Weighing in

Wow, the news from NU basketball is coming in and the bloggers and commenters are having their say. Overall, the choice to move on from the Bill Carmody era was a wise one. Thank you Bill for being such a great coach under the circumstances you arrived. I believe that you will move on and will have much greater success in your new job, whatever that is. Let me tell you, it is not easy to succeed at Northwestern. As a faculty member for almost the same number of years as BC was our coach, I have seen it all. Promises of "investment" from the University, hopes of new beginnings under new leadership, visions of greatness in the future. At the medical school our slogan is "top ten by 2020!"

The thing is that you can't always make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Our new coach will enter the same situation BC leaves and nobody knows better than BC how challenging it will be for whomever this new coach will be. Like medical research, you can't achieve greatness unless you build from the ground up AND spend money. BC has hopefully begun to have built our foundation. I suspect that most of this building was done without significant administrative support. This is what we need to thank him for. Now he can move on to another place where he will be appreciated and that will be good for him.

Back home, the odds are that NU will continue to struggle in men's basketball. Yes, there is a new building, but other schools build new buildings too. Yes, the AD talks about supporting the program, but he couches that in administration talk about how he expects success from all sports. We will likely have difficulty hiring the best candidates on our list because, wisely, people will advise prospective coaches to stay away from NU. If we hire our 3rd or 4th choice coach, look for more dismal seasons in Evanston. If we are lucky we will continue to make the NIT.

BnP

Time to start considering a new BB coach

Now that Drew Crawford is out for the year we need to start considering the future Bill Carmody, again. IF the team does well and continues to flirt with the NCAA and makes the NIT, I say we keep him. BUT if the team flounders and loses most of its Big Ten games, we have to let BC move on. Please, for his sake more than ours. Let's see how it goes, but if the season turns out awful, can we just let the man move on?

'Cats come crashing back to earth!

Men's BB team thought they could run with the big boys, until last night. Better flush that one quickly.

Wildcats beat a basketball team from Texas!

I like all the new names in the lineup!

Do you know how close we are to being 9-1?

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About this close.

Thoughts on Michigan Loss

Uhg!

New Sports Facilities Announcement Falls Short

It's sad but true. On this day when the football team won another convincing game against Boston College and following the announcement of the new facility on the lakefront, I am disappointed. The reason is that the proposed facility, while very nice, does not address the problems of Ryan Field and Welsh Ryan Arena. So while we will have one of the best practice facilities in the B1G, the places where we play our football and basketball games will continue to be the worst facilities in the conference and perhaps the entire country!

I know that there are major challenges for the administration and the board of trustees in terms of space and in terms of the relationship of the University with the town of Evanston. However, the issue of the stadium and arena continue to be the elephant in the room. These are problems that can be solved. For example, a new smaller stadium could be erected next to Ryan Field to the northwest and then Ryan Field could be knocked down after.

Despite these challenges, the board and athletic department need to say in public that they are at least thinking about it. The attention that the practice facility will get is just a diversion away from the real, in my opinion, issue and that is both Ryan Field and Welsh Ryan Arena need to be replaced by modern facilities. This is what I would contribute money towards and this is what would not disappoint me.

-BNP