Playing careers of College Coaches ranked
ESPN, has a cool article, ranking all current college coaches' playing careers. Obviously our favorite Khaki wearing weirdo is 1st. (Spurrier may have been some competition there)
Was Fitzgerald really that good as a player? I have no memory of him at NW.
Yeah, Fitzgerald was a pretty darn good player. He was a tackling machine and a very intelligent player.
How do you win the Nagurski and Bednarik and get All-American accolades and not get drafted? That's a crazy impressive feat.
That outburst reminds me of a few parents in youth soccer who cheer wildly when the other team scores an own goal.
Bad winners are worse than sore losers. I see it every year.
Fitzgerald had some key tackles on Brian Griese in the 4th quarter of that 1995 game where Northwestern beat us for the first time in 36 years.
I've never had the stomach to go back and look at that game but whenever we play Northwestern now, ESPN broadcasters will look for any excuse to bring that 95 game up.
I'm going to blame my ignorance on (relative) youth. Fitzgerald's career was before I was a huge college football fan. I never realized he was that good.
First team all bit ten player.
Really, really good.
Yeah, Fitzgerald really was a great player. I remember him well.
He was tackling players when they got off the bus; not a great athlete by the measurable but still managed to be everywhere on the field.
Fitzgerald was really good. Sideline to sideline mlb that racked up a ton of tackles.
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He was injured for the Rose Bowl. Had he been able to play, NW could have easily won it. They had a lead in the 4th quarter but just could not keep up with Keyshawn Johnson. They were stretched thin on D without Fitzgerald.
I grew up in the era where Northwestern was an irrelevant football program (70's-80's). Northwestern's revival in the mid-90's was, quite frankly, pretty cool to watch - except when losing to them while scoring over 50 points. Fitzgerald was the main defensive cog in the Northwestern revival era. He was a premiere MLB who would've excelled at any B1G school.
tom herman still walk after having 13 knee surgeries??? WOW!!!
You can do superhuman things when you have access to Joey Bosa's stash.
forgot about bosa's stash... thanks for reminding me... ;)
Do you really even have a knee after that lol
made out of play doh... lol
Two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, consensus All-American, and Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award winner. That means two-time in each of those things, 1995 and 1996. He's a college football hall of famer. He possibly had the best college career of any current coach.
So yes, he was good.
Fitzgerald tells his brief NFL story, which ends with Mike Ditka telling him that maybe he should use his degree. Interesting/quick read.
It's very rare for great athletes to become great coaches. When so much comes naturally to you, it can be hard to teach those who aren't great athletes. Plus, you probably didn't need to be as technically sound as average players. Michin has not one but two head coaches who were amazing players in Harbaugh and Berenson.
And I agree with what you said, but you also are late to the game if you had a successful playing career. In other sports it seems coaches can quickly move up the ranks (basketball comes immediately to mind, but probably also baseball and soccer to some degree), but football isn't at all like that. Football tends to take longer than most other sports, because there are more layers to coaching at any level (grad assistant, scout, assistant position coach, position coach, coordinator, head coach). If you start when you're 35 with no experience, it may take you 15 to 20 years to even make it to the head coaching level, so you're already 50 or 55.
What Harbaugh did is by far the exception to the rule. He got a head coaching gig almost immediately because he helped out his dad while still a pro and had tons of coaching connections to help him get a small time job. He then had success at a small school and made a huge jump all the way to Stanford that is rare. So that's two rare things that happened (immediately a head coach, and then a huge jump). The fact that he made another pretty large jump to be the head coach in San Fran is even more remarkable. Very, very few have those types of jumps in their football career path, let alone 3 of them.
Soccer, at least European soccer, most coaches had decorated playing careers.
That is true. The only one I can think of off the top of my head are Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger.
Could someone explain to me why Pat Fitzgerald didn't get drafted though? If he had that good of a college career, you'd think he might've gotten at least a chance at the next level.
Northwestern's scheme was built around Fitzgerald being clean, and stuffing ball carriers between the tackles. At the time, that's what most offenses were. The few short passes and outside runs were uncommon enough to pick on Fitzgerald's limited athletic ability. But with the way the NFL had developed by then (a lot of West Coast Offense) he couldn't be covered enough with his limited athletic ability.
Fitzgerald was essentially the definition of a classic Big Ten MLB. He could get off blocks and had a nose for the football that very few had. But he couldn't run with NFL players, and when the opponent not only gets faster, but also bigger and better, he just wasn't good enough for the next level. Classic example of a great at one level not transitioning to being great at the next level.
Michigan has had a lot of those guys. Erick Anderson (for the older people here) comes to mind. Highly decorated collegian, ten tackles in the NFL:
"57. Terry Bowden, West Virginia Mountaineers" - He is still at Akron I believe
His team came out at half time to show off their bowl trophy. He made a speach to pump up the crowd that was essentially "buy season tickets!", and not in a hidden way, he must have said "buy season tickets" three or four times. That's the joy of the MAC
Akron, specifically. Lower D1 attendance in the nation before last year, with one of the biggest, newest non-P5 stadiums in the country. Even with a bowl eligible team no one really showed up. They allow anyone remotely affiliated with the school to come for free in hopes of luring literally anyone to come
I got in for free. So there's that.
To the game, the school, or all of the above?
Just the game
I couldn't find Mike Dantonio anywhere...
Lol if I could summarize his playing accomplishments from this article: "yeah, he existed. Did some stuff."
...was Brian Urlacher before Brian Urlacher.
Long converted Urlacher into a "Lobo-Back", a cross between a linebacker and free safety
Long also used Urlacher as a return specialist and wide receiver throughout his final two years with the Lobos
Can't disagree with the top 2. I think Harbaugh wins almost by default, because he's the only person to transition from a recent sucessful NFL career to head coach so quickly. Eventually, we might see somebody like Mike Vrabel near the top of this list (I don't like the guy but he was good). If Mike Hart ever makes head coach, he's in the top 15 easily.
Actually, I think this deserves a good job to ESPN. Tracking down all that info probably wasn't easy, and then ranking it when so many of those guys had meh careers..not bad. Not bad at all.
How can you mention Hart and not Wheatley?
Actually, I think this deserves a good job to ESPN. Tracking down all that info probably wasn't easy, and then ranking it when so many of those guys had meh careers..not bad. Not bad at all.
Not really they write it once and recycle it year after year. I remember the list with Hoke and his Ball State playing days on it.
Ok, that's fair. This is the first year I remember noticing. Somebody somewhere at sometime did a fair amount of research lol.
Interesting. Bret Bielema was a starting defensive lineman and team captain at Iowa in 1992.
When we played Iowa at the big house that season, we ran for 487 yards in a 52-28 win. I may have to go back and look at the game to see if there are any frustrated shots of him. Yeah, I hate him that much.
Amazing the guy is from a B1G team and coached in the B1G and yet talks shit on the B1G and praises the $EC
...who signs his paycheck?
If you do, please put clips together and share on the board. Or, on the other hand, my lazy ass can scour YouTube as well.
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Yes, you did....
487 yeards, Bert still has the same first step....
Harbaugh is the only guy that was a top star in the NFL and college.
And now he's a star coach, in both the NFL and college.
The man wins at every damn thing.