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Brian Anderson takes over Northwestern Baseball Program on interim basis


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This is an excellent look at the situation and its ramifications. Brad is my radio broadcast partner for Idaho State. He went to Northwestern, was the sports editor of the student newspaper. Both Michael Wilbon and Christine Brennen worked under him:

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/freeaccess/opinion-lessons-from-northwesterns-hazing-scandal/article_cd07ad90-21a9-11ee-ac26-3797ea3bc63a.html?fbclid=IwAR1U4uZiijL7cLUjDWoARGU48cX5HlbGLnqD5XKvCAvGr-zUyUlg5jrYqWU

 

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9 hours ago, Milkman delivers said:

I can get on board with that. Just don’t think it automatically makes Fitzgerald a bad person that it happened during his tenure. He may not have been aware.

 

And I didn’t know who he was before this week.

I always liked and respected Pat Fitzgerald. I have always pulled for him to build the NU program to some national prominence which never happened. I'm sure Fitz is a nice guy and all that stuff. However the bottom line is, he was the head coach and the buck did stop with him. Fitz unfortunately assumed he had leaders on his team, or his good assistant coaches that were closer to the action going on. Regardless of the factors that caused the termination of Fitz, there just wasn't the right positive team culture where the players wouldn't dare consider something as hideous as bullying or hazing to a teammate, fearing the consequences from their head coach. 

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8 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

This is an excellent look at the situation and its ramifications. Brad is my radio broadcast partner for Idaho State. He went to Northwestern, was the sports editor of the student newspaper. Both Michael Wilbon and Christine Brennen worked under him:

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/freeaccess/opinion-lessons-from-northwesterns-hazing-scandal/article_cd07ad90-21a9-11ee-ac26-3797ea3bc63a.html?fbclid=IwAR1U4uZiijL7cLUjDWoARGU48cX5HlbGLnqD5XKvCAvGr-zUyUlg5jrYqWU

 

That's a great article. However it's very disturbing about the two acts of hazing the NU upperclassmen did called "Running the Player" and the "Gauntlet."

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14 hours ago, Milkman delivers said:

I guess I’m just tired of the current overall culture of allegations automatically leading to firings.

I guess I didn’t really pay attention to the baseball side of the story. I’ve only heard about the football coach. I still don’t agree with your first sentence of the thread. I can see why you’d call Foster a scumbag, but not sure Fitzgerald deserves that title as of now.

Sexual misconduct, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment - https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/07/08/top-stories/former-nu-football-player-details-hazing-allegations-after-coach-suspension/

Racism - https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/07/10/sports/former-nu-players-describe-racist-environment-in-football-program/

The entire AD department should be removed with systemic changes implemented to ensure students are protected and this never happens again. - https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/07/13/sports/faculty-call-for-systemic-change-within-athletics-department/

Congratulations to the student journalists who helped protect future athletes from suffering the same fate as those suffered under Fitzgerald, Foster, Mike Polisky and other Northwestern senior athleitc staff.

The_Lords_of_Discipline.jpg?201105201204

 

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A good friend of mine who is a NU alumni reminded of a baseball head coach who would have been perfect.

I wonder why NU didn't at least make an effort to go after former Northwestern player and alumni Joe Girardi.  There were rumors that he was a candidate. I know he was offered a head coaching job at the University of Central Florida last month which he declined. I would think if NU offered enough money he might at least consider it.

He would bring a lot of creditability to the rattled sports program with his resume of winning a World Series both as a player and manager. He had a nice 15 year playing career and three stints as a manager with a lifetime record of 1120-935 .545%

His college credentials were pretty good too, as a two time first team All Big Ten selection and three time Academic All-American at NU. 

You would think that being head coach at his alma mater would be far more exciting than his current gig as a backup color analyst for the Cubs on the Marquee network. The fact he even listened to the college offer from UCF means it's not out of the realm of reality.

It's not like they can't afford to offer the money to Girardi. Northwestern has the 8th largest endowment fund in the US for all colleges and universities at 14.4 billion.

Edited by The Kids Can Play
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15 hours ago, Milkman delivers said:

I can get on board with that. Just don’t think it automatically makes Fitzgerald a bad person that it happened during his tenure. He may not have been aware.

 

And I didn’t know who he was before this week.

Pretty naive to believe that the head coach was completely unaware of years of systemic hazing, bullying, and abuse happening right under his nose.

Making black assistant coaches cut their dreads wasn't a good look either.

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17 hours ago, Stinky Stanky said:

Wish he could have hit the breaking ball.  Hawk thought he was the total package.  He had a nice year at AAA so he can't be counted as one of those we've ruined by rushing.

At the time, I wanted him to develop but we had to sign Darin Erstad. 

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They need to fire their AD ASAP, and anyone involved in his hiring through the President and Board of Regents.

Northwestern may be the one organization more incompetent than the White Sox.

https://awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/northwestern-ad-derrick-gragg-book-women-distraction-sex-kittens.html

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Milkman delivers said:

I didn’t mean any of that to be taken personally. I’m just fed up with the constant (what I’d call) overreactions to every single issue for the virtue signaling points.

I don’t give two shits about Northwestern at all.

I agree there are many times when reactions go overboard, but when there is severe abuse of young adults or children, this is not a serious person you want overseeing a large department, especially at this stage.

Think everyone there should go, just like everyone should have been fired overseeing Penn State, Micnigan State and all the other Big Ten schools with a systemic pervasive decades long rape issues and other forms of widespread abuse which appears to be the case here.

If he is changing your oil, cutting trees, or sitting in a cube updating spreadsheets, his statements or opinions are not having an impact on others.

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Know what is happening in your program.

Make everyone aware that hazing is cause for termination. Players, coaches, everyone.

Create a culture where players will report hazing. Communication, trust. 

If you can't do these basic job functions, you won't have a coaching job at the high school, college, or pro ranks moving forward. 

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But he has a PHD...just shows how lost in the ivory tower and almost more deferential to Fitz than concerned about the aggrieved parties.

"We had our best combined academic and team results combined ever and nobody wants to talk about that...the brand has taken a significant hit, etc."

Can't get out of own way.

It's like Ozzie Guillen is running their coordinated media response team while JR/university president hide and just hope it all goes away with football season getting underway.

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Digging back into the Baseball Decision, the original report that Jim Foster was fired made by NU AD Derrick "Women are Man's Greatest Distraction" Gragg turns out to be false. Perhaps a woman was walking by when he made the statement, distracting him from the truth.

OG Campus Newspaper Report:

https://www.mlive.com/sports/2023/07/northwestern-fires-baseball-coach-jim-foster-amid-bullying-allegations.html

Quote

The university has fired head baseball coach Jim Foster on Thursday, Vice President for Athletics and Recreation Dr. Derrick Gragg announced.

NU AD 7/13 AD Derrick Gragg's statement:

https://nusports.com/news/2023/7/13/northwestern-baseball-announces-leadership-change.aspx

Quote

Northwestern Head Baseball Coach Jim Foster has been relieved of his duties effective immediately, Combe Family Vice President for Athletics and Recreation Dr. Derrick Gragg announced Thursday.

 

University President Michael Schill claims today Jim Foster was not fired, but rather is serving at least single secret "indefinite suspension", well secret until Thursday.

The President and AD need to be shitcanned today, if not sooner.

PS - Rocky Wirtz served on the Northwestern Board of Trustees until Tuesday.

https://www.adminplan.northwestern.edu/board-of-trustees/trustee/

WirtzW.14-09.jpg
W. Rockwell Wirtz
President
Wirtz Corporation
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I had the opportunity yesterday to listen to a successful D1 college head football coach talk about how they built their brand on integrity and respect. He's local and two of my former students are playing for him. I can't imagine a scandal like this in his program. I can't imagine my former students acting in that manner. I'd be crushed to learn that.

I have great empathy for Northwestern supporters who have to deal with this. 

He also touched on when these problems happen it hurts all programs. It's always bigger than the school. 

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