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

[Joe Thiegs]

Frank!!  Hi!  How long has it been since you last posted to the list?  Too
long.  Good to hear from you again (even if I happen to disagree about
Walker).  :)

I want excellence all the time too, not just occasionally.  Seasons like
2002 can be tough to watch.  However, I think Walker has done a bang-up job
the last couple of years, for the most part.  He's earned at least a few
more years.  Think about it: up to last week (the second-to-last of the
year), we were still in the hunt for a share of the Big Ten title!  One more
stop in the Penn State game, and we're leading the conference!  How many
people thought that would be even a remote possibility in light of our
schedule and following our preseason injuries and departures, much less
after the Arizona State game ? 6-5 was at the top end of the most optimistic
projections at that point; 7-4 therefore should be considered outstanding!
(BTW, I apologize for all of the exclamation points.  That's not normally my
style, but I'm not afraid to use them when they're appropriate.)

Do we need improvement on defense?  Sure.  However, I don't think we can pin
all of this on Walker this year.  Very few teams have stockpiles of
defensive talent at every position (think tOSU, LSU, USC, Miami (FL)), and a
few injuries here and there can make or break a season.  Now I know Bob and
others would be quick to suggest that perhaps at least some of the preseason
injuries are the result of too much pushing in the offseason.  Perhaps.  I
also humbly suggest, however, the possibility that the improvement in our
overall level of conditioning has won us more games than it has cost us
during Walker's tenure.

I remain a big Gary Barnett fan (I don't hold too much of a grudge over the
departure to Colorado--how many of us would decline the offer of a job we
had wanted most of our lives?) but remember that not all of his seasons were
as great as the two we all remember so well.  Barnett's first season at NU
coincided with the fall of my freshman year, so I followed his progress
quite closely.  '97 and '98 had promising moments but didn't end too well,
as I recall.  The point is that I don't think we'll find a coach much better
than Walker right now, and I don't believe we should be looking now, either.
I still have faith that RW has the ability to lead us to another Rose Bowl
sometime within the next four or five years, and that's really the key for
me.

Count me along with those whose top choice for head coach someday is Pat
Fitzgerald.  I'd take him as soon as he thinks he's ready but for the fact
that I think we owe Walker at least a few more seasons.  I'm not quite sure
how I feel about Colby.  I think maybe I'd like to see how next season goes,
and then if we don't have serious improvement, bump Fitz up to DC.  He's my
age, and he'd still be one of the youngest defensive coordinators, if not
_the_ youngest DC, in major college football.  See how he does there, and
then start thinking about Walker's heir.  In a few years if Walker deserves
a further extension and Fitz is a hot commodity, I don't think it would be
the worst thing in the world if Pat got hired and cut his teeth as a head
coach at a mid-level school somewhere and then came back home to his alma
mater as his final stop as head coach.  That's not to say that I wouldn't
love for him to stay throughout.  He could be our very own Joe Paterno!
Okay, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of things, but I can dream, can't I?

-Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Frank F. Loomis III
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 9:31 AM
To: John A. DeGroat; NU Sports Discussion
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] OSU game highlighted Randy Walker's shortcomings



Amen!!!!!

Right on, John DeGroat. I commend your courage to speak out. 

Finally, someone is telling it like it is. But unfortunately, what you're
saying, is a harsh reality that most alums will plug their ears to and
refuse to accept. 

With most NU devotees, an overall-losing record is OK, as long as
OCCASIONALLY we get competitive football and some spectacular, exciting,
wins. To his credit, Walker does this. Yet, because of things like you
mention, he's an overall loser (440?). For that alone he'd be gone at most
Div I schools. 

But for us, that's no problem, because it's our sixty year or so tradition
and reputation that we accept losing. We don't demand or expect a winning
record.....we just want to be competitive, but only now and then, that is. 

What Barnett did two years in a row, won championships (went to the ROSE
BOWL), maintained academic standards, graduated the kids, and won the
admiration of the country....well, apparently our predominant mind-set is
that those years were aberrations. We can't expect that....just be
competitive, though inconsistently so, and once in a while go to some kind
of a bowl. 

Walker's ilk is about tops we can expect to have. We should be glad to have
him. 

In football, we cannot demand the kind of coaching excellence we have in our
lacrosse coach, Hiller-Monte.

After all, we're Northwestern!

Well, I, for one, do not agree with all that thinking. I say we can get
another young-Barnett type. Chancellor Weber got one. So, Bienen and Murphy
can do likewise. 

And just maybe, as you mention John, he's right in front of our noses:
Patrick Fitzgerald. 

Despite his youth, considering his recruiting talents and enthusiasm, I
think it's something that should be considered. 

Bottom line: We need a new coach. After seven years, Walker has proved
himself inadequate for what SHOULD BE our needs. So, let's move on this and
in the process purge ourselves of the thinking that because we're
Northwestern we cannot expect and get excellence in football coaching. 

Frank Loomis 


"John A. DeGroat" <johnadeg at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
The Ohio State fiasco highlighted all of Randy Walker's many short 
comings including no defense and no kicking game. As the game 
announcers over the past several seasons plus have said, NU has an 
offense, some linebackers and that is it. NU's defense has been ranked 
in the bottom 100 ever since Walker showed up. Add to that his failure 
as a recruiter. Rivals.com's ranking of the recruiting classes for the 
past several years puts them at the near bottom of the Big Ten and in 
the 70 plus ranking nationally. Add to that the number of players who 
have left or quit the program with eligibility left and it says a lot 
about Walker. I attended the 2003 Miami of Ohio game and happened to be 
sitting next to the father of a current and past Miami player who told 
me that the Miami players didn't like Walker and were glad to be rid of him.



Not only has Walker never developed punters or kickers, he uses them in 
truly bizarre ways. Squib kicking with no defense assuring good field 
positions for the other team makes no sense, neither does punting when 
NU is behind and in a short yardage situation near the end of a game. 
Walker has said that he doesn't know much about the kicking game and 
seems determined to prove it. 

If Walker is retained as the coach, NU will be relegated to mediocrity 
for as long as he is there. Mark Murphy told the NY Alumni organization 
shortly after he arrived that his criteria for a successful football 
program would be NU in ranked bowl games on a regular basis, i.e. 
something better than the Motor City Bowl.

If we get stuck with Walker for the foreseeable future, then Murphy has 
to force Walker to hire a new defensive coordinator and hope that Pat 
Fitzgerald doesn't leave. Chris Spielman, the ESPN color commentator, 
who knows something about playing linebacker has said several times that 
Pat Fitzgerald will be a great head coach at some point in time. Murphy 
must take the dominant role in hiring defensive coaches otherwise Walker 
will play the old insecure corporate executive trick of never having 
someone working for you who could be a threat to taking your job.

<>Mediocre teams means a half empty stadium unless a team with tough 
home game tickets plays at NU. Combine that with the resulting low 
sales of memorabilia and poor bowl game opportunities and it translates 
into low revenues for both football and the other sports programs. <>

Randy Walker has to go if NU expects to fix the current sshort comings 
and compete with Michigan, Ohio State and now Penn State for the Big Ten 
Championship on a regular basis or even show substantial improvement. A 
lot of luck rather than anything else has helped Walker.

John DeGroat


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