[NU Sports] When will we ever see another title ?

[Roy S. Lamberton]

When I talked to Walker after the Spring Game (or was it a practice inside), he said that
he was getting tired of just finishing at .500.

Not sure if that was coach speak, RW just getting frustrated, or RW hoping to put some
pressure on the Seniors. (and I don't remember if that was the Spring before he died or
the year before that.)

Walker had won a piece of the Big 10, but did it mainly with kids recruited by Barnet.
This year marks the graduation of the last of the Walker era recruits, altho Fitz, as
recruiting coordinator, had a big hand in landing many of those kids. The 2011 Wildcats
will be 100% Fitzgerald's team, and I think you can sense a feeling of "at last" in some
of Fitz' remarks.

His comment about the no-star recruit is classic, altho I don't think there were stars
awarded when he was in HS. You were either Blue Chip, or Div I material. Jim Heckman was
the guy who pushed the star system on the original Rivals network.

Early on, one of the Rivals sites did a study on 5 vs 4 vs 3 star recruits and how they
performed in 5 years of college. As I recall, the 5 star guys usually did well, altho
nowhere near the 90% success you'd think. 

I'll stick with my old comment, "Ask me in 3 years"



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate & Unix Guru.
Computer Applications & Support Associates
-------------------- Also ----------------------
"Commissioner" Delaware American Legion Baseball
Director Media Relations - Little League 
  Senior League Softball World Series
CTRCS USN/USNR Retired
Northwestern University - Speech 1974 - 
Chi Phi: Pi 1974, KD 1968
Publisher Emeritus: Purple Reign (Fox Sports)
==========  Go Cats -  Beat 'em All  ===========
"...Then I get on my knees and pray,
WE DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN!" -- Pete Townsend
================================================


-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of SjT
(Stephen J. Truog)
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 11:24 AM
To: cherron604 at aol.com
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] When will we ever see another title ?

> I guess the 2nd part of my question was:
> Are we left with 2 choices - contend for championships, but
> miss a bowl game some seasons, or
> Make a bowl game every year, but fall into that 6-6, 7-5
> range that we seem to  be in at present

Well, you're right - there is a third area combining the two, but that's a place
Northwestern has not been yet.

Barnett and Walker won league titles but couldn't put together a consistent winner (though
Walker was getting to that 6-6, 7-5 level at the end).

Fitz has put together a consistent winner (at a slightly higher lever of 8, maybe 9, wins)
but no league titles.

I think the former is more memorable for fans, but the latter is tougher to do -
especially in the Big Ten.

The next step is obviously combining the two, but it's tough. Fitz has established NU as a
consistent bowl team, which may not be as flashy as the Purple to Pasadena, but is a
remarkable achievement. Now we gotta start combining the consistent wins over unranked
foes from the last few years with some of the head-turning wins over top-ranked foes that
we had in the 90s.

And to answer your question, yes, I believe NU can get there. Even in the new divisional
format.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT


* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
==========================


      

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