Bob Cole was a very good coach at NIU and it seems like he's been scapegoated for the team's collapse at the end of the 2015 season. I won't deny that playcalling got stale. Once teams finally figured out that we run almost nothing but bubble screens, jet sweeps and QB draws we struggled to reimagine the offense. That formula worked great for several years so it's understandable that we entered the season with it as the base offense. Our opponents were ready for it and we seemed to have a hard time adjusting, I get that part. However there were at least three bigger problems with the '15 team: a subpar offensive line, the freakish run of QB injuries and the defense that disappeared for the last three games. Injuries to Tommylee, Keith Harris and Corey Thomas did not help either. I don't care what plays we called, we were going to struggle due to those issues, especially against good teams.

As I mentioned in another thread, I don't believe anyone deserved to lose their job over the three game collapse at the end of the season. The coaching staff has had a lot of success and they deserved the opportunity to scout themselves in the offseason and come up with adjustments. Unfortunately we live in an instant gratification world where hairtrigger coaching changes are the norm. Texas is talking about canning Charlie Strong and he just got there five minutes ago and the place was a mess when he arrived. Most of the SEC West wants to fire their coaches even though it is mathematically inevitable that some of them will have .500 or worse records. Mike Uremovich is a solid hire and I wish him a lot of success. It just seems to me like Cole got treated worse than he deserved in this process.

Cole was a qood QB coach. He did a solid job with Graham & Fiedler getting them ready. Even getting Hare going last year.

Our OLINE is not physical, and I believe that has to do with our offensive style. Believe our offense will.be better next year.

I thought NC State firing Canada was bizarre, and I thought NIU firing Cole was equally as odd.

The 2014 offense broke pretty much every MAC record their was. Then, despite using 3 QBs in 2014 and Hare having his struggles, they still finished 20th in the country in yards. Certainly 2015 ended poorly, but I think that was due to injuries as much as anything.

Coach U was a really good hire. He'll probably be better than Cole. I didn't think Cole deserved to be fired however.

I think sometimes he lacked creativity on offense, yes. It was always supposed to be simple but fast and sometimes he took that a little too far. I agree 100% he was better than some would lead you to believe.

I'm sure he'll land on his feet somewhere.

Canada's release does seem odd. To call Cole's release equally as odd...could not disagree more.


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Cole got fired because STF couldn't fire Carey after giving him an extension last year

(01-03-2016 10:17 PM)cartershaw Wrote:  Cole got fired because STF couldn't fire Carey after giving him an extension last year

You realize how illogical this is, right? Carey hired a guy he had experience with. SF wasn't driving that boat.

I've heard Carey hasn't been happy with the lack of money he has to pay his assistants. Firing Cole had zero to do with SF.

(01-03-2016 10:26 PM)7 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 10:17 PM)cartershaw Wrote:  Cole got fired because STF couldn't fire Carey after giving him an extension last year

You realize how illogical this is, right? Carey hired a guy he had experience with. SF wasn't driving that boat.

I've heard Carey hasn't been happy with the lack of money he has to pay his assistants. Firing Cole had zero to do with SF.

+1

(01-03-2016 10:26 PM)7 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 10:17 PM)cartershaw Wrote:  Cole got fired because STF couldn't fire Carey after giving him an extension last year

You realize how illogical this is, right? Carey hired a guy he had experience with. SF wasn't driving that boat.

I've heard Carey hasn't been happy with the lack of money he has to pay his assistants. Firing Cole had zero to do with SF.

Yup we gotta pay the assistants more...to get and keep decent ones.

(01-03-2016 10:26 PM)7 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 10:17 PM)cartershaw Wrote:  Cole got fired because STF couldn't fire Carey after giving him an extension last year

You realize how illogical this is, right? Carey hired a guy he had experience with. SF wasn't driving that boat.

I've heard Carey hasn't been happy with the lack of money he has to pay his assistants. Firing Cole had zero to do with SF.

The staff budget is a legit problem, and circles back to the lack of fan support. Not just assistant pay, but total budget. Sure, we're not going to have the array of quality control and player personnel guys P5 programs have, but Toledo, Arkansas State, and WMU have "Player personnel" staffers.
Marshall has a "Director of HS relations." Boise has a player personnel director, and "director of recruiting." Now maybe some of that is title inflation and the NIU assistant DFO for recruiting is comparable, but it sure looks like NIU doesn't have the same resources.

I do not agree with anything in this thread. I do not wish ill upon anyone but there is a reason why the guy wasn't on the plane with Doeren to NC State.

The playcalling was not stale, it was non-existent. He was pigheaded and didn't want to throw any slant passes. We faced teams with higher athleticism and we ran stupid bubble passes that were blown up early on. We ran two types of running plays all year, 1) HB draw 2) QB draw.

I also believe that all the hits our QBs took over the year as a result of them running QB draws added up and left them brittle. Yes the injuries looked fluky, but the hits had to have added up over the year. Also our QBs aren't "runners", they were slow and should not have run 1/4th as much as they did.

I could call most plays as they lined up at the line and if it wasn't for Jordan Lynch, this joke of a coach would have been fired long ago.

I'm happy that we are going in a new direction and I have no doubt that since we are at the bottom with play calling that it has no where to go but up.

Bob, if you didn't get paid with money, I might have been fine with it, but since you got paid and I wish for success from my Huskies. GOOD RIDDANCE.

Somebody deserved to lose a job after the bowl game. There is no other way to sugar coat that. You had a team that quIt before the game started. Somebody wasn't doing their job to the nth degree. That is why Frazier is paid the big bucks ,to find out what caused this team to be not interested in competing. You cannot have a perfromance like NIU did against Boise and not have some major dysfunction and ineptitude somewhere

(01-04-2016 03:49 AM)Huskiefb4 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 11:27 PM)georgey3085 Wrote:  I do not agree with anything in this thread. I do not wish ill upon anyone but there is a reason why the guy wasn't on the plane with Doeren to NC State.

The playcalling was not stale, it was non-existent. He was pigheaded and didn't want to throw any slant passes. We faced teams with higher athleticism and we ran stupid bubble passes that were blown up early on. We ran two types of running plays all year, 1) HB draw 2) QB draw.

I also believe that all the hits our QBs took over the year as a result of them running QB draws added up and left them brittle. Yes the injuries looked fluky, but the hits had to have added up over the year. Also our QBs aren't "runners", they were slow and should not have run 1/4th as much as they did.

I could call most plays as they lined up at the line and if it wasn't for Jordan Lynch, this joke of a coach would have been fired long ago.

I'm happy that we are going in a new direction and I have no doubt that since we are at the bottom with play calling that it has no where to go but up.

Bob, if you didn't get paid with money, I might have been fine with it, but since you got paid and I wish for success from my Huskies. GOOD RIDDANCE.

What a terrible thing to say. You do realize that Bob Cole is a person correct, not just a hashtag? The guy has a wife and kids. 2 seasons after coaching a Heisman trophy finalist (and having heard through some of his teammates, Jordan Lynch LOVES Bob Cole and is very close with him) and a year after setting offensive records with a new Sophomore QB, the man lost his job.
Imagine if you accomplished a quarter as much in your career and got fired because of in a lot of ways inability of execution by 18-22 year olds. AND THEN ignorant "fans" get excited to show their excitement for your being fired. Have some empathy and respect. I can guarantee the man and his family put a lot more into Northern football in their time here than you ever have. A good friend met Bob and his wife at the recruiting party a few years ago, said they were good people. Disgusting how some of you Huskie "fans" portray yourself.
A lot of us wanted more from this team especially at the end of the season, and I understand being excited about some change and the new direction moving forward but try to have some class.
Also HB draw and QB draw were our only 2 run plays?? And you were able to predict the plays at the line? You realize run right and pass deep aren't play calls right?
You clearly know little to nothing about football outside of really outdated video games. Why would you feel it necessary or even appropriate to share your opinions (especially negative) on topics you clearly know nothing about. You are a "joke" of a fan.

While I do agree some people have gone a bit overboard, if coach Cole received a better coaching offer at a different school 3 days before the bowl game and accepted it he would have been on a plane and NIU would have been without an OC for the game. Same situation could occur the day after the MACC. We have seen both situations (See Doren and Kill). So though I can feel some sympathy for his family, this is how college football works and it can go either way.

All we can do as fans is voice displeasure, and if a change is made to the coaching staff, thank him for his services while he was here and welcome the new guy.

Bob Cole was not very good because you get what you pay for in life. We need to pay our assistant coaches more. Until then good luck.

The coaching staff has plenty of time and the talent to win the MAC. I expect nothing less then going to Detroit. I hope SF has put these guys in the hot seat and made some contacts to potential people to bring in if the team goals cant be reached.

(01-04-2016 03:49 AM)Huskiefb4 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 11:27 PM)georgey3085 Wrote:  I do not agree with anything in this thread. I do not wish ill upon anyone but there is a reason why the guy wasn't on the plane with Doeren to NC State.

The playcalling was not stale, it was non-existent. He was pigheaded and didn't want to throw any slant passes. We faced teams with higher athleticism and we ran stupid bubble passes that were blown up early on. We ran two types of running plays all year, 1) HB draw 2) QB draw.

I also believe that all the hits our QBs took over the year as a result of them running QB draws added up and left them brittle. Yes the injuries looked fluky, but the hits had to have added up over the year. Also our QBs aren't "runners", they were slow and should not have run 1/4th as much as they did.

I could call most plays as they lined up at the line and if it wasn't for Jordan Lynch, this joke of a coach would have been fired long ago.

I'm happy that we are going in a new direction and I have no doubt that since we are at the bottom with play calling that it has no where to go but up.

Bob, if you didn't get paid with money, I might have been fine with it, but since you got paid and I wish for success from my Huskies. GOOD RIDDANCE.

What a terrible thing to say. You do realize that Bob Cole is a person correct, not just a hashtag? The guy has a wife and kids. 2 seasons after coaching a Heisman trophy finalist (and having heard through some of his teammates, Jordan Lynch LOVES Bob Cole and is very close with him) and a year after setting offensive records with a new Sophomore QB, the man lost his job.
Imagine if you accomplished a quarter as much in your career and got fired because of in a lot of ways inability of execution by 18-22 year olds. AND THEN ignorant "fans" get excited to show their excitement for your being fired. Have some empathy and respect. I can guarantee the man and his family put a lot more into Northern football in their time here than you ever have. A good friend met Bob and his wife at the recruiting party a few years ago, said they were good people. Disgusting how some of you Huskie "fans" portray yourself.
A lot of us wanted more from this team especially at the end of the season, and I understand being excited about some change and the new direction moving forward but try to have some class.
Also HB draw and QB draw were our only 2 run plays?? And you were able to predict the plays at the line? You realize run right and pass deep aren't play calls right?
You clearly know little to nothing about football outside of really outdated video games. Why would you feel it necessary or even appropriate to share your opinions (especially negative) on topics you clearly know nothing about. You are a "joke" of a fan.

This isn't a charity, it's college football. He picked his career. People get fired for non-performance every day, why should we weep for someone who was making $125k to coach football?

(01-03-2016 10:26 PM)7 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 10:17 PM)cartershaw Wrote:  Cole got fired because STF couldn't fire Carey after giving him an extension last year

You realize how illogical this is, right? Carey hired a guy he had experience with. SF wasn't driving that boat.

I've heard Carey hasn't been happy with the lack of money he has to pay his assistants. Firing Cole had zero to do with SF.

Neiman was the 3rd highest paid asst in the MAC, we may not pay like the big10 does but we aren't the lowest either


Kent St $718k
BG $807k
Umass $832k
Akron $934K
Miami $863k
Toledo $886k
Ohio $898k
EMU $864k
WMU $1037k
Ball St $910K
CMU $863k
Buf $928k

NIU $885k

You can only blame players not executing so much and say "we need to coach better."

There was enough pathetic offense with Hare at times, more without. I have heard so much BS on here from "my source" and thoughts my head spins.

At the end of the day, there is accountability for the lack of offense vs. BC, OSU and CMU and Ohio. Even more so was play calling and clock management. When you get embarrassed in bowls and conf championships vs better teams, it looks bad. It hurts recruiting AND image. Not many knew NIU was playing 4th, 5th qb's nor does the average Joe care. You think Oregon fans said "oh well" after losing to TCU? (I know, bowls don't matter to some)I am not going to act like 4/5 on here who "have a source" and can make opinions disguised as facts since I can't read minds. I hardly think Carey came up with this change on his own, pushed it to SF who rubber stamped this. My "guess" is SF was not real happy and basically said "What's the deal? What happened?" to Carey and they analyzed he situation. SF IS CAREY'S BOSS. Short of Saban and Krzyzewski, ADs have the final say. There was very little chance of Carey going down, and not a single person on here had an impact unless your donating 6 figures+. Heck, maybe Carey went to SF. I don't know, I don't have a "source." But someone had to take the fall in in SF mind I am guessing,he wanted answers. ANY good supervisor, leader would have done it. A change had to be made for complete collapses. You can't play Murray St and Presbyterian every week. Again, there was much more to this than the last 2 games. Right or wrong, it was a decision made by people with I am guessing much more knowledge of what needed to be done than anyone on here. They fully understand the ultimate ramifications of the decision and felt the need to make it. This wasn't a knee jerk reaction. Carey knows what happens if NIU puts up a worse record next year with what appears to be an easier schedule. And SF knows what happens if donations fall.

(01-04-2016 10:12 AM)cartershaw Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 10:26 PM)7 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 10:17 PM)cartershaw Wrote:  Cole got fired because STF couldn't fire Carey after giving him an extension last year

You realize how illogical this is, right? Carey hired a guy he had experience with. SF wasn't driving that boat.

I've heard Carey hasn't been happy with the lack of money he has to pay his assistants. Firing Cole had zero to do with SF.

Neiman was the 3rd highest paid asst in the MAC, we may not pay like the big10 does but we aren't the lowest either


Kent St $718k
BG $807k
Umass $832k
Akron $934K
Miami $863k
Toledo $886k
Ohio $898k
EMU $864k
WMU $1037k
Ball St $910K
CMU $863k
Buf $928k

NIU $885k

I would like to see what cost of living is in each of these locations.

You do realize that there are around 20 coaches on staff. If split evenly, that around 40K per coach. That's nothing to brag about. Granted some of them are grad assistance and the OC/DC get a bigger chunk thank position coaches. Any way you cut it up. It sucks.

I agree with most of what 81 said. I'm thankful for what BC brought to NIU the last few years, a big part of our success. Fans are idiots, for any team really, that's just the way it is these days. So be it. Bob should hold his head high. He did get too predictable and even with all the injuries, you had to bring SOMETHING more to the Boise game. He'll land somewhere.

(01-04-2016 03:49 AM)Huskiefb4 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 11:27 PM)georgey3085 Wrote:  I do not agree with anything in this thread. I do not wish ill upon anyone but there is a reason why the guy wasn't on the plane with Doeren to NC State.

The playcalling was not stale, it was non-existent. He was pigheaded and didn't want to throw any slant passes. We faced teams with higher athleticism and we ran stupid bubble passes that were blown up early on. We ran two types of running plays all year, 1) HB draw 2) QB draw.

I also believe that all the hits our QBs took over the year as a result of them running QB draws added up and left them brittle. Yes the injuries looked fluky, but the hits had to have added up over the year. Also our QBs aren't "runners", they were slow and should not have run 1/4th as much as they did.

I could call most plays as they lined up at the line and if it wasn't for Jordan Lynch, this joke of a coach would have been fired long ago.

I'm happy that we are going in a new direction and I have no doubt that since we are at the bottom with play calling that it has no where to go but up.

Bob, if you didn't get paid with money, I might have been fine with it, but since you got paid and I wish for success from my Huskies. GOOD RIDDANCE.

What a terrible thing to say. You do realize that Bob Cole is a person correct, not just a hashtag? The guy has a wife and kids. 2 seasons after coaching a Heisman trophy finalist (and having heard through some of his teammates, Jordan Lynch LOVES Bob Cole and is very close with him) and a year after setting offensive records with a new Sophomore QB, the man lost his job.
Imagine if you accomplished a quarter as much in your career and got fired because of in a lot of ways inability of execution by 18-22 year olds. AND THEN ignorant "fans" get excited to show their excitement for your being fired. Have some empathy and respect. I can guarantee the man and his family put a lot more into Northern football in their time here than you ever have. A good friend met Bob and his wife at the recruiting party a few years ago, said they were good people. Disgusting how some of you Huskie "fans" portray yourself.
A lot of us wanted more from this team especially at the end of the season, and I understand being excited about some change and the new direction moving forward but try to have some class.
Also HB draw and QB draw were our only 2 run plays?? And you were able to predict the plays at the line? You realize run right and pass deep aren't play calls right?
You clearly know little to nothing about football outside of really outdated video games. Why would you feel it necessary or even appropriate to share your opinions (especially negative) on topics you clearly know nothing about. You are a "joke" of a fan.

georgey didn't say anything so terrible. Bob Cole"s family has nothing to do with this. Mr. Cole got stale at his job - got predictable - stopped doing his job well - was let go. Simple as that. No one bad mouthed him. Merely stated the facts.