Long and Heffner are high on my list of assistant coach rankings. Those two, Ayeni, McG, and Mac are basically my top 5.
If Springer retires, I hope we hire someone like Mark Philmore to replace him.
Realistically, a season like this gets Fitz fired at a lot of places, right?
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If Springer retires, I hope we hire someone like Mark Philmore to replace him.
I dislike the lack of aggressiveness, not to say chicken-shit, when the momentum of the game was on the line. Marty isn't passing well, OK, then why put the pressure on him to pass on 3rd down when the D expects passing?
I hope we consider guys who don’t have direct NU ties instead of potentially hiring guys who aren’t ready for the position(s).
What I am sick of is a good season is about how great Fitz is in managing all the challenges and when we suck he becomes the victim. He hired these coaches and offered scholarships to these players. Period.2
He has relentlessly shown you he is who he is. A sub-.500 coach in the B1G. No more. No less. He has mis-managed players (HJ & thought Drake Anderson was a D1 starter), made horrible calls, can't develop a kicker to save our lives. McCall/JON. What will it take to realize other coaches can do better under the same circumstances and thrive.
Yes and no… usually limited to 25 “counters,” but the class of 2022 can be up to 32 on an exception basis to allow for changes in the transfer rules: https://theathletic.com/news/ncaa-d...waiver-to-account-for-transfers/rO2GwQvo6YDt/
NCAA also seems to be looking at changing the rules, but that’s the way it’s set up for this season.
so you are saying we should "fill-more" positions with non NU guys. So you are in agreement with him.
After this season and 2019, I doubt coaches will be pounding down the door to come to Evanston. Especially if JON really is canned.
Philmore was a really good WR for us, knows the position, and has deep Ohio ties both to the Columbus and Southwest area. Plus if Ayeni or McG leave, we’ll have another coach on the roster to speak to the NU experience.
We could do far worse.
Don’t underestimate just how well-regarded Fitz is in the coaching community. Whether he chooses to capitalize on that and work the network a little more to replace coaches is obviously to be determined.
Then why did we get stuck with a D-list hire like JON to replace an A-list DC like Hankwitz?
After a Top 10 finish mind you.
That would be the “if he chooses to use it” part. Seemed like he clearly emphasized previous relationship with the JON hire.
As a
I appreciate your response but you shifted the question from "should he be fired" to a statement "he wont be fired".
Maybe I need to read your answer again but i guess you not only think he shouldnt be fired but also that he will advance the program. Time will tell i guess.
If he should be fired everywhere else for suck seasons then it ought to naturally follow that he get whacked here after awful.
BC found out NU isnt forever. He exploited trust far too long and so has Fitz. Dude is getting paid 3rd highest in the big.
NU fan, i am used to embracing suck. Not piss and moaning. Its still fun. My comments were a direct response to the original post. Everyone in this thread admits that fitz would have been whacked at any other program. So, the only difference in my opinion and others is should he be fired here.
I appreciate your response but you shifted the question from "should he be fired" to a statement "he wont be fired".
Maybe I need to read your answer again but i guess you not only think he shouldnt be fired but also that he will advance the program. Time will tell i guess.
If he should be fired everywhere else for suck seasons then it ought to naturally follow that he get whacked here after awful.
BC found out NU isnt forever. He exploited trust far too long and so has Fitz. Dude is getting paid 3rd highest in the big.
So you’re confirming “The Problem of Fitz” theory from @Turk ?
But I thought “The problem of Fitz” pertained to Fitz’s tendency for buddy hires, and then holding on to those buddies for too long?
A la Cushing & McCall. Can you or @Turk explain the difference to me?
Fans wanna know.
I can’t explain TPOF because that’s your little catchphrase and there’s no coherent way to explain your ramblings.
Can't fire the guy a year after a West title, bad optics. I am with you Turk about Fitz really needing to feel some heat though. The program is far from stable. Going from first to almost last and probably last back to back is unprecedented. His coordinator hires are puzzling.
To add to this I asked a season ticket holder who sits next to me this question: If Fitz quit today where does he get hired? Power 5? NFL? MAC School? He couldn't answer and that made my point.
If Mel Tucker quit today does he have a job by December 31st? How about Scott Frost?
Fitz cannot realistically justify why he is top 10 power 5 paid.
Nobody would hire Fitz in a power 5. Not a chance. If he quit, the level of hope would spike.
I appreciate Fitz stepping in the gap and taking the head coaching job but he is outside his skillset. He is Bob Davie all over again.
Once he leaves the field, he will make tons as a color commentator on TV and that is where he should focus his 5 year plan.
Disclaimer - I don't believe he will quit or be fired in the next 4-6 years, and, in fact, I think he will coach as long as he wants.
You and Ryanfield are looking at a situation that is 10 weeks old. As of the day before the season, probably 70-80 FBS programs would have traded coaches with us, perhaps as many as 100, including probably 50%+ of Power 5. I agree the outlook is bleak right at the moment, but the dude was hot property until Labor Day weekend. In fact, probably still a ton of teams with crap coaching would hire him in a heartbeat. Has he hurt his marketability? Sure. Even if he signaled availability, he's not a candidate at LSU, USC, or (eventual) Florida. Heck, I don't think TCU would replace Patterson with an ersatz version.
Fitz is a good coach. He makes mistakes, and then makes mistakes upon mistakes by not taking swift corrective action. But - he ain't going anywhere. I'm older than he is, I think he will be the coach for the rest of my life.
And you know that, how? I seems we recruit about equal with, say Minnesota and Iowa in terms of player rankings, who we match up pretty with most years. Could be better though, and why not?
I think, by definition, 100 year floods happen, on average, around once every 100 years. Pretty rare to have them take place 2 of 3 years. Opposing coaches can spin this, and say that 2020 was the aberration, and that we are on a downcycle that culminated with Thor graduating. "they can't win without a QB and got lucky during the COVID year to have Ramsey". "their defense is nothing without Hank". and so on.
You know what most players want? To play in the league. They can negative recruit all they want, but NU will pull out Slater and Newsome. No one will get drafted this year, but next year he’ll have Skoronski and BrJo to parade as exhibit A. Negative recruiting is really easy. It’s easy against most programs even the good one’s. You know Cameron Martinez, OSU already has 3 Freshman starters at WR, come to ABC you’ll be the man right away, and scouts will see you! Some will bite others don’t care. Point is you can get players even if they aren’t 5 stars. Fitz can sell and despite what this board thinks, he has a stellar reputation with most HS Coaches.
Joseph has a LOT of work to do to get back to his first round projections. Skoronski is well on his way.
Perhaps the % of CO2 in the air affects football? The clean up from a 100 yr. flood takes a while also. The question is, has Fitz maxed out, or can he play for the full 60 minutes? I'm rooting for him.
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Why are you addressing Turk and the recently minted Ryanfield separately? You should have added WickerPark to that list of people who share Turk's "opinion".
True, Fitz is a great coach's coach, he would be a great coach to play under, but still he needs a coach coach to improve his potential so he doesn't max out at the level he has gotten this program to.
Absolutely it is, the Big Ten was born in mud, cold, and snow. No one could compete with us in those conditions. Now we have to compete against teams born in heat and sunshine. And actually, we are doing pretty well with that. It is the teams born in winning at any cost we have problems with.
Damn - stuff is getting deleted like progressives in control of the ‘free’ speech delete button. Removing discourse from this place really limits the appeal. Will this just become cheerleading central? Gonna be some rough days ahead.
Ummm - I think the programs we compete against out guys in the league. A lot more guys. Sure, Harvard and little sisters of the Saint might not be able to counter us…
Of the last five years, how many guys actually play on Sundays? How many were drafted? How many in position if need?
