Tonight's victory improves Rod Carey to 10-0 in November as head coach. He just won back to back road games playing his 5th string, freshman QB.

His 5th string, freshman QB was so well prepared, they pretty much ran the same offense and went as fast or faster than usual.

Ryan Graham has some serious physical limitations, but his preparedness tonight and last Tuesday is a testament to him, Bob Cole, and the coaching staff as an entirety.

I could only imagine the massive boner fest in the national media if P.J. Fleck has his team in contention with 2 weeks left playing his 5th string QB.

Rod Carey: zero flash, a hell of a lot of substance. And he loves his wife.

(11-12-2015 12:27 AM)7 Wrote:  Tonight's victory improves Rod Carey to 10-0 in November as head coach. He just won back to back road games playing his 5th string, freshman QB.

His 5th string, freshman QB was so well prepared, they pretty much ran the same offense and went as fast or faster than usual.

Ryan Graham has some serious physical limitations, but his preparedness tonight and last Tuesday is a testament to him, Bob Cole, and the coaching staff as an entirety.

I could only imagine the massive boner fest in the national media if P.J. Fleck has his team in contention with 2 weeks left playing his 5th string QB.

Rod Carey: zero flash, a hell of a lot of substance. And he loves his wife.

+100. For some of the in-game questionable decisions that he makes that we all debate and get upset about, big picture wise I wouldn't trade Coach Carey and his staff for anybody else's in the MAC

(11-12-2015 12:31 AM)machoman83 Wrote:  

(11-12-2015 12:27 AM)7 Wrote:  Tonight's victory improves Rod Carey to 10-0 in November as head coach. He just won back to back road games playing his 5th string, freshman QB.

His 5th string, freshman QB was so well prepared, they pretty much ran the same offense and went as fast or faster than usual.

Ryan Graham has some serious physical limitations, but his preparedness tonight and last Tuesday is a testament to him, Bob Cole, and the coaching staff as an entirety.

I could only imagine the massive boner fest in the national media if P.J. Fleck has his team in contention with 2 weeks left playing his 5th string QB.

Rod Carey: zero flash, a hell of a lot of substance. And he loves his wife.

+100. For some of the in-game questionable decisions that he makes that we all debate and get upset about, big picture wise I wouldn't trade Coach Carey and his staff for anybody else's in the MAC

Totally agree. You know this is unfortunately a manifestation of how superficial our society is. PJ is better looking and says a lot things people like to hear (most of which is total BS - his personal actions are deplorable at best). Carey is an average Joe who tends to be honest and is very careful not to lie at the risk of not saying very much. PJ's crap sells a lot of gullible sheep on his worthiness, yet he has no substance and very little in the way of results. Carey continues to produce, and from everything we have seen, is someone you can count on. I'll take Carey 100 times out of 100 over a snake oil salesman like PJ.

Carey is still good. Yep.

Wasn't Graham the emergency QB last year over Landon Root? So I don't think we can call Graham the fifth string, but I will give you fourth string. We could call Graham a hell of a guy, though!

An Illini friend posted last night that he wouldn't be disappointed if he had Babers or Fleck coaching the Illini next year. I've yet to hear back from him, but I pointed out Carey is 2-0 against both of these hot coaching prospects. Not to mention 4-0 against UT's Matt Campbell, another supposed hottie.

He's earned a little more notoriety after beating Toledo, but I wish Carey would earn more notoriety for what he has done here. Do Illini fans even think about him? People talk the flash of Fleck and Babers, but what have they won? That could change in the next few weeks, but I'll take Carey and his accomplishments.

(11-12-2015 12:27 AM)7 Wrote:  And he loves his wife.

Aw snap!

Something I noted about coaching.

Soon after the Pick Six, NIU lined up in same formation with KG lined up on the CB who had the INT. KG faked the slant(the route that Canada ran on Pick 6) the CB, looking for another INT, bit big time leaving KG wide open for the TD.

That is excellent coaching/play calling IMO

(11-12-2015 08:40 AM)BobL Wrote:  Something I noted about coaching.

Soon after the Pick Six, NIU lined up in same formation with KG lined up on the CB who had the INT. KG faked the slant(the route that Canada ran on Pick 6) the CB, looking for another INT, bit big time leaving KG wide open for the TD.

That is excellent coaching/play calling IMO

+1. Some good coaching decisions last night.

(11-12-2015 08:40 AM)BobL Wrote:  Something I noted about coaching.

Soon after the Pick Six, NIU lined up in same formation with KG lined up on the CB who had the INT. KG faked the slant(the route that Canada ran on Pick 6) the CB, looking for another INT, bit big time leaving KG wide open for the TD.

That is excellent coaching/play calling IMO

Yup dude totally bit on it trying to get another pick.

I'm hoping they all continue to not notice Carey as a coaching candidate. Just being selfish though.

It may be that they only expect Carey to be successful if he can run an offense like we do at NIU, and only certain other schools run an offense similar to that. Or they figure that kind of offense won't work in the Big 14 or SEC or whatever. I don't know.

I think the biggest risk to losing Carey is IU. There would be an emotional connection to him going "home". IU has 4 wins with the last three games against Michigan, @ Maryland and then @ Purdue. If they get to 6 wins (most likely Maryland and Purdue) then I think they keep their current coach. If they only win one of the 3 - the I think there is an opening and that is a risk for us.

It's funny how right after the CMU game there were more than a few people on this board who wanted his head on a platter. Now he can do no wrong. It's a tough profession, win two titles in three years, contend for another and lord help you if you lose a game or two as there will be people at your office door with torches and pitch forks. Heck, people were wondering if Nick Saban would be in trouble after he lost to Ole Miss if he lost another conference game. It's just crazy.

Sometimes I scratch my head at decisions he makes and things he says like the ol "they came out with stuff we hadn't seen on tape" but for the most part his resume speaks for itself. There are obvious detractors, looking at you Vegas, and people that kind of skew the numbers to only focus on the bowl losses and the 3 losses this year, but dude gets results.

Players play the game so at the end of the day they are the biggest element of Ws and L but these guys put the players in good situations. Preparation is there as are adjustments.

He has never lost to NIUs two "rivals", has never lost in November and he has his team in position again. He hasn't hit even double digits losses through 39 games. His expectations amongst our fans are extremely high, and he has come close to reaching those.

(11-12-2015 09:21 AM)niuco90 Wrote:  It's funny how right after the CMU game there were more than a few people on this board who wanted his head on a platter. Now he can do no wrong. It's a tough profession, win two titles in three years, contend for another and lord help you if you lose a game or two as there will be people at your office door with torches and pitch forks. Heck, people were wondering if Nick Saban would be in trouble after he lost to Ole Miss if he lost another conference game. It's just crazy.

I agree that it is tough when you job security depends on the result of your last game but for some of these guys (not necessarily Carey) make so much money that the expectations are elevated.

It is the nature of our fandom that we tend to overreact to each win and loss. Granted, places like this don't help as we used to just sit in our basement stewing over a bad loss but now we can tell the whole world that we are pissed off.

We are fans, we KNOW we could coach/recruit better if we were out there. I think the reactions are more intense for football than other sports because you have a very limited season magnifying each game. Plus football is such an emotional game that for any one game emotions can carry the moment and carry (Carey?) a team to victory. One thing I absolutely like about Carey is the way he has inculcated, built upon, put them front and center and Careyed on Huskie traditions such that they have become even more embedded in the team.

While I know at other places the money is out there, I wonder if bumping him to 600,000 or 700,000 would be enough to entice him to stick around for a few more years. He doesn't strike me as someone who would make a change solely for the money. Though it would be completely understandable if he did. I also think his personality fits DeKalb and the MAC and that is meant as a positive, not damning with faint praise.

(11-12-2015 11:19 AM)NIUSAE Wrote:  We are fans, we KNOW we could coach/recruit better if we were out there. I think the reactions are more intense for football than other sports because you have a very limited season magnifying each game. Plus football is such an emotional game that for any one game emotions can carry the moment and carry (Carey?) a team to victory. One thing I absolutely like about Carey is the way he has inculcated, built upon, put them front and center and Careyed on Huskie traditions such that they have become even more embedded in the team.

While I know at other places the money is out there, I wonder if bumping him to 600,000 or 700,000 would be enough to entice him to stick around for a few more years. He doesn't strike me as someone who would make a change solely for the money. Though it would be completely understandable if he did. I also think his personality fits DeKalb and the MAC and that is meant as a positive, not damning with faint praise.

I tend to agree with you that it does not appear money is the first motivator for Carey. That is why I worry about the emotional ties that IU may hold. Plus give a salary $1.3MM (Current salary of Kevin Wilson) and it could be a factor.

Niu has done an excellent job of maintaining the program. All of the hires since Novak have not tried to change the team too much and while some of the coaches have put a few "wrinkles" on offense and defense, for the most part it is very similar system over the years. I think Minni is smart to hire Claeys too. Try and maintain the "Mo" rather than tear it down and restart. You can always tear it down after a coach loses the farm. And Carey has done a excellent job of keeping things rolling regardless of the outcome of this season. Appears to have some Fr., Soph., and Jr that can play the system for the next few years too.
Also second guessing from the sidelines or from the "outside" comes with the territory of being the "boss".
Happens in all professions. Carey has done well to tune that out and live with "his" play calling decisions.

(11-12-2015 12:22 PM)Mark26pt2 Wrote:  

(11-12-2015 11:19 AM)NIUSAE Wrote:  We are fans, we KNOW we could coach/recruit better if we were out there. I think the reactions are more intense for football than other sports because you have a very limited season magnifying each game. Plus football is such an emotional game that for any one game emotions can carry the moment and carry (Carey?) a team to victory. One thing I absolutely like about Carey is the way he has inculcated, built upon, put them front and center and Careyed on Huskie traditions such that they have become even more embedded in the team.

While I know at other places the money is out there, I wonder if bumping him to 600,000 or 700,000 would be enough to entice him to stick around for a few more years. He doesn't strike me as someone who would make a change solely for the money. Though it would be completely understandable if he did. I also think his personality fits DeKalb and the MAC and that is meant as a positive, not damning with faint praise.

I tend to agree with you that it does not appear money is the first motivator for Carey. That is why I worry about the emotional ties that IU may hold. Plus give a salary $1.3MM (Current salary of Kevin Wilson) and it could be a factor.

Please, let's not kid ourselves, money will always be a factor, taking into account career age and stature. Joe Novak---it was his last job. This is not Rod Carey's last job---I don't know his exact age, mid 40s---and when/if that offer comes, he will go.

Let's at least frame this that the next job, if it comes on the tail of our success, will not be to another MAC or to a SunBelt program. If it comes down to a Rutgers or an Iowa State or an Oregon State and the terms are multi years in the millions, he's going. There is a long list of not only NIU coaches, but coaches from everywhere that have followed that path.

Of course, the right thing to "think" is that he has a wife and has kids in grade school and would love to see them through high school and be here for a Joe Novak type tenure--but that fact is that he does have a wife and kids in grade school and if the opportunity arises to make $1.25 million instead of let's be generous, $750K, he's gonna go. $500K times five years is a lot of money no matter how you look at it.

I think his midwestern roots and success would weigh on him, but coaches at that level no the full scope of insecurity and would capitalize when they can.

AD's in need of a new coach look for experience in turning a program around. Rod will never have that moniker, his first game was the Orange Bowl, he inherited players from two MAC Championship teams, so the best he will be known for is maintaining excellence. Dino turned around EIU and is improving BGSU, PJ turned around WIU, so they fit the "turnaround" criteria. Martin and Liepold will fit the criteria once Miami and Buffalo turn around. Unless there is a Frazier/Carey package deal (Illinois/Minnesota), I don't see Rod leaving. This is very good situation for NIU, as Baker/Frazier have aspirations of joining a "better" conference and Rod fits perfectly with those plans.