I wonder if Dr. Gragg has a letter ready to go in the drafts
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He will likely wait unit Dec, take Fitz to task, have a vague press conference, and fire Fitz if/when 2023 doesn't improve. I think he's on it.
If he didn’t fire Collins this year or force any significant change than I would say there is a less than 10% chance he “takes Fitz to task” and even less of a chance Fitz would be fired after next year
I highly doubt it, but who knows what is going on internally. At least when Teddy was at the Trib we would get some insight. I know we all want a press conference today to say thank you and bye to JON, but it ain't happen with Captain Loyalty at the helm. I think he really believes his BS which it terrifying.
I do not believe Fitz should be fired at this time, but I believe he needs to be forced to make some cooordinator changes asap--that is before the end of the season. If he doesn't turn it around in two years with the changes, then termination may be in order
lol 2 more years? Each additional year of Fitz is going to set us back another 3 years
If he makes significant changes now, he deserves the chance to see them to fruition.
Considering his overall record. He deserves a second chance.
Making changes for the sake of making changes is not the way to do it. He needs to demonstrate he has a grasp of where things went wrong and how to correct it. Reshuffling the deck of assistants with the next group of Fitz cronies isn’t going to help us.
Maybe with some support and oversight? Part of the problem is Fitz is a control freak, and needs people under him who do things the way he says.. Changes don't have to be without consultation or just window dressing, though, NU has an Athletic Director and a President.
That's a good point, however Fitz should have the opportunity (whether or not he wants it is a question), to turn this around, and he may need help doing that. If he is recalcitrant, then there's no choice but to let him move on. One way or another, certain coaching changes are mandatory at this point. NU cannot spend this much money and continue business as usual.
Fitz should only have the opportunity to the extent he demonstrates an understanding of how to utilize it first. Making surface level moves is not gonna cut it.
If he quits do we owe him money??? I kid, he probably has a guaranteed contract until 2030 for ~5M a year.
I don't disagree with that. It is a tragedy that Fitz has overseen one of the stellar defenses in the country disintegrate into a hot mess within a year's time. This is an insult to anyone associated with this program, and Fitz needs to proactively correct it at the soonest possible time. If the tables had turned and NU blew out Wisconsin yesterday, do you think Jim Leonhard would remain interim head coach much longer?
JON needs to be dismissed in the bye week and if the offense hasn't turnd a corner by Illinois, Bajakian at the end of the season. This is SO clear.
Fitz is more loyal to a few coaches than the university, fan base, or anyone who played for NU. Methinks he ain't too bright.
NU hires the best of the best in academics, seems like athletics not so much.
Of course, I may be way off base, but I have this impression of Dr. Gragg. I hope he doesn't let me down
Thoughts:
1. Fitz has been looking forward to this bye week like a drowning person is looking for a gasp of air. The problem is he's got nothing up his sleeve, and neither do his deputies. He will be back to touching a hot stove in two weeks...and thinking about how to make the stove less hot won't help matters.
2. Fitz can't fire either coordinator mid-season because he's literally got no one to take their place. There is no one on either side of the ball ready to step in, even on an interim basis for the rest of this season.
3. An addenum on #2...if Gragg literally forced Fitz to fire both coordinators tomorrow, he would replace them with Genyk...the ST coach (and tight ends?!) who can't even get his kicker to kick a 9 yard field goal, and probably Mac, who seems like a nice enough sort but who has demonstrated no meaningful Xs and Os coaching as far as we could see from the outside looking in.
This season is a disaster from which I literally and honestly can see no relief other than the calendar hitting December.
1. Fitz has been looking forward to this bye week like a drowning person is looking for a gasp of air. The problem is he's got nothing up his sleeve, and neither do his deputies. He will be back to touching a hot stove in two weeks...and thinking about how to make the stove less hot won't help matters.
2. Fitz can't fire either coordinator mid-season because he's literally got no one to take their place. There is no one on either side of the ball ready to step in, even on an interim basis for the rest of this season.
3. An addenum on #2...if Gragg literally forced Fitz to fire both coordinators tomorrow, he would replace them with Genyk...the ST coach (and tight ends?!) who can't even get his kicker to kick a 9 yard field goal, and probably Mac, who seems like a nice enough sort but who has demonstrated no meaningful Xs and Os coaching as far as we could see from the outside looking in.
This season is a disaster from which I literally and honestly can see no relief other than the calendar hitting December.
Based on what, his couple of seasons as linebackers coach?! At this point Tim McG has more position coaching experience, and that's not saying much (no disrespect to McG other than...just acknowledging we don't have a deep bench). I realize you can't really bring an outsider in mid-season, hence my earlier statement...at this point all you can do is watch it burn to the ground and hope we can rebuild something halfway decent in the offseason.
Fire JON and hand the job to Marty Long. Bet Marty could find us a solid new DL coach, too. Things would be better than they are now.
But Fitz is not about to do it. And NU is just gonna let him finish the season with the coaching staff he chose for himself. But when this season is finally over, here's hoping NU is ready to do what's necessary.
Fire him because he deserves it. I don't pretend to be an expert on replacements, but Fitz should have a succession plan in place with internal and external candidates. The season is lost, who gives a sh1te if we get pummeled a couple of times. Tell me a top-level G5 DC wouldn't take the job immediately for JONs salary.
Wait to end of season and lose all the candidates that others have already hired
Personally, I can't watch another off-season with no change, much less the rest of this season. Keeping JON will only lose the team and cost NU recruits (even though he is a good recruiter). Appoint him recruiting coach and FIND A NEW DC!
They know what we think. This is a small fan base and small community.
I bet many of them are very surprised to hear any fan talk about life after Fitz.
I have little faith in Gragg and if he had any moxie he would have made a case to punt on CCC last year. Someone with a vision could make a case they have a better plan opposed to the BS we saw last year. I get it that there was financial considerations but JP spent money with the best of them.
Yeah, that's a shocker. Kind of snuck up on us. Everything seemed great after 10:10.
For me personally I think it's too soon to pass judgment on Gragg. I think people affirmed to him that "it's different at Northwestern" - from how much you can charge people for parking at football games to whether we want to be a program that fires coaches mid-season...this is a weird place...and to come in and be in charge...walking a tight rope.
Fitz should promote McG to interim DC. And then he should “volunteer” to position coach the LBs until we figure out what’s what in the offseason.
And yes, JON should be gone. This is big boy Big Ten football gawddammit.
For those of you coming to reality please note that the seeds of this disaster were apparent even in 2019. "This won't happen again." But then it did. No changes just doubling down. Arrogance in under-performance. 3 of the last 4 seasons have been dumpster fires. Thats a trend not an anomaly.
I'd like to see each coach re-interview for their job during the bye week with Gragg. Give him concrete metrics that demonstrate improvement. Give me a player development plan. Then evaluate at the end of the season. I would interview players confidentially. I'd bet the staff doesn't listen.
I may not fire (I would) Fitz but I can make him a figure head leader and only trot him out for B1G media days. If he can find another job or hates hit; he can quit.
I'd like to see each coach re-interview for their job during the bye week with Gragg. Give him concrete metrics that demonstrate improvement. Give me a player development plan. Then evaluate at the end of the season. I would interview players confidentially. I'd bet the staff doesn't listen.
I may not fire (I would) Fitz but I can make him a figure head leader and only trot him out for B1G media days. If he can find another job or hates hit; he can quit.
You need a slogan, like in 03-04 when Ped State fans chanted "Joe must go!"
What about "Fitz must quitz "?
He should lure Hank out of retirement! I guess Hank is probably fishing or something right now, but we'd only need him until 11/26, when the long-term process could fully kick in.
I will just say this...when you look at our "academic P5 peers" - and for the purposes of this conversation I will include Duke, Vandy, and Stanford...no one is exactly crushing it right now. Correlated with NIL and the Transfer Portal? Shrug. Maybe.
Excluding the Harbaugh era at Stanford, I will say that Fitz has, by far, led Northwestern to run circles around its academic P5 peers over the past 10-15 years.
Obviously where we find ourselves now scares me as much as anyone, but before we fire Fitz I'd love to get the Vandy AD, president, and boosters all in a room and ask them what they learned from their situation since Franklin left.
I really, truly think the answer is for Gragg to ask Ryan for a blank check and then force Fitz to take the two best coordinators we could literally buy in December...and we could contract a search firm to start doing that dirty work behind the scenes right now.