[NU Sports] Fitz: The Future is Now

[Jonathan Hodges]

Well said.

I think that all of us NU fans were hoping someday Fitz would get a
chance to coach here.  Obviously none of us, including Fitz himself,
would want it to happen under these circumstances, but we are here
nonetheless.  I believe that Coach Walker would have wanted to have
the program continue moving forward under Fitz and for the team to get
out on the field and play harder than ever when the season begins.

Despite his youth and lack of much experience, AD Murphy is right to
say that he has all the necessary qualities of a head football coach
at this level: the drive, passion, communication abilities,
leadership, character, and dedication to the school.  He admits that
he has much to learn in taking on many new responsibilities, but he
said he will rely upon the experienced assistants around him.  There
will be learning to do, and this first year may be rougher than the
past few due to the circumstances, but in order to continue the
consistency Coach Walker worked to establish this was a wise choice.

I am confident in the decision to hire Fitz and think Murphy has done
a great job dealing with such a tough situation as well.

Jonathan

PS: check out http://jhodges.org for more of my ramblings regarding Fitz.

On 7/7/06, SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Well, some much-needed good news after a week of
> sadness -- and a choice I think Wildcat fans
> everywhere can agree on! He played under Barnett but
> coached under Walker and is the fan favorite.
>
> I think we all were hoping Fitz would be our coach
> down the road and the only real drawback was his age
> ... but as my former NU roommate Jim Leonard told me,
> Mark Murphy is a pretty smart guy who wasn't going to
> be influenced by Fitz being a past player (i.e. he
> earned the job) and as other listers have posted, John
> Gruden, Avery Brown and other coaches in other sports
> have proven that if you got it, you got it no matter
> what the age.
>
> The best upside is that Fitz bleeds purple -- he'll be
> our coach and not looking for a stepping stone ... and
> I think the fans and administration will be patient
> with Fitz, especially this coming season, realizing
> that this could be a great investment in the future.
>
> So the Fitz era is about to begin and I think it's a
> great decision by AD Murphy. Fitz' biggest recruiting
> task may be finding/keeping a staff though, as the age
> thing will probably matter more to coaches upset about
> being passed over than it will to recruits who will
> love this guy's intensity and fire and respect him as
> a former player who knows his stuff on the field and
> what it's like to be an NU student athlete.
>
> I can't say it better than Paul did -- a silver lining
> on the large cloud of the past week. I hope everyone
> in purple is excited to do whatever he or she can to
> help Fitz succeed and I think Coach Walker would be
> proud of the young coach he hired into the program now
> in charge of the purple.
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!!
>
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-- 
Jonathan W. Hodges
829 Foster St Apt 401
Evanston, IL  60201-3259
(847) 736-2449
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