[NU Sports] OSU game highlighted Randy Walker's shortcomings

Wed Nov 16 08:54:00 CST 2005

Every time NU loses, this conversation inevidably comes up, meanwhile
every time they pull off a big win, everyone praises Walker and says
NU should keep him as long as he wants to stay.  The fact is that he
has done a good job with what he has had to work with, which was a
perennial losing program that had a flash of success in the mid 90s
before apparently returning to form a couple years later.  Everyone on
this listserv knows Northwestern and knows that he must look at the
GPA and test scores for all of the recruits and throw out most of them
before even looking at their athletic ability because there is no way
they would get into the school.  Then he must fight for the relatively
few highly touted and smart athletes out there who are usually
attracted to other schools that have had better success.  This leaves
the team, as you know, short on talent, especially relative to our Big
Ten rivals, all of which are state schools and have a lot of leeway
when it comes to admission requirements.

College football is more than just winning, although having a
competitive program and being successful on the field are the goal of
the team.  College athletics, particularly football, are about
developing the players and most importantly giving a place for a
college to come together and be together while supporting the school
(a.k.a. school spirit).  While some other schools have turned into
semi-pro athletics where they expect to win and nothing else, I am
glad NU has been a place where people that go to the games can come
together and enjoy the experience.  If they win, which they have done
more often nowdays, it makes the experience even better.

Walker has made NU a competitive program and has shown that we can
have a shot at winning the Big Ten title and go to a bowl game.  These
are things that NU did not dream about having for most of its history.
 Looking over the past 3 years, it looks like a consistent program
that can beat the bottom half of the conference and pull off a few
upsets over the top half, which is something NU rarely did except for
2 years in the mid 90s.  The most supportive Wildcat fans and alumni
know this and continue to support the program and celebrate its recent
successes.  Those who want NU to win 90% of the games or some crazy
number like that are dreaming because the fact is that we are not an
elite college football program (i.e. minor league NFL team). 
Northwestern is different than these other schools and we should
embrace the fact that we are different - we are a world class research
institution that brings together some of the brightest and some of the
most talented people from everywhere in the world.  I don't support
losing, but I do support a team that is competitive against its
competition and is consistent.

About the defense... I have thought about why NU's defense has been so
bad under Walker, and a lot of it is just due to the talent level
Walker has to work with, which is not much and is not very deep.  The
depth is what I believe what has hurt the defense the most, as
defensive players tend to get pretty banged up before and during the
season, leading to a makeshift lineup, like we see this year.  Losing
a few players to transfers or preseason injuries hurts the entire
unit, especially when there are barely enough players to go around. 
This has been the case the past few years, with offensive players
being moved over to defense to help and players switching positions
constantly to fill in the gaps (i.e. Napo Harris moving from LB to DE
a few years back, Backes moving to CB last year, etc.).  On offense,
there are enough players to go around because Walker has managed to
change the scheme to something that fits his recruits well. 
Unfortuntately that doesn't work as well on defense as they have to
play to what the opposing offense is giving them.

In any case, I think Walker has established a consistent program here
at NU and has shown that we can compete in the Big Ten.  His players
graduate, and a few go onto the NFL.  He has given the school
something to cheer about.  Some players like him, a lot don't, but he
pushes the players he has to extract everything he can from them -
even if they aren't the top recruits - and uses that to make the team
competitive.  Outside of the Rashidi Wheeler debacle, the program has
been clean and run the right way.  I feel he deserves the support of
the program as long as he continues this (criticism is deserved at
times for specific events.. i.e. defense... but not at the entire
program and the way he runs things).

Just my 2 cents and then some,
Jonathan

On 11/16/05, Hakirsch at aol.com <Hakirsch at aol.com> wrote:
> Well I am sure John's note will elicit a lot of responses including mine.
>
> A few thoughts--
>
> Walker is not a player's coach --and I am not sure how much any school wants
> a player's coach--particularly with the NU football player, who on average is
> more intelligent than the average NCAA football player. They probably more
> than others understand that not everyone is goinhg to love his coach.
>
> I think John is right that Walker and NU had had a lot of luck the past
> several years-(Mich 2000, Iowa 2005,OSU 2004 to name a few) and with a few plays
> going the other way we could easily have been  at 4-7 some of the bowl years
> under Walker.  While some games have gone the other way, (PSU 2005 quickly comes
> to mind), it seems with have had more of the former than the latter.
>
> Yes our defense and special teams have been our weak spots under Walker and
> of course it would be great to improve there.  But one has to look at our
> overall record and graduation rates as being the key measurement of his success or
> not--and as  has been hashed about before, Walker passes here.
>
> It would be great to go to a good name bowl every year, but I am skepitcal if
> that is an acheivable goal.  It is a worthy goal , but extraordinary tough
> when if you don't finish in the top 3 or 4 in the conference it won't happen.
> When you have OSU , Mich and PSU in the conference it is tough to consistently
> surpass Minn, Wisc, and Iowa And the recent also rans of MSU, Ill and Purdue do
> not sit quietly.  On top of that would we as alums feel good, that in order
> to acheive the lofty goal, we probably would have to spend a ton of money on a
> football coach and staff  salaries?  I for one think it would send the wrong
> message about what NU is about --academics first.
>
>
> In short , yes on average we will be in the middle of the pack under Walker-
> or probably any coach (remember if they get good they leave for more money or
> more opportunity to win big --ala Ara, Agase and,Barnett-) but this should
> allow us to go to a name bowl every few years and a lesser name bowl in others-I
> can be happy with that- (Maybe I am biased because i was at NU in the late
> 70's early 80's when going -1-10 and 0-11 and getting blown out every game by
> half time was the norm-)
>
> -Now if we could only make the NCAA's in hoops ...
>
> Harry
>
>
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--
Jonathan W. Hodges
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Evanston, IL  60201-3259
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