Here's a plan from a dumb 60 year old. Review all G5 conferences. Find the best defense in each. Interview the DCs. Double the salary, or more, of the one you want.
Rittenberg calls out Fitz re: JON
- Thread starter Medill '03
- Start date
You can honestly set your aim higher.
We pulled Bajakian from BC.
We can easily afford to pay $1-2 million a year for a pedigreed DC from even the ACC/Pac-12/Big 12 (though maybe a good DC from those isn't available) with the money the AD is pulling in from the conference TV deals and donations.
We can easily triple any G5 DC's salary and probably at least double the salary of most ACC/Big 12/Pac-12 DCs as well.
We're fortunate to be in a situation where money isn't an issue given the Big Ten's TV deals and our donor base.
Make him a fundraiser and demand he raise 10M a year, will cover his salary and add 5M to the bottom line.
Sure, but I don't see the point in rushing I guess.
We have the financial capabilities to not need to rush it, and we really have to get this right given we may have to replace Bajakian as well down the road.
We don't want the DC/OC positions to be revolving doors (unless it's an Alabama like situation where they're getting hired to be HCs).
And given the style of football that Fitz wants to play, i.e. Tressel-ball, a good DC is an absolute must, much more so than the OC.
We need the next Hank, but good luck identifying that.
Disagree! Sullivan lost the game today with his inexplicable bran fart interceptions
If what you're saying is true, then Fitz is a fool. I hope he isn't.
Fitz should be booed every time he’s in front of our fans until JON is gone.
Not because we hate Fitz, but because we love him enough to do so.
Not because we hate Fitz, but because we love him enough to do so.
Eh, as long as Fitz makes the right move, then I don't think the when is the issue.
Plus the schedule is just bad right now for breaking in a new DC.
I think we should give somebody a shot on the defensive side of the staff, but at the same time, you don't want to ruin another person's career too by putting them in a spot they're not ready for...
Ohio State can probably put up 7 or 8 TDs on us even if Hank is DC right now, so maybe we are at the point where waiting for the end of the season is the right move.
What's most alarming to me about the Rittenberg Tweet is his use of the word "selfish."
Let's agree: we're a bunch of message board dummies that spend our time here talking stupid. But for Rittenberg, a Northwestern alum and ESPN insider with "access" to use that word, he is effectively confirming much of what we've suspected: JON is a Fitz/buddy hire, and he'll basically do everything possible to avoid firing his bro, even at the expense of the program...on blind hope that things will eventually work out.
Seeing this shortens my patience with and for Pat Fitzgerald. I've never been a fan of firing a coach too soon...but I'm also not a fan of watching a $5M+/year coach with a narrow window of experience expose himself like we're seeing right now, week after week.
I agree, that word hit me right away. Perhaps selfish in that he can't admit he's wrong or it's my world and I call all the shots. i wonder if Gragg knew what he was getting into...
Read my post in the other thread. Lots of ways to make his ego miserable. Start by denying his kids admission.
I think the "selfish" word is directed at the nepotistic part of the hiring of JON.
It was clear to even us message board dummies that instead of casting a wide net and looking around for the best possible DC available, we instead settled quickly for somebody that Fitz was close to...
Quite frankly, there's little difference between Brian Ferentz situation at Iowa and JON here. Brian Ferentz's main qualification for holding his job is that he's Kirk's son. JON's main qualification for holding his job is that he's Fitz's friend. Sometimes, life is that simple. People often get hired for nepotistic reasons, and more often than not, it tends to work out poorly.
It's impossible to know how JON's hiring happened, maybe he really pushed for Fitz to bring him on and Fitz couldn't say no to somebody he's close to...
I think Fitz knows this is untenable though if the defense is playing at this level.
Whatever - if you like the direction of the program, if you prefer ego driven maniac holding MM buyout contract that handcuffs the admin, if you like losing as you play Mr Nice Guy - ok. And I know my ideas won’t happen - to be honest - they would need to too. I bet sitting PF down and simply giving him a list of how things are going to change would cause PF to quit. But, hey, dark ages, marshmellows, laughingstock, go sportsball!
So instead of firing an adult coach who is terrible at his job, it’s better to let the young men in your program be embarrassed week after week?
Fitz makes lots of $$, if he’s concerned about JON then he can pay the guy to be his personal assistant or coffee gopher. Fix him up with a job to be the DC at Loyola Academy. I‘ve lost most of my respect for Fitz as he continues to prioritize his own agendas over what’s best for the kids he’s supposedly “leading”
This season is a pretty terrible example of leadership. Your job as a leader is to put your team in the best position to succeed.
Every single person who follows this team knew that keeping his pal on staff was not part of that path.
There is no pressure on him to succeed. It’s a real bummer.
My addition says that he ended the 2020 season at 63-60 as a B1G head coach — over .500 in conference regular season games! At Northwestern!
He’s now 65-71, and even the most optimistic here can’t see him being any better than 67-74. Most likely scenario is that he’ll be back to 65-76 when the season is out. This is really painful.
Is Fitz himself ready to be a DC? Would any top 40 program hire him to be a DC?
Precisely. And as I mentioned above, also the University as a whole, and its alumni.
Unfortunately, the program gets so little attention that people like Jake Butt-head still spin the tired cliché that he works miracles.
The difference? Kids will vote with their feet. The Portal leakage will become a deluge. Why would anyone with any talent or aspirations stay?
I think the answer is yes to both questions. Obviously Fitz's experience is mostly as HC at this point, but there was enough improvement to the defense last year when he was more hands on in the 2nd half of the season to warrant that answer.
Issue is just that we obviously need a separate DC.
Rittenberg ain’t backing down! Is he a WR poster?
Stay on it, Adam. Be a voice crying out in the wilderness for us voiceless few.
Maybe he is Adam On First?
My mind would be blown if so. But it would explain why @AdamOnFirst has a PFF subscription and has provided such nice breakdowns of snaps on the Rock…
Based on @AdamOnFirst’s extensive posting, I cannot think he’s employed. 😂😂😂My mind would be blown if so. But it would explain why @AdamOnFirst has a PFF subscription and has provided such nice breakdowns of snaps on the Rock…
But I like it.
When the defensive front four rarely gets pressure on the QB, is that mainly coaching or mainly a reflection of the ability of the defensive front 4?
When we blitz (the more the better) and guys get clean shots at the QB and can't tackle him, is that the play we called or the player who was called upon? Sure, you can say the poor tackling is the fault of the DC, but it isn't entirely his fault.
We have some talent, but our two best linebackers are a little slow and there's no depth at all.
We obviously wore down against Maryland.
My point is that this roster of defensive players is an average Big Ten defense at best
Fate swept Fitz past that phase in his coaching development.
The good news is that Fitz was really born to be the face of the program. He is an archetype of a head coach who can cultivate donors, recruits, the media, etc. and build the Northwestern brand honorably - but he is a peace time president.
A coach like Fitz this needs TWO lights-out coordinators who can handle the actual gory details of player development, Xs and Os, etc. For most of his career he had at least one in Hank, and McCall was serviceable (it's possible we owe him more credit in hindsight, since he was putting offensive players in the NFL on the regular). Now Fitz appears to have zero quality coordinators, and also appears to be overconfident in his ability to right the ship with his current picks.
I've said elsewhere the solution here is to basically buy him a pair of coordinators (who frankly don't cost too much more than crappy coordinators in the grand scheme of things) to run this part of the program and let him recruit like an animal off of January 1 bowl wins, new facilities, graduation rates, etc. That format actually works.
It's funny that Dan & Susan Jones basically endowed the head coaching position...we need that for coordinators.
Probably a lot more than mine. Until he gets fired and never coaches DC at this level again.
Remind me. Recruiting and development are the responsibility of...
Also explain why we fell off a cliff on the first play of the new DCs tenure.
Hey! I resemble that remark.
By that logic, our ~20 regular posters enjoy gain-less unemployment.
I find plenty of downtime to vent when work is slow and my kids are playing peacefully.
Even if our talent is average at best we’ve been performing as one of, if not the worst defense in the league 2 years running.
Paddy Fisher and Blake Gallagher couldn’t sniff NFL rosters because of their lack of speed. They never seemed as lost or as out of place as our current LBs. Who has the corners line up 7 yards back on 3rd and short?
The talent isn’t the same as the 2020 team, no doubt but that doesn’t explain the total nosedive this defense has taken the last two years. Trying to pretend that O’Neil isn’t a complete failure is just putting blinders on.
I agree with everything you wrote.
Paddy Fisher was a great college linebacker who was in the Dick Butkus mold. Hit hit like a freight train AND knew where the runner was going AND played with a really high motor, running all over the field. Even those guys don't play in the NFL because of all the passing.
I agree 100% about how our corners defend. Especially on 3rd and 3. Its "bend don't break" but its the version that breaks.
The DC gets a lot of the blame... our tackling has dropped off significantly, our coverage techniques seem to involve a lot of grabbing and holding. The linebackers and safeties seem to misread a lot of plays. That isn't all on the players either.
I would agree that the fall of the defense since O'Neil was hired has been dramatic. And terrible to behold. If he is fired at end of season, no one can really argue with that, but we're overmatched right now.
