Better recruits and better coaching (was [NU Sports] Who cares aboutbias?)

[Dennis W. Brandt]

> When you sell out big football stadiums, you can afford to spend a lot of
> money on the program.
>
Problem is, you don't sell out stadiums with poor football teams.  Catch 22. 
A new, on-campus stadium might be - CLICHE ALERT - just what the doctor 
ordered.

> As we all know, though, money doesn't buy you happiness.

You get a fifteen-word penalty for use of an unforewarned cliche.  You have 
to spend money to make money.  (OK, I'll edit out fifteen words, too.)
>
> In the case of NU, happiness comes from recruiting the kids who don't want 
> to
> go to OSU.  OSU is going for the kids with the stars after their names on 
> the
> rating charts.  NU is going for the kids with the "stars" after their 
> names
> on the academic charts.  When we find them, NU has the recruiting 
> advantage.

And OSU gets the wins.  OSU, as one example of many, is a superior academic 
institution, and their sports facilities dwarf NU's.  The best we can offer 
from a high school kid's perspective is small class size and Chicago.  (The 
latter got me to matriculate.)  NU offers no physical education or 
recreation degrees that draw many academically margainal players.  Do we 
even have a sports management program?
>
> Fortunately football is a team sport and we've seen NU put teams of "no 
> name"
> kids on the field that can win because they believe in the program and 
> they
> believe in each other.  That means good coaches and good recruiting.

1995 was a dream come true.  So was 2000 when we garnered some pretty good 
offensive talent.  But you can't count on doing it often.  Talent is the 
key, which is why in more than three decades we've beaten OSU just once and 
Michigan just three times.  The spread offense has grown whiskers and takes 
few by surprise anymore.  If we brought back Zack, Sam, and the gang back, 
would they score like they did in 2000?  I don't think so.  We have to 
execute it better, and that requires increased physical talent.

> As best as we've been able to figure in past years, NU has been willing to
> pay at least RW a competitive salary, but I suspect that Fitz is probably 
> the
> lowest paid coach in the BT right now.  That is likely going to make it 
> more
> difficult to attract "star quality" assistants because their salary to 
> some
> degree is set by what you are paying the HC.

Good point and another Catch 22.

To those of you crying for new coaches:  Maybe you're right.  There is only 
one way to find out, and cleaning house would be easy to justify.  But I'm 
not convinced Ara Parseghian, Woody Hayes, and Joe Paterno combined could do 
much more with this group.  The "deer in the headlights" appearance to which 
someone else referred can occur due to poor preparation, but it can also 
happen when you're a lightweight and they throw you into the cage with a 
super-heaveyweight.  You slay one Goliath only to realize there are ten more 
of those suckers out there.  If we're going be Davids, we need .44 caliber, 
rapid-fire slingshots.  Right now we have a rubber band and a paper clip.


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