My commitment to Fitz and Co.

[DrillCat]

I shall not watch another down of your team until the end of the season. I shall not attend any of your pathetic games for the remainder of the season.
I shall not commit any financial donations to your program until you change some key components of your team.
I hope you do not sleep well tonight. Because it's not just another game for you to flush but rather you have brought embarrassment to NU.
I hope you consider taking some cuts on your 2.5 million salary. To be more specific, how about cutting just a 150,000 and hire a real Special Team's coach?
Just my thought and you can totally ignore this. Because I know you won't care anyway.
I'm out.

 

[Wildcatfootball12]

McCall doesn't give a sh*t what you think and will be OC of this team forever

_____________ also doesn't give a sh*t what you think and will be the special teams coach forever

Basically, Northwestern doesn't actually care about winning games

I'm out as well, peace

 

[Katatonic]

The O lost it's one on one battles/didn't execute - blah, blah, blah....

When this has been a problem for years - it's on the coaching staff as well.

 

[KnottSlim]

Looking eerily similar to 2013 right about now. The wheels have come off

 

[kaTNap]

Head coaches who are successful over the long term, like Kirk Ferentz, recognize when things aren't working and make changes. Not just scheme changes, but coaching personnel changes as well.

 

[DrillCat]

We may still go bowling this season. With one lucky game, we get to a bowl!
That's when Fotz will come out to say that all is on him but we are still going to a bowl game and all is well.
Then he shall scold the Internet, arm chair quarterbacks despite its them who care and actually pay for his pathetic shows week in week out. Also he will happily collect his 2.5 million bucks a year as an ambassador of the program that stresses the character. Character of Do Nothing even when wheels come off.
In real life, if a CEO does not perform, he will first diagnose and change the key members. Then if things still do not change, he will be fired by the board of directors.
Fitz has it good and I envy the man. He has the job for life!
Another bad punt fromNieswander. Thanks, man!

 

[KKAT]

We've got AT LEAST five more years of this complete and utter mediocrity.

 

[Fitz51]

Wow. I wrote practically this exact same thing about the Sox when they announced Ventura was coming back.

Sucks that my two favorite teams are fans more to loyalty than to winning.

 

[TypeO]

After two straight bad seasons, I divorced myself emotionally from PFNUFB (Pat Fitz NU Football) last year. Then I find myself sucked back in with evidence that things had turned around, only to suffer more crushing disappointment. Well, never again.

I can still root for the team but it's hard to take the program seriously with so many glaring coaching faults that never get addressed.

 

[GlideCat]

I am a Cats fan.

Although I am unable to attend games due to geography, I will continue to support the team even when they are losing badly and even when I may disagree with decisions being made by the coaching staff and athletic department. My financial support will continue.

My support of the team is not predicated upon wins and losses. Even embarrassing and/or gut-wrenching losses..

I reserve the right to yell and complain and sometimes whine.

But I am a Cats fan.

 

[DrillCat]

Nice post, Glides.
But would you raise your child as a spoiled brat who doesn't know if he or she is wrong at times? I love the cats. But it's time someone ( like a parent/ AD ) to step up and teach this man child a lesson.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

We've got AT LEAST five more years of this complete and utter mediocrity.

Why? Unless JP AND HIS BOSS are total idiots, they put in PF's contract a reasonable buy-out clause (typically of the order of one year worth of salary), as most everyone else does. Then again, it has not been proved that they aren't.

 

[GlideCat]

Nice post, Glides.
But would you raise your child as a spoiled brat who doesn't know if he or she is wrong at times? I love the cats. But it's time someone ( like a parent/ AD ) to step up and teach this man child a lesson.

I did not say I would not complain. But I will not withdraw my support (even financial). I have a rule about not posting negative posts (or talking much) during or right after a bad game. I have a history of getting extremely emotional and upset during games and can say something that I do not mean.

Right now. I am really, really upset. But when I saw the OP here, I sat down and thought about whether I would withdraw emotional or financial support from the team because I may or may not agree with the coaching decisions.

I decided that I would not. As an alum, the Cats are more than the on-the-field product.

For me to withdraw my support would require for the athletic department to start running an SEC-style win-at-all-costs program.

Just my personal take.

 

[Gladeskat]

Looking eerily similar to 2013 right about now. The wheels have come off

Doesn't look like 2013 to me. The 2013 team fought hard in every game and just had some tough luck. This team is healthy but sucks eggs.

I hope FItz had a great weekend with the team. Obviously that was the focus of the program this weekend. The '95 guys got to see the kind of play that they rose from to become champions.

 

[Fitz51]

Doesn't look like 2013 to me. The 2013 team fought hard in every game and just had some tough luck. This team is healthy but sucks eggs.

I hope FItz had a great weekend with the team. Obviously that was the focus of the program this weekend. The '95 guys got to see the kind of play that they rose from to become champions.

It was fitting given the QB play that Hughes, Hamdorf, and Broxterman were in attendance.

 

[NUCat320]

After two straight bad seasons, I divorced myself emotionally from PFNUFB (Pat Fitz NU Football) last year. Then I find myself sucked back in with evidence that things had turned around, only to suffer more crushing disappointment. Well, never again.

I can still root for the team but it's hard to take the program seriously with so many glaring coaching faults that never get addressed.

Those are my thoughts exactly, TypeO. My emotional investment in this team was way, way down relative to previous seasons.

Stanford attracted me, Duke got me to bite, Minnesota reeled me in. To complete the metaphor, now I'm dead. (Or, perhaps, I've been thrown back.)

Oklahoma's got the youngest coordinator in P5 football. Stoops' tree includes Leach and Briles and Sumlin and Kingsbury and Dykes (I'm sure about many, not all, of those), and he realized his stuff wasn't working, and he fired Josh Heupel, who won a Heisman for him. So he hired some dude he'd never met from ECU, and Oklahoma is on its way back.

Continuity is for losers. Losing continuity, anyway.

 

[JoeWildcat]

An old saying in my profession is that "you change the people, or you change the people." Time for PF to follow this, or Phillips will have to.

 

[Gladeskat]

Those are my thoughts exactly, TypeO. My emotional investment in this team was way, way down relative to previous seasons.

Stanford attracted me, Duke got me to bite, Minnesota reeled me in. To complete the metaphor, now I'm dead. (Or, perhaps, I've been thrown back.)
.

No, you're buried in the ground next to a corn seed in Iowa.

 

[GlideCat]

An old saying in my profession is that "you change the people, or you change the people." Time for PF to follow this, or Phillips will have to.

Isn't that saying "You change your people or your people change you."?

 

[NJCat83588]

Isn't that saying "You change your people or your people change you."?

Good point!!

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Those are my thoughts exactly, TypeO. My emotional investment in this team was way, way down relative to previous seasons.

Stanford attracted me, Duke got me to bite, Minnesota reeled me in. To complete the metaphor, now I'm dead. (Or, perhaps, I've been thrown back.)

Oklahoma's got the youngest coordinator in P5 football. Stoops' tree includes Leach and Briles and Sumlin and Kingsbury and Dykes (I'm sure about many, not all, of those), and he realized his stuff wasn't working, and he fired Josh Heupel, who won a Heisman for him. So he hired some dude he'd never met from ECU, and Oklahoma is on its way back.

Continuity is for losers. Losing continuity, anyway.

I too thought we had a great chance coming into today. After the first two series I knew we were in trouble. Our big uglies were dominated and the lack of a response irritated me. Unfortunately, I am on the dark side know and think Nebby will clobber us. A leader needs to emerge here both on the staff and especially on the field . Listening to the acceptance of the outcome in the post game comments disappointed me.

 

[Sheffielder]

We may still go bowling this season. With one lucky game, we get to a bowl!
That's when Fotz will come out to say that all is on him but we are still going to a bowl game and all is well.

This is exaaaaacty the problem. Maybe we beat Purdue, Illinois if we're lucky, and then find a win between Penn State or UNL (even though something tells me we'll find a way to lose to the team that everyone else found a way to beat) and this becomes an eight win season, and we're breaking our arms patting ourselves on the back, with absolutely no looking back at how the past two weeks exposed us. And then Fitz will account for getting cleaned out by Michigan and Iowa (and our bowl opponent), pointing to them as "good teams." WTF does that make us? And then the cycle starts all over again. Rinse and repeat, no changes. "Expect victory" has become "this is usually good enough."

 

[Mr. Stupor]

After two straight bad seasons, I divorced myself emotionally from PFNUFB (Pat Fitz NU Football) last year. Then I find myself sucked back in with evidence that things had turned around, only to suffer more crushing disappointment. Well, never again.

I can still root for the team but it's hard to take the program seriously with so many glaring coaching faults that never get addressed.

BOOM!

 

[JoeWildcat]

Isn't that saying "You change your people or your people change you."?

Nope. You either get your people to change what they are doing or you change who your people are. If McCall and company don't change what they have been doing, the next step is to get new assistants.

 

[StreamCat]

It was fitting given the QB play that Hughes, Hamdorf, and Broxterman were in attendance.

Hey, jackass, Hamdorf won the '95 Michigan game for us.

 

[Fitz51]

Hey, jackass, Hamdorf won the '95 Michigan game for us.

And that makes him a quality player? Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl and he was a crappy NFL QB.

You really mustn't be so angry. It's bad for your complexion.

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

I shall not watch another down of your team until the end of the season. I shall not attend any of your pathetic games for the remainder of the season.
I shall not commit any financial donations to your program until you change some key components of your team.
I hope you do not sleep well tonight. Because it's not just another game for you to flush but rather you have brought embarrassment to NU.
I hope you consider taking some cuts on your 2.5 million salary. To be more specific, how about cutting just a 150,000 and hire a real Special Team's coach?
Just my thought and you can totally ignore this. Because I know you won't care anyway.
I'm out.

All signs point to this being a 2013 season redux . . . except we lose to Illinois at the end of the year.

 

[GlideCat]

Although I have posted that my emotional and financial support of the Cats will not change...

Where I live, the 11:00 AM kick-offs occur at 4:00 AM. on Sunday (International Date Line). I only get one day off. Yesterday, I got up at 4:00 AM to watch that debacle, then went to church (missing the ending of the Mich/MSU game), did a chore for my wife, and then went to sleep at 4:00 PM. So, other than church, I basically lost my entire day off to watch that game.

I may rethink that in the future.

 

[Mr. Stupor]

I can't support this program. By staying loyal to his crappy offensive coaching staff, he is basically giving the finger to the fans. I see no reason to support that. I support Northwestern, not Fitz, McCall, Cushing, Springer. I loved this team before them and I'll love it after them. But if Firz can't fire those 3, then all 4 need to go. All 3 are clearly incompetent are responsible for clear regression from was once a high-powered offense to what is now a complete joke and by far the worst offense in the Big Ten. If that isn't firing-worthy, I don't know what is.

 

[Mr. Stupor]

Personally, I would fire them all on Monday and hire new guys to come in and finish the season. There needs to be a message delivered. That'd do it.

 

[Gocatsgo2003]

Personally, I would fire them all on Monday and hire new guys to come in and finish the season. There needs to be a message delivered. That'd do it.

Message delivered, then season straight into the *******. Zero chance you can get decent coaches to come in at this point in the season. And no, Genyk doesn't really count as a decent coach in my book.

 

[Deeringfish]

Message delivered, then season straight into the *******. Zero chance you can get decent coaches to come in at this point in the season. And no, Genyk doesn't really count as a decent coach in my book.

Fitz also has to stay true to his reputation of loyalty which will pay dividends over the long haul but the end of the season should see some changes unless things get turned around.

 

[Sheffielder]

I can't support this program. By staying loyal to his crappy offensive coaching staff, he is basically giving the finger to the fans. I see no reason to support that. I support Northwestern, not Fitz, McCall, Cushing, Springer. I loved this team before them and I'll love it after them. But if Firz can't fire those 3, then all 4 need to go. All 3 are clearly incompetent are responsible for clear regression from was once a high-powered offense to what is now a complete joke and by far the worst offense in the Big Ten. If that isn't firing-worthy, I don't know what is.

Firing now would be emotional and unprofessional. That's not who we are or what our program is. I am as big an advocate as anyone that we need to see some changes, but they can wait for the offseason. My much bigger concern is that a 6 or 7 win season gets us to a lower tier bowl game...we win it...and then we see no changes because we beat Kent State or Troy or Vanderbilt in the Toilet Bowl and that's all Fitz needs to keep running his employment agency...and then we limp through a few more losing seasons (Sparty and Ohio State come onto the schedule next year, fyi), and the cycle repeats itself.

 

[NURoseBowl]

I did not say I would not complain. But I will not withdraw my support (even financial). I have a rule about not posting negative posts (or talking much) during or right after a bad game. I have a history of getting extremely emotional and upset during games and can say something that I do not mean.

Right now. I am really, really upset. But when I saw the OP here, I sat down and thought about whether I would withdraw emotional or financial support from the team because I may or may not agree with the coaching decisions.

I decided that I would not. As an alum, the Cats are more than the on-the-field product.

For me to withdraw my support would require for the athletic department to start running an SEC-style win-at-all-costs program.

Just my personal take.

Despite not even being an alumnus in the first place, these are my feelings exactly. Who knows -- had I been smart enough to have attended Northwestern, I might feel differently. As it stands, though, it's the bigger picture, what the program stands for, that I support with my allegiance and the few dollars that I can kick in. Make no mistake; I want wins as much as ANY of us do, but the wins and losses are not the be-all and end-all of what I'm supporting as an NU fan. Even after abominable performances on back-to-back weekends, I'm making the trip to Lincoln for the next game, and I'd like to think many of our regulars here will be there as well.