[NU Sports] Re: Thoughts on the New Coach - Trust The Plan

[Roy Lamberton]

While its tempting to lower the evaluations of both NH and Nevada, both are
coming off very good years, and have high expectations about 2006.

New Hampshire is either #1 or #2 in preseason 1-AA polls, they won't be any kind
of pushover since beating a Big 10 team will be a big win, even if it is "just"
NU. Nevada is coming off a good season, with a coach who is a hero right now.
The only cloud on NH's horizon is that they're replacing a Baz style QB. Nevada
lost a couple of defenders, but they've both got depth.

As for Fitz and our expectations.

My humble opinion is that Fitz will really rely on his coordinators, maybe more
than RW did [altho many criticized RW for allowing his assistants to run things
during games]. I think one difference will be that McGee will pull the trick
plays out instead of Fitz, but as a head coach, Fitz' time as a defensive coach
will help him read defensive changes that could help the offense.

This might be a stretch but here goes: When Brian Billick took over Baltimore,
everyone expected an air show. Instead the Ravens developed one of the best
defenses every, one that's survived several coaching changes. 

The moral here is that a new head coach sometimes over reacts - spending more
time with the area of the game they don't know as well and the result is the
opposite of what everyone thinks will happen once the team takes the field.

What is both exciting and "scary" is that our offensive folks are young - McGee
is 33 years old, but has a tremendous offensive resume. Kevin Johns is 31, but
this will be his 5th year working with the Wildcats. The other offensive
assistants are also young, closer in age to Fitz, which I think is a good thing.
I think you see more flash in the spread this year, limited only by how fast the
QBs pick it up.

The other unknown is how much Bret Ingalls [O-Line] brings to the table. In 20
years of coaching, he's been the OC at I-AA schools followed by a couple of
years at Miami of Ohio. He just could be a stabilizing influence on Offense.
He's got the O-Line, and that's where it all starts.

I'm really not worried about the defense, besides how much it can improve. Jerry
Brown's public comments about Fitz' promotion [in the Trib] were perfect,
exactly like the Brown I've talked to over the years. I think Fitz and Colby are
on the same page in regards to sets and while we need another dynamic LB coach,
I really expect the D to improve a lot, barring injuries, which has been a big
part of our problems the last 2 years.

Coach Walker's death had to have pulled the entire staff together. The
assistants have to realize that if Fitz gets out of the box with a decent
season, they're going to get a lot of credit within the coaching community.
Those that expect to be where he is at some point in their careers have a lot to
gain this year. 

After all, that was Coach Randy Walker's philosophy.

rsl

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
Computer Applications & Support Associates
and Publisher of Purple Reign, 
The Scout.com Northwestern University Site
(http://www.purplewildcats.com)
AIM Handle: CoachRoy74
======== Go Cats -  Beat 'em All ===========
"You have a Republic Madam --
     If you can keep it" - Benjamin Franklin
============================================

>
> If we're not up to the likes of New Hampshire or Nevada, then 
> God help us  in 
> the Big Ten.  The most compelling case for PF was the continuity  and 
> stability that he'd bring to the Walker program. Either PF is 
>  ready to be a head 
> coach or is not.  I do not think we wait until 2008  or 2009 
> to make that 
> judgment.   
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