Northwestern Logic

[7th Cir. Cat]

I was talking to a friend last night (another hard core NU fan and season ticket holder) and he said at times like this he's glad "we have an experienced coach who won't lose the locker room." He went on to say "Collins has been through these types of streaks plenty of times before and knows how to deal with it." And that these types of long losing streaks "would shake the confidence of most coaches."

I mean . . . yes it's good that the team will continue to fight and Collins continues to believe in himself. But it's also sad that we consider it a positive that our coach has so much experience with double digit losing steaks in different seasons that he likely has a playbook on how to deal with it.

But this is what we do as Northwestern fans, we are constantly trying to make lemonade.

Hope springs eternal. Let's play spoiler and beat Illinois on Tuesday, Would love to knock them out of the running for a #1 seed.

 

[Styre]

Are there really that many examples of college basketball coaches "losing the locker room?" That seems more like a pro dynamic to me.

 

[7th Cir. Cat]

Are there really that many examples of college basketball coaches "losing the locker room?" That seems more like a pro dynamic to me.

Probably more likely in the NBA/NFL when the players are millionaires but I think it does happen in the college ranks. Billy Gillespie at Kentucky comes to mind. His teams had plenty of talent but apparently the players hated him and he was a total jerk which led to him being fired.

 

[GatoLouco]

It’s human to come up with reasons to feel a bit better about ourselves. We all do it

 

[DaCat]

Are there really that many examples of college basketball coaches "losing the locker room?" That seems more like a pro dynamic to me.

Kevin O'Neill ?

 

[Cat Fan in Buckeye Land]

Kevin O'Neill ?

I would imagine that the prime example for almost anything negative about a situation caused by a coach in college basketball would be Kevin O’Neill. Still hard for me to believe that he was hired multiple times after his stint at Northwestern.

 

[Styre]

Kevin O'Neill ?

Sure, that's a good example. But does Collins' ability to not "lose the locker room" just come down to him not being a rampaging, abusive monster like O'Neill or Gillispie? Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that Collins isn't like that, but is that really an accomplishment?

 

[SDakaGordie]

Sure, that's a good example. But does Collins' ability to not "lose the locker room" just come down to him not being a rampaging, abusive monster like O'Neill or Gillispie? Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that Collins isn't like that, but is that really an accomplishment?

Sure. The NU job has always been a piece of cake with no adversity, so this means nothing. Any non-rampaging monster off the street could do just as well.

 

[NJCat]

Sure. The NU job has always been a piece of cake with no adversity, so this means nothing. Any non-rampaging monster off the street could do just as well.

Well, one piece of adversty the NU job doesn't present is fear of losing ones job. I can't imagine any other Power conference job where the head coach with a losings record after 8 season isn't on the hot seat except NU.

 

[SDakaGordie]

Well, one piece of adversty the NU job doesn't present is fear of losing ones job. I can't imagine any other Power conference job where the head coach with a losings record after 8 season isn't on the hot seat except NU.

That ultimately is the key question - what does the boss (AD) judge as satisfactory? Collins rightfully earned himself some extra job security after the NCAA bid. But given the history of NU and our continuing academic restrictions, I personally don’t think it’s likely or realistic to think we can have continued, uninterrupted success of that sort. It may be the party line, and it is possible, but it’s not likely, until we change the academic requirements. So, Collins is trying to do the unlikely. Shouldn’t that allow him more time than “normal”?

 

[GatoLouco]

We’re going on 9 years by the end of 21-22. I’d consider that more time than “normal”.

So what NU’s normal’ since BC was given 13 years, should we settle on 20?

 

[SDakaGordie]

We’re going on 9 years by the end of 21-22. I’d consider that more time than “normal”.

So what NU’s normal’ since BC was given 13 years, should we settle on 20?

No. It’s 4 years after our Tourney. A total of 12, or Carmody’s 13 years, seems reasonable, so another 3-4 is not unrealistic. Of course, if things get worse (somehow), sooner would also be reasonable.

 

[NJCat]

No. It’s 4 years after our Tourney.

Four years with finishes of 10th (best), 14th 13th and 13th in the B1G.

2021-22 will be the telling season, Anything less than a 9th place finish in the B1G should be the end of the Collins regime.

 

[Styre]

Sure. The NU job has always been a piece of cake with no adversity, so this means nothing. Any non-rampaging monster off the street could do just as well.

Do just as well at not losing the locker room? Could you explain what makes Chris Collins special in this regard? There are a lot of bad teams out there that play just as hard.

 

[willycat]

Four years with finishes of 10th (best), 14th 13th and 13th in the B1G.

2021-22 will be the telling season, Anything less than a 9th place finish in the B1G should be the end of the Collins regime.

So would eight place give him an additional 4 years and a substantial raise?

 

[SDakaGordie]

Do just as well at not losing the locker room? Could you explain what makes Chris Collins special in this regard? There are a lot of bad teams out there that play just as hard.

I see the celebrations post-win and I see the emotions post-loss. And I see the guys playing hard. No more insight I can offer, other than we lose in conference more than any other BB team I know of, so it’s a real issue.

 

[TejasCat]

Are there really that many examples of college basketball coaches "losing the locker room?" That seems more like a pro dynamic to me.

Maybe the problem is our players are just happy to be out there and don't care about losing, so there is no locker room to lose. Who knows.

 

[Secho99]

That ultimately is the key question - what does the boss (AD) judge as satisfactory? Collins rightfully earned himself some extra job security after the NCAA bid. But given the history of NU and our continuing academic restrictions, I personally don’t think it’s likely or realistic to think we can have continued, uninterrupted success of that sort. It may be the party line, and it is possible, but it’s not likely, until we change the academic requirements. So, Collins is trying to do the unlikely. Shouldn’t that allow him more time than “normal”?

The big failure here was the 17-18 season. People can talk about Rosemont as an excuse all they want but we should’ve been as good or better than the previous season and Collins has admitted in at least one interview that he didn’t have the team prepared to play that season. And B-Mac hinted on several occasions that there were issues with that team internally. The inability to keep the program trending upward, followed by an even worse team the next year basically blew any substantial benefit we got from the tourney year. That was a real opportunity to elevate the program and it fell flat, and it had nothing to do with admission standards (which of course are an obstacle for long-term success here).

 

[SDakaGordie]

The big failure here was the 17-18 season. People can talk about Rosemont as an excuse all they want but we should’ve been as good or better than the previous season and Collins has admitted in at least one interview that he didn’t have the team prepared to play that season. And B-Mac hinted on several occasions that there were issues with that team internally. The inability to keep the program trending upward, followed by an even worse team the next year basically blew any substantial benefit we got from the tourney year. That was a real opportunity to elevate the program and it fell flat, and it had nothing to do with admission standards (which of course are an obstacle for long-term success here).

Very good point. I don’t find it a fireable offense (if it happened again it would be), but I agree it was a huge missed opportunity.

 

[NUCat320]

I see the celebrations post-win ...

Not this year, you haven’t.

 

[SDakaGordie]

Not this year, you haven’t.

You’ve forgotten about the 3-0 start...

 

[TheC]

You’ve forgotten about the 3-0 start...

Can you blame us? For old folks like us, it's hard to remember that far back.

 

[NUCat320]

You’ve forgotten about the 3-0 start...

It was last year, in the same way that brilliant elementary school teachers say ‘see you next year’ on the last day before winter break.

 

[RhabdoWildcat]

The big failure here was the 17-18 season. People can talk about Rosemont as an excuse all they want but we should’ve been as good or better than the previous season and Collins has admitted in at least one interview that he didn’t have the team prepared to play that season. And B-Mac hinted on several occasions that there were issues with that team internally. The inability to keep the program trending upward, followed by an even worse team the next year basically blew any substantial benefit we got from the tourney year. That was a real opportunity to elevate the program and it fell flat, and it had nothing to do with admission standards (which of course are an obstacle for long-term success here).

Anyone have any idea what those "issues" are without speculating?

 

[DaCat]

Anyone have any idea what those "issues" are without speculating?

Take it to The Rock!

 

[peatymeanis]

Anyone have any idea what those "issues" are without speculating?

I don’t have any inside info but Scottie Lindsey was known to have a prickly personality

 

[freewillie07]

Anyone have any idea what those "issues" are without speculating?

It has been well-documented by now that the 17-18 team got caught “reading their own press clippings” and weren’t prepared for the season, much less prepared to play at Allstate Arena.

 

[Catreporter]

Ankle injury to McIntosh in the Brown game that lingered on and eventually ended his season prematurely had something to do with it too.