This is what it boils down to. The worst boss I ever had gave me one amazing kernel of wisdom. I had about 12 people on my team at the time, and he was talking to all of the senior leaders. words to the effect of "if our people do not meet their goals it is because we have failed them as leaders". Powerful, succinct, true. Now, you can decide if a person (player) is a non-performer and fire (bench) them, but if you put them 'in the game', you need to be sure they have the resources, training, guidance, coaching, understanding, and support to succeed.
Tell me, why otherwise would a smart, dedicated, well-trained NU athlete fail? Lazy? incompetent?
We are a very "Borg-like" team. We don't have a lot of flashy stars, just, when successful, a bunch of guys that do their job and don't mess up. to me, that is 100.00% the credit to the coaches, and when it ISN"T working, it is their responsibility.
Now, perhaps there is some tacit limitation like 'we can't get the best players so we do the best we can with less talented people', but that sure isn't the message out of Evanston.