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Pat Fitzgerald (HC Northwestern Wildcats, Forever)

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Brutus1 said:
He'll need to win 6 games a year for 20 years just to reach 1/3 of Paterno's total. They were solid, but they have a long way to go to even be considered a power.
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When I said "Paterno II", it was more of longevity at one school. However, you never know. If he can recruit well, sell the program to prospects, and get a couple good seasons, he could very well build the program to what it was in the mid/late '90s. The problem would be sustaining it. Northwestern already has the academic prestige as an attraction...
 
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God forbid, but if Jim Tressel died tomorrow, would we hand the program to Luke Fickell? By the time JT retires, he may well be the heir apparent. But is he ready at this point in time? This seems analogous to what Northwestern has done. It may turn out to be a great move on their part. It may turn out to have been premature. Only time will tell.
 
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That's not really a fair comparison. Ohio State and Northwestern are light years apart when it comes to attractiveness for potential head football coaches.

Ohio State would have attractive options other than Fickell. Northwestern doesn't have that luxury. They're going to have to take a chance on someone, might as well have it be a campus hero who has major upside as a coach.
 
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Bucklion said:
Fitzgerald will blow a few games in the first year or two, and then he will be a mainstay for 20+ years. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking dynasty here, but he bleeds Northwestern purple, and he will put every drop of energy into the program...instead of getting his next job. They will be a gritty, competitive team with him there, and the D won't suck like it has either. Great move for them.
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I couldn't agree more. Almost every coach gets a "gimme" season his first time out..Fitz will be no exception.

Although I think to say "this scares me" is not quite appropriate, it's fair to say that NW will be far more formidable in seasons to come, as long as Fitz is at the helm.

:gobucks3: :osu2: :gobucks4:
 
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This was an interesting call.

You can do a good job at NU and still lose a lot of football games. Anyone who thinks he will succeed in the short term may be underestimating what it takes to be HC. I made the same argument when folks were calling for Spielman to replace Cooper. Let him pay his dues and work his way up.

Now you have a kid who not only isn't an HC, he is not even an OC or DC. It takes a lot of faith to believe he will have the organizational and managerial skills needed to make this jump.

I wish him the best, but I think this may be unfair to ask of anyone.
 
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"I'm assuming it's harder ,than most Big10 schools, to get accepted as a player. Do their athletic admissions mirror their overall admissions?"

Like someone else posted, NU has to lower admissions requirements for football players (like every other NCAA in the country D1, D2 and D3). However, every year its football players have among the highest SAT scores in the country. I remember a study a couple of years ago that had NU, Duke, Rice, Stanford and Vanderbilt well above every other D1 school in average SAT scores for football players (with OSU well above UM and ND!).

In that type of environment recruiting and scouting prowess is going to be of great importance. Hopefully Fitzgerald can perform in the scouting front, he's already a pretty sold recruiter from all accounts.
 
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This is a very interesting situation. While I don't think Fitzgerald was a bad pick per se-given the timing it was possibly the smartest move for the administration to make-promoting a 31 year old LB coach is a huge, huge risk. He has never been a coordinator, and will have to boss around coaches twice his age. He might be fiery and passionate, but football IQ is what wins games and builds programs. It will be interesting to see if his staff has a youthful bent, and how he handles the media, game strategy,etc. If he can survive the first year or two, I agree w/ the posters who say that NW might have found their coach for the next 30 years. On the other hand, I would not be surprised to see them searching again in 3 or 4 years either.
 
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scooter1369 said:
Don't wanna knock Fitz, but one would think that there are a dozen HC's out there in 1AA and NAIA that would step on their mothers for a gig in the Big Ten.

Its a nice sentimental choice, but not the best in my opinion.
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Oh, you're right about the HCs.........no doubt about that. They were pretty much lined up at tOSU when Cooper got the shaft. But.........if they'd step on their mothers, well...........the ones I can think of are self-aggrandising opportunists.


I think that NW made a great choice, at least as far as they're concerned. With Fitzgerald, it's personal.


:gobucks3: :osu2: :gobucks4:
 
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Good for Fitzgerald and good for NU.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ncf/news/story?id=6023333

Pat Fitzgerald, NU nearing extension

Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald and athletic director Jim Phillips have tentatively agreed on a contract extension that will keep the 36-year-old Fitzgerald with the Wildcats into his 40s and possibly beyond.

"I don't want to get into specifics, but it's eight or more years," Phillips confirmed on Friday. "It's as important of an assignment as I have as director of athletics at Northwestern. Football is the engine that drives us. It drives us emotionally and drives us financially. I have to make sure the state of the football program is as healthy as can be.

Cont'd ...
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