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Sheffielder

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Just bringing this up because I don't care about the draft or basketball and I doubt anyone else is as excited as I am for the XFL's DC Defenders to be 3-0 with the beer snake back in full force.

I was just pondering how these searches go for Fitz. Obviously, you don't want your position coaches leaving at this stage in the game with spring ball just around the corner. But do you think...

1. Any way you slice it, Northwestern is a Big Ten football program and there should be good coaches wanting to coach in the Big Ten for the second-longest tenured coach in the conference? And for as bad as we've been, there's no place to go but up?

or

2. Candidates for both positions see a bare cupboard and a coach in the hot seat with an offensive coordinator in a hotter seat and a new DC with no immediate indications next season even yields a promising hope for 6-6?
 
Sheffielder said:
Just bringing this up because I don't care about the draft or basketball and I doubt anyone else is as excited as I am for the XFL's DC Defenders to be 3-0 with the beer snake back in full force.

I was just pondering how these searches go for Fitz. Obviously, you don't want your position coaches leaving at this stage in the game with spring ball just around the corner. But do you think...

1. Any way you slice it, Northwestern is a Big Ten football program and there should be good coaches wanting to coach in the Big Ten for the second-longest tenured coach in the conference? And for as bad as we've been, there's no place to go but up?

or

2. Candidates for both positions see a bare cupboard and a coach in the hot seat with an offensive coordinator in a hotter seat and a new DC with no immediate indications next season even yields a promising hope for 6-6?
Click to expand...

1) Fitz is not on the hot seat. The last two seasons have sucked, but he just isn’t.

2) There will always be good candidates who want to coach at NU.
 
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gocatsgo2003 said:
1) Fitz is not on the hot seat. The last two seasons have sucked, but he just isn’t.

2) There will always be good candidates who want to coach at NU.
Click to expand...
I generally don't disagree with you on the first point, but if I'm a position coach on the rise looking to increase my stock with no intimate knowledge of NU, I exist in a universe where anyone with Fitz's record of the past few years is in some danger, and I'm also naturally skittish about a school with high academic standards with no obvious NIL commitment.

On the second point...our actual hires from the past X years might tell a different story (not referring to the most recent ones).
 
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Rebel II said:
You should apply, Mr. Obvious!
Click to expand...
Probably - my inability to read, lack of experience combined with obstinate attitude makes me a great fit.

But I care about winning, have self respect and, unfortunately, error on the side of customer satisfaction so that it might make my hire problematic.
 


He did one season each at these schools, I won't say in which order so you can speculate if there is a "trajectory" between them and landing at Northwestern, which might not even be the best football program on his resume at this point.
 
Sheffielder said:
I generally don't disagree with you on the first point, but if I'm a position coach on the rise looking to increase my stock with no intimate knowledge of NU, I exist in a universe where anyone with Fitz's record of the past few years is in some danger, and I'm also naturally skittish about a school with high academic standards with no obvious NIL commitment.

On the second point...our actual hires from the past X years might tell a different story (not referring to the most recent ones).
Click to expand...
Fitz has Ryan (and the other donors) squarely in his corner, and he's about as tied to the program as anybody in CFB history is tied to their program.

Fitz's seat is cool; he will have a long runway to rebuild.

On the other hand, Bajakian's seat is very hot (as hot as JON's was last offseason). He has to prove he can field a workable offense with the players he has or he won't be here.

So yeah, if you want to be focusing on performance this upcoming year, Bajakian is the one to look at...
 
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Going to be a tough job for Bajakian to improve the offense with no proven QB. Hilinski hasn’t panned out and coming back from significant injury, Sullivan has some promise but is prone to getting banged up and may have a lower ceiling as far as his arm, Richardson is in portal, Lausch was a baseball draft prospect a year ago, Cole Freeman doesn’t appear to be an FBS QB. And we have no transfer QB. That is the entirety of our QB room. Yikes, it’s scary when you list it out like that isn’t it?
 
We do have Aidan Gray coming in. Will be interesting. I think Sullivan will do well though.
 
Frank Covey (#6) is currently playing QB in spring ball based on the instagram reel. No Hilinski or Sullivan highlights so doubt they’re playing.
 
FanatiCat said:
Going to be a tough job for Bajakian to improve the offense with no proven QB. Hilinski hasn’t panned out and coming back from significant injury, Sullivan has some promise but is prone to getting banged up and may have a lower ceiling as far as his arm, Richardson is in portal, Lausch was a baseball draft prospect a year ago, Cole Freeman doesn’t appear to be an FBS QB. And we have no transfer QB. That is the entirety of our QB room. Yikes, it’s scary when you list it out like that isn’t it?
Click to expand...
Not a comforting list. A depth chart (I swear I heard those things exist) might look like this, not factoring in injuries:

1. Sullivan
2. Lausch
3. Hilinski
4. Gray
5. Freeman

It seems Bajakian and Fitz are betting on Sullivan. I wonder if they can sleep at night.
 
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FanatiCat said:
Going to be a tough job for Bajakian to improve the offense with no proven QB. Hilinski hasn’t panned out and coming back from significant injury, Sullivan has some promise but is prone to getting banged up and may have a lower ceiling as far as his arm, Richardson is in portal, Lausch was a baseball draft prospect a year ago, Cole Freeman doesn’t appear to be an FBS QB. And we have no transfer QB. That is the entirety of our QB room. Yikes, it’s scary when you list it out like that isn’t it?
Click to expand...
Fair, but finding/developing a QB is the most important part of the job of OC given how instrumental that position is.

Bajakian's now going on his 3rd year attempting to find one since Ramsey's 2020 campaign.

He has to get the offense working better this year. I highly doubt Fitz gives him a 4th year if we don't see some improvement at least.

Bajakian knows he's in a "prove it" year this year.
 
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zeek55 said:
Fair, but finding/developing a QB is the most important part of the job of OC given how instrumental that position is.

Bajakian's now going on his 3rd year attempting to find one since Ramsey's 2020 campaign.

He has to get the offense working better this year. I highly doubt Fitz gives him a 4th year if we don't see some improvement at least.

Bajakian knows he's in a "prove it" year this year.
Click to expand...
And Bajakian got super lucky when Ramsey landed in our lap. Otherwise it would've more of Hunter Johnson and Andrew Marty. Looking at his body of work so far as QB coach at NU, he gets an F.
 
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DaCat said:
And Bajakian got super lucky when Ramsey landed in our lap. Otherwise it would've more of Hunter Johnson and Andrew Marty. Looking at his body of work so far as QB coach at NU, he gets an F.
Click to expand...
Ultimately that's why Bajakian is on the hot seat. Other than when we got a polished grad transfer, the development has not been there.

We have to see something, literally anything that shows this year that we have a QB that can perform better than what we've seen the past two years.

The bar is pretty low quite frankly even though our QB room has lots of questions.
 
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mkilla said:
Frank Covey (#6) is currently playing QB in spring ball based on the instagram reel. No Hilinski or Sullivan highlights so doubt they’re playing.
Click to expand...
Really? If he is a terrible WR like all our experts opine, how could he possibly be a QB?
 
Rebel II said:
Really? If he is a terrible WR like all our experts opine, how could he possibly be a QB?
Click to expand...
Covey was originally a QB in high school. IIRC, he started as a sophomore at QB. May have started at QB junior, got injured and moved to wr upon return. I am not ommenting on his ability, but it is not foreign position for spring ball.
 
catfans5 said:
Covey was originally a QB in high school. IIRC, he started as a sophomore at QB. May have started at QB junior, got injured and moved to wr upon return. I am not ommenting on his ability, but it is not foreign position for spring ball.
Click to expand...
I am well aware of his pedigree. Can't decide if I want him to make All B1G as a WR or QB.
 
catfans5 said:
Covey was originally a QB in high school. IIRC, he started as a sophomore at QB. May have started at QB junior, got injured and moved to wr upon return. I am not ommenting on his ability, but it is not foreign position for spring ball.
Click to expand...

Rebel II said:
I am well aware of his pedigree. Can't decide if I want him to make All B1G as a WR or QB.
Click to expand...

Holy crap, guys. It’s not Covey, it’s Sullivan. He switched to #6.
 
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phatcat said:
Sullivan has "it". Worry about injuries. Good size, strong kid, but, sort of has to play risky to give us any chance to move the ball. He's a good one
Click to expand...
And he's wearing #6 as a tribute to a fallen warrior family friend. Hope he's healthy, happy, and hostile! Good team leader.
 
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