if that is true, then JP needs to hire an Associate Head Coach w a mind for offense, dismiss McCall and remind PF that nobody is irreplaceable.
McCall called out by TG
- Thread starter 1830sherman
- Start date
if that is true, then JP needs to hire an Associate Head Coach w a mind for offense, dismiss McCall and remind PF that nobody is irreplaceable.
When he was winning, he could pull that shit. When he was competitive for a Bowl game, a title, he could play his cute little game of secrets.
No opponents are worried about NU. PF needs to become transparent and humble or people will start calling for his head on a stake.
Not agreeing with the argument here, but you feel that the HC job at NU is too tough to fill? We have the stability, $, and facilities. We might be a stepping stone, but I don't think it is impossible. I get the academic restrictions, but we are better positioned now with these commitments.
I think Fitz was making a relative assessment. This OL is improving and they are missing fewer assignments but they are still consistently getting beat in one on one match ups. They are not good when making an absolute assessment . On a relative basis, this OL is playing on par with last year's OL that was part of a team that won the the Big Ten West so the OL alone cannot explain this team's record. Of course, we are also missing Clayton Thorson and that change at QB is the biggest difference. For those who clamored for Thorson to get benched throughout his career because the backups could not be any worse, well this is what that would have looked like.
Really? Fitz has been the only NU coach since 1993 who has failed to win a bigten championship so save all your "Fitz is the one" garbage.
With his $4 million salary and the best facilities in the conference, we are certain to get a stud coach.
That said, Fitz is here to stay until he retires. This is NU.
The coaching community is quite small. Candidates would call Fitz or his agent.
The story would essentially be “they just tried to force a program legend to make personnel decisions against his will even though he’s done everything they ever asked of him.”
Good luck.
Tate Martell may be a head case, not sure. But he looked pretty good in relief at dOSU. Certainly better than our offense looks now.
I thought the OL play improved. NU was able to rush the ball but it is tough on an OL to play when the defense knows the Cats have no credible passing game. I am cautiously optimistic about the OL with Anderson as the coach. If they improve it is a reflection of good coaching. The passing game has not improved and hence it is fair to criticize the offensive coaches in that space.
I think with the facilities we have and the salary being paid to Fitz (assuming the new guy makes a similar amount) NU could find a very good coach. The argument from Phillips would be, if you have an offense that is bottom third for over a decade, I might need to step in, otherwise, this is all yours.
mans where is Fitzy going to go? A real football school with real expectations and real critics when things go sideways? His thin skinned act will
Wear out quick.
Any replacement coach worth his salt isn’t going to sign up for that kind of toxic environment on top of the academic restrictions, etc.
All a moot point because it’s never going to come to that. Ever.
I agree with your second point but as to the first, toxic environment? Any coach hired will have the
Longest leash on college football.
The NU job will be 100% toxic unless Fitz leaves completely of his own volition.
Everyone is replaceable. No way Fitz walks away from that money, becomes unhirable in the process and moves on to coaching high school at Sandburg.
This argument is moot because Fitzy has a lifetime contract. That said, I disagree. This administration. Has shown themselves to be extremely patient with weathering down years. A young up and comer would jump at the chance to coach at NU.
Fitz isnt Barnett or Walker, but he isnt altogether useless either.
The goals of the program are to graduate players and beat illinois. Yea, the bar is low but Fitz attains the goals in most years.
He doesnt have the skillset like our previous coaches so I think he would stay here even if they cut his pay to about $75,000. I mean, who else will hire him? He has nowhere else to go.
True. But this is the whole point. The head coach is in charge. if the Offense is continuously inept and nothing is changing than that falls entirely on the head coach. Such a pet peeve of mind when everyone criticizes coordinators week after week after week. They are NOT in charge.
The head coach sits in those meetings, he knows the game plans, he knows the personnel packages, he can over-ride any play calling. No Coordinator can be that inept or that stubborn and keep his job unless he is enabled by the head coach OR he is taking direct orders from the head coach on play calling. IF that is the case the head coach can't possibly fire the coordinator without being a complete and utter hypocrite.
Why is this so hard for everyone to understand. This falls on Fitz, period
This is not about playcalling. This is about innovation and creativity. The best playcaller in the world (say, whoever is running Oklahoma’s offense or LSU’s offense) couldn’t generate a top offense with McCall’s playbook.
This is on Fitz because he continues to employ a coordinator who is clearly behind the times. But there is literally nothing that NU could do with this entire playbook (and this stable of receivers) to create a dynamic, high scoring offense (or, given the philosophy, one that consistently ranks up first downs.) Mick must go.
We saw a smidge of innovation and creativity Friday, with McGowan moving to the backfield and getting a dump off and a run. It worked, a little. But a different number next to the quarterback (and only a handful of times) is as creative as NU gets.
You must not be paying attention to our recruiting last year and this year and to the change in the OL coach. Improving the offense has been priority #1 since the end of the 2017 season. Last year we brought in our most highly recruited WRs and OLs in many years and this year our recruits at those two positions seemingly exceed last year's talent. This year, for the first time since CT committed, we also earned a commitment from our first choice at QB, a tremendous RB prospect, and two TEs. The strength of this class is on the offensive side of the ball. The coaches have prioritized offense in the last two classes, especially OLs. The hiring of Anderson, even before Cushing was let go, indicates the importance that Fitz put on that position - and it has paid off. Granted, the pay off has not been seen on the field this year - it takes time to build an OL and a good OL is the key to a good offense. I agree that we have had struggles on offense for some time; but, I attribute all of that to our OL. It is why even avid Fitz supporters like myself had been pleading with people in the athletic department to change OL coaches. The fix will not happen overnight, but it will happen - and McCall will be here to engineer it. Just wait and see. Once again, patience!
ADs throughout the country would be licking their chops to hire Fitz.
It would probably take a sit down with Phillips and Ryan to get Fitz to see the light. Unfortunately, that would also prove that the problem is actually Fitz. As a head coach if you don't have the inner strength to make the hard choices then you're admitting you are not guy in charge.
Or maybe Fitz defends the offense because he knows the offensive coaches are merely doing as they’re told. This is the offense that Fitzgerald wants.
The triple option and the pro offense are behind the times but you can win with those approaches. I continue to say our offense is a reflection of our head coach’s conservatism. He wants a boring, risk averse system and he’s getting what he deserves. I no longer blame McCall, Springer or Cushing/Anderson. Fitzgerald has clipped the wings of our offense little by little since Persa left. The offense under Trevor senior year paled in comparison to Trevor as Persa’s caddy. It has nothing to do with being behind the times and everything to do with being so dang conservative that we are puckered up like a pretty boy on his first day in prison.
He wants to win with defense. That has been his MO the last few years. Ball control, work the clock, keep it close, pull the game out at the end.
yeah but he seems to be confused about how to control the ball because we are not winning the time of possession battles and not converting first downs.
So? Nobody is irreplaceable. The bigger concern would be making the wrong hire, not that Fitzgerald is impossible to replace. Fitzgerald has never won the conference, never beaten OSU, has beaten Michigan just once I think. He did only one thing that his immediate predecessors could not do- win a bowl game. I’d rather play in the playoff every year and lose than win a hundred Gator Bowls or Pinstripe Bowls or Music City Bowls.
He said it again today
Inside NU@insidenu 1h1 hour ago
Fitz on the o-line: "I think they are playing really well." Fitz on the team QBR: "I think that speaks for itself."
I actually think there is some plausibility to this assertion in the wake of Ohio State. I was expecting annihilation on the LOS, but there was some pretty good run blocking in there. Vogel got schooled on that sack on the first drive, but I think the pass pro was good enough, and better than expected. That OSU front four is probably all NFL material.
In all, OSU had 1 sack and 5 TFLs. We actually held the ball for 33 minutes. I know stats are for losers, but evidence suggests that we did not lose the battle of the LOS on offense (on defense, the run coverage was good save for two plays, but we could not get ANY pressure on Fields). Ultimately, the difference was in playmakers.
The Cats' line did reasonably well. I daresay they are getting better.
Last edited:
Again, that has to be an assessment made on a relative basis. Hard to watch the line play on Friday night and conclude our OL is playing well relative to their counterparts from the opposing team. Heck, if memory serves me correctly, Vogel got flat out beat on the first offensive snap of the game. There are too many examples of bad line play to list but it’s across the board. We have at least 2-3 starters on the OL who wouldn’t be starting on any other Big Ten team.
@gocatsgo2003 - you may be closest to answer this, if you feel comfortable.
Understood that a lot of Fitz's loyalty comes from coaches stepping up when he took over this program as a young pup and getting him through the crisis and learning how to be a head coach. At a minimum, I know Hank is in that boat (Fitz did a talk for us on crisis leadership a while back and spoke a lot about Hank). Does he have the same (parent-like) relationship with McCall?
I agree. I thought the offensive line did far better than anyone could have asked.
