It could have been us

[EvanstonCat]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

 

[Catmandoo78]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

You’re 100% correct on Braun. He’s in over his head and we’re going to keep slipping as the Fitz guys graduate out and have to be replaced with his terrible recruits.

HOWEVER, you’ve overly simplified Cignetti’s success in my opinion. One thing you’ve missed is IU’s investment in football. They paid their QB $4M in NIL. Their roster is paid nearly $20M. He’s an excellent coach, but his success is enabled by the talent he’s been able to procure. He wouldn’t have the same financial support here. Allegedly we paid our terrible QB 1/5th of what Mendoza got from IU.

 

[olsh]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

We invested in a stadium. Indiana invested in a roster and coach.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

We invested in a stadium. Indiana invested in a roster and coach.

Take it up with the Ryan’s.

 

[Catmandoo78]

Shiny stadium but dusty banners

 

[Baz = Heisman]

What a stupid post. The Cignetti hire at IU wasn’t widely admired from the beginning. He’s an awesome coach but no one thought it would succeed like this. Also, we were never rumored to be in the running to get him. Plus, IU has a million transfers (including quite a few JuCos, who rarely get into NU). They are an amazing story and I’m rooting for them but this is apples and oranges.

 

[zeek55]

Cignetti is all hindsight. Nobody except he himself foresaw this.

And he brought a ton of transfers as @Baz = Heisman mentioned which is completely impossible here.

He built an all star squad of sorts of super transfers.

 

[hdhntr1]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

Reality is that Cignetti was able to bring in a lot to Indiana making the program suddenly successful, Highly doubt even if he had been hired he would have been able to bring in anywhere that amount of talent into NU

 

[hdhntr1]

You’re 100% correct on Braun. He’s in over his head and we’re going to keep slipping as the Fitz guys graduate out and have to be replaced with his terrible recruits.

HOWEVER, you’ve overly simplified Cignetti’s success in my opinion. One thing you’ve missed is IU’s investment in football. They paid their QB $4M in NIL. Their roster is paid nearly $20M. He’s an excellent coach, but his success is enabled by the talent he’s been able to procure. He wouldn’t have the same financial support here. Allegedly we paid our terrible QB 1/5th of what Mendoza got from IU.

It isn't just the financial support but also what he was able to bring in that would not have been possible at NU

 

[stpaulcat]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

The Bat Guano kickin' in again, eh? I want to see into the future too, can you Fedex some to St. Paul?

 

[AdamOnFirst]

You’re 100% correct on Braun. He’s in over his head and we’re going to keep slipping as the Fitz guys graduate out and have to be replaced with his terrible recruits.

HOWEVER, you’ve overly simplified Cignetti’s success in my opinion. One thing you’ve missed is IU’s investment in football. They paid their QB $4M in NIL. Their roster is paid nearly $20M. He’s an excellent coach, but his success is enabled by the talent he’s been able to procure. He wouldn’t have the same financial support here. Allegedly we paid our terrible QB 1/5th of what Mendoza got from IU.

Yeah, if we had Cig AND Mark Cuban money AND unlimited transfers with no academic restrictions… then MAYBE

people around here got all pissy at me three years ago when I said the new state of play made our gigantic practice facility investment basically a total waste - that we built something that used to be a needle mover 20 years too late - but here we are.

 

[Fanaticat98]

people around here got all pissy at me three years ago when I said the new state of play made our gigantic practice facility investment basically a total waste - that we built something that used to be a needle mover 20 years too late - but here we are.

No one could’ve known the sea change that was to happen when the practice facility project was set in motion. It was necessary capital improvement anyway.

 

[GECat2]

Yes, I can’t help but think if I was 7 feet tall I probably could have played college basketball.

 

[Deeringfish]

We invested in a stadium. Indiana invested in a roster and coach.

At the time a stadium was the best way to spend a ton on the program. Now there is a different way. Give it a chance.

 

[MD_CatFan]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

One of the things Cig talks about a lot is alignment; alignment with the AD and Chancellor - all of the way up and down the line in making sure everyone is on the same page. That takes the right people and plentiful resources.

Now you are saying Cig would have overcome all of the issues on his own at NU since the Fall of Fitz and the ruinous aftermath that we are still living with (the smoking cinders are still warm) just because he’s that good. I don’t think Cig would even agree with you and the man has a healthy ego (he walks it and talks it so hats off to him).

NU hasn’t been right for a very long time and it won’t won’t be right until Schill (terrible) and Bienen (temporary) are gone and a new, long term President is in place and the the right alignment takes hold. Jackson looks great but the jury is still out on Braun (longer term).

 

[Deeringfish]

What a stupid post. The Cignetti hire at IU wasn’t widely admired from the beginning. He’s an awesome coach but no one thought it would succeed like this. Also, we were never rumored to be in the running to get him. Plus, IU has a million transfers (including quite a few JuCos, who rarely get into NU). They are an amazing story and I’m rooting for them but this is apples and oranges.

I'm rooting for Indiana to but a little bit for a different reason. If they win out, it will expose how this whole unregulated transfer/ buy a team landscape needs some kind of regulation. If Indiana can do this just think how College football is going to devolve into a dozen super rich teams buying up all the talent and eliminating any semblance of parity. Most game s will be boring because they will either be massacres of the giants crushing the Davids or meaningless contest between the 100 also-rans.

 

[Darren72]

If Indiana can do this just think how College football is going to devolve into a dozen super rich teams buying up all the talent and eliminating any semblance of parity.

Um, there is much more parity in college football now.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

No one could’ve known the sea change that was to happen when the practice facility project was set in motion. It was necessary capital improvement anyway.

I agree, in the case of tha facility is was just dogshit luck. Really really sucky. But people got all upset hearing the facility spend was largely a waste

 

[AdamOnFirst]

I'm rooting for Indiana to but a little bit for a different reason. If they win out, it will expose how this whole unregulated transfer/ buy a team landscape needs some kind of regulation. If Indiana can do this just think how College football is going to devolve into a dozen super rich teams buying up all the talent and eliminating any semblance of parity. Most game s will be boring because they will either be massacres of the giants crushing the Davids or meaningless contest between the 100 also-rans.

Indiana being able to rise up and overthrow our eternal brutal overlords is an amazing example of parity. Anything is possible anywhere.

 

[phatcat_rivals223240]

People razzing @EvanstonCat because IU is taking transfers, and who could tell if Cig would succeed here. What about Duke (Elko and now Diaz)? Vandy? Tulane? These three moribund programs were in our rear view mirror a decade ago and NU/Ryan decided to build Edifice Rex instead of investing in talent.

It comes down to coaching and talent, mostly at QB. Two people are the difference between mediocrity and excellence. So about 10M a year more than currently

 

[Catmandoo78]

At the time a stadium was the best way to spend a ton on the program. Now there is a different way. Give it a chance.

Inaccurate. NIL was legalized in July 2021. By winter 2021, pay for play was already violently ramping up. New Ryan Field was publicly announced in Sept 2022. Other fan bases on Twitter were mocking us for buying a stadium instead of a team as it was happening.

 

[Sheffielder]

Funny thing about Cignetti...dude is really rough around the edges. Unpolished talker, weird body language - I bet none of the blue bloods considered him because he didn't "look" and "act" like a guy they wanted in the big chair...which landed him in the perfect spot.

 

[JustGary]

Indiana being able to rise up and overthrow our eternal brutal overlords is an amazing example of parity. Anything is possible anywhere.

I think a better comparison for us is that Vanderbilt went 11-2 and Duke won the ACC championship game. If they can compete, we can. The portal-NIL era did not prevent them from competing. Yes, I know we have stricter admission requirements for players but we still can field a competitive team. On a side note, in this age of paying players, we should loosen our current requirements for admissions to whether an athlete can get a diploma. I think it is now established that these players are a revenue source and we should be maximizing revenue by fielding the best athletes we can recruit that still can make the grade in class.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

People need to cool down suggesting Ryan should have bought talent rather than contributing several hundred million to build a stadium. It’s Ryans’s money and he can do what he wants with it and every single person here should be thankful. Get some other doners to step up. It’s not like there is a shortage of wealthy candidates,

 

[hdhntr1]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

The other thing is after what they did to Fitz at the time Cignetti would not have had anything to do with NU. It was poison. Braun was the option and reality is that he was the only option

 

[Styre]

People need to cool down suggesting Ryan should have bought talent rather than contributing several hundred million to build a stadium. It’s Ryans’s money and he can do what he wants with it and every single person here should be thankful. Get some other doners to step up. It’s not like there is a shortage of wealthy candidates,

There's this idea on here that if we didn't build the new stadium, Ryan would be investing a billion dollars into NIL instead. This is not based in anything resembling reality.

Also, it's not like the family is now bankrupt. He can still fund NIL if he wants!

 

[Baz = Heisman]

I think a better comparison for us is that Vanderbilt went 11-2 and Duke won the ACC championship game. If they can compete, we can. The portal-NIL era did not prevent them from competing. Yes, I know we have stricter admission requirements for players but we still can field a competitive team. On a side note, in this age of paying players, we should loosen our current requirements for admissions to whether an athlete can get a diploma. I think it is now established that these players are a revenue source and we should be maximizing revenue by fielding the best athletes we can recruit that still can make the grade in class.

Lol what. Do you not want to be a university? If college sports becomes guys playing for a team at a school they don’t even go to - and it might - I’m out the next day.

 

[Baz = Heisman]

Um, there is much more parity in college football now.

Not really. OSU, Oregon, Georgia, Bama, Miami all still powers. G5 teams are only in by bylaws. Texas Tech has a good history and it’s not like Ole Miss is a slouch. IU is the only “whoa.”

 

[JustGary]

Lol what. Do you not want to be a university? If college sports becomes guys playing for a team at a school they don’t even go to - and it might - I’m out the next day.

I think you missed the boat because it sailed several years ago. Besides I did not say that they aren’t going to school. They still need to go and are expected to graduate. But we currently take grad students from the portal who probably would not be admitted if it wasn’t for football. I don’t think that taking football players with lower SAT scores has hurt the reputation of Duke, Vanderbilt, or Stanford. Why are we playing this game with one hand tied behind our backs?

 

[AdamOnFirst]

I think a better comparison for us is that Vanderbilt went 11-2 and Duke won the ACC championship game. If they can compete, we can. The portal-NIL era did not prevent them from competing. Yes, I know we have stricter admission requirements for players but we still can field a competitive team. On a side note, in this age of paying players, we should loosen our current requirements for admissions to whether an athlete can get a diploma. I think it is now established that these players are a revenue source and we should be maximizing revenue by fielding the best athletes we can recruit that still can make the grade in class.

Duke having a weird, 2018 NU season that culminated in a conference championship plus Tulane making the playoff and Vandy having their best season in over 100 years while being a playoff caliber team screwed over by the very deep playoff bubble (a 10-2 SEC or Bog Ten team last year goes for sure, there were just too many this year) is definitely proof positive that smart schools don’t have to be dumb and think good football will ruin their reputation.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

People need to cool down suggesting Ryan should have bought talent rather than contributing several hundred million to build a stadium. It’s Ryans’s money and he can do what he wants with it and every single person here should be thankful. Get some other doners to step up. It’s not like there is a shortage of wealthy candidates,

He can do whatever he wants with his money and I can suggest it is a massively inefficient use of it if you care about having good teams to root for more than buildings with your name on them.

the stadium I complain about less because at least it’s an amenity our fans will enjoy, experience, and benefit from. The practice facility is just a big fat waste of money and campus real estate at this point that almost nobody else actually benefits from, and even the people who do benefit from it do so less than they would just having the money

 

[Gocatsgo2003]

I can’t help thinking if we hadn’t hired Braun to continue after getting us to a bowl after Fitz left that IU and what they have accomplished since, could have been us had we instead hired Cignetti. At the time I said Braun deserved the job for what he did but I feared exactly what has happened. He’s led us to continued mediocrity with no end in sight. Yes we will go to a bowl again, but our recruiting continues to blow and we aren’t any closer to sniffing the heights that IU has reached vs. Fitz or Walker. This is our ceiling, and maybe in the new B1G we will get to 8-9 wins every now and then, but nothing close to what the Hoosiers have achieved. All with the right coach. And I presume after getting to 6 wins and a minor bowl, Braun’s job is safe and so we continued to be doomed to mire in this mediocrity when we could be so much more. We have B1G money and a new state of the art stadium. All lost opportunity. At the beginning of the season, IU was the losingest program in college football history. No longer. They passed us so now we have resumed the mantle once again. What could have been (and what can be) with the right coach!

The only external candidate with any real interest was Bronco Mendenhall, who had been out of coaching for a couple years and was literally throwing himself at every open job.

 

[phatcat_rivals223240]

People need to cool down suggesting Ryan should have bought talent rather than contributing several hundred million to build a stadium. It’s Ryans’s money and he can do what he wants with it and every single person here should be thankful. Get some other doners to step up. It’s not like there is a shortage of wealthy candidates,

I'm not thankful at all. Im pissed about it. The stadium will be a white elephant that will be a destination for visiting fans. It's entirely unnecessary and will price out the average fan. Duke, Vandy and Tulane have spent a small fraction of what Ryan is spending and all three teams are better than us.

Spare me the blah blah about admissions. Duke was a little known regional school until Coach K, and now look. How many classes did Zion Williamson attend?

Northwestern (and donors) need to decide what they want. I'm ok with the U of Chicago route. I'm ok with the Duke route. Ryan can waste his money entertaining visiting fans and teams but it WILL NOT HELP the team.

 

[phatcat_rivals223240]

Lol what. Do you not want to be a university? If college sports becomes guys playing for a team at a school they don’t even go to - and it might - I’m out the next day.

It already is for top players. Sure, a lot of guys (most I would guess) are students active pursuing degrees. But just look at basketball. Not a single "one and done" player is a serious student. This is not news.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I'm not thankful at all. Im pissed about it. The stadium will be a white elephant that will be a destination for visiting fans. It's entirely unnecessary and will price out the average fan. Duke, Vandy and Tulane have spent a small fraction of what Ryan is spending and all three teams are better than us.

Spare me the blah blah about admissions. Duke was a little known regional school until Coach K, and now look. How many classes did Zion Williamson attend?

Northwestern (and donors) need to decide what they want. I'm ok with the U of Chicago route. I'm ok with the Duke route. Ryan can waste his money entertaining visiting fans and teams but it WILL NOT HELP the team.

I am not sure where admissions comes into this discussion. I didn’t bring it up.

You can be pissed, that’s cool, but it doesn’t change the fact the old RF was a dump falling apart and quite frankly an embarrassment. A new stadium was damn near close to a necessity. A need more than a want. I sat my *** on those cold steel bleachers for last decade and a half. College football costs money now, you seem want cheap seats and plentiful spending on recruits. i haven’t seen Joe average fan saying, I think I’ll donate to the NIL now since my ticket prices are so much lower than our peers!

 

[Gatabowl]

People need to cool down suggesting Ryan should have bought talent rather than contributing several hundred million to build a stadium. It’s Ryans’s money and he can do what he wants with it and every single person here should be thankful. Get some other doners to step up. It’s not like there is a shortage of wealthy candidates,

100% this.

To add, he has been so successful in business and has an incredible image in the Chicago community for multiple reasons. And the two venues with his name on them were absolute dumps. I can’t say I blame him for wanting to upgrade before he dies.

 

[olsh]

We invested in a stadium. Indiana invested in a roster and a coach.

Take it up with the Ryan’s.

I didn't say I had a PROBLEM with that. I didn't invest in either. Just answering the question.

 

[Catreporter]

The practice facility being dissed here is a major reason that our women's field hockey and lacrosse teams are and continue to be very successful. It is used by many athletes who would have had to schlep over to our former indoor football facility which is now a state of the art basketball practice facility that helped propel basketball to where it has gone. NIL is a whole separate issue from that and the new stadium which was also really needed.

 

[phatcat_rivals223240]

I am not sure where admissions comes into this discussion. I didn’t bring it up.

You can be pissed, that’s cool, but it doesn’t change the fact the old RF was a dump falling apart and quite frankly an embarrassment. A new stadium was damn near close to a necessity. A need more than a want. I sat my *** on those cold steel bleachers for last decade and a half. College football costs money now, you seem want cheap seats and plentiful spending on recruits. i haven’t seen Joe average fan saying, I think I’ll donate to the NIL now since my ticket prices are so much lower than our peers!

I dont know what that last sentence means. I am simply stating that our peers (and I use that term lightly with Tulane) have passed us by. They've done it by investing in players and coaches, not stadiums filled with visiting fans.

We've been sold a bill of goods that facilities need to be world class. It's just not true..

 

[NU'06er]

meaningless contest between the 100 also-rans

Give me only snow in attendance for the LOLHat or give me death.