[NU Sports] Barnett, bowls, etc.

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> Part of being a head coach in my opinion is being a
> marketeer too.  That 

Again, I just disagree with that. Focus on football.
Don't make enemies in the press, but don't be a snake
oil salesman either.


> was/is something that Barnett is superb at being. 

Was he? Perhaps he was at the start with his "Purple
to Pasadena" line and when he was the toast of the
town in '95 - but I remember his relationship souring
after '96-97 and it just got worse in Boulder (the
comments about being a terrible/horrible player as an
excuse for the harassment charges showed he had lost
any PR skills he had). 

Anyone can be the media darling for a year or two when
things are on a roll - but sooner or later, the
spotlight will show all the wrinkles. Perhaps Walker's
smart for staying out of that mess to begin with.

Charlie Weis will be an interesting example -- he's
beloved now (but so was Ty Willingham after the first
"return to glory" year). But Weis is a disciple of
Belichick and Parcells, two of the more antagonistic
media coaches around. Start throwing some losses in
the ND lineup (or perhaps a few tougher games) and we
may see his luster fade a bit with press conference
tyraids and Bobby Knight-like outbursts -- though I'm
sure NBC will put the rosy spin on it all (maybe even
a Katie Couric profile to tell the warm fuzzy
kid-calling-a-play story :) ).

> Had he gone into the 
> corporate world with his skills he would have been
> highly successful.  

Again - not sure about that. Barnett might be a good
management guy since he seems aloof to a lot of what's
going on, loves to bask in the glow of success, has
few loyalties and always finds a scapegoat when things
go wrong.

> Unfortunately, Walker is totally invisible for
> whatever reason.

Well, Vince Lombardi and George Halas didn't care what
the press thought. I know it was a different era, but
still, give me a coach over a salesman any day --
let's keep the focus on football. And I will dispute
those that say that Carr, etc. do their part. They
walked into situations where everything was handed to
'em. They never had to build the fan base or worry
about getting press (i.e. if a reporter slams UM, the
Wolverines can freeze 'em out and it will seriously
hurt that paper - if NU would freeze someone out, no
one would mind much), starting a show, etc. at
Michigan or OSU. Apples and oranges.

As long as Walker coaches and recruits well and keeps
the academics first, I don't care that he doesn't have
a cheesy coaches show or spoon feed the press. I think
we all know on this list that the reasons NU is not
filling seats have little to do with Walker and his
exciting style of football.

Speaking of which - seems like a lot of people are
taking note of the Sun Bowl this year. Sorta like the
Liberty last year with Louisville and Boise State
getting a lot of second-tier bowl pub for being a
potential shootout. I do think it's a great
opportunity for the Cats to showcase the offense and
knock off a ranked, name team. I'd love to see Sutton
and Baz have HUGE days and hopefully we can snag a few
turnovers and force UCLA to pass.

GO CATS!!!
Go Big Ten!
-SjT

PS - As for the Mike Thompson news, truly sad if the
reports are true. As we've seen with other players, it
can be a scary situation and hopefully his health will return.

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


		
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