Lets face it. The teams performance is putrid and it is his fault. I had to leave the game early at 17-7 bc the team was so bad.
Pat Fitzgerald needs to be fired
- Thread starter BigNUFan51
- Start date
Thank you for throwing out the first brickbat. Ridiculous suggestion, no doubt made in the heat of the moment. But since this is the internet, someone had to do it. You da man. But don't let it ruin your Sunday. It is only a collegiate extracurricular activity.
He should have never been the head coach with so little experience, and he wouldn't have gotten the job but for the untimely death of Randy Walker!
I do t know if he should be fired but he should certainly be threatened with it by Sunday at sundown by some boys with the ability to make it happen. And in no uncertain terms. This program is right on the precipice of DA II.
Another stupid comment from Stupor.
I guess you're not a "Big NU Fan", then.
Yeah, who could possibly fire PF?
You can't fire a NU HC just because in 10 complete seasons he hasn't even won a lowly division title ... NOT when you know full well that in the immediately preceding decade NU won ONLY THREE (3) B1G crowns!!
Give the guy a break!
And don't overlook that he has won more than 3 B1G games in 40% of his seasons (and always won at least one!!)
And remember that, in the 3 seasons immediately preceding his tenure, NU only won 4, 5 and 5 B1G games. It only took PF TEN seasons to eclipse the 5-B1G-win mark...yeah, only by one, but still good.
Give the guy 10 more years...he will (almost certainly) win 7 B1G games after 10 more seasos...which (maybe) leads to a division title (with some luck)....After that, you given him 10 more seasons, and (hopefully) he'll get a B1G crown by his 30th year....Just because the previous coaches won the B1G in only a few years (taking the program in much worse shape), it doesn't exactly mean you should expect PF to win one in less than 30 years!! Each one has its own speed!!
Be fair to him...that's all we are asking.
P.S. And don't forget bowls!!!! As HC he has taken NU to SIX of them, and WON ONE!!!!
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[yawn]
He's here at least through the 2020 season so it is pointless to bitch and moan about it.
Yeah... we can (and should) bitch if we continue falling flat the rest of the season without any staff changes, but it's pointless to bitch about PF's job.
Have you read his contract? Most have "reasonable" buy-out clauses (typically the school just pays one full-season worth of salary or something like that). One would expect (hope) that PF's buyout is comparable to that of most coaches (especially considering his actual on-field B1G performance).
My comment has nothing to do with the buy-out clause. As long as he has the support of major donors he will be the head ball coach. There are no indications that one bad season will cause them to lose their patience, after 10 seasons of mostly mediocre results. Calling for his firing is just plain a waste of ket strokes.
Well you must know a lot about what major donors think (assuming that is the criteria used). My guess is that the cumulative effect of season after season after season without a title (even the very modest West division title) or being really close to one will take a toll (or should).
P.S. Last season was good, but we were destroyed by IOA, Michigan and Tenn. , IOA lost the B1G crown game and also got destroyed in the bowl game...Obviously we weren't bad, but far from great.
There's only one NU football supporter with the financial wherewithal to buy out Fitz's contract and he's a HUGE PF fan.
And who says that *IF* NU wants to buy out PF's contract it would need outside help?
The B1G distributes tons of money each year...and -- what may be more important (financially) -- often fielding a mediocre-to-bad team also costs money, in a number of way (attendance being an obvious one). So, a buyout MAY actually pay itself.
One thing that is interesting though -- we have been known to be incredibly patient with our coaches in revenue sports, maddeningly so for some of us. Does that change at all now that we dumped a quarter-billion dollars into the practice facility? Hard to say we're not trying to compete with the big boys when we do that.
If you listened to the speeches Pat Ryan and his wife gave at the WRA renovation announcement presser, those major donors don't accept mediocrity and expect competitive programs. So I can only conclude they are in his corner as he has been here through a major donation of their in the football facility.
About as int
This comment is not very well thought out. But I guess leaving the game when the score is 17-7 isn't either. At least there is some consistency here.
I think he is smarter than some on this board and knows that this isn't the OSU gig and he has the right guy as HC. Now Fitz is going to have to put on his big boy pants and dump some Assistant Coaches on Offense.
Ok, just as a simple point of fact, this statement is completely wrong. There are dozens of guys (and gals) with more than enough money to do that. You probably sit near them at games and would never know it - and that's by design.
This whole conversation is a waste of time. Fitz is not getting fired and anyone even remotely around the program knows it.
I agree. But it's not because we only have one donor who could spring for the buyout if they wanted to. That's just factually beyond incorrect.
Let's not take this too far. I, like many others on this board, thinks the program needs to take a deep long look at itself and address some recurring shortcomings. Obviously that starts with Fitz, he's in charge of his staff and the players and the locker room culture. I'm hoping that this offseason he is able to shrug off some of his stubbornness and do his best to make changes that will lead the program in the right direction.
Why stop at Fitz? Fire Mort, too. And the board prez. Throw in the Sultan of Brunei and guys who created Krusty the Clown. Come to think of it, let's fire GOD.
Pat Fitzgerald isn't a great head coach but doesn't need to be. He's a great ambassador of NU and I hope he's here forever. But what he needs to do is surround himself with better coaches. His coaching staff sucks balls
Think about if we were an Indiana, Perdue, or Illinois program - those have been perennially long suffering programs for their respective schools and alumni, surely each having some very large donors and trustees.
We are above their situations and reputations when it comes to year-over-year struggling football programs.
We are above their situations and reputations when it comes to year-over-year struggling football programs.
You know who else is a great ambassador of Northwestern football?
Willy the Wildcat.
Perhaps we keep Fitz on the payroll and let him stand on the sidelines with Willy and bring in a person who can manage a game and shows enough leadership ability to hold assistants accountable for their performance. As the Ls and excuses pile up, the "great ambassador" looks more and more like a sad goofy mascot anyway.
Firing Fitz is a bit of a stretch, but if he doesn't start canning some of the incompetents on his offensive staff, I may start wondering.
One thing I don't understand - Fitz is steaming that he's going to make the kids work this week because what he's seen so far is unacceptable. What the hell happened all those other weeks? Why weren't we preparing the way we should have?
It's too bad Fitz only joined the Walker staff after the Wheeler tragedy. He only learned the softer side of Walker. Walker had the best preparation regimen of any coach I've seen, until the Wheeler tragedy when he seemed to mellow understandably and let his foot off the gas. Those teams at Miami including the one that beat our 1995 team were old school Walker. With an OC that was far from mellow (Kevin Wilson, who like him or hate him, was one of the best OC's the game has seen in the last decade, and just look at what IU is doing offensively).
I can't possibly be the only one who remembers what it was like when NU's offense was consistently in the top tier of the league and even the nation. Despite the dearth of talent. What the hell happened to us?
Woody, thank you for any financial contributions you may have made. Actually, thank you for speaking up for all anonymous donors sitting amongst us. Rest assured that you never have to remind us of this fact again.
I seem to remember that Illinois has bought out 2 HC's and hired a former NFL coach, Purdue has made changes and Wilson, right now is a better HC then Fitz. First, if Fitz really means what he says, as " it's on me" then he needs to fire all of the offensive coaches and maybe a couple of D guys as well ASAP. Then if that doesn't turn things around, Phillips should fire/buy out Fitz, period.
I like all nu sports. Its just too dam tough to compete with the power house BT programs year in and year out! As a former NU athlete, I can say this with certainty,Fitz is one of the best coaches we have ever had in any sport! He is a top ten coach in college football who can leave Nu at anytime and make 3 million per year.
Fitz will obviously be granted some time to turn this around. I'm hoping that he fires McCall and hires an experienced OC with major program experience similarly to Hankwitz.'
And if Nebraska doesn't fumble twice at the goal line, we lose by 20! We can't expect to get all the breaks every game.
If we could get an OC with Hankwitz's resume, well damn.
Art Briles anyone? BTW, before anyone gets all snippity about that, Kenneth Starr just reported that Briles was completely railroaded. Hell, I wouldn't mind if we brought in Gary Barnett. He's no older thank Hank is he? At least Barnett could clean house and bring in a qualified staff and maybe teach Fitz a few things.
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