(09-12-2017 09:30 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(09-12-2017 02:43 PM)HuskieFootball Addict Wrote:  

(09-11-2017 02:20 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(09-10-2017 07:47 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  Jerry Kill was a recruiting machine and Dave Doeren benefited from that. Still coach Doeren won two MAC championships which is not easy to do so he was a good coach without a long enough body of work at NIU to truly evaluate him as a complete package. By that I mean that we do not know how he would have done with his own recruits and if he could or could not have sustained a winning program over an extended period of time.

Coach Doeren was needed to get over the hump. NIU wouldn't have won championship without him. Best in game coach we have ever had

We won that MACC the year after Kill left because of sheer will & determination ...Chandler Harnish would not let it end any other way. He led our team to that championship & Dave Doeren was basically along for the ride. Just my HO ...but I was there. I saw it happen. Same as with the bowl game we won that year. Skeleton coaching staff with Tuke & grad assistants but a very very determined QB & team.

No way HFA, I just cannot go along with that. Huskies do not win that game without Doeren. Best in-game coach at NIU, probably ever

That's impossible to say who the best in-game coach is. Doeren did benefit from inheriting very good players, but his teams always seemed well prepared and he got the most out of them. I didn't question many of his decisions and never felt like he was out coached. He looked and presented himself as a major college coach and it seemed like everyone had respect for him. If I had to choose from any of the NIU coaches since 1981 to coach the Huskies in a big game, I would choose him. I really liked Novak and Mallory, but he took the team to the next level on the field. I wish he would have stayed for the Orange Bowl.