If we lose the rest of the games and end up at 5-7 (with 2 of those wins being Western Illinois and ULM) will Braun be retained? Was the win at Penn State enough to save his job? Will Lujan be back if Braun keeps his job? Braun seems like a good guy, but beyond the wins and losses our recruiting has not been competitive. Our ceiling for recruiting appears to be three stars and as a result we would have to hit on every kid in the portal to be competitive.
5-7
- Thread starter ajr938
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There's a long thread on this, but...whatever. Not much going on, so I'll give my opinion.
To some extent, the 3 B1G wins are illusory. UCLA was floundering and had just fired their coach. They came back in the second half and made us sweat. They beat 2 punching bags and lousy Maryland, and will likely lose the rest.
Purdue sucks again and will likely 0-fer in the B1G
Penn State will likely end with only one win v Sparty
IF NU goes 5-7, I'm on the fence but leaning towards a change. My hesitamcy would be the high number of other teams seeking coaches.
Hire Urban Meyer.
To some extent, the 3 B1G wins are illusory. UCLA was floundering and had just fired their coach. They came back in the second half and made us sweat. They beat 2 punching bags and lousy Maryland, and will likely lose the rest.
Purdue sucks again and will likely 0-fer in the B1G
Penn State will likely end with only one win v Sparty
IF NU goes 5-7, I'm on the fence but leaning towards a change. My hesitamcy would be the high number of other teams seeking coaches.
Hire Urban Meyer.
Braun will continue to grow and improve as a coach if you allow him to do so. Urban Meyer is not coming to Evanston. I am much more sanguine than the doomsayers regarding the future of NU football. Do I want a better offense? Yes, I do. Do I want even better athletes on defense to compete at an even higher level? Yes, I do. However, I do think that Braun will achieve these things if you give him time. I appreciate that my viewpoint is in the minority, but it is my heartfelt and mindful opinion. Go Cats! Beat Michigan.
I can tell you this much: People asking when Braun will be fired before every game this season other than Purdue and Nebraska (when he still had a grace period from the Penn State win) has added an incredible amount of joy to this season, that's for sure.
I don't think you are that much in the minority. Nearly everyone wants him to succeed. By all accounts he is a great guy. He may yet grow into the job. The problem is that NIL/Portal changed everything, and you could end up in a Purdue-like death spiral if you wait too long. Indiana, Vandy and Tulane (even though he's a douche) are examples of formerly moribund programs that had quick turnarounds. And if we look as if we are sinking, players and recruits will bail out.
That said, the current coaching carousel is spinning out of control. Would be hard to find the right coach
Hard to say at this point. On the one hand continuity and a good young coach that players like to play for and the other weak recruiting and he is still a bit over his head. Can he grow into the job? Do we really have the time to let him have the time to try to do so? If we lose the rest, this year is just last year redo with the addition of a spinning out of control PSU. And lower talent level coming in. (I liked the landing of Fuchs and maybe that is the beginning of a needed turnaround in recruiting)
On the other hand, if we do decide to change, will we be able to find that needle in the haystack that has the ability to recruit, use the portal and turn around the program? Especially in this environment. It will be a tough call
Cats get their win against Minnesota, but lose the bowl game.
6-7.
Because 2025.
6-7.
Because 2025.
If we end up at 6-6 regular season, will that put an end to the seemingly inexhaustible series of threads posing hypotheticals on how/when Braun will be fired?
I'm in full "cheer on the 'Cats" mode because I believe every remaining game is winnable. I don't even want to talk about this hypothetical at this point in the season; it helps nobody. Our season to this point has me optimistic, not pessimistic.
Somebody will start one about next year’s needed record
Unless something weird happens and he finishes 7-6, I think he’s gone. He’s a good guy, but he seems extremely replaceable. A big ten school can swing a stick and hit a dozen coaches who would be able to match or exceed his results.
Other circumstantial reasons I think he gets replaced: New AD who didn’t hire him, new stadium opening, 10-14 record in conference games, consistently terrible in game decision making, staff that doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to conference peers in terms of high major experience, and bad recruiting.
There is a sitting Big Ten coach who’s watching to see if the job opens. He’s gone as far as he can at his current stop and is ready to reset his contract clock and program energy. Major ties to the suburb schools. He’d be an instant upgrade and from what I’ve heard it’s a very real possibility
Other circumstantial reasons I think he gets replaced: New AD who didn’t hire him, new stadium opening, 10-14 record in conference games, consistently terrible in game decision making, staff that doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to conference peers in terms of high major experience, and bad recruiting.
There is a sitting Big Ten coach who’s watching to see if the job opens. He’s gone as far as he can at his current stop and is ready to reset his contract clock and program energy. Major ties to the suburb schools. He’d be an instant upgrade and from what I’ve heard it’s a very real possibility
CCC says hello! This all is sounding eerily similar to the hyper B S we were hearing on the basketball board only a few years ago. All we need is an open letter ultimatum from the A D to Coach Braun, to scare away potential recruits, to make the analogy complete. But we really don't need the A D (unlike the previous one, I'm pretty sure this guy has a lot more sense than to do so) to accomplish this. This board is more than adequately filling that void by creating rolling ultimatums each week after every game. We still have a very "salvageable" season, albeit with an admittedly difficult schedule. For once, why don't we try the novel idea of backing the team and their coach. But, I guess that just isn't the NU way.
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Hitting on a dozen coaches who could get better results is easier said than done. See Luke Fickell, Jonathan Smith, whoever the Purdue coach is for examples of coaches who haven’t been able to match Braun’s record at schools with recent bowl seasons. Even Schiano coming back to Rutgers can’t match his own previous record.
Sitting B1G coach who’s maxed out and looking to move to a place like NU? With heavy Chicago recruiting ties…intrigued who that would refer to. Probably not any of the underachievers I listed above, obviously not Ferentz, Day, Cig, Moore, any of East or West coast schools. Most likely referring to PJ? He does seem to have waned in his manic energy and hasn’t been able to get to the next level in recruiting or conference standings. Because of that he also probably isn’t a real consideration anymore for the “step up” jobs like PSU. And he’s from Chicago area/NIU alum. I don’t mind him as much since he seems to have toned down the self promotion a bit. I would be concerned about his inconsistent ability to hire good coordinators (or hold onto them if they’re actually good), and to recruit with more restrictions. And to not choke against Iowa.
At least we would beat Nebraska. He has no issue doing that.
I would lead the rebellion if NU hired Fleck and his dumb schtick.
Right beside you. I loathe that guy.
Fickell and Smith were done in by their own administration and boosters meddling. I think both listened to outside pressure from people who do not know how to win football games and they are paying for it. Odom took over a program demolished by Ryan Walters and he had to take like 50 transfers to field a team.
And yes, it’s Fleck. He would love Wisconsin but Fickell is staying. He was eyeing Illinois last season when the expectation was that Bielema would go to Iowa when Kirk retired. Bielema’s recent contract essentially eliminates that possibility, and Fleck wants out of Minnesota. You can’t win big there with the lack of financial support and very poor local talent pool. His resources and access to talent won’t be any worse at Northwestern, and he’s closer to his recruiting pipeline. Plus a shiny new stadium. It’s an open secret to the extent that even national CFB guys are talking about it (Cover 3 podcast mentioned it in passing a couple weeks ago when they discussed the possibility that Braun goes from 5-3 to 5-8 due to the backloaded schedule.)
I would not be happy to take Fleck at all, but...he's turned Minnesota into a consistent winner (6-0 in bowl games, btw...) and I believe he would do the same here, and would instantly turn heads. For all those who are instantly turned off by the guy, he's got his supporters, too.
Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that Braun seems very replaceable - I agree with that, but I also think about how many coaches Illinois has burned through in the last 20-25 years...I just don't want Northwestern to be a program like that if there's any way to avoid it.
That’s my point, it could get worse even if hiring a more experienced head coach like Fickell and Smith. And it probably would get worse initially because starters and recruits would transfer, get poached etc. and unless the new guy hit it out of the park on at least 15 transfers, we would be worse next year.
So, nobody likes my Urban Meyer idea, how about we sign this kid then hire his dad?
Desales QB RJ Day, Ryan Day's son, breaks passing record in big win https://share.google/PyFIfdEfrns5NPmBv
Desales QB RJ Day, Ryan Day's son, breaks passing record in big win https://share.google/PyFIfdEfrns5NPmBv
Not sure why you even bothered to respond to a comment that implied PJ Fleck might even be an option (you’re right about him being the most annoying man on planet earth)
That is a huge but. Like him or not, he has built successful at a program that has some similar issues to what we face and we could do a whole lot worse. If he was on our sideline, would he annoy us or just everyone who we played against? If just the other teams, what is wrong with that?
His recruiting level is significantly better that what we are currently getting but hard to know if he could do that here, Not a home run hire but definitely respectable
I agree with everything you said, but I will also say it's funny to watch friends who love a team but hate their coach - was true for my LSU friends and Brian Kelly, with Penn State and James Franklin...I do think for many of us we will look at the Fitz era as "glory days" when we loved the whole program and everyone top to bottom.
Doesn’t he also have a brain injury condition that causes excruciating headaches when under stress?? What more does the fellow have to prove? Nat champs at like 3 different colleges? Stick with fox commentators big guy
I would happily accept Urban Meyer retiring moments before an aneurism in return for what he'd do for NU football for a few years (this isn't happening and is silly). I'm sure the gentlemen of north campus fraternity row can introduce him to the Mark II Lounge, a place he'll surely love
If there’s even an ounce of truth to the Fleck to NU rumors, next Saturday’s game is going to be quite interesting.
I for one despise Fleck as the head coach at Minnesota. That being said I truly believe he is exactly the type of coach we need at NU. The guy is one of the best recruiters in the country. He can sell ice to Eskimos. I’m not sure there’s a less desirable city in the P4 to recruit for than Minneapolis. How he gets it done is beyond me.
If Fleck came and we had enough money, he would surely try to bring Drake Lindsey (RS FR) and a couple WRs. He does recruit very well at WR. The alternative is Braun gets a very well known OC who could attract a lot of talent in the spring portal.
What rumors? There are no rumors about Fleck to NU LOL
There is no truth to it, after years of Fleck pumping up rumors for money the Gooher fan base has this fear porn thing with Fleck leaving. They were freaking out about Arkansas rumors recently.
this would truly be a shot or poisoned situation to me. As somebody who said I’d happily accept James Franklin despite my dislike for him (winning is winning)… ******* do I hate PJ Fleck.
There is more to it than that. Fleckster has genuine interest. He’d prefer Wisky but that’s not happening.
In terms of admissions, there’s not as many restrictions as NU. But it’s more restrictive than, say, Nebraska.
In all other aspects, difficult. Local talent pool is very, very shallow. Support and interest from the fans is poor. NIL is terrible.
Edit: his ties are to the Chicagoland area, that’s where he got his best talent at WMU and Minnesota. Not far from Minnesota, but also far enough that mom and dad have to catch a flight to see games and that’s a hindrance in recruiting.
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