The Case for Pat Fitzgerald

[BuffLuke80]

Honestly, I remember more about him as a player than I know about him as a coach.

 

[UrbanaBuff]

See, this is where you are wrong. In Chicago and throughout Big Ten country, Northwestern is still very much viewed as a doormat. It will take more than a Rose Bowl trip and some 8-4 seasons to erase that stigma. In fact, it will never go away, largely because their basketball team is maybe even more of a historical nightmare than their football team. As far as recruiting, please. They get the smart student-athletes who are "coachable", and who are also passed over by most Big Six schools. No major Midwestern recruits even give a glance towards Evanston.

Please, their run of 30 straight losing seasons ended 15 years ago, not last year, not 5 years ago, 15. In college football terms, that's a lifetime, recruits the last 5 years don't see the toilet Northwestern team, they see the Cinderella that's been pimped by the media and is averaging 6-7 wins a year. It's not like Fitzgerald came in after two good years and laid a new foundation. He's maintained a slightly better record than Barnett and basically the same record as Walker in the previous decade. He's taken a program that was built up and turned around by Barnett and Walker and operates in a college football environment that's much different than even 15 years ago with scholarship limits and in an era when even marginal teams are on TV most of the time.

In fact, I'm sure you probably said the same thing about Hawkins coming out of Boise St 5 years ago since the histories are largely similar, NW just has a much tougher conference to deal with.

 

[UrbanaBuff]

Maybe. But Fitz spent most of his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater. So it'd be more like Cabral getting promoted, assuming Cabral was younger.

Wasn't this guy essentially the Northwestern equivalent of an EB type candidate? Why would we want to have the Northwestern version of EB when we can have EB (yes I recognize that he now has HC experience).

 

[rscmac]

I dont see him leaving NU for a long time he fits the big 10 and NU.

 

[buffsyko]

He's a great fit for NW. I say again, he's a great fit for NW.

 

[CVilleBuff]

I think he's done a great job with Northwestern, and I think he'd be a great fit for CU. His relative anonymity out west is a concern, but his success at one of the toughest BCS schools to win at is very impressive. Take CU's academic and facility challenges and magnify them -- that's what he has to work with at NW. It's a shame Persa had to go down, NW was having a very solid season this year. They beat a very good Iowa team on Saturday (NW has had Iowa's number lately)

 

[White_Rabbit]

I still think Fitzgerald would be a solid choice for HC, but some have made some solid cases against him. SanDiegoBuff made some really good points about Fitz maybe just keeping things going, as opposed to building anything. I'd still rather have a guy that has his team winning 7-8 games a year in the B10 than a guy like Calhoun who wins 7-8 games in the MWC.

 

[somebody]

See, this is where you are wrong. In Chicago and throughout Big Ten country, Northwestern is still very much viewed as a doormat. It will take more than a Rose Bowl trip and some 8-4 seasons to erase that stigma. In fact, it will never go away, largely because their basketball team is maybe even more of a historical nightmare than their football team. As far as recruiting, please. They get the smart student-athletes who are "coachable", and who are also passed over by most Big Six schools. No major Midwestern recruits even give a glance towards Evanston.

Sounds like an argument against, not for, hiring Fitzgerald.

 

[UrbanaBuff]

There is precedence for rising coaches leaving HC jobs at their alma maters. Brady Hoke (Ball State), Randy Walker (Miami-OH), Rich Rodriguez (WV)...

I'd be excited if we got Fitzgerald. I just don't see him leaving though.

 

[SuperiorBuff]

If he was LB coach in '99, what was Cabral doing that year?

I believe they were split inside to Cabral, outside to Fitzgerald. I don't recall it working all that well, but may be wrong.

 

[Mick Ronson]

I believe they were split inside to Cabral, outside to Fitzgerald. I don't recall it working all that well, but may be wrong.

in 99 Barnett/Okruch had what they called a "Hawk" (i know) scheme with the LB's with J. Sykes in the middle. essentially the the mlb roamed free to make all the tackles while the DL and outside guys occupied blockers or something that might have been a great idea in a (then) run heavy Big Ten where most of the LB plays are withing 5 yards of the LOS. Mid-season, they switched to a more attacking style which fit the personnel and immediately the team rallied from a dreadful start to beat OU (remember all the pressure on Heupel?) and finish 7-5 and blowout BC in the Insight.com bowl.

this is what i remember, anyway. so, at least some of it is true prolly.

on topic: i love the idea of Fitzgerald, but due to his connections at NW, to Walker, and the circumstances of his hiring.....like others, i'd be surprised.

 

[Darian3Hagan]

Sykes was nasty!

 

[CoRN BreAd]

Won't Cabral get a shot? Why wouldn't he be a front runner?

 

[UrbanaBuff]

Everyone associated with CU loves Cabral. However, there are two main issues that I see.

1.) Not only does he lack HC experience, but he's never even been a coordinator.
2.) Going into the Pac 12, many think we can reel in a much bigger fish.

Won't Cabral get a shot? Why wouldn't he be a front runner?

 

[SuperiorBuff]

Cabral is in my top 3.

 

[CoRN BreAd]

Everyone associated with CU loves Cabral. However, there are two main issues that I see.

1.) Not only does he lack HC experience, but he's never even been a coordinator.
2.) Going into the Pac 12, many think we can reel in a much bigger fish.

But,

1. He'll come with the right price tag for admin.
2. Can he recruit?
3. Will the players play for him?

If he can do 2 & 3 he can hire the OC and DC.