I would like to respond to this message. I was a student right before the dark ages. College sports at Northwestern were different back in the day. The training table was right in Norris Center. I remember eating at Norris center on Sundays because the dorms did not serve food on Sundays. I ate dinner at the table next to the football players. I even remember playing pick up basketball with some of the players on the Northwestern basketball team. I am only an amateur player, I would not be playing pick up ball with our current players. There was no indoor practice facility and the football coach was also the athletic director. You could go to the games for free with your student ID. Recruiting was done in the tristate area. When we played teams like OSU and Michigan we were never in the game. They used to call the Big the Big 2 and the little 8. Things changed because the people donating money to the program wanted to win. As much as we dislike losing, our team was in much better shape to win than those dark ages teams. I saw every home game from the 40 yard line in row 6 or seven for 4 years. We only drew about 3000 a game. I only saw one sell out in 4 years and that was the ND game. Our players are much bigger, stronger and faster than those dark ages teams. The only player I knew that made the pros was Randy Dean. Not only was he a fine football player but a brilliant Econ straight A student. With the TV exposure these days and the internet, the pros will see you play in any D1 school. Back in the day, if you were not playing for a blue blood, you got one TV game a year. Teams could give 95 scholarships a year. They cut down the number of scholarships and that made teams like Northwestern more competitive. For those who want change, look at a few examples from other programs that failed. Schiano, Rutgers coach had a great program going before Rutgers joined the Big. Although they gave him a free plot of land near Rutgers to build his house, he left for bigger and better things. I can’t help but think where they would be now if he had not left. Nebraska thought they needed to change everything and install the west coast offense. That did not work out at all. Michigan with that coach from West Virginia thought they needed to fineness teams instead of their smashed mouth style. That also failed. I feel in Fitz, we have a loyal coach who wants to see NU win as much as we do. Pappy Waldorf, Ara P, and Barnett were all fine coaches who did not stay at NU for long. Alex, who was the last successful coach before the dark ages went back to Purdue. Every coach either wants bigger and better things or they want to go back to where they played. Don’t forget that ND had a very long dry spell before Ara. I think we will be much better next year. Our school was ranked number 17 back in the day. We are ranked 9th now and our facilities for all academic and sports are much better than they were back in the day. NU has a lot to offer any student. We may lose some players but there are also people who would love to play here. Fitz will figure it out.
Northwestern Football, a historical view.
- Thread starter Prescott2018
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