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

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Wow - it's an April Fool's Day joke half a year away.

Did someone really post a call to fire Randy Walker
and we're discussing this on the list in the midst of
a 6-4 season that has us poised for just the sixth
bowl game in school history and the third straight
.500 or better season in conference play?

Amazing. Really - with alums like this, who needs
enemies?:)

I'm not really surprised that in today's instant
gratification age people think you can flip a switch
and go from 2-9 to 10-1 (which has been done) and then
keep the 10-win seasons coming (which has not been
done) and fire anyone who does not instantly turn
around a program.

What does surprise me is that it's the generation of
"hard work" -- one usually griping about kids today
and their lack of knowing what it takes to achieve
something -- that has turned into this trigger-happy
bunch. Incredible!

If it was so easy, wouldn't NU have done it by now? If
it could be done overnight, why wouldn't coaches beat
down the door for the job of coaching an elite private
school with little tradition or facilities to claim
the glory? Why would capable coaches like Ara, Barnett
or anyone in between have tried and failed?

And if this theory -- which I have yet to see done at
any school, yet alone a small, elite private one like
NU -- can hold ... wouldn't the reverse be true?
Wouldn't it be possible for a program that was elite
and a dynasty to crumble overnight since if it's so
easy to win quickly -- wouldn't it be just as easy to
lose quickly? Has that happened anywhere (and I don't
mean a team put on NCAA sanctions ... or one that got
greedy and fired a coach who had 9 wins) for a
consistent period of time?

Well, I guess some will find it odd then that someone
from the "me generation" or "generation X" or whatever
they labeled us will have to remind those in a greater
generation that something that seems too good to be
true usually is. Yes, the overnight success of the
'95-96 Cats was an abberation -- that's a statistical
fact. It was a high surge of dot-com boom followed by
a hefty reality check and the miracle-worker coach
leaving town.

Walker's approach doesn't appear to be about quick
fixes -- it's a  program building strategy for the
long haul and something I'll put a lot more stock and
faith in than the fad-of-the-day coach who will get
his 15 minutes and move on to one of those traditional
powers -- because there IS a pecking order of
tradition you fight in college sports with traditional
powers that's much more entrenched than in pro sports.

Or maybe I'm just looking at the big picture and
seeing it as NOT settling for mediocrity but building
a winner. Changing things up every five years with
highs and (way more) lows would appear to be a much
more likely path for promoting mediocrity -- and worse
-- with Northwestern football.

And enough with the "lucky win" excuse. Hitting a Hail
Mary once is luck -- when you continually come from
behind to win again, it stops being luck and more
about the character of a team. You can't have it both
ways -- not want any "moral victories" and then
complain about lucky wins inflating a record. Sheesh!

Oh well ... maybe I'm just becoming an old fart now.:)

But really guys ... this is just laughable. I guess
about the only thing you can do is laugh when someone
suggests firing a coach when he's about to take a
school somewhere they've only been 5 times before in
their history.

I guess we're all due for an April Fool's laugh early
this year. But with this topic taking up this much
space the week before the Illinois game with a chance
to finish the year 7-4 with a 5-3 league mark? Just
foolish!

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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


	
		
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