Potential HC hires

[Sheffielder]

I would try to poach Elko from Duke

First of all, let's not fall all over Elko after literally ONE season as head coach at Duke.

But I would also say this: obviously the conventional idiot fan wisdom is all coaches should want to go to one of the Big Two (B1G or SEC), but think about it for just one minute - if you're at an "academic" school, your path to a conference championship (and bonuses) is probably MUCH easier at Duke or (soon) Stanford than it is at Northwestern or Vanderbilt. You also have to consider a school like Northwestern is always going to be stingy with its resources, and extremely late to the game on things like NIL while they have an identity crisis when it comes to paying players to compete (this dude came from Texas A&M so he's surely seen opposite extremes).

 

[theProducer]

Well he was ready enough as a freshman that he got a shot at the job. After seeing what he did as a senior I have a hard time believing he couldn't have handled the job as a junior.

 

[SmellyCat]

How far into Kafka's playing career was his crazy backward pass against Indiana? Whenever I hear "he was ready" or "he was not ready" discussions, I think of that play that probably was the closest I ever came to smashing a TV.

 

[BillMedleyFan]

Well he was ready enough as a freshman that he got a shot at the job. After seeing what he did as a senior I have a hard time believing he couldn't have handled the job as a junior.

He played as a junior for an injured Bacher. Ran all over Minnesota.

 

[CappyNU]

Well he was ready enough as a freshman that he got a shot at the job. After seeing what he did as a senior I have a hard time believing he couldn't have handled the job as a junior.

He was not ready as a freshman, that was why we had the disastrous Brefwka experiment when Bacher was hurt to start the season.

 

[NUCat320]

He was not ready as a freshman, that was why we had the disastrous Brefwka experiment when Bacher was hurt to start the season.

And the backwards pass Indiana (I was there!) came fully two seasons later.

Kafka and Brewer split time for twoish awful months.

Then Bacher started for 2 1/2 seasons (missing one game, when Kafka ran for 200+ yards in a win at Minny, thanks to Timmy Brewster). Then Kafka came back as a star his senior season.

 

[corbi296]

Well he was ready enough as a freshman that he got a shot at the job. After seeing what he did as a senior I have a hard time believing he couldn't have handled the job as a junior.

You obviously don’t remember some of the early game reps he got. He needed time . In addition, as others mentioned, I always thought CJ was a good QB for us.

 

[corbi296]

He played as a junior for an injured Bacher. Ran all over Minnesota.

Yes, the key word is ran. He was not yet comfortable with his reads as a passer in the offense. By the time senior year rolled around he was a completely different player as a passer in the offense. His timing and rhythm were completely different.

 

[pawildcat]

Whomever they bring in as head coach needs to bring a little imagination to the offensive side of the team and recruit well enough to execute his plan. Hankwitz's defense enabled Fitz to get away with stagnant offense for a couple of years, but his departure left the Cats with a 17 ppg offense and bad defense. Even with a good DC, you can't expect to constantly hold teams to 20 ppg or fewer in this day and age.

I doubt NU can slug it out with the big boys by pounding the ball. The football factories are going to get most of the talented defensive tackles and the vast majority of the speed guys. I'd like to see some sort of option offense with a good play-call variety that didn't ignore the pass. Recruit some dual-threat guys, usually easier to find than outstanding pro-style QBs, and let them go to town. Over the years I've watched NU the offense seems to be at its best when they have a mobile QB such as Bacher, Persa, Kustok, Basanez, etc. Even the Siemien-Kolter combo had its moments. Fitz got away from that and apparently thought he was going to be some Wisconsin-style pound the rock team. Justin Jackson helped enable him to do that to an extent, but it fell off badly after that.

Given the present situation and the 4-20 record of the past two seasons, it's hard for me to see how a shakeup in offensive philosophy could make things much worse.

 

[Figrating]

Again...if he is - GREAT - welcome back. But it's a pipe dream.

Yes, he is nothing but a GREAT answer. It surely is a pipe dream right now because only a couple people around here have discovered it. In one hire, NU might also acquire an entire football coaching staff full of former NFL coaches!

No doubt MK would withhold raucous laughter at the first look at NU HC. Here he is, getting NFL respect everywhere, he's been trained by the best and poised for great success in the NFL. And out of nowhere comes this offer to become HC for NU. Not the NU he knew, but the one that's just been smeared to hell and back. Yeah, that's about attractive. Would $7M/year do it? With a lakefront mansion? And Sears Tower?

"When you got to shoot, shoot, don't talk." Tuco from "The Good , The Bad and The Ugly". NU will surely be moving very cautiously, but if I could make them move today, I'd make them recruit MK with all their might. I don't like NU's chances, but if MK signs on to clean the NU stables, NU is getting better, instead of getting worse as it is the longer this being adrift at sea continues.

Anyone in contact with the powers that be, please get this idea before them

Also, "Mike, did you ever experience hazing as a participant or a perpetrator in the NU locker room, or did you ever witness it during your time as a player?"

I would hope, on the advice of counsel, MK would decline to answer that.

Did I say ONE Sears Tower??? Make that TWO Sears Towers!!!

 

[Medill '03]

Yes, he is nothing but a GREAT answer. It surely is a pipe dream right now because only a couple people around here have discovered it. In one hire, NU might also acquire an entire football coaching staff full of former NFL coaches!

No doubt MK would withhold raucous laughter at the first look at NU HC. Here he is, getting NFL respect everywhere, he's been trained by the best and poised for great success in the NFL. And out of nowhere comes this offer to become HC for NU. Not the NU he knew, but the one that's just been smeared to hell and back. Yeah, that's about attractive. Would $7M/year do it? With a lakefront mansion? And Sears Tower?

"When you got to shoot, shoot, don't talk." Tuco from "The Good , The Bad and The Ugly". NU will surely be moving very cautiously, but if I could make them move today, I'd make them recruit MK with all their might. I don't like NU's chances, but if MK signs on to clean the NU stables, NU is getting better, instead of getting worse as it is the longer this being adrift at sea continues.

Anyone in contact with the powers that be, please get this idea before them



I would hope, on the advice of counsel, MK would decline to answer that.

Did I say ONE Sears Tower??? Make that TWO Sears Towers!!!

He can decline, but they won’t stop asking.

 

[hdhntr1]

Yes, he is nothing but a GREAT answer. It surely is a pipe dream right now because only a couple people around here have discovered it. In one hire, NU might also acquire an entire football coaching staff full of former NFL coaches!

No doubt MK would withhold raucous laughter at the first look at NU HC. Here he is, getting NFL respect everywhere, he's been trained by the best and poised for great success in the NFL. And out of nowhere comes this offer to become HC for NU. Not the NU he knew, but the one that's just been smeared to hell and back. Yeah, that's about attractive. Would $7M/year do it? With a lakefront mansion? And Sears Tower?

"When you got to shoot, shoot, don't talk." Tuco from "The Good , The Bad and The Ugly". NU will surely be moving very cautiously, but if I could make them move today, I'd make them recruit MK with all their might. I don't like NU's chances, but if MK signs on to clean the NU stables, NU is getting better, instead of getting worse as it is the longer this being adrift at sea continues.

Anyone in contact with the powers that be, please get this idea before them



I would hope, on the advice of counsel, MK would decline to answer that.

Did I say ONE Sears Tower??? Make that TWO Sears Towers!!!

Being HC in college is about Recruiting, Recruiting and Recruiting (similar to the old location, location , location in real estate) MK has been all in the pros. He might be a great O mind but can he recruit??? Without that hard to see it being the hire that is needed. OC would be a completely different deal but that is not what people want to bring him into

 

[Figrating]

Being HC in college is about Recruiting, Recruiting and Recruiting (similar to the old location, location , location in real estate) MK has been all in the pros. He might be a great O mind but can he recruit??? Without that hard to see it being the hire that is needed. OC would be a completely different deal but that is not what people want to bring him into

I've always said that the ability to recruit should be a disqualification factor for NU coaches. If NU can land an all world recruiter HC, I'm behind them.

Since MK has spent his career in the pros, he hasn't participated in recruiting and we don't know what he can do. But he would surely surround himself with coaches he knows from the pros. Like Harbaugh, his pro associates would tell him where the best coaches are. Lotsa instant credibility there.

Recruits would know they're talking to coaches that have already made it at the pro level, not talking to a salesman-coach, as they might be elsewhere. I can't think of a way to turn NU around any faster.

Maybe you could get MK's attention with $9M/year. NU created the mess they're in and they need to find a way out. Paying MK would be a fast way.

Schill and Gragg sure look undermotivated these days, though. You get the feeling like it'll take them a year and more to make a decent move, and they don't even have MK's phone number. Manana, NU fans. Gimme a cattle prod.

 

[DaCat]

Well he was ready enough as a freshman that he got a shot at the job. After seeing what he did as a senior I have a hard time believing he couldn't have handled the job as a junior.

He was not ready as a freshman, that was a disaster. Not as a junior either, he was still quite behind Bacher.

 

[hdhntr1]

He played as a junior for an injured Bacher. Ran all over Minnesota.

Ran. Did not throw but ran. The rest of his game was just not there and was exposed shortly after. It was sort of like Thorson's first game in that respect but we did not have a Bacher or anyone else ready to take the reigns at the time