To start this off, I am not a Northwestern fan, but they are not on my hated list either. For the sake of Wildcats, I must throw this out there - Bill Carmody must go! He's a nice guy, but his model is not working at Northwestern. How many years can a coach get a free pass for having piss poor teams? I know he's bound by recruiting but at the end of the day, how can Stanford come up with good teams periodically? He's had seven seasons, 1 winning year and never over .500 in the Big Ten. He's actually in the 33% range for Big Ten play.

His Princeton style offense might be effective with a certain type of players, but he will never have success here.

I said something similar to this in another post. It just isn't working. There is no excuse for Northwestern to not be competitive at basketball. They can get 22 quality starting football players but they can't find 5 basketball ones?

To be an average Big Ten team, you need 3 pretty good players, 3 more good players, and 3 average players to be a good team. You need three times that to have a decent football team.

The Princeton offense was a good attempt, but it didn't work. They need to model themselves after a mid major program. Play balls out defense, hit threes, and not be afraid of anyone.

I know that Northwestern has high academic standards, but it's not like they can only accept players who show up to MENSA meetings.

It's only going to get worse for Northwestern if they don't make a change. Most Big Ten teams have made major attempts to improve the level of the program.

Northwestern could also use a stadium upgrade.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You mean the high school gym that they play in isn't good enough? Next thing you'll tell me is that Willie the Wildcat is a real pussy (cat).

They just renovated the place 25 years ago. It's practically new!

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Everyday when the sun goes down, I get with my friends, I begin to clown.
Now I don't care what the people are thinkin'. I ain't drunk, I'm jus' drinkin'!
-Albert King

Don't get me started on NU basketball. It's a disgrace. No sense of immediacy to fix the situation either. The tough part about it is everyone absolutely loves Carmody... apparently everyone except recruits. The sense of complacency is absurd.

Isn't the NU president, Henry Bienen, good friends with Carmody? Bienen came from Princeton and brought Carmody over from there at the first opportunity. It will take a lot for Bienen to fire his buddy.

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You are absolutely correct, TM. Bienen doesn't care about athletics... that is abundantly clear. When I give to NU... it goes to the athletic department. Our entire athletic budget is less than dOSU's football budget. Shameless.

Yes.

When does Carmody's contract expire? Maybe it won't be a firing but not resigning.

Don't know, but I'll find out. Looks like there is a Fire Bill Carmody website.

http://firebillcarmody.blogspot.com/

I wonder if the NW-Illinois game has swayed anyone's opinion.

I guess the rest of the Big Ten shouldn't complain but that's terrible.

Maybe we can let Northwestern play in football and let University of Chicago get a basketball team and play again.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

That was a brutal display. Iowa has had some rough games this year, but at least you can see they have some talent with their 3 wins against Michigan State, Penn State and Michigan(on the road).

First off, it's NU. Not NW. Ok, PU?
Second... who's not swayed on Carmody? I think everyone is except President Bienen.

Northwestern leadership is apparently quite content with mediocrity. This isn't a new thing...it's been going on for decades. Bill Foster's biography on Wikipedia says "Bill finished his career at Northwestern where he didn't have the pressure (to win) of his previous jobs."

Carmody should have been canned at least two, if not four years ago. Hiring Fitzgerald might prove to be worse over the next five years than keeping Carmody around. Well meaning but woefully inexperienced Fitz will have them back in last place in another year or two.

I feel sorry for the alums who give $$ to the program and get nothing back but neglect from the administration. But then many of these alums went to school there when similarly inept coaches like Francis Peay and Ricky Byrdsong were losing almost all their games. So why would these NU fans/alums expect anything different now?

But look at the bright side...plenty of tickets available for the March 4 game vs. Iowa in Evanston.

Coast is bringing it today.

I think we are all agreed. NU sucks at basketball and doesn't care.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Well, I care. You might not care that I care. But I certainly care enough to take the care to post my cares here. So beware... I care with every fiber of my hair... and I will pay my taxi fare to go to see the Wildcat bball affair... and be painfully aware... that my concerns to the admin is just more hot air.

who's got two thumbs and is bored at work today? this guy

And you know its bad when posters who are fans of another team in the same conference start threads saying your coach has gotta go. It's gotten to the embarassing stage. It's way beyond "he's a nice guy".

I'm looking out for you MUD. I'm not a fan or foe of the Cats. I think they can do better with a new coach. They actually have been recruiting some ok kids of late and with the right coach/system - I think they can compete.

You know what frustrates me the most? Carmody doesn't push for offensive rebounds. If you watch any of the games, after the shot, the kids turn around and run back to play defense. Tell me the last time you saw a NCAA tournment team do that?!?

When was the last time you saw an NCAA tournament team get outrebounded 38-17?

Because I Looooooove to beat dead horses...

from Lake the Posts blog today:
"For The Ten Of You Who Care...
Last night's blowout loss to Minnesota was intolerable. A sprinkling of fans braved the storm to see the Cats completely fold on defense in a 20-point blowout to a very average Minnesota team. Kudos to Shon Morris' astute analysis of the Cats continual breakdowns on offense and their ridiculous lack of offensive rebounding scheme. I'm unsure how they ever plan to win a game if they don't even ATTEMPT to make a rebound. This tape should be sent to any AD as a fair disclosure of what they're walking into. I consider myself one of the biggest NU fans alive and I WAS a huge basketball fan - college basketball fan- but I simply cannot take the self-bludgeoning anymore. Seventeen years isn't fandom - it is a prison sentence."

I attended the Northwestern vs. Purdue game this weekend. Here are my thoughts.

Northwestern is mildly impressive, especially for a winless in the Big Ten team. The offensive system they run is the perfect counter to Purdue's aggressive defense. Purdue had to adjust defensively and once Northwestern went cold from the field the game was over.

They have some decent players, but something tells me that the Princeton offense in the Big Ten is just good enough to keep you close in a lot of games. I don't see it ever having at least average success.

Welsh-Ryan arena is a very bad stadium. It felt like it was 100 degrees, the bathrooms and concessions are so close together that you have to ask everyone what line you are in, and the bench seating up top was a free for all. The scoreboard above center court is in desperate need of an upgrade.

If Northwestern ever expects to compete in the Big Ten, they have to tear it down and start from scratch. A new coach is going to have a hard time selling the program also. Purdue will be starting a 90 million dollar renovation to upgrade facilities. Northwestern should do the same.

All in all, I enjoyed the game. Evanston is very nice and I like the Northwestern campus.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It looks like Bill Carmody's free ride may soon come to an end. Henry Bienen will be stepping down as NU president in 2009. Hopefully this move will also signal the end of the Carmody era in Evanston.

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Pull the plug on Carmody Central
If NU cares at all about miserable hoops program, coach has to go

March 14, 2008
BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist
INDIANAPOLIS -- So here you go, Bill Carmody, a chance to prove you have any plausible reason to remain as Northwestern's basketball coach, a unique opportunity to execute one play to win a postseason game. Minnesota leads, 53-52. Just 36.3 seconds remain. Your guys have the ball. Erin Andrews holds a microphone behind your bench, Brent Musburger (Class of '61) is on the call.

And what happens on a Thursday evening at the Big Ten tournament, with about three dozen NU fans (I counted them) in the seats inside quiet Conseco Fieldhouse? Oh, the same thing that happens every time a Carmody team has a rare shot to win: a royal, purple screwup. As the clock ticks to 15 seconds, Sterling Williams decides to drive hard to the basket via the baseline, even though point guard Michael Thompson is cutting off a pick and open for a layup. A well-coached Golden Gopher, 6-9 freshman Dan Coleman, instinctively forces a suffocating double-team on the end line and leaves Williams with no options and a very frantic look on his face.

Turnover. Ballgame. And loss No. 22 on the season for Carmody, who has lost 31 of his last 34 conference games, 135 of 238 games in Evanston and is free-falling to the point of no return after eight failed seasons as a so-called guru of the Princeton offense, as if that ever qualified him as a serious coach in a big-time league.

``What the f--- is he doing?!?'' Carmody screams at his assistant coaches as the NU followers again depart somberly and Andrews prepares to interview the winning coach, Tubby Smith. ``He was wide open!''
When he loses his poise like that, the man's gray hair starts flopping, and for a second, he kind of resembles a fussy Conan O'Brien. But nothing is funny anymore about Carmody Central, which has become as dismal a program as any in major college hoops. Not that we've come to expect much more from Northwestern, the only program in America that has hosted a Final Four -- look it up: 1939, Patten Gymnasium -- while failing to attain even one NCAA tournament berth in 70 years of trying. Yet I refuse to believe NU can't build and maintain a quality basketball program, lofty academic standards and all, when the equally stuffy likes of Duke, Vanderbilt and Stanford have had no trouble winning big in elite educational environments.

It will take a special coach, such as Mike Montgomery, who had a fine run at Stanford and is available for employment after an ill-advised NBA stumble. Clearly, Carmody doesn't fit the description. I'm not sure he can coach, seeing his teams habitually blow leads and his players crack down the stretch, and I know he can't recruit. There has been zero progress in changing the culture, with your typical high-school star viewing Northwestern as a dead-end place with an uncool coach who still uses variations of a passe, Ivy League system. How is that going to sell in 2008 when Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who survived in the final seconds against Penn State to advance, plays up-tempo ball and has had trouble recruiting after a recent national-title-game run? When Jon Scheyer grows up 10 miles from the NU campus and doesn't give it a passing thought on his beeline to Duke, it tells me the school has done a terrible job through the years of attempting to mix basketball and brainpower.

Seems I have more respect for Northwestern's potential than Northwestern has for Northwestern's potential. I see a cozy gym on a leafy street that could serve as a monstrous home court. I see a prestigious university on a nice lake. I see a huge city just an L ride away. I see a football program that pulled it off with Gary Barnett and Randy Walker. I see the Big Ten, the fledgling Big Ten Network and a conference filled with premier coaches -- Smith, Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, Bo Ryan, John Beilein, the emerging Matt Painter and a growing likelihood that Indiana will chase the white-hot guy with the orange jacket, Bruce Pearl. I also see a brand-new athletic director at NU, Jim Phillips, who was known as dynamic leader at Northern Illinois and helped push a sleepy football program onto a national level.

This is the perfect time, then, to ditch Carmody and start anew. Right?

Uh, apparently not.

A couple of weeks ago, Northwestern president Henry Bienen emerged from his cave to speak up about Carmody in the Chicago Tribune. Although Bienen is a lame-duck who is expected to depart his seat in 2009, he said Carmody's status is safe and secure, describing him as a ``close friend'' and ``great coach.'' Bienen, who knows Carmody from their Princeton days, said he thinks his coach has at three years left on his contract but hasn't bothered to look. It's a stunning acknowledgement that tells me Northwestern doesn't really care if basketball is successful. And if the university president doesn't care, why should a blue-chip player with a 4.0 grade-point average care?

It's not that the league is overwhelming us with its RPI rating these days. The Big Ten is down, with Indiana wobbling after the Kelvin Sampson drama and Wisconsin boring us to tears as the best team. With the right coach and right recruiting formula, Northwestern could be a middle-of-the-road club. Carmody has suggested lowering academic standards, but that is a copout. Call Montgomery. He knows the formula.

So it's 70 years and counting without an NCAA berth, which is almost as ugly as the Cubs not winning the World Series since 1908 and the Bears having one franchise quarterback since 1920. We are left to hear Carmody talk about a season-ending loss and bleak future like, well, Charlie Brown.

``This game is sort of typical of a lot of our games. We had the lead, but we couldn't come up with the win,'' he says in front of a smattering of media. ``It's been hard on the team, a tough season for all of us.''

Someone asks about the lack of offensive rebounding. ``I don't worry about offensive rebounds that much -- because we never get 'em,'' Carmody says.

No one laughs. Any idea how things can get better? ``We don't have enough guys to put the ball in the basket,'' he says. ``We're getting nothing up front, and that puts a lot of pressure on the perimeter guys. We have to have some new blood.

``You can only go up, just about.''

Sitting beside Carmody was his most inspirational player, Kevin Coble. He cannot believe the Wildcats had a 16-point lead late in the first half and lost. ``It's very frustrating, the same problem night in and night out,'' Coble says. ``At halftime, I thought we had broken through. But every night ... I can't figure out what it is. It's sickening to think we gave them the game.''

Perhaps the biggest embarrassment came from the mouth of Tubby Smith. Trying to give the losers a compliment, he referred to a ``Coach Car-moddy.''

That's about all you need to know.

Mariotti is an idiot.

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You know me like that.

I'm not exactly sure what you expect. NU athletic events are very poorly supported, unless the visiting team is bringing a lot of fans. In the big scope of things NU is low on the totem pole. Blame that on academics or whatever else you want. It's not as if NU has some sort of basketball history or tradition. We're talking about a program that has zero NCAA Tourney appearances and plays in one of the worst facilities in the state.

It's not his fault.

Like hell it's not. He's had almost a decade to recruit players to fit his system and compete in the Big Ten. He's failed miserably at that.

Make up whatever excuse you want - they don't have basketball tradition, that people don't support them, that it's hard to recruit players who will qualify academically....The end is still the same: He's under 500 at NU, never made the tournament and hasn't had a winning season since 2001-2002.

NIU Huskie... where have you been? Thanks for imparting your sports wisdom. That's exactly it. NEWSFLASH: NU sporting events are poorly attended! Wow! I never would have known that! Do you think it might have something to do with a smaller school, or the fact that as a private school, many of the alumni move to other cities? Or maybe because there are too many other sports entertainment options for the lovely citizens of Chicago?

Dude... next time you point out the obvious, do it on some knitting message board.

Do you think NU fans (true NU fans) should just sit back and be content with this situation? Your comments suggest that NU will never do anything special... I could say the same about NIU... so will you just sit back and accept piss poor performance? I never expect to be a dOSU, but I expect to be competitive. Bill Carmody has not made us more competitive and I would argue that he is going to leave the program in worse shape than when he got there.

And I don't give two shits about the facilities. Have you been to Welsh Ryan arena? It's not nearly as horrible as you suggest. And just for reference, go visit Cameron arena and tell me what you think. Not quite the facilities I think you'd expect out of a program like Duke.

I'm not expecting NU to be Duke, but I'm also not going to sit back and not want better things for the athletic programs of NU. NU was a very special place for me. It helped get me my career, it introduced me to the best city in the world, my best friends, and the woman who would eventually be my wife.

Maybe you should be blaming your old AD, not just the coach.

It's the AD's fault he has let your basketball program flounder.

As for NIU, we didn't just sit back. Your soon-to-be AD just fired Rob Judson last March. Patton is going to need a bit more time than one year to turn around our program which Judson did a good job of putting into a big hole.

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Forward, Together Forward

Go Huskies!!!