[NU Sports] A Word of Caution (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> Bottom line is that Fitz still has not yet demonstrated the ability to organize and manage a major college program.  He's been a position coach.  Period.  Clearly, Murphy/Bienen and many others THINK he has that capability, but we really don't know.  Only the coming season (and the next) will tell us definitively.  I want him to succeed, but as with leadership change in any organization, failure and success are equally possible.  And, without a track record as head or even unit coach, we have little to trust except his undeniable enthusiasm and infectious personality.  I really hope that a few years from now (or earlier), people will not be grumbling that Fitz had been elevated too soon and should have had more grooming.  Just a thought.

Quite true.  However it is also true that quite a few people who have
become head coaches after years of experience and grooming fell on their
faces.  It is also true that head coaches have had success at one school
but not at another, although in many cases the measurement of that success
is terribly subjective.  (Was Tyrone Willingham really a failure at Notre 
Dame or were they just too impatient with him?)

Hiring any head coach is a risky venture, and there's no question that NU 
has taken a big risk here.

I like Bill Curry's open letter to Fitz on espn.com, in which he advises 
Fitz to be himself.  
--
Mike Nolan