His overall record is 110-90. It sort of resembles Mike Riley's overall coaching record. So my question is, why is his name brought up in so many coaching searches when he has proven to be a mediocre coach?
Why does Pat Fitzgerald get so much hype?
- Thread starter moralvictories
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Uhhhhh maybe because he wins with less talent and is a great Leader of a program
Weird question after just witnessing it firsthand, this weekend. His teams never get enough respect and it just continues on and on every year
Weird question after just witnessing it firsthand, this weekend. His teams never get enough respect and it just continues on and on every year
Simple question: Who would you rather have as head coach of your team…Pat Fitzgerald or Scott Frost?
Because people realize that NW has limitations in recruiting due to their academic standards, and there are always going to be peaks and valleys in the NW coach's overall record. He's produced multiple cycles where every 3 to 4 seasons they win 9 or 10 games, which is very impressive in light of the recruiting limitations. Thus people assume he'd be a consistent 8 to 11 win per year coach at a school without strict academic standards.
Also, he's been to the B1G Championship game twice in the last 5 seasons, and is 4-1 in their last 5 bowl games.
Also, he's been to the B1G Championship game twice in the last 5 seasons, and is 4-1 in their last 5 bowl games.
1. He is a very likable guy and even though they have a small fan base, he promotes the hell out of Northwestern football. After every sideline interview, radio interview and presser, he ends with “Go Cats.”
2. Rose Bowls! Up and down record, yes, but when down, he gets NW back to winning.
3. He put a starting a quarterback in the NFL, Trevor Siemian.
Because Northwestern use to lose every game by 30-40 points. Pat‘s college coach Gary Barnett was able to have two good seasons (out of 7) while coaching the Wildcats in the nineties, but before that it was pretty dismal in Chicago. By the way Barnett did not win a conference game his last year at Northwestern before moving on to CU.
However, some of us thought the same thing about Mike Riley, a man with a similar record to Pat Fitzgerald. Some thought that his mediocre record was the product of being a small school in the middle of nowhere having to compete with Oregon for the top recruits.
They thought if we bring Mike Riley to a school like Nebraska with access to better facilities and better athletic talent, that he would go from being a coach with a mediocre record to winning 10 games a year and competing for B1G championships.
However, much to those fans dismay, he finished with a mediocre 19-19 record at Nebraska. So the question is, if Nebraska were to hire Pat Fitzgerald, wouldn't his record likely resemble that of Mike Riley?
They thought if we bring Mike Riley to a school like Nebraska with access to better facilities and better athletic talent, that he would go from being a coach with a mediocre record to winning 10 games a year and competing for B1G championships.
However, much to those fans dismay, he finished with a mediocre 19-19 record at Nebraska. So the question is, if Nebraska were to hire Pat Fitzgerald, wouldn't his record likely resemble that of Mike Riley?
Oregon state isn't limited academically like NW is though. They just.... Suck...
I would say Fitzgerald has been more successful at Northwestern than Mike Riley was at Oregon State. That doesn't mean he would set the world on fire at Nebraska, obviously, but I would like his chances over a head-scratching hire like Riley.
Coaches always get extra media love when they win at a place like Northwestern or Vanderbilt, which are seen as perpetual underdogs. Plus guys who return to their alma mater have a little extra shine as well - as long as they don't (cough, cough) completely **** the bed.
You have to keep it in context with where he coaches ...
* Academic requirements such that NWU can't touch 2/3rds of the possible recruits out there
* A 34 game losing streak in the late 70s/early 80s, the longest in CFB
* Zero winning seasons from 1972 to 1994
* Location in a large city where pro sports get all of the attention
* (When he started) some of the worst facilities in CFB, now some of the best, going to get even better. He played a big role in making that happen.
* By a long ways, more wins than any other coach in the school's history; more than twice as many wins as the next guy. Best in win percentage since World War II. Better than Ara Parseghian and Gary Barnett.
I believe that Fitz has a window to get some academically challenged players into school that never used to exist - that started with Barnett. Also because of their academic reputation, he's able to recruit coast to coast and border to border. Couple that with sitting in the middle of a 8 million person metroplex and while they don't turn out for games, their fanbase has mucho $$$ to throw at their program.
because it's the big ten, where nobody ever wins
when only 1 school in your league has won an outright national title during the modern era of football (50+ years), things like participating in the rose bowl look like big accomplishments
we hear this over and over again from loser b1g fans
when only 1 school in your league has won an outright national title during the modern era of football (50+ years), things like participating in the rose bowl look like big accomplishments
we hear this over and over again from loser b1g fans
...and where what attention does go to college football overwhelmingly goes to N.D.
perfect example of something that looks like an accomplishment in the b1g but truly is a 'slimmest fat girl' default prize, with the reward being having the floor mopped with you by ohiost
NU gave Ohio State a game both times, more than Wisky typically does. But, yeah, winning the West has been a ticket to a loss in Indy.
They might stretch a bit more, but they don't admit players who are likely to fail out. Part of the NU brand is a high graduation rate. Fitz is selling an NU degree to recruits as a big part of the 40-year package.
I might be wrong, but I believe nw is the only b1g west winner to win a bowl game after getting the floor mopped with them in indy
so, usually it's a ticket to 2 straight Ls to end the year
like I said, somebody's got to do it, but, the phrase "winning the west" is usually an oxymoron
You guys need to stop with the BS academic integrity of schools like NW. If top 30 5 star recruits wanted to play for Fitz you best believe NW would roll out the red carpet. Stop it with that nonsense....
You think we’re bad now? NW used to be astonishingly bad, and were that way for decades. I believe they had a couple of winless seasons and several with one or maybe two wins. Anyone with a pulse would beat them by 4+ touchdowns easily. They are light years better than they were, and have been competitive most years for a while now. What used to be a gimme win is now if you don’t bring your A game (last weekend), you’ll lose. Quite an accomplishment given their academic hurdles.
I agree and not my first choice for coach here but I was responding more in context to this thread.
But hypothetically if Fitzgerald was our coach since 2018 instead of Frost, we’d have a much better record.
How many for Frost or NU in the past decade???? A title is a title. There is more hardware in the Northwestern trophy case than NU's in the last decade. Not trying to be a Northwestern apologist, but actions are stronger than words. Hard to bash a team that has better results over a 10-year period.
| 1 | 2020 | Jan 1, 2021 | Fri | Citrus Bowl | Northwestern | 35 | Auburn | 19 | Camping World Stadium - Orlando, Florida |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2018 | Dec 31, 2018 | Mon | Holiday Bowl | Northwestern | 31 | Utah | 20 | SDCCU Stadium - San Diego, California |
| 3 | 2017 | Dec 29, 2017 | Fri | Music City Bowl | Northwestern | 24 | Kentucky | 23 | Nissan Stadium - Nashville, Tennessee |
| 4 | 2016 | Dec 28, 2016 | Wed | Pinstripe Bowl | Northwestern | 31 | Pitt | 24 | Yankee Stadium - Bronx, New York |
| 5 | |||||||||
| 6 | 2012 | Jan 1, 2013 | Tue | Gator Bowl | Northwestern | 34 | Mississippi State | 20 | Jacksonville, FL |
2 Bowl game wins for NU since 2012... 2013 Gator Bowl, and 2015 Foster Farms Bowl. No Division titles
you are proving my point.
since we are now a typical win-nothing b1g team, what you have listed here looks like something.
us being historically bad doesn't make these teams any better. our perspective has just changed.
Fitz is so up and down in his wins and losses from year to year. I have a feeling Nebraska fans would not tolerate such a roller coaster ride. He can go from having a 10 win season to a losing season and back to a winning season in a matter of 3 years.
A few years ago, you were probably correct about Husker fans having low tolerance for roller coaster rides.
But that was before we got on a roller coaster that just plunged to the bottom of the hill and stayed there.
Stop by our free board. We have at least one (I think two) guys on there who've worked for the program and directly dealt with football recruiting. You can try your theories out on them.