Coaching Carousel (Football)
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If we get to the CFP final 4 or win the B1G Conference championship, I'm not making any promises.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Pat Fitzgerald - Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach - Football Coaches - Northwestern Athletics
Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald Over 17 seasons as head coach, Pat Fitzgerald built the Wildcats’ program into a consistent win...nusports.com
When not if, ,, we all hope
I get a kick out of the dislike for Fitz
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Isn't it natural to hate him? He turned our little brother (NU) into a team that regularly kicked our %^&. That is not allowed. But on a bigger, more important note, the whole car wash thing is something that you do not want to bring into the culture. Whether he knew or didn't, still on his watch. Edit: Unless this has been disproven and I missed it.
He got cleared of everything. Also him and Bret are extremely close.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Is it hard to envision hating a rival and a coach that was accused in a hazing incident?
Do we interpret that from the Northwestern settlement with Fitzgerald or the Northwestern settlement with 34 hazing lawsuits stemming from Fitzgerald's tenure at NW that include financial compensation? At best we really don't know what happened and at worst it's a coach that condoned physical abuse of players.
Good. He could help in the Chicago area recruiting. I hope it happens.
Fitz with his background along with a beer drinking, hog slapping, Hawkeye may not sit well with the Illini elite class but it would be excellent for Illinois football.
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Same …
Acting like Fitz isn’t a GIANT upgrade is insane … It’s like people haven’t watched the defense this year …
We’d be LUCKY to have him …
people would say the exact same things about Urban Meyer if BB brought him in on staff
they said the same things about Bret when we hired him
and if you dug into it, Im fairly sure there are plenty of negatives about Cignetti
I'm no angel. Im all about giving a dude a second chance
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone
they said the same things about Bret when we hired him
and if you dug into it, Im fairly sure there are plenty of negatives about Cignetti
I'm no angel. Im all about giving a dude a second chance
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone
Last game Fitz coached:Same …
Acting like Fitz isn’t a GIANT upgrade is insane … It’s like people haven’t watched the defense this year …
We’d be LUCKY to have him …
Most points we scored in any game that season (a season in which we played Chattanooga).
Also, dropping this one in just for funzies:
I’m assuming locker room hygiene would improve. /sSame …
Acting like Fitz isn’t a GIANT upgrade is insane … It’s like people haven’t watched the defense this year …
We’d be LUCKY to have him …
Look, if Bret and Josh are good with it, so am I if it happens. It “happened on his watch” should not be a lifetime of crucifixion, assuming he had no direct knowledge of it happening. In Josh I would trust, both with a morally decision, and a legal decision.
actually . Fitz earned his bones when you were still going out with cheerleaders
anyone can cherry pick years and stats to bolster an argument.
I have no idea what he knew or didnt know about the hazing
if you want to argue Fitz is a bad coach and got lucky somehow in his tenure at NW, go ahead. Im listening
but know that most of the coaching fraternity respects the guy. he overachieved as a player and overachieved as a coach. know that he desperately wanted a scholly form ND or UI , but both shut him out . He went to Sandburg, where I would have attended way before him , had I went public .
The intitial reports in July 2023were terrible. It is hard to understand how he could be so ignorant about it
but if you are without sin, go ahead, cast the stone
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I trust Bret to make a good decision.Same …
Acting like Fitz isn’t a GIANT upgrade is insane … It’s like people haven’t watched the defense this year …
We’d be LUCKY to have him …
But on the surface, my issue with Fitz would be his record without long time defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz (2008-2020).
With Mike (13 years): 96–67 (58.9%)
Without Mike (4 years): 14-34 (29.1%)
If you dislike him because he created a college program that supported & facilitated sexual assault, I agree.
If you dislike him because you think them doing poorly in the last 4 and choose to ignore that he set up last year's team OR did really well the 15 prior...you need to put down the orange koolaide.
I’m not the biggest Fitzs fan but I do think he’s a good coach. He’s also loved in the Chicagoland area and definitely would help with recruiting.
In other words, they couldn't prove he knew about it, and the University settled to make it go away. And, if he really didn't know about it, that is his fault too for a lack of control of his program. There would certainly be mixed feelings because he is a good coach.
Correct me if I'm wrong... But his 3-10 win seasons would be more than any Illinois coach, while at Illinois. EVER!
Doing so while having to recruit with Academic Restrictions and minimal resources...
The man can flat-out coach.
If you were in Bret's position...after an underachieving season by your own standards and expectations...50 + million dollars invested next year in winning between you, your staff, player salary, recruiting, facilities, etc. Would you hire your long-time friend that can help you win 9+ games with a team talented enough to win 7?
This is a great argument for why we should also hire Jim Tressel or Bob Stoops. Maybe we can hire a medium to channel Bobby Bowden while we're at it.
Maybe Fitz would be a fine coordinator but the last few seasons of his tenure lead me to believe what he brings to the table won't be materially better than other options on the market, most of whom wouldn't have the potential baggage.
Yes he did very good things at one point in his tenure. Then that ended, and his teams were trending sharply downward. This is a thing that happens in sports sometimes - a coach has IT and then...loses IT.
By the way Fitz's 11-loss season would also put him in rarified air here. Only Ron Turner ever did that!
Again, he could be fine. He could be broken. The most recent evidence we have of his coaching ability is one of the worst seasons in Northwestern football history, and then we also get hazing scandal baggage as a nice kicker.
Are you people clinically insane? We should all be doing backflips for Fitz as a DC
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