[NU Sports] New Defensive Coordinator

[johnadeg at comcast.net]

To me the real question is who all did Fitzgerald interview before settling on Hankwitz, i.e. was he the pick of the litter or just better than nothing.  We'll probably never know.  Bielema has to be careful about hat reason or reasons he gives for bouncing Hankwitz unless he is looking for an age discrimination law suit that could put  Hankwitz on financial easy street even after netting out legal fees.  

John DeGroat
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Joe Thiegs" <thiegs at umn.edu>
> 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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