[NU Sports] Cardiac Cats!!!!!

[Roy Lamberton]

Of the three, Randy Bates is more likely to take over if Colby leaves, IMHO.

Vince Okruch was mentioned by the TV guys as the DC for Illinois after their win
over Wisconsin. They seemed to give him credit for setting up Zook's defense in
that game. HOWEVER - he is not listed as a coach - two other assistants are
shown as the interim co-defensive coordinators on the Illinois web site. 

One of Okruch's negatives is the Barnett seemed to blame him for Colorado's
defensive failures when he threw him under the bus. At NU, working with Brown,
the Cats never reached the level of shown in the Vanderlinden era that preceeded
him. Another is that Illinois seems to be playing much better defense under the
two headed coordinator setup. 

I've never heard Vanderlinden express any interest in returning to NU in any
capacity. IMHO he is very happy at State Penn, and is probably on the short list
of guys to replace Joe Pa should he ever step down. My semi-educated guess is
that he plays a larger part in developing the game plan than most other
Linebacker coaches. Its also interesting that the PSU site does not have his bio
up [Jay Paterno's is also missing]. 

One of Fitz' limitations as a head coach is that he doesn't have that long list
of guys he's worked with in the past to draw on for future assistants. Walker
had guys from North Carolina and Miami to draw on. 

However, I would guess that the "next" DC is already on the staff.

Go Cats

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 ===========
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     If you can keep it" - Benjamin Franklin
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Given that, the list has to include Ron Vanderlinden (now LB
> coach at PSU, although he seems to be happy he was the DC in 95-96), Vince
> Okruch (DC following Vanderlinden, who is now on a seemingly mysterious
> leave of absence from the DC position at Illinois), and Randy Bates (now LB
> coach at NU, formerly DC at Louisiana Tech