[NU Sports] RW leaving?

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

>With all due respect to potential back-to-back bowl games (IF we beat Hawaii),
>I think we'd fair well if Walker got poached. He's done some very good things
>at NU, but he hasn't exactly set the coaching world on fire.
>
Ugh - have we entered some parallel universe? Or crossed posts with the
Husker list, where 9 wins = fired coach (and a lot of good that did 'em!)?

To answer the initial question -- I'd be disappointed if RW left because I
really don't think he's looking to leave. And if he was driven out, I'd be
furious. Losing a head coach would set us back to square one (well, maybe
we've progressed to square two) and we'd have to find someone to come in
and build a program from the bottom up. It'd hurt our recruiting (at least
RW wouldn't sabotage two years like GB did when job hunting), it'd hurt
with adjustments to the new style for the team and since it seems that we
have a growingly impatient alumni base, we'd likely repeat the process in
another 5 years. Unless we hired a miracle worker, in which case he'd bolt
for a bigger school. That's one thing to like about Walker -- he's not
looking to jump up to a bigger program, and that's what you need to build a
program.

Oh well ... in the spirit of speculation with bowls and all, to answer
other posts ...

Take Barnett back? NO WAY. I wouldn't go the Tony Soprano route and say
"he's dead to me," but I would as soon never see him in Evanston again. No
ill will, just a clean break.

I do have one suggestion, but first to some others ...

>1) Ron Vanderlinden

Nah ... he wasn't so hot at Maryland with lax recruiting standards. I think
he's one of those Lou Tepper-type guys who's a great DC but not a head
coach.

>2) Bob Davie

You gotta be kidding! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

>3) Ron Zook

Please! This guy is a mini-Mack Brown ... he recruited great and brought in
tremendous athletes in Gainesville (with superlax standards) and could do
nothing with them. His teams lacked discipline, lacked cohesiveness and
lacked any sort of a brain ... on the field or from the man on the
sidelines.

>- Urban Meyer, Utah (OK, not realistic)
>
Hah.:) Yeah - not realistic ... plus, he's one of those program-hoppers. If
he leaves BGSU and Utah within 3 years, I wouldn't trust him to stay
anywhere too long.

>- Mike Leach, Texas Tech    37-25 and a Law degree from Pepperdine.  Also,
>Pappy Waldorf came from down in that direction.

Does he throw chairs?:)

>Randy Edsall, UConn    He can win at UConn, he must be good

Don't laugh ... with BC leaving, UConn is set to really contend for a BCS
bid every year. They built a new stadium, have rabid fans for hoops that
would love to do something between basketball season and it's a pretty good
situation he won't be leaving soon.

>Dan Hawkins, Boise State   43-6 at Boise, and he quotes Gandhi

Only if he brings purple turf!
>
>Greg Brandon, Bowling Green    Beat us in Detroit, assisted GB here,
>played for GB at Air Academy in Colorado Springs (excellent pedigree)

But we already have a MAC coach who beat us ... why change now?
>
>Brett Bielema, Wisconsin DC  Made Wisconsin best D in the league, took K
>State D to best in the nation.

Methinks he's not leaving Madison, as Barry's hand-picked successor.

Also, that vaunted, trash-talking defense really tanked it the last two
games. I wouldn't call them the best in the league (Penn State's is, IMO,
and they're all back next year -- if they even have a somewhat competent
offense, JoePa could go out strong).

>Norm Chow, USC OC   Offensive Genius

True - but he's even more reaching than Urban Meyer.

Now if we lost Randy to another school and we had to pick, I do like this
idea ...

>To me the long term coach for us is a no brainer -  Pat Fitzgerald;
>he needs a few more years to get to a DC level then I would hope he stays
>with us for a long time as HC

Yeah - I'd love to see him work his way up within the NU coaching system
and eventually take over in a smooth transition. That would be great for NU
and for Fitz.

And my suggestion ...

Ty Willingham. The Domers won't put up with non-BCS bowls for long. He's a
great motivator and gameplanner, he comes from Stanford and is used to an
NU-type environment and he wouldn't really looking to move for awhile after
getting axed from ND. This way he gets to stay in Chicagoland and he
instantly increases our local presence since he's been all over Chicago
media with ND.

But like I said, I really don't see Walker leaving and I'd be extermely
disappointed in NU if he were forced out after what he's done here the last
five years.

GO CATS!!! BEAT HAWAII!!!

One more post ...

>1. No one compares Walker to Ferentz.  Iowa hasn't exactly finished in the
>top three in Big Ten Recruiting over the past few years but look at the
>job he
>has done.  I would imagine that the players are fairly comparable coming
>out of
>high school.  Maybe Iowa gets a few more highly rated prospects but not like
>Michigan or Ohio State.

I think you're underrating Iowa ... after the Big Two, they're really #3 in
the Big Ten. Purdue and Wisconsin have been charging strong recently and
PSU still has a name, but Iowa was good under Hayden and only skipped a
couple years when Ferentz took over. They have the tradition and get better
recruits than most Big Ten schools. Their one knock is that everyone seemed
to think Ferentz was leaving soon, but this new contract should put those
to rest. After getting to January bowls the last three years with three
different backfields each year, it's apparent that 1) he's a heck of a
coach and 2) Iowa's not exactly bare in the cupboard when their star
players leave.

>2.  With Turner's firing what kind of impact is it having on our recruiting?
>When Tepper was let go Barney got a lot of top kids in Illinois that year.
>Unfortunately most did not pan out - Tom O'Brien comes to mind
>immediately.  I
>think this is a critical recruiting year for Walker in that he needs to show
>he can bring in a class that has both depth and talent.

I think it helps a little (we'll certainly have more scholarships this year
than last to give out) ... but Illinois and NU usually aren't going after
the same group of kids. When Illinois has turnover, the biggest
beneficiaries always seem to be Wisconsin and Michigan (though Michigan
beats Illinois anyway -- they just have an even easier time). NU's much
more national (Illinois is tops, but Texas, Michigan, Ohio and even
California aren't far behind).

The Illini situation does deserve watching, though. This could be a turning
point for them -- do they go the Indiana route and just forget about
football in favor of hoops? Or do they get serious and finally awaken a
dormant program. This is a school with a supposed (but rarely realized)
pipeline to Chicago for talent and facilities that were significantly
upgraded when the Bears came to town -- they should be among the Big Ten
powers. But I'm not sure they can attract a big-name coach at this point in
time. We'll see.


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