[NU Sports] 'Cats-Huskers

[Beamsley, Jeff]

Dennis,
 
I'm certain that BT Championships are one of the goals every NU team has every year.  
 
I'm certain that Coach Fitz and his staff do their best every year to assemble and coach a team capable of accomplishing that goal.
 
I have never heard Coach Fitz suggest that admission standards or talent level are preventing his teams from accomplishing that goal.  What he has said is that he uses NU's admission standards and high graduation rate as a recruiting advantage.  Kain Colter, for example, was a three star recruit who received interest from Nebraska and an offer from Stanford, but chose to come to NU.
 
Here's a link to a Stanford Daily covering much of this same ground.  The Stanford team that won the Pac-10 last year and is ranked in the top 10 this year, was rated as the worst recruiting class in the Pac-10 in 2008.  
 
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/07/21/blanchat-football-success-defies-recruiting-class-rankings/
 
You, on the other hand, associate recruiting class talent level as the primary reason for either success or failure.  If the team fails, it's because it is unable to recruit competitive talent.  If the team succeeds it is a fluke because clearly they don't have competitive talent.  
 
The reality is that in college football, there are many ways to win.  Stanford and Northwestern do it with smart kids who go to class, stay out of trouble, and graduate with real degrees.  Alabama, LSU, OSU and many others do it with talented athletes who don't always to go class, do sometimes get in trouble, and don't often graduate.  
 
Clearly the NU way is more difficult, or else everyone would be doing it.  I believe that Fitz will continue to grow the program to the point that it is getting the best smart football kids in the country every year.  That said, it is clearly much easier to follow the OSU model if you want to consistently compete at the highest levels of the sport.  That includes periodic NCAA sanctions for running a dirty program because that's the only way you are going to be able to get some of these top recruits.  
 
So at the end of the day, you're right.  I would prefer to graduate all our kids with real degrees.  I would prefer to recruit kids who have demonstrated that they can compete in the classroom as well as the football field.  If that means we don't get as many four star kids as OSU, so be it.  That only means that our coaches and kids have to work harder to win games as a team.  We may not win as many conference championships as OSU, but our wins (like yesterday) will be sweeter.  Come graduation time, however, we will be conference champs every year.
 
Jeff
________________________________

From: Dennis W. Brandt [mailto:tbng at comcast.net]
Sent: Sun 11/6/2011 2:04 PM
To: Beamsley, Jeff; Tom Maycock; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] 'Cats-Huskers



Thanks for giving me the opportunity to say that you're still kidding
yourself about the talent level of Northwestern football.

Fact:  It has improved since the forgetable days of yester-year and to the
point that, on any given day, we can win any game.

Fact:  "Any given day" will not occur twelve times a year.  We played our
best game yesterday, but one game does not greatness make.

Fact: We have gone undefeated in the Big Ten only once in our history
(1995), haven't ended the season with one loss since 1996, and we haven't
won a bowl game for 63 years.  During the 21st  century we have not won a
Big Ten championship and have an overall losing record in the conference as
well as during Fitz's tenure.

Fact: You argue both that NU football talent is on a par with the better
conference teams AND the coaching staff is as good as any others, something
you cannot logically do because it doesn't account for our losing record.
Either the talent is lacking, the coaching stinks, or both.

Once you obtain a middling level of success, it is unacceptable to be
content merely with being better than you were when you were utterly
pathetic.  You can only climb to the championship level by getting players
who are bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic than the ones you have
currently.  Yes, it is marvelous to see an Ebert or a Fitzgerald come from
nowhere and play at an elevated level.  Those are the guys you really root
for.  No, the highly ranked players do not always work out, but they will
succeed more often that low-ranked players will rise to greatness.

You be content with 7 - 5 if you wish.  I will not be happy with the
Northwestern football program until it is a strong candidate to win the Big
Ten and kick Ohio State's ass year in and year out.  I darn well guarantee
you that Fitz believes the same.