[NU Sports] NOW, MORTY, PLEASE . . .

Sat Mar 17 09:16:42 CDT 2012

 We should not let fear that 'we can't do any better' keep us from taking action,  think back to late 1991, when Francis Peay was being decent but unspectacular.  He had just completed a 3-8 season, his 3rd 8th place finish in the league.  Fortunately for us, Arnold Weber, a very under-appreciated leader, and Bruce Corrie, practically forgotten as an Athletic Director, decided to make a change, and bring in a young Assistant coach from Colorado, who had been a QB-FB coach from 1984 to 1990, and who had served as Offensive Coordinator in 1991.  I remember at the time that some recommended caution in acting too brashly, but that inspired hiring brought us 2 Big Ten titles, trips to Pasadena and Orlando, and laid the foundation, built upon by RW, that we enjoy today.

I guess all of this tells me that there is very possibly a mid-major head coach or an assistant on one of theses March benches who is capable of bringing smart, talented kids to campus, keeping them on-target in the class room, and inspiring them to do great things, with or without state of the art facilities.  I would point out that Tubby's guys beat us in the conference tournament, in spite of the Williams Arena not being 'latest and greatest' as a facility.

In short, let's not use the excuse that 'we are doing decent, we can't do any better' and stand in the way of our leadership team making another inspired choice.  Isn't the whole 'Northwestern Way' about great leaders making inspired decisions when the experts seem to say that 'nothing will work, you cannot do better' ?

Chuck Herron, Tech '85
cherron604 at aol.com

-----Original Message-----
From: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
To: Alan Abrahamson <alan.abrahamson at gmail.com>
Cc: nwu-sports <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Sat, Mar 17, 2012 1:56 am
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] NOW, MORTY, PLEASE . . .

With all due respect, Alan, the buzzer had barely sounded in Seattle and an 
all-caps e-mail subject line was waiting for me in my inbox with an all-caps 
message of "FIRE BILL" -- so in the age of netiquette, that passes for 
pitchforks and torches in my book. :)

And I never said I was "afraid" of change - I simply asked "who?" Who are the 
folks that are charging headstrong over that hill (or it it a cliff? :) ) of 
change thinking can replace the most successful coach in NU basketball history?

Who?

- Stephen

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

________________________________
 From: Alan Abrahamson <alan.abrahamson at gmail.com>
To: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com> 
Cc: "pcw at warnerpatents.com" <pcw at warnerpatents.com>; "nwu-sports at tssi.com" 
<nwu-sports at tssi.com> 
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 11:38 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] NOW, MORTY, PLEASE . . .

Stephen, and all list friends,

Arguing for change doesn't make us a "mob with ... pitchforks."

It has been 12 years.

I think that is plenty of time for cool heads to reason through the situation 
and think that perhaps Bill has had time to show what he can do.

It's not a good argument to say let's not change because we're afraid of change. 
We know what we have with Bill. For sure we know. 

-- Alan

On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 10:29 PM, SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com> 
wrote:

For the sake of argument, allow me to throw out a word of hesitation to the mobs 
with their pitchforks ...
>
>- I won't bother to relay the analogy of Minnesota football, who grew tired of 
mid-level success under Glen Mason and fired him only to slip back firmly into 
the Big Ten basement, despite a facility upgrade
>
>- I won't point out that NU was closer to the NCAA tournament this year than in 
any other year in its history
>
>- I will simply ask, who are we gonna get?
>
>We will not lower our standards for admission -- nor should we -- so the Tommy 
Amaker story can kiss my purple behind and be gone forever from NU sports list 
lore ... hopefully.
>
>And we will not entice a hot young coach from Butler or Lehigh because they 
will have better offers and more money from elsewhere.
>
>So ... who you gonna get???
>
>If it's someone better than Bill Carmody, then by all means, go on your merry 
pitchfork 'n' torches way.
>
>But if you're just going to get rid of someone because of the heartbreak of 
coming so close the past few years (as opposed to decades of bliss and 
indifference ... and suckage), then I would be careful about getting what you 
wish for, because unless we're heading into the Coach Hardy era, I'm not sure I 
see NU moving forward or even staying in neutral with anyone else out there.
>
>GO CATS!!!
>-SjT
>
> 
>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>STEPHEN J. TRUOG
>sjtruog at yahoo.com
>GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
>Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
>________________________________
>
>
>
>________________________________
> From: "pcw at warnerpatents.com" <pcw at warnerpatents.com>
>To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
>Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 8:55 PM
>
>Subject: [NU Sports] NOW, MORTY, PLEASE . . .
>
>
>FIRE BILL. 
>
>We all know that Jim doesn’t have the authority to make the decision.
>
>Bill should have been fired after his 5th season and every year
>thereafter when it was clear that NU was never going to go anywhere.  It
>was apparent, however, that Henry had told Bill that he would never fire
>him as long as Henry was at the helm.  And, you cannot blame Henry for
>being a man of his word.
>
>Morty, I understand that, last year, you probably felt that you were
>still too new on the job to dump Bill.  But, you’ve been around long
>enough now.  Pull the trigger, NOW.
>
>
>
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>
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