I really like this point. In the banter from Nebraska trolls last week, one recurring claim the Husker trolls made was that because of their great tradition, that they are a “big time” program, they could always out-recruit NU, and for Cat fans to think the team could realistically compete was laughable. I think that unless Nebraska hires away Saban from Alabama or someone equivalent to him, NU has a better chance of landing really good players (1st round picks) than Nebraska does. Nebraska is competing against Alabama, Georgia, OSU, Oregon, Auburn, Texas, TAMU, Oklahoma, USC, Michigan, PSU and Clemson as well as two dozen other SEC, B1G and other Power 5 teams for most top flight recruits. Northwestern is realistically competing against Stanford, Notre Dame, and maybe Michigan and Cal for those really good players who do want the combination of academic excellence as well as football. I think a great example of a player like that was Andrew Luck. At the time, he was down to NU and Stanford for the reasons just cited and, understandably chose Stanford. Given the same choice today, my guess would be that he would choose NU.
The combination of Fitz, administration commitment and the basic excellence of Northwestern academics has made the football team consistently more competitive for success (and for recruiting and developing players who become 1st round picks) than a former power like Nebraska, something I never would have thought. The only kind of person who could be successful at Nebraska at this point would be either a Saban stature coach who could recruit on his name, or a young, ambitious second coming of Urban Meyer, which is what they thought they had in Frost. My guess is they go all in on a big name hire, with a record breaking salary after they fire Frost. We will see. There are very few coaches like that, and the only motivation to take the job would be more money than any coach has ever made.
