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Fitz must go

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phatcat_rivals223240

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He's lost his way and is either too stubborn or too incapable to find it. This is not difficult. Kansas, Duke, TCU, Tulane et al have hired coaches that brought success. We don't have to be embarrassing. Hire the best G5 staff, double their salary, reduce the stupid price tag for the stadium and put money towards NIL.

Or stop playing FBS. I have no patience in returning to the 80s. Fire his *** and all of his crappy staff. Rip off the band aid
 
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Gocatsgo2003

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phatcat said:
He's lost his way and is either too stubborn or too incapable to find it. This is not difficult. Kansas, Duke, TCU, Tulane et al have hired coaches that brought success. We don't have to be embarrassing. Hire the best G5 staff, double their salary, reduce the stupid price tag for the stadium and put money towards NIL.

Or stop playing FBS. I have no patience in returning to the 80s. Fire his *** and all of his crappy staff. Rip off the band aid
Click to expand...

Fitz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Both because it would be ridiculously expensive to send him packing (and the only guy with that much cash is a big Fitz guy) and because it would be nearly impossible to hire a decent replacement if we fired a program legend with 7 years left on his deal. Might as well get your mind around that.

Bigger question is whether Fitz has the stones to actually do what needs to be done, which is whacking more than a few coaches.
 
Alvious

Alvious

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Sep 6, 2010
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My fear is that even if Fitz fires his coordinators, he would hire new ones who are just as bad.
 
stpaulcat

stpaulcat

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May 29, 2001
35,296
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Fitz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Both because it would be ridiculously expensive to send him packing (and the only guy with that much cash is a big Fitz guy) and because it would be nearly impossible to hire a decent replacement if we fired a program legend with 7 years left on his deal. Might as well get your mind around that.

Bigger question is whether Fitz has the stones to actually do what needs to be done, which is whacking more than a few coaches.
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You don't put good money after bad, BUT, I don't believe firing Fitz is the answer. Someone, however, firmly needs to steer him back on track. He does seem very complacent at this point.
 
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phatcat_rivals223240

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2001
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Fitz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Both because it would be ridiculously expensive to send him packing (and the only guy with that much cash is a big Fitz guy) and because it would be nearly impossible to hire a decent replacement if we fired a program legend with 7 years left on his deal. Might as well get your mind around that.

Bigger question is whether Fitz has the stones to actually do what needs to be done, which is whacking more than a few coaches.
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We're willing to pony up 800M for a "ridiculously expensive" stadium that will be occupied by visiting fans but can't cough up a buyout?

And don't worry about "who would come here?!?!?" If you hire the best G5 staff and double their salary, they will come.
 
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Gocatsgo2003

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phatcat said:
We're willing to pony up 800M for a "ridiculously expensive" stadium that will be occupied by visiting fans but can't cough up a buyout?

And don't worry about "who would come here?!?!?" If you hire the best G5 staff and double their salary, they will come.
Click to expand...

If by “we” you mean “Pat Ryan,” then yes. He will pony up a lot of money to pay for a stadium but not to buy out Fitz.

And I’m not sure you appreciate the difficult reputation NU has amongst coaches, deservingly so. High-profile coaching prospects are much more likely to pass on NU for an easier gig than to take NU.
 
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freewillie07

Sophomore
Aug 22, 2017
5,240
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stpaulcat said:
You don't put good money after bad, BUT, I don't believe firing Fitz is the answer. Someone, however, firmly needs to steer him back on track. He does seem very complacent at this point.
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I agree, but the question is who. He is the King of NU Football and has great job security and is Pat Ryan’s favorite.

He’s just become lazy and selfish. I also think his insecurity from being such a young HC has never gone away.
 
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phatcat_rivals223240

All-Conference
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gocatsgo2003 said:
If by “we” you mean “Pat Ryan,” then yes. He will pony up a lot of money to pay for a stadium but not to buy out Fitz.

And I’m not sure you appreciate the difficult reputation NU has amongst coaches, deservingly so. High-profile coaching prospects are much more likely to pass on NU for an easier gig than to take NU.
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Not just Pat Ryan, but @Alan Smithee also, who, combined, have donated more than 400M to NU. But, presuming that Ryan and Smithee have the program's best interest in mind, they can reduce the stadium cost to 730M and buyout Fitz.

Blah blah how difficult. You give the Toledo coach 5M a year, for instance, and he'd crawl over broken glass to come here. Lance Leipold went to effing Kansas. KANSAS! is there a worse program in CFB?
 
Z

zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
3,651
277
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phatcat said:
He's lost his way and is either too stubborn or too incapable to find it. This is not difficult. Kansas, Duke, TCU, Tulane et al have hired coaches that brought success. We don't have to be embarrassing. Hire the best G5 staff, double their salary, reduce the stupid price tag for the stadium and put money towards NIL.

Or stop playing FBS. I have no patience in returning to the 80s. Fire his *** and all of his crappy staff. Rip off the band aid
Click to expand...
I fully understand how you feel, but Fitz is not going anywhere for a long time. @gocatsgo2003 is 100% right in everything he's said here. Fitz is Pat Ryan's guy. Ryan may fork over $400 million for the stadium project, but he's not going to sign onto buying out and firing Fitz.

But he has to realize that his DC/OC have completely failed to have their units playing at the level required to compete at this level.

If Fitz can't see that, then Graag (and Pat Ryan) have to make him see that.

I still have reasonable hope that Fitz will see the light on this because a 1-11 Dark Ages type of year is a total catastrophe.

It's hard to shield the eyes from how poor our team has played most of its games this year.
 
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Gocatsgo2003

All-Conference
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phatcat said:
Not just Pat Ryan, but @Alan Smithee also, who, combined, have donated more than 400M to NU. But, presuming that Ryan and Smithee have the program's best interest in mind, they can reduce the stadium cost to 730M and buyout Fitz.

Blah blah how difficult. You give the Toledo coach 5M a year, for instance, and he'd crawl over broken glass to come here. Lance Leipold went to effing Kansas. KANSAS! is there a worse program in CFB?
Click to expand...

I’m sorry, what? A multi-millionaire donor to NU football is supposedly slumming it with us on these boards?
 
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NUCat320

Senior
Dec 4, 2005
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phatcat said:
And don't worry about "who would come here?!?!?" If you hire the best G5 staff and double their salary, they will come.
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Incarnate Word, who put up 64 points in beating SIU (that’s 2.67x what NU scored), scores 52 points a game and plays in a 6,000 capacity stadium. NU could afford to give coordinator Mark Leftwich a much, much better salary.

Downside? They like to pass the ball.
 
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Rebel II1

Redshirt
Dec 7, 2021
1,771
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Fitz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Both because it would be ridiculously expensive to send him packing (and the only guy with that much cash is a big Fitz guy) and because it would be nearly impossible to hire a decent replacement if we fired a program legend with 7 years left on his deal. Might as well get your mind around that.

Bigger question is whether Fitz has the stones to actually do what needs to be done, which is whacking more than a few coaches.
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I join you in that evaluation. Big changes are needed.
 
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zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Yeah, he was intimating you are one of “those guys.”
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I think the joke is just that Pat Ryan + any one of us have donated $400+ million together.

I doubt any of our athletics mega donors wastes their time here. Yes they are diehards for NU, but... they have direct access.
 
S

Sheffielder

Senior
Sep 1, 2004
9,912
723
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freewillie07 said:
I agree, but the question is who. He is the King of NU Football and has great job security and is Pat Ryan’s favorite.

He’s just become lazy and selfish. I also think his insecurity from being such a young HC has never gone away.
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I would never call Fitz lazy.

But selfish, prioritizing his pride and personal relationships over the program? Absolutely.

Insecure? Check.

Stubborn? "You can't tell me what to do!" Yup.

I don't believe he is resting on his laurels, but he's definitely hiding his assistant coaches and total confusion/unwillingness on how to fix things behind them.
 
stpaulcat

stpaulcat

Senior
May 29, 2001
35,296
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zeek55 said:
I think the joke is just that Pat Ryan + any one of us have donated $400+ million together.

I doubt any of our athletics mega donors wastes their time here. Yes they are diehards for NU, but... they have direct access.
Click to expand...
Don't be surprised.
 
Z

zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
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Sheffielder said:
I would never call Fitz lazy.

But selfish, prioritizing his pride and personal relationships over the program? Absolutely.

Insecure? Check.

Stubborn? "You can't tell me what to do!" Yup.

I don't believe he is resting on his laurels, but he's definitely hiding his assistant coaches and total confusion/unwillingness on how to fix things behind them.
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I agree re: calling Fitz lazy; I've never thought he gave less than 110% to the program in terms of effort.

He cares about NU football as much as anybody alive, so a completely disastrous year like this probably eats at him as a competitor that really cares about this program.

JON was a bad hire. Bajakian was a hire that looked good when it happened but has turned out poorly the last 2 years.

I still think Fitz is the right HC and head of program here. The problem is that he's sitting on 2 coordinator hires that appear to be total busts.

I'm also still pretty confident that Fitz will make big changes this offseason. He has to; there's no trying to just hope that things get better next year. Our problems don't appear to be effort or how hard the team is working in practice. The team is just not able to play at this level of competition. A big part of that is on JON and Bajakian. It's not 100% on them of course, but a large enough part of the blame that their jobs should be in serious jeopardy.
 
stpaulcat

stpaulcat

Senior
May 29, 2001
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phatcat said:
We're willing to pony up 800M for a "ridiculously expensive" stadium that will be occupied by visiting fans but can't cough up a buyout?

And don't worry about "who would come here?!?!?" If you hire the best G5 staff and double their salary, they will come.
Click to expand...
Construction costs ain't what they used to be.
 
T

Titanium999

Redshirt
Jan 16, 2014
4,573
0
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Fitz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Both because it would be ridiculously expensive to send him packing (and the only guy with that much cash is a big Fitz guy) and because it would be nearly impossible to hire a decent replacement if we fired a program legend with 7 years left on his deal. Might as well get your mind around that.

Bigger question is whether Fitz has the stones to actually do what needs to be done, which is whacking more than a few coaches.
Click to expand...
Long term contract is gonna be our life sentence to hell and a hand basket 🧺 for sure!
 
C

Curdog7

Freshman
Jun 22, 2001
2,717
82
35
gocatsgo2003 said:
If by “we” you mean “Pat Ryan,” then yes. He will pony up a lot of money to pay for a stadium but not to buy out Fitz.

And I’m not sure you appreciate the difficult reputation NU has amongst coaches, deservingly so. High-profile coaching prospects are much more likely to pass on NU for an easier gig than to take NU.
Click to expand...
I’m going to call BS on this one. NU can get a quality coach. It’s an attractive job: relatively low expectations, good pay, good place to live, and you will get at least 5 years. Those are all huge pluses.
 
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Gocatsgo2003

All-Conference
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curdog said:
I’m going to call BS on this one. NU can get a quality coach. It’s an attractive job: relatively low expectations, good pay, good place to live, and you will get at least 5 years. Those are all huge pluses.
Click to expand...

You’re ignoring the biggest negative that coaches don’t have to deal with anywhere else: academic restrictions.
 
AdamOnFirst

AdamOnFirst

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Nov 29, 2021
10,217
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Fitz isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Both because it would be ridiculously expensive to send him packing (and the only guy with that much cash is a big Fitz guy) and because it would be nearly impossible to hire a decent replacement if we fired a program legend with 7 years left on his deal. Might as well get your mind around that.

Bigger question is whether Fitz has the stones to actually do what needs to be done, which is whacking more than a few coaches.
Click to expand...
Whacking more than a few coaches AND GOING THROUGH THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY OF LEARNING AND CHANGE IT WILL TAKE HIM TO REBUILD HIS OWN PHILOSOPHIES FROM SCRATCH.

Obviously you and I have been frequently aligned on the need for many new coaches, but if they’re just replaced with guys chosen with the same criteria and operating under the same overall approach, we’ll get similar results.

Ok, maybe we’ll get a little improvement at WR and DC, but you get what I mean.

Fitz recently cracked “this is the only way I know how to do it.” Well, it’s time to go out and learn another way to do it.
 
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Gocatsgo2003

All-Conference
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AdamOnFirst said:
Whacking more than a few coaches AND GOING THROUGH THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY OF LEARNING AND CHANGE IT WILL TAKE HIM TO REBUILD HIS OWN PHILOSOPHIES FROM SCRATCH.

Obviously you and I have been frequently aligned on the need for many new coaches, but if they’re just replaced with guys chosen with the same criteria and operating under the same overall approach, we’ll get similar results.

Ok, maybe we’ll get a little improvement at WR and DC, but you get what I mean.

Fitz recently cracked “this is the only way I know how to do it.” Well, it’s time to go out and learn another way to do it.
Click to expand...

Sorry for not fully expanding on my thoughts in the post? I’ve made many posts saying that Fitz needs to rethink the way he runs the program, most notably a “head coach for offense” OC hire. Basically hire someone who can run the offense independently then don’t mess with it.
 
AdamOnFirst

AdamOnFirst

All-Conference
Nov 29, 2021
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Sorry for not fully expanding on my thoughts in the post? I’ve made many posts saying that Fitz needs to rethink the way he runs the program, most notably a “head coach for offense” OC hire. Basically hire someone who can run the offense independently then don’t mess with it.
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I know you agree and am not criticizing you, I’m just trying to go deeper on a particular version of this topic since we’ve all been discussing it as nauseum all year now. There are only so many topics to discuss, we may as well flesh out the minute details of this particular corner of the Fitz saga.

It’s got me thinking about examples of other highly successful leaders in other fields trying to reinvent themselves… and failing or succeeding.
 
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Fanaticat98

Senior
May 29, 2001
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Ideally Fitz would be given a sabbatical for a time of professional growth. He took over as HC really young so has he really been able to have mentorship and opportunities to take a step back and get new perspectives that allow him professional growth?
 
S

Styre

Senior
Oct 14, 2004
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gocatsgo2003 said:
Not as much as you’d think.
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I mean, NU hasn't hired a head football coach from outside the program in 23 years, it's not like we have any recent evidence one way or the other. The basketball program secured a high-level candidate the last time it went looking, though.
 
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