Looked like Fitzball to me.
- Thread starter FeralFelidae
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They also tried to find more aggression offensively, they just made too many mistakes. Still throwing the ball and stretching the field in the middle fourth quarter. Still need an identity to test the edges though.
Definitely looked seamless with McGarigle taking the DC duties from Braun. Was very nice to see.
Love that McGarigle was tutored by Hank. Looks like he learned well and I’m sure Braun’s influence only makes him better. How we didn’t elevate him to begin with instead of bringing in that disaster JON, I will never understand.
There was the scent of Fitzball, but also a clear move away from it. Struggling in the red zone was one characteristic of Fitzball. Against a good defense on Saturday, NU scored once and almost a second time, due to a fluke snap. That doesn't reflect on the overall offensive drive to the one yard line.
McGarigle had three years under Hank, two years in purgatory, and one under Braun.
The mistakes that led to this year’s promotion, however, were necessary to get the NU football program headed back in the right direction.
In purgatory, he got a good idea of what doesn’t work, which is also valuable.
Offense could have been better but I’m encouraged. We left 10 pts off the board with the fumble at the goal line and the missed kick. Dominated TOP. I know what you’re saying re: FitzBall but I think this was different. Lujuan took shots over the top and it kept the safeties honest. This was a very salty defense last year that returned most of their players including their best. Let’s see what happens against Duke but so far I’m not overwhelmed or thrilled but I’m still encouraged. It did not resemble Bajakian ball to me. No Wildcat to a non-throwing player and the runs up the gut on 1st down were not as regular. We appear to be embracing RPO, which is a good thing.
Well it appears he learned from the best and also what not to do under the worst.
Could understand bringing in the outside blood and he appeared to be a descent recruiter as well but pretty hard to make the read react D work at the college level with the limitations in player coach contact. And the Braun and DL c hires were pretty good
NU did not look good in the red zone on Saturday. 50% is nothing to brag about.
He was not learning coaching from Colby. Fitz was his position coach in college and probably taught him way more directly than Colby. And I suspect Fitz was still his main coaching mentor during JON’s brief stint.
JON was obviously a disaster but we ended up with Braun eventually as a result so talk about turning a big lemon into lemonade!
Doubt McGarigle was learning anything from JON...
That looked nothing like JON's defenses.
Fitz's long-term plan was always to make McGarigle DC here in all likelihood; the issue was just Hank retired a bit early for McGarigle to step in (hindsight being 20/20, yeah he should've just gone straight to McGarigle and skipped JON).
I think we lucked out getting Braun here last year to right the ship and properly re-orient the defense. That was critical imo for McGarigle to be able to take over this past offseason with the defense in a good place and with so many returning on that side of the ball.
Transition appears to have worked perfectly with the defense looked as good as it did in the 2nd half of last year.
I thought Himon would be an integral part of the 'O" but he was invisible. I watched a little bit of the Duke game. Duke's front 4 are athletic and aggressive. I hope NU tries to exploit this. Himon on screens, draws etc could be helpful.
I wonder what would have happened if McG, would have been hired instead of JON.
Then when the spit hit the fan regarding the hazing, McG would also have been seen as "tainted".
Point being, I don't know who we would have been able to get as Head Coach unless we went outside to Skip Holtz, but this time in more than just an "advisor" role.
Then when the spit hit the fan regarding the hazing, McG would also have been seen as "tainted".
Point being, I don't know who we would have been able to get as Head Coach unless we went outside to Skip Holtz, but this time in more than just an "advisor" role.
Ignoring the specifics of what happened; we got very, very, very fortunate (add as many verys as you want) that Fitz brought on Braun the last offseason who by all accounts is a solid defensive mind/coach (I've watched his postgame press briefings and he explains defensive philosophy in a way that even laypeople can understand).
Having him there to take over and then having McGarigle able to be promoted (because he wasn't when Hank retired) is right place/right time kind of fortune for both men and the program at large.
Plenty of ways the last year could have gone completely off the rails and we'd have plunged into a 2nd Dark Age of NU football with some placeholder coach last year and a series of bad hires.
Someone should do some reporting on what kept McG clean of the “hazing” taint. I wonder if his potential was understood and he was kept clear of the damage that befell others from perceived association with the scandal.
McGarigle has been a coach at NU since 2018. Aren’t we concerned that the coaches should have known about the hazing and it’s a fireable offense that they did not? Just asking.
I think most of us are at the point where the Fitz firing was CYA by Gragg/Schill given that they allowed most of the rest of the staff to remain last year.
Coupled with the fact that there have been no identified perpetrators.
Of course, that fact might lead some to question if there was any “hazing.”
Only if you think Lou and Matt were on a mission to get Paddy Fitz fired.
If Fitz, Gragg, and Schill had come up with any suspension with any teeth, Fitz would he head coach still.
Thankfully, they handled the situation like dolts and we are left with a head coach who is everything Fitz was 10 years ago, a defensive coordinator who would have gotten the job if Fitz had hired on merit and not the buddy system, and a new AD who actually knows how to support and engage with college athletes.
The hazing scandal is forgotten, Fitz is the past, and NU’s stadium — with reference only to the future — is one of the bigger stories of a quiet college football weekend.
Not fair to point this at them considering the story went from the Daily to national media and ran amok there.
They didn't have anything to do with this in particular.
Reminder, Braun is winning with Fitz recruits. Fitz greatest attribute was his ability to convince talented football players to come to NU and play in front of a half empty stadium.
I think Braun is a really good coach. I just don’t know how he will recruit.
Exactly. This was such a despicable practice but no one is getting punished besides Fitz? Ok.
The "hazers" themselves are clean of the "hazing" taint since none of them were disciplined at all.
Lou and Matt did excellent reporting that validated that hazing was persistent and real. People who pretend that there wasn’t hazing and that it was a media creation, by extension, accuse Lou and Matt as being part of the pitchfork mob.
They weren’t. They’re journalists that helped tell a story that NU — embarrassingly — tried to bury.
Braun’s class looks a lot like Fitz’s. And has already gotten commitments from two A-list quarterbacks — something Fitz couldn’t do in his last decade.
Dude take it easy. If this was such a horrible episode, why aren’t they doing any “reporting” on who committed these dastardly deeds? I mean, isn’t hazing worse than not knowing the hazing took place?
Sure he was learning from JON. It was what not to do
Lou and Matt? What are you talking about? It was the Daily Northwestern and National media
Lou and Matt had a story where an anonymous ex-employee corroborated that there was hazing and stated that it was well-known within the program.
I have no idea who the anonymous source was and whether or not he was disgruntled and had an agenda. Anonymous sources are inferior to named sources for those reasons, but I guess an anonymous source is enough to publish a story.
I don't know what the hell Fitz was thinking about when he hired Jon. Thank Gawd for Braun hire. Can someone pls ask Fitz about his rationale to hire Jon when you meet him?? I will do the same. 🤷🏻♂️
I don't understand how posters can endlessly churn on Fitz, Jon, Bragg. Schill, hazing, no hazing, McCall, NIL, etc, etc. It pretty much all has been said five million times already. For me, it is striking how little detailed football discussion there is on Saturday's game. I would love to see posts, for example, such as how the new right tackle, Wrather, performed since pre-game there were concerns. But I am not a football guru so I comment around the technical edges looking for the savants to engage. From my perspective as a medium long term subscriber, this type of engagement has declined dramatically over the years with 90% of the comments now some form of complaint about the coaches, administration or the NCAA world. Boring.
Thank you for saying that. And I'm aware that I've participated in these discussions too often, will try to avoid as best as possible.
Like we just played the first game of the season; why do we care about rehashing endless old discussions.
Braun's 14 games into his career here as HC; surely we have a million other things to discuss about the game that just happened and the next one.
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