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Sullivan to Iowa

My stance has ALWAYS been that if a player graduates, then I have no hard feelings if they transfer. It's a reward for their hard work while pursuing their degree, the ideal of a student-athlete. It's why I cheer for Ryan Young but not Miller Kopp.

Sully earned his NU degree so he's not obligated to stick around if the coaches want to play mind games with him.

I hope that Sully wins the starting job and that we get a chance to sort it out on the field when we play Iowa in October.
Classiest answer yet!
 
I'm more SEC like.

I hope we destroy him.

We are being too nice, Go to hell Sully thanks for switching a competitor.

We are too nice at Northwestern. If a QB switched from LSU to Alabama his family would have their car tires slashed.
 
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I'm more SEC like.

I hope we destroy him.

We are being too nice, Go to hell Sully thanks for switching a competitor.

We are too nice at Northwestern. If a QB switched from LSU to Alabama his family would have their car tires slashed.

I will never want to do anything the way the SEC or their fans do.
The SEC's way of doing things sucks.
No class. Win at at all costs. Cheat when necessary.
 
Classiest answer yet!
If a player transfers because they know they will not see the field much with us, then I have no problem. So for Sully, I see what he did as a smart move for him and I’m perfectly fine with that. What I don’t like is the ones who transfer when they are projected as a starter. In those cases, we helped develop them and when they can really help our team, they bail on us. I think that as a waste of a scholarship spot for 3-4 years.
 
If a player transfers because they know they will not see the field much with us, then I have no problem. So for Sully, I see what he did as a smart move for him and I’m perfectly fine with that. What I don’t like is the ones who transfer when they are projected as a starter. In those cases, we helped develop them and when they can really help our team, they bail on us. I think that as a waste of a scholarship spot for 3-4 years.
Yea.

I’m surprised mostly. Sully showed enough flashes of raw talent & potential to give me just enough hope that he would shine this season with a new OC (I’ll note here that Jake also thrived only when he had senior transfer QBs FWIW).

Braun and Lujan see things differently. This is going to be a particularly difficult season with the weird home game situation so we may as well roll the dice on a new transfer QB. All of our regular opponents have plenty of tape and experience against Sully and he is what he is. We need new blood at the most important position.

If Sully crushes us when we play Ioa and/or helps Iowa win a bowl game, then his transfer will ultimately be a very bitter pill.

The perfect analogy, in my mind, was when Alviti saved our bacon in Nashville. The food poisoning I suffered was bad enough. I would have felt really sick if we had lost that game after Thorson lost his ACL too.

All things being equal, it would be nice to have Sully on the roster for one more season and the new transfer QB to boot.
 
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If a player transfers because they know they will not see the field much with us, then I have no problem. So for Sully, I see what he did as a smart move for him and I’m perfectly fine with that. What I don’t like is the ones who transfer when they are projected as a starter. In those cases, we helped develop them and when they can really help our team, they bail on us. I think that as a waste of a scholarship spot for 3-4 years.
We can’t both tout the benefit and importance of the Northwestern degree and then hold a grudge for athletes who get them and leave.

We like to think and say that they’re at NU for the degree, and also to play football. Goal accomplished.
 
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We can’t both tout the benefit and importance of the Northwestern degree and then hold a grudge for athletes who get them and leave.

We like to think and say that they’re at NU for the degree, and also to play football. Goal accomplished.
Goal accomplished for them, not for us. Our goal is to win games and those grad students would help us do that. In this new age of NIL, what is expected has evolved. These are paid employees and expectation has change.

I realize that I am not fully explaining my view. I think it is time to get rid of the 85 scholarship limit and go to a 120 roster limit where all players are employees. Instead of a national letter of intent, they sign a 4-year employment contract with an optional 5th year. If they leave to go to another college program without consent of the University, they must payback a certain portion of any benefit they have received (which I assume they will get from the new school so it is compensation). They can quit or leave for the NFL without penalty but cannot join another college team without the penalty being paid. The base would be partial or full tuition, medical, 401K, and an hourly rate for time spent with team. Pay increases with performance and whether they make the 2-deep. Bonuses are paid for the team making a bowl or playoff. As a full-time employee, all outside income would need to be approved by the University to prevent conflict of interest. Of course there would be clauses for special situation and an employee review board for appeals or to renegotiate a contract.

I expect people to tear my plan apart, but I see no other way out of this quagmire that would be fair to the school and the athlete.
 
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Goal accomplished for them, not for us. Our goal is to win games and those grad students would help us do that. In this new age of NIL, what is expected has evolved. These are paid employees and expectation has change.
Except people change jobs all the time, especially if they have the opportunity to go somewhere "better" or make more money.

The bottom line is it feels like a disloyalty and the attachment that alums have with their school and sports teams is all about loyalty, which is why these transfers always feel so egregious.
 
We can’t both tout the benefit and importance of the Northwestern degree and then hold a grudge for athletes who get them and leave.

We like to think and say that they’re at NU for the degree, and also to play football. Goal accomplished.
“Think” is the key word. I would argue that many are here to play football and also get a degree.
 
“Think” is the key word. I would argue that many are here to play football and also get a degree.
The literal pitch is “40 years not 4.” This is what they’re signing up for. The students NU is fortunate to sign are those that value the degree — or were *strongly encouraged* to value the degree by their parents.

Goal accomplished for them, not for us. Our goal is to win games and those grad students would help us do that. In this new age of NIL, what is expected has evolved. These are paid employees and expectation has change.

I realize that I am not fully explaining my view. I think it is time to get rid of the 85 scholarship limit and go to a 120 roster limit where all players are employees. Instead of a national letter of intent, they sign a 4-year employment contract with an optional 5th year. If they leave to go to another college program without consent of the University, they must payback a certain portion of any benefit they have received (which I assume they will get from the new school so it is compensation). They can quit or leave for the NFL without penalty but cannot join another college team without the penalty being paid. The base would be partial or full tuition, medical, 401K, and an hourly rate for time spent with team. Pay increases with performance and whether they make the 2-deep. Bonuses are paid for the team making a bowl or playoff. As a full-time employee, all outside income would need to be approved by the University to prevent conflict of interest. Of course there would be clauses for special situation and an employee review board for appeals or to renegotiate a contract.

I expect people to tear my plan apart, but I see no other way out of this quagmire that would be fair to the school and the athlete.
I don’t totally disagree. It’s quite interesting tho — a decadeish ago, the B1G was unique in offering four-year scholarships. NU couldn’t just kick guys off the team without penalty, and the players had no power because they had to sit out a year. Things are completely reversed now — the programs sign players for four years, except the players can bail without penalty. (Except, again, for that degree.)

Again, everything we’re seeing now is simply symptomatic of the NCAA’s three decades of inaction when money started becoming just toooo huge to ignore.

Frankly, tho, even though I agree that a contract would be nice, I think the draft entry/renouncing eligibility *or* a defree would be reasonable opt-outs. (The grad transfer program is a very good concept.) And coach changes. And position coach changes. And maybe other things.

It’s all whackadoodle. Imagine if the NCAA had just approved a maximum $50k a year stipend 15 years ago. Literally nothing would have changed, except perhaps a little bit less cash under the table. What idiots.

(Seriously, it all fell apart when the NCAA approved recruiting-only staffers. Suddenly you had 30-plus individuals responsible for to recruiting unpaid players.)

At least every major college’s facilities are better than the NFL teams’. Ha!
 
The 40 years not 4 is hardly unique to NU. 320, You are an Alum right? I think Alum have a completely different perspective than most incoming HS players AND their parents. Every school can point to a bevy of rich multi-millionaires that graduated from their institution. Success is a byproduct of the individual and their work ethic more than the school they attend.

The prestige helps, but IMO nowhere near as much as many on here think. I was a first generation college student, I didn’t have parental pressure to pick the highest ranked school. My parents, didn’t know better. I think they were happy that I took the best financial deal. The extent of my academic research was how is my particular major was viewed by the business community. I suspect most of the people trumping the 40 not 4 mantra are Alum or highly educated successful folks. Unfortunately for NU, the parents of most kids we recruit don’t always fit that description. Play consistent winning football and you get better recruits.
 
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In a vacuum, yes.

The confusing part is him choosing Iowa, where he’s almost assuredly behind McNamara this year then in another competition for 2025. I thought he would find a MAC program with a clear path to two years as starter.
He didn’t want to be two injuries from seeing the field, but rather one from somebody who has a track record of being fragile. And the offense is a better fit for his game at Iowa.
 
Fine.... we won't slash his car tires. Geez....!
Yeah but we will curse his name and throw him into the dustbin of all the other trash Bajakian recruited QBs that have come and gone. Including the snitch.

Might have been different if he had gone to another school. Transferring to Iowa is insulting.
 
Goal accomplished for them, not for us. Our goal is to win games and those grad students would help us do that. In this new age of NIL, what is expected has evolved. These are paid employees and expectation has change.

I realize that I am not fully explaining my view. I think it is time to get rid of the 85 scholarship limit and go to a 120 roster limit where all players are employees. Instead of a national letter of intent, they sign a 4-year employment contract with an optional 5th year. If they leave to go to another college program without consent of the University, they must payback a certain portion of any benefit they have received (which I assume they will get from the new school so it is compensation). They can quit or leave for the NFL without penalty but cannot join another college team without the penalty being paid. The base would be partial or full tuition, medical, 401K, and an hourly rate for time spent with team. Pay increases with performance and whether they make the 2-deep. Bonuses are paid for the team making a bowl or playoff. As a full-time employee, all outside income would need to be approved by the University to prevent conflict of interest. Of course there would be clauses for special situation and an employee review board for appeals or to renegotiate a contract.

I expect people to tear my plan apart, but I see no other way out of this quagmire that would be fair to the school and the athlete.
If they are employees, then they will form a union and collectively bargain (like the NFL). The agreement will almost assuredly not include any clawback provision.
 
Every major professional sports league in the US (nfl, mlb, nba, nhl) has a union. Are you really this obtuse?
Also, union membership is viewed more favorably now than it has at any time in the last 50 years, particularly among young people. (UAW just won a union election in Tennessee, for chrissakes.).

And it would seem that college football’s “free labor”, which has seen its season lengthen and lengthen with no change in compensation (and which previously sought to unionize over…OSHA-style medical benefits), would almost certainly organize.

(UAW lost in Alabama yesterday tho.)
 
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Every major professional sports league in the US (nfl, mlb, nba, nhl) has a union. Are you really this obtuse?
No I am not but unions are decided at a local level. No group is forced to unionize. Just because professional sports have unions doesn’t automatically lump all colleges into that category. It would be solely up to the local. Especially tricky is the difference between state and private institutes. But also, where do you stop and start with colleges. FBS? FCS too? What about women’s lacrosse or the golf teams? There is always a question of which groups belong in the union. Maybe a difference between revenue generating sports and non-revenue. Will Eastern Illinois football have a union? There are a lot if questions involved. You can’t just say union and expect everything must follow that course.
 
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Goal accomplished for them, not for us. Our goal is to win games and those grad students would help us do that.
He got his degree and he left.
That was the deal he signed up for.
That was also the deal Northwestern football made with him.

Deciding how you feel about such issues consistently as a matter of principle, makes these things really easy. In every case, if a player earns his degree and departs, I have no problem with him doing so. It's college, after all. This way I'm not affected by whether I like the guy or hate him, whether he goes to Michigan or Iowa or starts working on Wall Street, or for Notre Dame, a la Ryan Greer, who is now with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder as a video analyst.

The one thing you can't do is try to destroy the program on your way out the door. So, Miller Kopp and obviously Carl Richardson failed to meet that standard and are forever tainted.
 
He got his degree and he left.
That was the deal he signed up for.
That was also the deal Northwestern football made with him.

Deciding how you feel about such issues consistently as a matter of principle, makes these things really easy. In every case, if a player earns his degree and departs, I have no problem with him doing so. It's college, after all. This way I'm not affected by whether I like the guy or hate him, whether he goes to Michigan or Iowa or starts working on Wall Street, or for Notre Dame, a la Ryan Greer, who is now with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder as a video analyst.

The one thing you can't do is try to destroy the program on your way out the door. So, Miller Kopp and obviously Carl Richardson failed to meet that standard and are forever tainted.
Which part of “So for Sully, I think it was a smart move and have no problems with that” did you not understand? I don’t have a problem with someone graduating and going elsewhere to get playing time. But when they are projected as a starter and go to another team for NIL or fame, I think of them as disloyal. I’m not affected by whether I like a guy or not. If they are done with football or go to the NFL, then that is great. If the coaching has changed and they do not like the new one, that is fine. I just don’t like them to end up at Notre Dame instead of helping our team their final year and nothing will change my opinion on that.
 
Which part of “So for Sully, I think it was a smart move and have no problems with that” did you not understand? I don’t have a problem with someone graduating and going elsewhere to get playing time. But when they are projected as a starter and go to another team for NIL or fame, I think of them as disloyal. I’m not affected by whether I like a guy or not. If they are done with football or go to the NFL, then that is great. If the coaching has changed and they do not like the new one, that is fine. I just don’t like them to end up at Notre Dame instead of helping our team their final year and nothing will change my opinion on that.
I understand everything you wrote.

I just disagree with your specific belief that NU students who play football and get their NU degree should not transfer and get a grad degree somewhere else if they see that as a better opportunity. When they get their diploma, they are free to do whatever they want to do.

Other than try to trash the program.

My daughter is graduating from NU in a month. You're telling me that football players in the same situation should feel obligated to enroll in NU grad school if they have eligibility left? I totally disagree.
 
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In a vacuum, yes.

The confusing part is him choosing Iowa, where he’s almost assuredly behind McNamara this year then in another competition for 2025. I thought he would find a MAC program with a clear path to two years as starter.
He could have waltzed into several starting jobs in the MAC.
 
I understand everything you wrote.

I just disagree with your specific belief that NU students who play football and get their NU degree should not transfer and get a grad degree somewhere else if they see that as a better opportunity. When they get their diploma, they are free to do whatever they want to do.

Other than try to trash the program.

My daughter is graduating from NU in a month. You're telling me that football players in the same situation should feel obligated to enroll in NU grad school if they have eligibility left? I totally disagree.
We just disagree on what “better opportunity “ means. I said IF they are projected as a starter and want to continue playing college football, they should have their loyalty to the place that developed that talent and where they have teammates and friends. In all other cases, I have no problems with them going elsewhere or doing other things. I understand in this age of NIL that we have to give them market rate but I don’t think we should have problems with that.
 
We just disagree on what “better opportunity “ means.
Not really!

It seems like you are saying that you will determine for the player if his decision is for a better opportunity, without knowing the essential details, then begrudge him if he decides to leave when he could help the team.

I'm saying the graduating player gets to decide what to do and I'll assume he is acting in his own interests, just like any other student.

Beyond that, anybody who was on the team when Schill fired Fitzgerald had the right to leave immediately. Some did. The doofus fired the guy who brought them to NU. Anyone who stuck it out for a year with "the new guy" had every right to leave if he wasn't enamored with the replacement coach. And some did that. I can't begrudge those guys either.
 
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Back to the thread topic. I saw a tweet from old coach Fitz on congratulating his son and saying “Go Hawkeyes!”. I am wondering if he had anything to do with Sully going to Iowa. Sully was a Fitz commit and I am sure Ferentz and Fitz were talking. The timing seems about right.

I would not be surprise to see him join their staff (with his son on their team). I actually think it would be hilarious for some reason.
 
Not really!

It seems like you are saying that you will determine for the player if his decision is for a better opportunity, without knowing the essential details, then begrudge him if he decides to leave when he could help the team.

I'm saying the graduating player gets to decide what to do and I'll assume he is acting in his own interests, just like any other student.

Beyond that, anybody who was on the team when Schill fired Fitzgerald had the right to leave immediately. Some did. The doofus fired the guy who brought them to NU. Anyone who stuck it out for a year with "the new guy" had every right to leave if he wasn't enamored with the replacement coach. And some did that. I can't begrudge those guys either.
Not exactly what I said. I believe the 40 year not 4 mantra. NU was loyal to him and I expect the same loyalty in return. When NU breaches that loyalty (not projecting him as a starter, telling him we are bringing in a transfer for his spot, or burying him in the depth chart), I have no problems with him leaving to another team. When he is projected as a starter, then I do expect loyalty.

I know I am not part of the “me” generation and I grew up expecting 40 years loyal to one company and retire with a gold watch and pension, so I am fine if my view doesn’t work with today’s kids, but I still see the world through those glasses.
 
Not exactly what I said. I believe the 40 year not 4 mantra. NU was loyal to him and I expect the same loyalty in return. When NU breaches that loyalty (not projecting him as a starter, telling him we are bringing in a transfer for his spot, or burying him in the depth chart), I have no problems with him leaving to another team. When he is projected as a starter, then I do expect loyalty.

I know I am not part of the “me” generation and I grew up expecting 40 years loyal to one company and retire with a gold watch and pension, so I am fine if my view doesn’t work with today’s kids, but I still see the world through those glasses.

Priebe and Heard both fall under this category. Tough to see them playing elsewhere.
 
We can’t both tout the benefit and importance of the Northwestern degree and then hold a grudge for athletes who get them and leave.

We like to think and say that they’re at NU for the degree, and also to play football. Goal accomplished.
Truth! Keep them coming @NUCat320

Just imagine if @lou v made you the freeloader moderator and let my guy @CappyNU handle the preemie board

What a beeeeee-yoo-tiful world, to paraphrase my favorite Joe Pesci tribute song
 
Priebe and Heard both fall under this category. Tough to see them playing elsewhere.
We were lucky to have them both as long as we did

They are purple-blooded Cats from what I hear. Thru and thru

We should cheer them on no matter what they do
 
Priebe and Heard both fall under this category. Tough to see them playing elsewhere.

I agree that it sucks that they transferred out.
Especially to Michigan and Notre Dame.

Heard redshirted, then played 4 years and still has the COVID year.

When the COVID year FINALLY goes away, there should be less of this grad transfer stuff. It will require a redshirt, a medical hardship or graduating in three years.

And of course, the transfer portal almost makes the redshirt self-defeating.
 
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