[NU Sports] Murphy close to leaving

[Roy Lamberton]

I personally believe that Murphy's departure would affect Football more than the
other sports, altho Basketball could be on the hot seat even more than some of
the football assistants under a new AD.

Pat Fitzgerald, however, is on a 2 or 3 year schedule to get the Cats back in
the Big 10 race, and regular attendance at a post season bowl. My mental
timetable had the Cats back in the hunt this year, and definitely in the bowl
picture in 2008 and beyond, regardless of the assistant coaching situation. If
this is indeed the plan, Fitz is right on schedule.

Going back in history: I can remember folks on this list dumping on James Patton
for his handling of the O-Line, then being dismayed when he jumped to Oklahoma
[after recruiting a big group of blue chippers - including Castillo]. From time
to time, every assistant at NU has been under the gun - I'm sure even St. Ron
[V] was under pressure in his 2nd and 3rd year to produce.

So here's my prediction - Fitz will probably shake up the defensive coaching
sometime after Christmas - if he hasn't already done so. 

I could see him doing something like Duke did, with him taking more
responsibility for the D and letting the O run itself. NU could also go after
Roof [ex Duke] as a DC. Roof had tremendous success as the DC at Georgia Tech.
He is used to recruiting into higher academics, and we all saw what he did to us
this fall. 

Now, candidates for AD have to include Shon Morris who has almost become the
face of NU athletics [even under Murphy.] He enjoys a wide amount of support
from the alumni, and has been around the Murphy department [and before] enough
to know where the dollars are hidden. He's already got the media contacts to
maybe kick the marketing up a notch.

Yes, I'll admit I like Shon personally - but maybe its time we went inside for a
while and promoted someone from inside the house?

I'm going to have to talk with some of my Maryland contacts some more about Ron
V - he was dismissed from Maryland for more reasons than simply rubbing the
alums the wrong way. Suffice to say that he seems happy enough at State Penn.

rsl

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
& sometime Unix Guru....
Computer Applications & Support Associates 
======  Go Cats -  Beat 'em All  ===========
"You have a Republic Madam --
     If you can keep it" - Benjamin Franklin
============================================

> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Hodges
> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 6:55 PM
> To: johnadeg at comcast.net
> Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Murphy close to leaving
> 
> I don't think Murphy leaving had anything to do with NU - I believe that he
> was most likely paid well for a guy at this level and had the freedom to do
> much of what he wanted, given the financial and academic restrictions at
> Northwestern (given that he came from Colgate he had more freedom here at
> NU).
> 
> I am sure there are 2 reasons:
> 
> 1. Money: its an NFL position - professional sports have much deeper
> pockets
> than a college program.  And money talks, even to loyal and dedicated guys.
> 2. Position: an NFL head position is basically the highest level he can
> attain in sports administration (well besides something at commissioner
> level) and you know what, congrats to him for showing that he has the
> ability to succeed and should be given a chance at the next level.
> 
> Obviously NU will have tough shoes to fill and they must find someone who
> can continue his success while also improving something that has needed it
> for a long time: basketball.
> 
> Jonathan
> 
> 
> On Nov 28, 2007 11:52 AM, <johnadeg at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> > What a loss!  My guess is that Bienen and faculty wouldn't let Murphy do
> > what he wanted to do.
> > that plus the act that the Packers can pay him better.  NU could pay him
> > more but the faculty would all start to squawk about that sort of like
> when
> > the Harvard faculty squawked about paying the guy running the endowment
> fund
> >  what he could get elsewhere which ended up with his leaving to run his
> own
> > fund.
> >
> > John DeGroat
> >  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> > From: "Arthur Miller" <artmiller1 at hotmail.com>
> > > Per the Green Bay newspaper, Mark Murphy is now in negotiations with
> the
> > > Green Bay Packers as their #1 choice.
> > >
> > > What a month.we could really use some good news around here, for a
> > change.
> > >
> > >
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> >
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> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Jonathan W. Hodges
> 1237 Emerson St Apt 2
> Evanston, IL  60201-3577
> (847) 736-2449
> jonathanwhodges at gmail.com
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