[NU Sports] Changing Coaches experiment (was Walker's future)

[Jeff Beamsley]

Just thought I would use this moment to touch base on our "changing coaches
damages programs" experiment.

Programs in our area who changed coaches last year.

Ill - Ron Zook - 2-2 this year 2-2 same time last year
Indiana - Terry Hoeppner - 3-0 this year 2-2 same time last year
ND - Charlie Weiss - 3-1 this year Ranked 13/14 - 3-1 same time last year
not highly ranked

Might not be "fair" to include ND in the list, but even if we just look at
BT teams, because Indiana is scheduled to play ILL, one of those two teams
will get at least one BT win.  It is entirely possible, the way things are
going today, that NU will not have a BT win this season.  You could argue
that NU should at least beat ILL and I would agree if we played them next
week.  But we are already thin at several key positions, and playing them at
the end of the season after six very tough games ending with OSU is going to
be real challenge.  Also if NU's BT season heads south over the next couple
of games and we're eliminated from bowl contention, wouldn't it make more
sense to start getting Bacher some more game experience?  That will almost
certainly affect the outcome of however many games remain on the schedule.  

Just for fun, if we give Indiana the win over ILL, the final stats at the
end of the season could look like this.

In - 4-7 - 1 BT win
Ill - 3-8 - 1 BT win
NU - 2-9 - 0 BT win

I really hope that this isn't the case, but any team that has problems
stopping the run, putting pressure on the QB, and covering receivers is
going to struggle against the teams we are scheduled to play.  

Jeff


 

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of SjT (Stephen J. Truog)
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 9:21 AM
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Walker's Future

> A large part of the Walker/Bienen judgment will be what we saw on  
> Saturday:
> only 24k attendance for a Big Ten game on a pleasant afternoon  in 
> September.

Well, it was overcast and -- appropriately:( -- rained after the clock
expired. I was happy to see a 30K+ turnout for NIU ... but last week was a
disappointment.

> against Wiscy).  Of course, there is a  close correlation between fan 
> interest and W's, which have not been exactly  abundant under Randy 
> Walker.

I will disagree there - Walker's won more than any NU coach in the last five
decades save for two years by GB. He's also had a remarkable string of
exciting games that have included several upsets of ranked teams and until
last week, a lengthy home winning streak. Producing exciting football and
wins for the purple have been one thing Walker has done in his years.

We've talked attendance before with alumni base and the challenges of being
in a major pro sports city (see Minnesota or ASU) and filling seats. But I
don't think we can list boring, losing football as a reason under Walkr's
watch.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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


		
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