Fitz is like: by God, imma never losing to an FCS team again
New DL coach
- Thread starter phatcat
- Start date
NDSU and SDSU have been far and away the best programs in FCS the past couple of years, and we're getting coaches who've been part of effective defenses at those 2 schools.
I feel like these hires have been the polar opposite of the JON hire and that's a pretty good sign; we're getting proven guys at that level rather than a guy that just has NFL on his resume without the kind of success that you'd want to see.
I think you should always take guys whose units performed excellently over a guy that's just been at the top level without significant success at that level.
Obviously, they have to prove themselves here in a very different situation in terms of competition, but I like the philosophy behind the hires.
I feel like these hires have been the polar opposite of the JON hire and that's a pretty good sign; we're getting proven guys at that level rather than a guy that just has NFL on his resume without the kind of success that you'd want to see.
I think you should always take guys whose units performed excellently over a guy that's just been at the top level without significant success at that level.
Obviously, they have to prove themselves here in a very different situation in terms of competition, but I like the philosophy behind the hires.
No. Fitz is like "I'm going to get the best and the brightest of the enthusiastic younger generation."
I just like that NU is trying something different. Getting top guys from the FCS is out of the box for most schools, seriously WAY out of the box for a school like NU.
To be clear, I am not criticizing the hires, just having fun with that FCS thing. I guess I am "relieved" more than excited.
Yeah, there are definitely ways that this set of hires could have gone awry, especially with how other programs were hiring more quickly with very little news on what was going on here.
But now it just seems more like Fitz was waiting for NDSU/SDSU seasons to end after their national championship game to grab the coaches he wanted.
As far as relief vs excitement goes, I think the main thing is just that this appears to have been a good hiring process (esp philosophy of focusing on results) with a reasonable ending. There's no "huh???" about these hires.
This ... times 100. If you can't hire someone successful at your level, hire someone successful from a lower level. The "even better outside the box" part is hiring guys who've won NCs in FCS, rather than just aiming for someone whose unit finished in the top third of the MAC, as we've traditionally tended to do.
You know that Coach Braun knows and respects Coach Smith, too, which is a huge plus. And Smith played under Coach Ayeni at Toledo also.
Awesome hire. I'm excited for NU football for the first time in a couple of years.
Definitely had a smirk on my face to see Fitz stopped in South Dakota on his way back from North Dakota. I'd be interested to know how well these guys know each other.
Obviously, no idea how coaches will work out until they do (or don't), but I'm a fan of the DC and DL hires - proven winners I expect will bring that attitude with them.
Obviously, no idea how coaches will work out until they do (or don't), but I'm a fan of the DC and DL hires - proven winners I expect will bring that attitude with them.
Additionally, the farther away we get from 2020, the fewer NU players/staff we have who have experience with championships, playoffs, bowls, etc. Bringing a winning attitude to the staff is a home run in my opinion. That they can coach is even better!
One other interesting move...this staff is getting younger and younger with each hire - a near-180 degree turn as guys like Hank, Bates, Heffner have left the staff. Not that he'd ever really comment on it, but I'd love to know if that's a deliberate move on Fitz's part or just the way the chips have fallen.
But it took too long! How then could it have been a good hiring process?
How long will it take the new coaches to make our players unlearn two years of that "read and react" crap?
I'm worried about bad habits.
I'm worried about bad habits.
One might argue they never really learned it in the first place, so hopefully it won't take too long!
Yep, football is football. And we lose to FCS teams, so there isnt as big a gap as people think.
That they can take FCS talent and beat Power 5 teams also is something that we should hopefully benefit from given our talent gaps with the Ohio State's of the world. (And yes, even as we wallow in the gutter and the dumpster fire that is NU football today, I still dream of the day when we can beat them regularly, as they have beat us).
If you read the InsideNU article (which was excellent btw) - its music to my ears. Fit the scheme to the players. Make them comfortable. Fly to the ball. Play fast. None of this read and react bullshit. Sounds like we are heading back to Hank ball (and spare me the BS that he was read and react - if it was, it wasn't JON read and react, defining mud ball).
I almost think the last two years had to be Fitz's way of transitioning from Hank. Whoever followed was doomed to fail. So you bite the bullet, and then start from the bottom so that the next guy is well positioned to succeed. It's the only way to make sense of the last two years of complete bullshit.
1st paragraph, yes. 2nd paragraph, no. He just shat the bed with JON hire
I really do think Fitz thought JON would work out here, mistakenly obviously (perhaps ignoring the NFL evidence as being of a different level). A lot of us were just hopeful at that time that the ugly track record might not come here given our track record of success under Hank and with all of Hank's other staff in place here.
I agree completely with you on coaching philosophy, and I think this set of hires is pretty much exactly what we could have hoped for: good fits here and guys that are on the rise in the profession and that were parts of programs that were absolutely excelling on the field; their programs work by taking players and maximizing their abilities on the field.
As you said in your other post, football is football. NDSU and SDSU play at the level of FBS programs (much like Appalachian State before they came to this level), so in a lot of ways this isn't that dissimilar to grabbing the best available coaches from Group of 5 FBS programs. Those 2 programs make deep FCS playoff runs every year. Most FBS programs do not want to play them because they can lose to them (Iowa nearly lost to SDSU this year with their offense putting up 3 points). Fundamentals and playing up to competition is exactly what we want here.
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Hank's defenses were 'read-and-react' when he wasn't calling stunts. Just like every other program in the country. If you want an attacking defense, then call more line stunts and blitzes out of the baseline read-and-react.
I have no idea what Colby was calling. Somehow that was falsely equated with a read-and-react defense by the guys who never strapped it on and entered the arena.
for you, Streamcat
