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Rumor from friend who works in athletic department

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It's more than a little difficult for me to trust the word of someone who literally made an account yesterday claiming to have all of this inside info about the inner workings of a coach who notoriously doesn't leak any details to anyone. Monitoring this for now, but will lock the thread if it devolves into unfounded speculation. We've got enough problems as it is this season.
 
Hard to get better players in here when you are only winning 1-3 games a season. His recruiting classes are getting better, so why are the results getting worse? Cycles not working out is squarely on the coaching staff. The excuses are going to get old real fast. In fact, they already are!!! You want better recruiting, win. It is simple as that. Fitzgerald is coming off as a grifter and the administration is coming off like a pack of fools.
 
It's more than a little difficult for me to trust the word of someone who literally made an account yesterday claiming to have all of this inside info about the inner workings of a coach who notoriously doesn't leak any details to anyone. Monitoring this for now, but will lock the thread if it devolves into unfounded speculation. We've got enough problems as it is this season.
Take the gun, leave the cannoli.
 
It's more than a little difficult for me to trust the word of someone who literally made an account yesterday claiming to have all of this inside info about the inner workings of a coach who notoriously doesn't leak any details to anyone. Monitoring this for now, but will lock the thread if it devolves into unfounded speculation. We've got enough problems as it is this season.
Thanks for this. Need more of it on this board. Too much nonsense and obvious trolling has been tolerated in the past, which has made the free board almost unreadable. I’d bet my bottom dollar this is Turk or Shakes with nothing better to do than to stir up the board with a bunch of made up information.
 
Thanks for this. Need more of it on this board. Too much nonsense and obvious trolling has been tolerated in the past, which has made the free board almost unreadable. I’d bet my bottom dollar this is Turk or Shakes with nothing better to do than to stir up the board with a bunch of made up information.
I think the spelling is too good to be Turk, and shakes has been gone for years.
 
The problem here is that the outward appearance of Fitz *should* be absolute confidence in JON and Bajakian until he pulls the plug on them.

That's the proper way to act; act as if you're all in on these two turning it around, and then switch on a dime when it's time to change course.

So it's no surprise at all to me that anybody looking at the program from the inside should see Fitz acting like this.

Of course, with JON the time to change course already started well before now, so it's overdue at this point. Question is just how long Fitz is willing to bear with these results.

He's a competitive guy; he hates to lose. But the program is more important than any coach, including Fitz. And if we keep losing like this, JON will be gone and Bajakian as well sooner than later.

Results matter, and football is the flagship program. Spending $1.1 billion on football facilities and then the salaries these guys are earning means they have to produce results.
 
It's more than a little difficult for me to trust the word of someone who literally made an account yesterday claiming to have all of this inside info about the inner workings of a coach who notoriously doesn't leak any details to anyone. Monitoring this for now, but will lock the thread if it devolves into unfounded speculation. We've got enough problems as it is this season.
You're just dying to try out your new powers, aren't you!!?? :p
 
To be totally honest it doesn't matter if OP is legit or not. Anything and everything can change in a minute. Imagine Ohio State breaks 100 points in Evanston.

The reality is, Fitz is not an enigmatic coaching personality. He's obviously a more conservative coach who doesn't like the speed at which college football is changing. We see a million examples of "so-and-so legendary coach would have been fired in his second season with the same expectations" and I think Fitz latches onto things like that. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that he's not ready to fire anyone after 2-3 seasons, no matter how bad it goes - for better or worse he doesn't have the stomach to fire guys and then look their wives and kids in the face afterwards and tell them they have to move. We just all need to hope that his approach turns out to be right, given the consequences of if it isn't.

Likewise, we have to hope his recruiting strategy yields some wins. He's got the biggest coaching staff he's ever had with dedicated recruiters, and the most resources at his fingertips, but I think NIL and the Portal have changed the game. I would hope that transfers who have done halfway decent college work would be easier to get by admissions than unproven high school kids - gotta use that to our advantage.
 
To be totally honest it doesn't matter if OP is legit or not. Anything and everything can change in a minute. Imagine Ohio State breaks 100 points in Evanston.

The reality is, Fitz is not an enigmatic coaching personality. He's obviously a more conservative coach who doesn't like the speed at which college football is changing. We see a million examples of "so-and-so legendary coach would have been fired in his second season with the same expectations" and I think Fitz latches onto things like that. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that he's not ready to fire anyone after 2-3 seasons, no matter how bad it goes - for better or worse he doesn't have the stomach to fire guys and then look their wives and kids in the face afterwards and tell them they have to move. We just all need to hope that his approach turns out to be right, given the consequences of if it isn't.

Likewise, we have to hope his recruiting strategy yields some wins. He's got the biggest coaching staff he's ever had with dedicated recruiters, and the most resources at his fingertips, but I think NIL and the Portal have changed the game. I would hope that transfers who have done halfway decent college work would be easier to get by admissions than unproven high school kids - gotta use that to our advantage.
If what you say about him not having the stomach to fire anyone after 2 or 3 seasons is true then he should not be in this business. He has an obligation to the program and not any one coaches family. As harsh as that sounds that's the way it is. If that truly is his stance(I'm not saying it is) then he is doing a disservice to the program and specifically the players who bust their asses on a daily basis.
 
Bummer.

So depressed to hear this news.

It's like when someone goes MIA, suspected KIA, but you hold out hope for a miracle. But, now you find out your worst fears are realized. Not a surprise, but still difficult to bear.
 
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Fitz is a proud guy who loves this football program more than anyone. I am sure these two years have caused him significant anguish.

From what my friend told me PF thinks differently. He’s not the type of guy who throws others to the sharks to try to save himself. He’s smart and politically savvy. He knows once the sharks are done eating the person he threw overboard there is nobody left to eat but him.

Coaches typically fire assistants because of pressure from above. Fitz does not have to worry about this as he is the shot caller. The guy isn’t going to fire his best friend because a couple of twitter fans are telling him that to.

My two cents? Fitz is focusing on getting better players in here. He likely believes his coordinators were setup to fail because of a couple of recruiting cycles that didn’t work out.
Tbh, if the picture you paint of Fitz is correct - and there isn’t a particularly good reason or evidence to assume your account via your friend is worth a hill of beans, no offense, but let’s go with the idea - then frankly he needs to be fired
 
It's more than a little difficult for me to trust the word of someone who literally made an account yesterday claiming to have all of this inside info about the inner workings of a coach who notoriously doesn't leak any details to anyone. Monitoring this for now, but will lock the thread if it devolves into unfounded speculation. We've got enough problems as it is this season.
The OP may be unfounded speculation--"a VERY close friend who he spoke to for only 10 minutes about this?" Sounds pretty made up to me, but then that is only unfounded speculation.
 
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According to my friend university officials are fully in the corner of Pat Fitzgerald. He’s doing a great job fundraising for Northwestern as the new stadium project is their main focus.

I asked about declining season ticket sales and fan support and he said the attendance has been as expected despite the poor on-field performance. The other things you mention (merchandising/advertising) are inconsequential. Northwestern is making plenty of $$ off the Big Ten TV deal with more to come.

I spoke to my friend who worked with President Schill and he confirmed he’s not a big sports guy, and doubts he even attended a Ducks game during his time there.

Long story short. Pat Fitzgerald is king right now. As long as the Big Ten and donor checks continue clear the on-field performance doesn’t really matter. Believe me he spends a lot of time with the Ryan’s and big donors who truly matter.

As I mentioned I do believe Fitz cares about this program and wants to get it turned around. If he does turn it around it will be with the support of the Jim O’Neil and Mike Bajakian.
Now I no longer believe this story.
 
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This "my friend" from a new poster is suspect on many levels.

Nevertheless, it does allow us to discuss our worst fears, the possibility that Fitz is nothing more than an unaccountable, arrogant jerk who won't change because he doesn't have to. I'm old and some of you are even older. It will be sad if we Dark Agers have to endure another Dark Age just because of complacency and arrogance.

I finally moved back to the Midwest and was planning to go to 6-7 games this year. This team is so bad that I'm looking forward to basketball
I have more bad news for you…
 
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It's more than a little difficult for me to trust the word of someone who literally made an account yesterday claiming to have all of this inside info about the inner workings of a coach who notoriously doesn't leak any details to anyone. Monitoring this for now, but will lock the thread if it devolves into unfounded speculation. We've got enough problems as it is this season.
I was going to blame you. I figured you created some new paid account to demonstrate how your promotion has driven membership numbers up :)
 
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If what you say about him not having the stomach to fire anyone after 2 or 3 seasons is true then he should not be in this business. He has an obligation to the program and not any one coaches family. As harsh as that sounds that's the way it is. If that truly is his stance(I'm not saying it is) then he is doing a disservice to the program and specifically the players who bust their asses on a daily basis.
And why, ultimately, PF could become the worst coach in NU history based on record. Long live ‘more to football than winning.’
 
@CappyNU how about starting a new tradition / approach with your new powers. Nate as of destroying threads, maybe just ban or timeout users, delete a post or two but let the good discussion live.

Losing so many good threads due to banter between two guys or some bizarre crap out of left field really sucks. This is a legit thread now with or without the dessert.
 
I do know for a fact that Pat Fitzgerald contractually has full autonomy of his assistants. The Athletic department cannot fire Jim O’Neil without PF signing off. My friend did tell me that Pat and Jim are incredibly close and he can’t see a scenario where Pat fires him after just two seasons.
If this was true then it says Fitz is more concerned with his buddy than being a leader of young men
 
Does Fitz believe that Jim can coach NU’s defense to position the team to consistently win games?
 
Based on his record at the two different NFL teams, he obviously didn't impress them.
Well Fitz knows him really well and obviously is impressed by him. I met Coach O’Neil once (briefly). Seemed like a pretty articulate guy. Perhaps his system is a bit too complex for this group of players.
 
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