September 18th, 2021 at 5:45 PM ^
Narduzzi will be the OSU DC next year.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:55 PM ^
Frost, Norvell (FSU), Fuente (VT), Narduzzi (Pitt), and Babers (Syr) so far.
September 18th, 2021 at 7:41 PM ^
You missed Diaz (YTM)
September 18th, 2021 at 5:47 PM ^
NU will only fire Fitz if he has a few terrible seasons in a row.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:53 PM ^
This, times 10.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:09 PM ^
Fitz is a made man at Northwestern. He is the definition of job security.
Only way he leaves is if he wants to, and so far, there have been approximately zero indications that this might ever happen.
September 18th, 2021 at 7:18 PM ^
Northwestern's Kirk Ferentz
September 19th, 2021 at 9:56 AM ^
Hasn’t he made it to the B1G championship couple times? Also NW is not expected for greatness so- he’s staying for as long as he don't screw up badly
September 18th, 2021 at 5:49 PM ^
Narduzzi has to be on the way out. Pitt has been mediocre or worse his entire tenure
September 18th, 2021 at 6:24 PM ^
Narduzzi still has 3 years after this one. Pitt doesn’t seem to have the resources to foot that.
Winning on the road in the SEC only to then lose at home to a MAC team is classic Pitt.
Their best hope is to get a Pitt guy (and they canned Wannstedt) or a younger up and comer who does so well he splits for a better job. Like a Luke Fickell who apparently was a candidate when they hired Narduzzi.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:48 PM ^
Pitt’s lack of success is almost directly attributable to Steve Pederson - arguably the worst AD in sports in the past 20 years. He destroyed Pitt’s heritage in his first tenure there (tearing down Pitt Stadium, changing all logos and colors etc.) though he did leave them on better financial footing. Pederson then went to Nebraska and tanked them by firing Solich and just assuming they could get any coach they want. He was fired a few years later and returned to Pitt, where he fired Wannstedt only a year after going 10-3. He then led the worst coaching search in the history of coaching searches for his replacement.
Pitt desperately needs a good coach after Narduzzi is canned. Not sure who they get, but I think a guy like Kurt Cignetti or Joe Moorehead would be a solid hire. Both are local guys who also have ties to the program and could really leverage the talent in Ohio/PA/DMV to turn around the program.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:38 PM ^
Ditching the script “Pitt” and trying to eliminate all mention of Pitt and instead demanding it be referred to as the University of Pittsburgh was indescribably stupid.
And we still have way too many people in this region who think, “The Pete” is named after him.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:49 PM ^
Manny Diaz.
Mike Norvell.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:13 PM ^
Miami and FSU are dumpster fires
September 18th, 2021 at 7:17 PM ^
That is shocking given the prime recruiting area they are in.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:05 PM ^
Agree, absolutely NO excuse for both programs being this bad.
September 18th, 2021 at 11:27 PM ^
Truth! And it’s super surprising. FSU is terrible, and I guess so is Miami. Or more surprising Sparty is good!
September 18th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
Fitz does this every 3 or 4 years and I don't think it matters. You can't stockpile talent at Northwestern, so they're always going to have "peak" years. They had a peak year last year and their longtime (outstanding) DC retired at the end of the season. To make things worse, their starting RB got knocked out for the year in fall camp. With garbage talent, Northwestern won their division in 2020 and 2018, so I think he's safe.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
He just got a 10 year extension, I believe. He's safe.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
Yeah, I don't think Fitz is a great coach, but I respect the fact that he ever has successful years at one of the toughest places to win in college football. Northwestern could easily be Vanderbilt levels of incompetent, but instead they're a factor in the Big Ten West at least somewhat consistently.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:15 PM ^
Northwestern was ranked 126th out of 127 in returning production this season with 39% of theirs returning.
To put this is perspective, the national average for returning production this year is 76.7%, which is a bit high due to COVID. In a non-COVID year, the average is around 62 to 63%. (Source)
Northwestern was ALWAYS going to be a dumpster fire this year, and Northwestern/Fitz know that.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:27 PM ^
Yes, absolutely. I've been shouting from the hilltops since 2020 that Northwestern was going to be terrible this year.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:22 PM ^
Solid info and research. +1
September 18th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
Fitz is a good coach, just doesn't appear to have a good team this year.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
I think Manny Diaz's seat is going to start getting pretty warm if things fall off the rails this year. Miami's high preseason ranking (coming off a strange 8-3 Covid season) probably didn't help and created some unreasonable expectations.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:55 PM ^
Are they still on the rails?
September 18th, 2021 at 6:01 PM ^
Ha! Good point. Losing to Bama is expected. But then barely beating App. State and losing to an unranked MSU is not good. The problem is that they just look bad and don't inspire any confidence for the rest of the season.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:28 PM ^
I’ve always thought the highest quality rails in the lower 48 have got to be in Miami. Straight from the cartels.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:23 PM ^
I see what you did there!
September 18th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
I’ll predicting health problems for Jacksonville’s Head Coach. Right before he would have been fired. He won’t be there this time next year, book it.
September 18th, 2021 at 7:43 PM ^
Book’d
September 18th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
Fitz is a good coach, just doesn't appear to have a good team this year.
September 18th, 2021 at 10:21 PM ^
whoa i just got deja vu
it happens when they change something in the matrix
September 18th, 2021 at 5:52 PM ^
Ed Orgeron has been mediocre without Burrow
September 18th, 2021 at 5:56 PM ^
Coach O : Burrow and Joe Brady :: Gene Chizik : Cam and Gus Malzahn
September 18th, 2021 at 5:52 PM ^
Fitz could lose 30 games in 3 years and he'd be 50-50 to get fired.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:57 PM ^
What the fuck?
Northwestern has been in the B1G championship game 2 of the past 3 years and they crushed Auburn in the Citrus Bowl last year. He just signed a TEN year contract!
You can't be talking about Pat Fitzgerald.
They're going to name the field after him.
September 18th, 2021 at 5:59 PM ^
And you put Frost as a MAYBE?
Wow. Hopefully the Mods save you and delete this thread.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:33 PM ^
They can’t name Ryan field after him.
Whole reason the Wildcats play at “Dyche Stadium at Ryan Field” is because the Dyches and the Ryans are in fierce competition to get and keep their name on buildings at NU and all over Chicago. The basketball gym (it’s definitely not an arena) is Welsh-Ryan. during my time at NU there was some kind of kerfluffle between the Ryans and someone and the university and AD had to be very careful in mediating it because hundreds of millions in funding was on the line.
September 18th, 2021 at 8:52 PM ^
The Ryan's can name the field after him if the want.
Plus Ryan Field is a dump...he'll be there when they get a new stadium.
Fitzgerald Field at Ryan Stadium (or Ryan Family Stadium). Problem solved.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:47 PM ^
Why would Northwestern build a new football stadium? They don’t fill Ryan Field up without visitor help.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:01 PM ^
Frost is gone way before Fritz.
Mike Norvell will probably be out by the end of this year.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:06 PM ^
Norvell was such an odd hire for a major program like FSU. Like, who is he? Who is this man? I watch college football religiously and I have no idea who Mike Norvell is.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:15 PM ^
He had a couple good years at Memphis, but Memphis is a place with sustained success dating back to Justin Fuente. It’s a place you can win, they didn’t win because of Norvell, just like UCF didn’t win because of Scott Frost.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:44 PM ^
Who did UCF win because of? UCF was pretty up and down in O’Leary’s final years but Frost inherited an 0-12 team.
September 18th, 2021 at 9:50 PM ^
Take a look at their records before that season. That year they had toxic chemistry and the team quit on O’Leary, but they had talent.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:03 PM ^
I didn’t see any of Nebraska-Oklahoma but I’m surprised how close it was. Maybe we shouldn’t bury Frost just yet.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:11 PM ^
You can't bury anyone just yet (except Helton) but it's already been mentioned...
Frost, Norvell, Narduzzi, Babers, Manny Diaz has to be there.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:11 PM ^
I think that game said more about Oklahoma than the Huskers.
September 18th, 2021 at 6:37 PM ^
Maybe, but going into Norman and only losing by a score suggests his team is still fighting for him.