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Lots of Turn Downs in Search of Fitz Replacement including Paul Christ according to Article

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But he took over a Wisconsin-Whitewater team that was in 2 straight D3 National Championship games. Yes he kept them at that level but they had arrived.

Buffalo, yes, he turned that around impressively. And he's off to a good start at Kansas.

But those are short tenures to judge, 3 good seasons at Buffalo and 2 at Kansas; neither of which is anything close to the Northwestern job.

Still don't think he's as obvious as Clawson who's the one guy that has done it for a while at a similar P5 position (small elite P5).

But as you said, this is a moot issue. We had our guy in week 10-11, and I'm skeptical we actually went too far in discussions with other coaches.
At each of his FBS stops, Leipold has relied HEAVILY on taking talented transfers with shaky transcripts. Guys who were high major studs with transcripts that kept them from being able to enroll at the schools they’d originally committed to, etc. He’s a good coach, but he needs the right academic environment to succeed. No chance he makes it in the Big Ten, especially at Northwestern
 
At each of his FBS stops, Leipold has relied HEAVILY on taking talented transfers with shaky transcripts. Guys who were high major studs with transcripts that kept them from being able to enroll at the schools they’d originally committed to, etc. He’s a good coach, but he needs the right academic environment to succeed. No chance he makes it in the Big Ten, especially at Northwestern
Yeah transfers is the other issue; no way any Northwestern coach can rely on mass transfers.

Fitz wasn't given leeway on academics, no other coach will ever get that.
 
But he took over a Wisconsin-Whitewater team that was in 2 straight D3 National Championship games. Yes he kept them at that level but they had arrived.

Buffalo, yes, he turned that around impressively. And he's off to a good start at Kansas.

But those are short tenures to judge, 3 good seasons at Buffalo and 2 at Kansas; neither of which is anything close to the Northwestern job.

Still don't think he's as obvious as Clawson who's the one guy that has done it for a while at a similar P5 position (small elite P5).

But as you said, this is a moot issue. We had our guy in week 10-11, and I'm skeptical we actually went too far in discussions with other coaches.
He won 5 national championships and one runner up finish in 7 years at Wisconsin Whitewater. What more do you want? Have you watched his teams play? I have been following his career for a while. He is a great coach and would be an obvious take over Braun. You claim he is not proven enough yet you seem convinced that Braun can sustain success after just one season as an interim head coach. I hope Braun has a great career at NU and he clearly earned the opportunity but no one should be fooled into thinking the results this season create a high degree of confidence about what will happen next year and beyond. Braun was NU’s best option given the circumstances but he has a lot left to prove.
 
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He won 5 national championships and one runner up finish in 7 years at Wisconsin Whitewater. What more do you want? Have you watched his teams play? I have been following his career for a while. He is a great coach and would be an obvious take over Braun. You claim he is not proven enough yet you seem convinced that Braun can sustain success after just one season as an interim head coach. I hope Braun has a great career at NU and he clearly earned the opportunity but no one should be fooled into thinking the results this season create a high degree of confidence about what will happen next year and beyond. Braun was NU’s best option given the circumstances but he has a lot left to prove.
I agree jury is still out on Braun, my only point was a guy that already has the confidence of the team and 1 successful season makes more sense to run these next 2 "nomad" seasons than most of the other choices on that list.

If the stadium was already finished, I think I'd agree with you on Leipold. I just think the stadium thing makes me think the next 2 seasons are best run by a guy like Braun who can sink or swim, and it wouldn't hurt us in terms of how outside coaches think about the NU job.

After 2-3 years, we can evaluate where things are going.
 
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Still don't think he's as obvious as Clawson who's the one guy that has done it for a while at a similar P5 position (small elite P5).
Yes, Wake is small. But it is NOT "Elite". Their overall admissions rate for all students (25%) is much higher than NU (7%), and their requirements for athletics are much lower than NU. Wake is a much easier job than NU: weaker conference, lower admissions standards, better administration support and more local alumni and non-alum support.

(My daughter is a Wake grad and I live in Winston-Salem)
 

Yes, Wake is small. But it is NOT "Elite". Their overall admissions rate for all students (25%) is much higher than NU (7%), and their requirements for athletics are much lower than NU. Wake is a much easier job than NU: weaker conference, lower admissions standards, better administration support and more local alumni and non-alum support.

(My daughter is a Wake grad and I live in Winston-Salem)
Truth.
 
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Yes, Wake is small. But it is NOT "Elite". Their overall admissions rate for all students (25%) is much higher than NU (7%), and their requirements for athletics are much lower than NU. Wake is a much easier job than NU: weaker conference, lower admissions standards, better administration support and more local alumni and non-alum support.

(My daughter is a Wake grad and I live in Winston-Salem)
Fair but it's like the closest analogue among good coaches out there that I think could succeed here quickly.

Still don't think anybody's as obvious as Braun right now for us with what he's done this year here and the next 2 years of stadium rebuild.

Braun to me is basically as if we hired Jim Leonhard who was probably the best available DC this past offseason.
 
Kansas was the "safety school" for kids at my high school, Admission standards aren't anywhere close to Northwestern's, so no surprise Leipold would not want this job.
 
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If that’s the standard for interest in NU’s coaching job, then no coach in the entire country would be interested because the only school whose admission standards are comparable is Stanford. Admission standards are a consideration but far from the only thing prospective coaches would look at.
 
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Man are you obtuse or what. No one who is currently a HC would leave and take the NU job given the current leadership. Of course the guy who was never a HC would take the job!
Sure - I’m the obtuse one. And assuming you believe all the reporting - cuz folks around here only do when it’s inline with their personal positions - your statement says nothing about the various coordinators that would probably like a HC position.

Also, your statement then presumes nobody else would have hired Braun as HC. Perhaps, but why? Why do you think this terrible, horrible, rotten position is the best that Braun could have hoped for?

Obtuse indeed.
 
If that’s the standard for interest in NU’s coaching job, then no coach in the entire country would be interested because the only school whose admission standards are comparable is Stanford. Admission standards are a consideration but far from the only thing prospective coaches would look at.
Hence, getting turned down by proven coaches and hiring a coach with zero FBS experience until this season. 2+2=4

And before you get your panties in a bunch, I think Braun has been fantastic. He was handled a terrible situation and did a great job. But now he has to build his own staff - he’s never coached in FBS before and it’s safe to assume he may struggle to use his network to hire experienced qualified candidates. Especially when folks with links to the program will likely have a close relationship with Fitz and are unlikely to be inclined to associate professionally with the institution that fired Fitz. And Braun has to do it without a home stadium etc. Tough sledding.
 
There's talent everywhere in every area of athletics, business, arts, etc if someone knows how to identify it. Embrace the underdog role and find the over achievers. They are out there. Expectations aren't high and the circumstances are difficult so nothing to lose. Take some risks. Trust yourself.
 
Yes, Wake is small. But it is NOT "Elite". Their overall admissions rate for all students (25%) is much higher than NU (7%), and their requirements for athletics are much lower than NU. Wake is a much easier job than NU: weaker conference, lower admissions standards, better administration support and more local alumni and non-alum support.

(My daughter is a Wake grad and I live in Winston-Salem)
My son and I toured Wake last month. Nice school, pretty campus. Our student tour guide listed as one of their famous alums a former contestant on The Bachelor. It didn't make the impression he intended, at least among the parents.

Wake's claim to fame in college sports is that it's the smallest school in a P5 conference.
 
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Sure - I’m the obtuse one. And assuming you believe all the reporting - cuz folks around here only do when it’s inline with their personal positions - your statement says nothing about the various coordinators that would probably like a HC position.

Also, your statement then presumes nobody else would have hired Braun as HC. Perhaps, but why? Why do you think this terrible, horrible, rotten position is the best that Braun could have hoped for?

Obtuse indeed.
Not sure what you are trying to say in the first paragraph. Do I think all the
Coaches on the list turned NU down? Probably. The NU job is very unattractive due to the current leadership.

As far as Braun ability to get a HC job if NU didn’t make him permanet HC, highly unlikely. We will never know, but I seriously doubt a power 5 school would hire someone who was never even a coordinator at the FBS level, let alone a HC.

All that being said, I hope he wins multiple BIG titles and the school builds a statue of him.
 
This thread is just about out of gas and should be shut down. We have our coach and we should be rooting for Braun and the 'Cats going forward. I really don't care about the relative merits of the coaches we didn't hire! :)
Oh ok, no chores thinks the thread is done and should be shut down! GTFOH
 
Sure - I’m the obtuse one. And assuming you believe all the reporting - cuz folks around here only do when it’s inline with their personal positions - your statement says nothing about the various coordinators that would probably like a HC position.

Also, your statement then presumes nobody else would have hired Braun as HC. Perhaps, but why? Why do you think this terrible, horrible, rotten position is the best that Braun could have hoped for?

Obtuse indeed.
Not likely at P5 level. Maybe below but not P5 Still much he has not experienced Heck HCs at those levels quit to take Coordination positions at P5 because it is a step up.
 
Not likely at P5 level. Maybe below but not P5 Still much he has not experienced Heck HCs at those levels quit to take Coordination positions at P5 because it is a step up.
So, you and curdog surmise that Braun wouldn’t get any offer nearly as good as NU HC one but the NU HC is such a bad job that one might classify it as a career killer. Am I putting your points together succinctly?
 
So, you and curdog surmise that Braun wouldn’t get any offer nearly as good as NU HC one but the NU HC is such a bad job that one might classify it as a career killer. Am I putting your points together succinctly?
Not sure if you are intentionally leaving out the key piece of info or if you just have trouble with reading comprehension. The NU gig is extremely unattractive now because of the current leadership. If/when Gragg and Schill are fired, the job would be much more attractive. Add in a new stadium and dare I say the job would be desirable for many coaches. Are we clear???
 
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I agree jury is still out on Braun, my only point was a guy that already has the confidence of the team and 1 successful season makes more sense to run these next 2 "nomad" seasons than most of the other choices on that list.

If the stadium was already finished, I think I'd agree with you on Leipold. I just think the stadium thing makes me think the next 2 seasons are best run by a guy like Braun who can sink or swim, and it wouldn't hurt us in terms of how outside coaches think about the NU job.

After 2-3 years, we can evaluate where things are going.
I agree Braun is the best guy at this point, but not with your reasoning. If Braun fails miserably in the next two years, there will not be many fans left to fill the new stadium. Schill and Gragg have already decimated attendance by their shenanigans. Two more years of nomadic misery and I don't want to think about what our Season ticket numbers will look like. Our hope is that we will have a new AD in two years and that Braun can win a bunch of games in the new, more competitive BIG.

Braun is the right guy because he has earned it. He has the football chops, and the character to lead the kind of kids we have. Can he hire and build a program? We will find out. But he was the right hire for right now. He is the right guy for our current players and the right guy for our current recruiting. It was so obvious, even Gragg did not screw it up.

On top of that as has already been stated in this thread, no one in his right mind would want to come here and coach for this administration, with no stadium, the rebuild job that would be required (players would leave - and this is not Colorado which can rebuild close to an entire roster through the portal). Go Cats! Go Coach Braun!
 
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Not sure if you are intentionally leaving out the key piece of info or if you just have trouble with reading comprehension. The NU gig is extremely unattractive now because of the current leadership. If/when Gragg and Schill are fired, the job would be much more attractive. Add in a new stadium and dare I say the job would be desirable for many coaches. Are we clear???
So, you and curdog surmise that Braun wouldn’t get any offer nearly as good as NU HC one but the NU HC is such a bad job (due to a whole bunch of reasons regularly dileanted above) such that one might classify it as a career killer. Am I putting your points together succinctly now?
 
In summary, what kind of person would accept the NU HC position in its current state (yes, terrible, horrible that, blah blah blah)? So who would take such a job? An idiot? A genius? A guy with no prospects? An up and comer? A likely choice to lead a program to success? A guy simply cashing a check and filling a seat that nobody wants?

Tell me - what kind of person takes the job? (Yes - I know you can’t answer because your answer labels Braun as such. You say loser - now he’s a loser. You say Braun is hungry and has the chops then a hungry, up and comer would take the job. Your welcome)

Now, @No Chores , this thread can be properly retired.
 
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In summary, what kind of person would accept the NU HC position in its current state (yes, terrible, horrible that, blah blah blah)? So who would take such a job? An idiot? A genius? A guy with no prospects? An up and comer? A likely choice to lead a program to success? A guy simply cashing a check and filling a seat that nobody wants?

Tell me - what kind of person takes the job? (Yes - I know you can’t answer because your answer labels Braun as such. You say loser - now he’s a loser. You say Braun is hungry and has the chops then a hungry, up and comer would take the job. Your welcome)

Now, @No Chores , this thread can be properly retired.
The kind of person who takes this job is the guy with little to no prospects! If NU didn’t hire Braun, where is he going? Best case is as DC for a P5 program. Holy moly are you dense.
 
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The kind of person who takes this job is the guy with little to no prospects! If NU didn’t hire Braun, where is he going? Best case is as DC for a P5 program. Holy moly are you dense.
So then you have low expectations for Braun since he would not really be qualified for a B1G HC position and if he was a bright, up and comer, he wouldn’t have taken the job. Interesting.
 
The kind of person who takes this job is the guy with little to no prospects! If NU didn’t hire Braun, where is he going? Best case is as DC for a P5 program. Holy moly are you dense.
Btw, any of the rest of you feel Bruan is best described as a guy with little to prospects a week or so ago?
 
Btw, any of the rest of you feel Bruan is best described as a guy with little to prospects a week or so ago?
He has a lot fewer prospects than anyone on the list of coaches who said no (allegedly). I really have no idea what point you are trying to make.
 
Why are you actively trying to start shit?
That’s you. Not me. And while I’m not a fan of Gagg or shill, I also think the program moved forward with the PF departure. So I find all this BS about finding a HC to be dumb. If you disagree, ok - but I get a chance to challenge to assertions.

Here - not going to be possible to both be highly complimentary of Braun while calling the job a POS opportunity. Either he’s an idiot that made a bad career decision or NUFB HC is still a job that many well qualified candidates would consider.

Why are you always starting shit with people that don’t agree with you? Teach those kids of yours that their opinions are the only ones that matter and to be insufferably intolerable of other people’s ideas?
 
He has a lot fewer prospects than anyone on the list of coaches who said no (allegedly). I really have no idea what point you are trying to make.
Sure - and none of the coaches went to MSU either. Nor were they coming to NU at any point in even if PF retired with a golden watch to be the next Bears coach. Jesus Christ also will not be accepting the position.

The question was not a lot fewer options. You said - little to none. You said. You described it as Braun accepting a dead end, worthless, no respectable coach would even consider type job. And if that’s your opinion, it also speaks to your opinion of who Braun is.

For the record, I disagree.
 
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Sure - and none of the coaches went to MSU either. Nor were they coming to NU at any point in even if PF retired with a golden watch to be the next Bears coach. Jesus Christ also will not be accepting the position.

The question was not a lot fewer options. You said - little to none. You said. You described it as Braun accepting a dead end, worthless, no respectable coach would even consider type job. And if that’s your opinion, it also speaks to your opinion of who Braun is.

For the record, I disagree.
Now you are just making stuff up. I never said it was a dead end job or a career killer. My one and only point, that I will nake for the umpteenth (and last) time m, is that no established coach would take this job in its current iteration. It is very likely that the people who would make the hiring decision will not be around long. Anyone, especially coaches, want to know who they would be working for. Ergo, coaches are telling NU no.

The school (and fans) are very lucky Braun turned out to be very capable.
 
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