Dirk makes some good points but many of the assistants he listed who had experience were either getting booted from their original school or without any great coaching results. Barney, cmon weak at ISU weak always, Cosgrove, Wisc couldn't wait to dump....Elmassian I think always had a great mastermind in Bud Foster..it was Fosters D at VT that PE was helping run...so.. it's not like we were getting really good experienced assistants from other top programs or coaches with proven top results..almost the opposite
so bottom line this is another roll of the dice once again just like Riley is a bit of a crapshoot. There are only a few top coaches in the country right now who could go anywhere and instantly elevate..the rest need great players or at least a few stars at the right spots..like QB, combined with incredible coaching system and development. Even so..that's all limited ceiling without truly being one of the teams who recruit elite top 10-15 every year.. that is actually the biggest thing that we need and that is how you separate away from IOWA. You beat teams like less athletic Iowa or Wisc most years by
A: being able to match physical LOS
B: what NU hasn't had over most other teams lately..has been elite skilled athletes with speed like Stanford had or obviously Bama has or Ohio State has....
again the combo of A and B is how you separate. Just look at what DPE did vs. Iowa..single handedly beat Iowa in 2014.. with 2 punt returns. just like Johnny R separated NU in the 70s..Gill Rozier Craig and Fryar helped us separate in the early 80s..the only time in 80s we were truly legit..top team and just like finally getting MIami speed especially back 7 speed that matched the Florida teams to go along with what was always a great stout run stopping D..but when NU added it's elite speed and top recruits to skilled spots..that's how you match Ohio States
A