[NU Sports] New Defensive Coordinator

[Joe Thiegs]

Looking at some of the threads on Wisconsin message boards, there appears to
be no clear public answer as to why Bielema fired Hankwitz, although the
best explanation seems to be that Bielema wanted to keep his rising star and
good friend, Dave Doeren, happy by making him sole DC (rather than co-DC
with Hankwitz) before he got hired away by some other big-name program.  If
true, that's a heck of a way to do business.  I'm eager to keep moving up in
the world too, but I'm not sure I'd like to work for an organization who
would fire my boss or colleague (assuming that person is doing his or her
job reasonably well) just to make room for me.  Then again, the coaching
profession is its own little surreal world.  I think Mike's right that they
must not have been "on the same page."

As for us, I have no problem with (a) hiring a DC who entering his seventh
decade, or (b) Fitz relying on the advice of Barnett for as long as he finds
it useful.  As long as Hankwitz can still coach and isn't a recruiting
liability, let him stay 'til he's 100 if we're successful on defense!  And
even if it is a stop-gap hire, he's probably better than anyone else
available who might be likely to be wooed to Evanston right now.  Regarding
Fitz and Barnett, let's not forget that Fitz is only entering his third year
as a head coach and had never been a coordinator before that.  These were
his first major personnel decisions, so I'd be more concerned if he weren't
asking for advice from people he trusts.  Fitz is about my age (one class
younger), and if I were making hiring and firing decisions of that magnitude
for the first time, you can bet I would be consulting with people who had
been in that position before. Hankwitz sounds like something of a coup to
me--not quite Tubby Smith to Minnesota, but good enough!

-Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Nolan
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 9:27 AM
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] New Defensive Coordinator

> I guess my only question is why Wisconsin is reporting that he was fired?

Well, if you believe the media, he was relieved of his duties after two 
years at Wisconsin because of the level of talent they were putting on 
the field, ie recruiting.  

That strikes me as odd because:

1.  Two years (probably less than that from a recruiting perspective) 
    isn't long enough to have really affected the starters much.

2.  The head coach is ultimately the person who makes the decisions on
    recruiting.

I think what it really means is that he and Bielema weren't on the
same page.  (Bielema is also someone whose background is in coaching
defenses, having been the DC at Kansas State and Wisconsin before 
replacing Alvarez, so the juniors and seniors at Wisconsin are people
he helped to recruit, not Hankwitz.)

However, I do have to say that I don't quite get this hire.  The guy is 60, 
he's a well-travelled coach, it looks to me like this is a stopgap move, I
just don't see this guy being the DC for more than a few years.  Perhaps
his biggest strength is that he's been nearly everywhere (Michigan,
Western Michigan, Purdue, Colorado, Texas A&M, Kansas, Arizona, 
Wisconsin) so he should have contacts all around the country.  

If this hiring is (also) based on a recommendation from Barnett, I'd have 
to wonder when Pat Fitzgerald is going to listen to his own inner voice
on coaching hires, not to that of his former coach.  

Or maybe he's just a placekeeper DC and Fitz plans to take (or keep) an
active role in that?
--
Mike Nolan

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