[NU Sports] ESPN.com Article on Fitzgerald

[Mike Nolan]

> My question is, did my ability to coach a defense change in 4 days? or did the
> lack of personnel effect the outcome.
>  
> Its one reason why I don't really like dumping on our coaches. 

Generally speaking, I don't like dumping on coaches, either.

However, over time it sure appears that some coaching staffs know how
to create successful offenses or defenses and others don't.  When those
coaches have bad years, like what happened at Penn State, the measure of
how good they are is whether they can recover.  On the other hand, the 
measure of how good the athletic department and fans are is whether those
coaches are given enough time to recover.  Sometimes the AD has to pull the
plug, but far too many times that happens prematurely, or at least IMHO.

Oklahoma just kicked their starting QB off the team for probable NCAA 
violations.  That's going to impact their performance in the next few 
months, and for sure some people will blame the coaches for that.  (Blaming 
the coaches and athletic department for not preventing the situation that 
led to the apparent NCAA violations is a separate issue.)
--
Mike Nolan