NIU007
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I Root For: NIU, MAC
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RE: Carey Contract Extended Again?
(12-26-2018 10:24 AM)HW58 Wrote: (12-26-2018 01:17 AM)VegasHuskie Wrote: (12-25-2018 10:08 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote: Rod Carey could be NIU's version of Marty Schottenheimer. Marty Schottenheimer took the Browns to the playoffs five years in a row. And then they would lose. They never made it to the Super Bowl. So they fired him. It took them five more years to get back to the playoffs.
Kansas City picked him up and he took the Chiefs to the playoffs 7 times out of 10. They lost each time, so they let him go. The Chiefs did not go back to the playoffs for six more years.
Hiring Marty Schottenheimer means losing in the playoffs. Firing him means staying away from the playoffs.
Having Rod Carey as a head coach means making regular apearances in the MCC and multiple wins over B1G teams, but losing bowl games. Getting rid of him could mean staying out of post season play.
Hi Jon. You illustrate the precise reason NIU should be on the hunt for a new coach. The Chiefs and Browns both realized that they had higher ambitions than simply making the playoffs. Both organizations parted ways with a semi-successful coach because they felt he couldn't take the team one step further.
On our smaller scale, that is where we are at. We have a coach that has proven he can be good in our conference, but completely ineffective post-season. Coach Carey has built a program that is solely designed to defeat MAC competition, but can't compete on a national scale.
Coach Novak, Kill, and Doeren all had teams that were nationally ranked. There is virtually no chance whatsoever that NIU gets back to that level under Coach Carey (not counting the team Carey inherited from Doeren that was nationally ranked). I don't think even the staunchest Carey supporter would argue that.
So for me, Jon, to respond to your comment; I would definitely risk the potential of missing post season play with a new coach if it meant there was the possibility of getting back to being a nationally ranked team.
Now the discussion has been elevated to not just winning bowl games like the Boca Raton Bowl, but national rankings! Vegas is right--you shouldn't hang on to a coach because you're afraid of what might happen if you don't. So, if there's a surefire coach out there who can win the MACC, get us ranked and win big bowl games, I'm all in. Go for it! Just like Lance Leipold in Buffalo (oh wait, nevermind). But can we for once give an honest appraisal of Novak, Kill and Doeren since they are the metric used to judge Carey? Novak: rightfully sainted, brought the program to a whole different level, incredible role model. Love Joe Novak. But...in 2003, the year we all speak of with hushed reverence, NIU beat MD, Bama, and Iowa St., got to 7-0, and were ranked as high as 10 in the country. We then lost to BGU and Toledo over our next five games to finish 10-2, not win the MACC, finish unranked, and without a bowl invite. Hmmm...flash to 2013: 12-0, comfortably in the top 25, we lose the MACC and our bowl game to finish 12-2 and ever since people have wanted Rod Carey's head on a pole. I don't see much difference between how 2003 and 2013 ended, but Carey has been hated ever since. Kill: Had great success at NIU over a short period of time with Novak-recruited Harnish. Gets in the rankings, goes to the MACC in his final year, loses to Miami of Ohio, falls out of the rankings, and tells the team via email he's out the door for the Minnesota job. Classy! NIU wins their bowl game despite him (thanks Coach Tuke!). But everyone still talks about Kill like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Carey inherited Lynch, and to half the guys on this board that serves as an indicator that he sucks as a coach. Where would Kill have been without Harnish? Doeren: Arguably the best coach NIU has ever had (based on his short time in DeKalb and how he's done since). But another guy who inherited important players: Harnish and then Lynch. Gets the team to the freaking Orange Bowl and bags on NIU before the bowl game. Again, classy! Says he regrets not coaching that game to this day. I'm not saying these guys weren't very good to great coaches--they were. But a lot of the arguments used to elevate them are the same arguments used to knock down Carey. RC has is flaws, for sure. And it's quite possible the program has, indeed, plateaued (next year with Childers a junior and Smith/Scharping off to the pros will be very telling). If the program has, indeed, plateaued or, worse, is going backwards, then it's time to look in a different direction. We are on a crappy bowl streak, no doubt about it, but that could come to an end next year. But can we keep Rod's predecessors in better perspective?
Wasn't BG ranked when we lost to them (on the road) in 2003? And ended the year ranked in at least one poll. Toledo was 8-4 and had beat a ranked team earlier in the year. Much different than losing to a WMU team with little defense and a Miami team that was just so-so this year.
As for Doeren, I generally liked him since we won both the MACC and the bowl game in 2011, and the MACC in 2012 against a ranked Kent State team. It does bother me that he stayed for Wisconsin's Rose Bowl but not for our Orange Bowl. Kill only had one good year and left before the bowl game. I think he was a good coach but it's hard to say what he (or Doeren) would have done without Harnish.
I think we had some team speed back then, guys from Florida for one thing. Where did that go?
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