable? If that's the bar then, I can't think of why we even fired Colby. The performance has been equally bad, and Cushing's had more time. I guess the story of Cushing and Fitz's kids playing together must be true. It's the only explanation.
 
Agreed. Perennial also-ran status is not worthy of a Coach for Life designation. We need to compete for and win at least Division Titles. Otherwise, Dr Jim, Schapiro and the Board of Trustees need to at least start considering whether somebody else can get us there before Dr Jim moves on, because he's not going to meet his career goals with sub-.500 football in conference on average.

Fitz does so many great things for NU, and emotionally it would be brutal to see him cut loose. But NU can win without Fitz. We've done it before and we can do it again. What we can't do, however, is win without a strong offensive line. And as long as Fitz is willing to countenance Cushing's incompetence, we will never have a strong offensive line. Therefore, we will never win under Fitz.

So what do we want more: Fitz, or winning? Because we're not going to have both as long as he's as stubborn about Cushing as he is.
 
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hoosboot said:
It's unacceptable for McCall's unit to give up 500 yards of offense and 41 points to Duke. He needs to fix that or fire whatever position coaches he thinks are responsible. o_O
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I understand that It's pretty easy to forget one yard of rushing offense, so you're forgiven for failing to mention it. It's easy to do with such minuscule, rounding error-type of numbers.
 
hoosboot said:
It's unacceptable for McCall's unit to give up 500 yards of offense and 41 points to Duke. He needs to fix that or fire whatever position coaches he thinks are responsible. o_O
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10 points outside of garbage time is pretty piss poor and downright unacceptable. I'm not necessarily asking for McCall's head yet, though I'm not the biggest fan. But, we knew Duke was going to light up our depleted secondary, and our offense couldn't do jack to give us a chance.

The defense has issues, first and foremost a secondary down to our one serviceable CB playing in his natural position. I think I'll give Hank and Jerry Brown a pass given the circumstances.

I don't give the O any pass. Not when we have refused to address the incompetence in our OL coaching, and not when this was NOT supposed to be a rebuilding year especially on the offensive side of the ball.

That someone suggests this is a rebuilding year when we have 16 returning starters is just laughable. Not as laughable as our performance yesterday or the fact that our OL coach still has a job, but laughable nonetheless. Actually, I take that back. Suggesting that this is a rebuilding year is indeed hilarious. Our performance yesterday and the fact that our OL coach still has a job is not funny.
 
Reading this thread, I half expected to wake up and read all the articles on ESPN, et. al. calling for Fitz's head. But strange, I couldn't find this plethora of articles. Then, I remember, the board justice warriors know zero about football, Nothing at all.

Good teams can have terrible games. Now, I am not saying this is a good team, but even GREAT teams can have terrible games (Exhibit A: OSU's BCS game last year). It doesn't mean that Urban Meyer is a terrible coach any more than it means Fitz is a terrible coach. If you truly think that he is, you are delusional, imo.
 
Did you just compare Fitz to Urban Meyer?

Thank you. We need a little comedy around here after yesterday. :)
 
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D_C_B said:
Did you just compare Fitz to Urban Meyer?

Thank you. We need a little comedy around here after yesterday. :)
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He has about as much chance of being fired as Urban. But we have some posters here saying it is time for Fitz to go, lol.

Do you agree with them? Even with all the ranting you have done about Cushing (are you an out of work OL coach?), I think that even you would see it is silly to fire Fitz.
 
Deeringfish said:
I don't think changing assistant coaches mid season would be very productive and we all know that Fitz isn't going anywhere. Maybe if a real gem of an OL coach becomes available toward the end of the season due to a shake up of a top program or something. Meanwhile, Hank is a great DC and McCall has developed some good QBs in his career, that may not make him the best OC but he is a valuable asset.
NU could still have a very good season. Look where we were last year after two games.
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Yeah, but we didm't get blown out and look bad in most aspects of the game.
 
Mike Webb:

No. I really don't want to see Fitz go, but I fear we may have no choice if we want to win titles.

Fitz is so good for us in so many ways. But what's becoming clear to me is that we are never going to have a good OL with Cushing at the helm. Since it's the truest truism in football that a great offense simply cannot exist without a great offensive line, it means that if I want to keep Fitz, I just have to accept the fact our offense will be mediocre to good at best- never top tier. And that's a shame if they only thing keeping us from having both Fitz and a great offense is his stubborn insistence on keeping Cushing around. That's frustrating to me because it's just so illogically silly and unnecessary. We ought not be forced to choose between Fitz and a great offense, but that's what this has turned into in my view. Does that at least make sense to you, even if you don't necessarily agree with it?
 
D_C_B said:
Mike Webb:

No. I really don't. He's so good for us in so many ways. But what's becoming clear to me is that we are never going to have a good OL with Cushing at the helm. Since it's the truest truism in football that a great offense simply cannot exist without a great offensive line, it means that if I want to keep Fitz, I just have to accept the fact our offense will be mediocre to good at best- never top tier. And that's a shame if they only thing keeping us from having both Fitz and a great offense is his stubborn insistence on keeping Cushing around. That's frustrating to me because it's just so illogically silly and unnecessary. We ought not be forced to choose between Fitz and a great offense, but that's what this has turned into in my view. Does that at least make sense to you, even if you don't necessarily agree with it?
Click to expand...

It makes sense to me, but you really only need to post once about it for people to get your point. When you hyperpost about it, you start to look like ECat and his tennis ball machine, which, believe me, is not a good look.
 
Deeringfish said:
I don't think changing assistant coaches mid season would be very productive and we all know that Fitz isn't going anywhere. Maybe if a real gem of an OL coach becomes available toward the end of the season due to a shake up of a top program or something. Meanwhile, Hank is a great DC and McCall has developed some good QBs in his career, that may not make him the best OC but he is a valuable asset.
NU could still have a very good season. Look where we were last year after two games.
Click to expand...

It doesn't have to be a "real gem of an OL coach." How about literally ANY coach with years of experience coaching a mid-major OL, looking to break into the P5 ranks? Have you looked at Cushing's resume?
 
mikewebb68 said:
It makes sense to me, but you really only need to post once about it for people to get your point. When you hyperpost about it, you start to look like ECat and his tennis ball machine, which, believe me, is not a good look.
Click to expand...

You know what's a bad look? Being an asinine board Nazi telling the rest of us what we should or shouldn't post. So is defending this garbage. You keep doing it and you're going to smell as bad as what you're defending.
 
freewillie07 said:
It doesn't have to be a "real gem of an OL coach." How about literally ANY coach with years of experience coaching a mid-major OL, looking to break into the P5 ranks? Have you looked at Cushing's resume?
Click to expand...

I believe an automatic tennis ball machine coaching our OL would result in better outcomes than what we have now.
 
BigNUFan51 said:
Ive been calling for this for a couple of years now. He was a good coach for us, but it's time for him to go for the following reasons:

#1-The guy has been here way too long, and there is too much film out there at this point. Do you really think Duke is this good?

#2-Trevor Siemians success is a HUGE indictment on McCall and Fitz. Don't be surprised to see Thorson thrive in another system

#3-There are way too many negative plays/miscommunications. The offense is either too complicated or the players are poorly coached

#4-Player development-Really lacking here
Click to expand...
Do you know for sure if it's really McCall's fault? I mean, maybe Fitz gives him margins to work within that limit what McCall's skillset is. 5 years ago, Fitz said he wanted a National Championship team and wanted to have a power running team. Well, that's the exact recipe you need for a playoff type team, but doesn't that limit McCall's skillset since McCall was more of a spread guy? For instance, it appears to me that McCall has a green light duing the 2 minute offense. Yesterday, you saw McCall and Thorson work magic in the 2 minute empty backfield. Needless to say we have to address glaring OL issues or continue practicing insanity if we want to win a division crown or championship of any sort. Can't blame that on McCall.
 
EvanstonCat said:
You know what's a bad look? Being an asinine board Nazi telling the rest of us what we should or shouldn't post. So is defending this garbage. You keep doing it and you're going to smell as bad as what you're defending.
Click to expand...

MikeWebb, This is not to start a flare up, because I appreciate your enthusiasm and fandom, but you did just run off a string of 7 or 8 posts in a 35 minute span yourself.

So in fairness, whatever you mean by hyperposting, you just may be guilty of it yourself sometimes. Again, just an observation offered to you in fairness as something to consider, not looking to start a row here...
 
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