What is going on at N'western?

[TwoPointsTakeDown84]

Several coaches being investigated about the fostering of negative culture. Storni is the only 'coach' listed on the website. 

Thoughts?

[bnwtwg]

Dry humping culture has run rampant throughout campus. Only distinguished alumni and memorabilia collector Darren Rovell can save the school.

[ionel]

1 hour ago, TwoPointsTakeDown84 said:

Thoughts?

Did Covid policy kill the program?

[D3 for LU]

17 minutes ago, ionel said:

Did Covid policy kill the program?

No... but video killed the radio star.

D3

[ionel]

6 minutes ago, D3 for LU said:

No... but video killed the radio star.

D3

[Sheerstress]

3 hours ago, TwoPointsTakeDown84 said:

Several coaches being investigated about the fostering of negative culture. Storni is the only 'coach' listed on the website. 

Thoughts?

Thus far, this has concerned the football team, and head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired yesterday.

Where does it say that wrestling has anything to do with this?

[nhs67]

14 minutes ago, Sheerstress said:

Thus far, this has concerned the football team, and head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired yesterday.

Where does it say that wrestling has anything to do with this?

I think the internal probe wasn't just focused on Football, just that Football had the worst of it when it came to light.

[uncle bernard]

1 hour ago, Sheerstress said:

Thus far, this has concerned the football team, and head coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired yesterday.

Where does it say that wrestling has anything to do with this?

The firing of Fitzgerald tells you how serious this is. He was basically the king of Evanston.

[ILLINIWrestlingBlog]

It wasn't bad enough having to go to Northwestern, so ...

[Major Kong]

This is all football as far as I or anyone else outside the administration knows. Sadly, the top heavyweight wrestling/football recruit has switched to Wisconsin. As an alum I never much cared for Fitz, but what's happened to Storny with the transfers and decommits just ain't right!

[Hillbilly Jim]

1 hour ago, Major Kong said:

This is all football as far as I or anyone else outside the administration knows. Sadly, the top heavyweight wrestling/football recruit has switched to Wisconsin. As an alum I never much cared for Fitz, but what's happened to Storny with the transfers and decommits just ain't right!

Unreal.  He didn't deserve this.  You look at his track record and it is clear the guy can flat out coach.  With his repeated success at developing talent and the elite level education--I am guessing he will not have too much trouble reloading?  But man it is gonna be VERY rough sledding this season!  Unless something changes fast, they are looking at true freshmen (not one) hitting the lineup?  Gulp.

[Wrestleknownothing]

2 hours ago, Hillbilly Jim said:

Unreal.  He didn't deserve this.  You look at his track record and it is clear the guy can flat out coach.  With his repeated success at developing talent and the elite level education--I am guessing he will not have too much trouble reloading?  But man it is gonna be VERY rough sledding this season!  Unless something changes fast, they are looking at true freshmen (not one) hitting the lineup?  Gulp.

Why didn't he deserve this?

[RandolphTJones]

14 hours ago, Major Kong said:

This is all football as far as I or anyone else outside the administration knows. Sadly, the top heavyweight wrestling/football recruit has switched to Wisconsin. As an alum I never much cared for Fitz, but what's happened to Storny with the transfers and decommits just ain't right!

I know Wisconsin has always been a hotbed for OL and many have had success in the NFL. To me, Johnson looks more like a DT as of right now and I don't think Wisconsin is going to be a great football team this season. Perhaps he will shift his primary focus to wrestling in due time. Who knows, money talks and he could become an elite D-1 football athlete. 

[Hillbilly Jim]

9 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Why didn't he deserve this?

Well—I’m not a Northwestern guy and don't profess know a ton about the program--but I will get to know them and I am intrigued how coaches outside the blue chip programs (PSU, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio St., etc) adjust to the changing college wrestling landscape.  Let me be clear—I don’t blame this Johnson kid at all.  Nor do I blame the three transfers for their decisions.  I totally understand their decisions. 

 

All I am saying is that it isn’t Storniolo’s fault that there was widespread hazing in the football program—that Fitzgerald was fired for it and Storniolo loses his prize dual sport recruit.  And it comes on the heels of the transfer debacle, making it another big blow to a team that carries a small roster.

 

And so, by all accounts, I have heard the three transfers are leaving NW on good terms and thankful for what the program did for them.  They just got offered a bag of money from the new NIL rules that may be crippling to a program like NW.  Again—I do not blame these kids at all.  But Storniolo coached those three kids to be AAs.  I am sure he put his heart into getting them there and on the podium--which ironically is what got them the money and caused them to leave.  When they left in like April (?) he seemed to be left high and dry.  It has to be next to impossible to find transfers or 2023 recruits that can meet the rigorous NW academic standards and be capable of credibly filling AA shoes at that late date.  Again--circumstances beyond his control.   

 

So his program is now faced with taking a public beating in the brutal Big 10.  A program that has actually done very well under his watch for the last 5 years or so.  And it is not because he hasn’t done his job well or he has mistreated kids, or allowed anything bad to go on in his program (at least not to my knowledge).  Seems like a good coach that is a bit of a victim of circumstances here.  His program was crippled through no fault of his own.  So yeah, I will say he didn't deserve this.  I guess that’s my view.  

[Wrestleknownothing]

31 minutes ago, Hillbilly Jim said:

Well—I’m not a Northwestern guy and don't profess know a ton about the program--but I will get to know them and I am intrigued how coaches outside the blue chip programs (PSU, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio St., etc) adjust to the changing college wrestling landscape.  Let me be clear—I don’t blame this Johnson kid at all.  Nor do I blame the three transfers for their decisions.  I totally understand their decisions. 

 

All I am saying is that it isn’t Storniolo’s fault that there was widespread hazing in the football program—that Fitzgerald was fired for it and Storniolo loses his prize dual sport recruit.  And it comes on the heels of the transfer debacle, making it another big blow to a team that carries a small roster.

 

And so, by all accounts, I have heard the three transfers are leaving NW on good terms and thankful for what the program did for them.  They just got offered a bag of money from the new NIL rules that may be crippling to a program like NW.  Again—I do not blame these kids at all.  But Storniolo coached those three kids to be AAs.  I am sure he put his heart into getting them there and on the podium--which ironically is what got them the money and caused them to leave.  When they left in like April (?) he seemed to be left high and dry.  It has to be next to impossible to find transfers or 2023 recruits that can meet the rigorous NW academic standards and be capable of credibly filling AA shoes at that late date.  Again--circumstances beyond his control.   

 

So his program is now faced with taking a public beating in the brutal Big 10.  A program that has actually done very well under his watch for the last 5 years or so.  And it is not because he hasn’t done his job well or he has mistreated kids, or allowed anything bad to go on in his program (at least not to my knowledge).  Seems like a good coach that is a bit of a victim of circumstances here.  His program was crippled through no fault of his own.  So yeah, I will say he didn't deserve this.  I guess that’s my view.  

well said. Thank you.

[BobDole]

10 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Why didn't he deserve this?

The Northwestern program has had many decommits over the last 10 years. I'm sure some are academic related, but it seems they could be challenging for a team trophy if a few of them went there. Northwestern also has a roster cap that hurts the ability to recruit depth for their program. Now lets add on some recent assistant coaching turnover for the icing on the cake.

Even with that happening they continue to churn out All-Americans year in and year out.

[H82Lose]

Something is going on, that entire staff got blown up. They had Howe and Brewer at one point, I am biased, but IMO two greats. I know them trying to force the jab on Howe is why he left, but then you have the Carter Young stuff etc...I don't know. 

[Hillbilly Jim]

On 7/13/2023 at 10:52 AM, BobDole said:

The Northwestern program has had many decommits over the last 10 years. I'm sure some are academic related, but it seems they could be challenging for a team trophy if a few of them went there. Northwestern also has a roster cap that hurts the ability to recruit depth for their program. Now lets add on some recent assistant coaching turnover for the icing on the cake.

Even with that happening they continue to churn out All-Americans year in and year out.

Well the guy can coach--I think that has been proven. 

Maybe the roster actually helps them recruiting-wise?  In these days of the transfer portal, young guys commit to high end programs, only to get recruited over with the portal on larger rosters that have room.  A kid that goes here knows they are limited in that capacity and the path to starting may be more viable.  

With the coach thing, I can't speak to the specifics there--maybe a NU expert can shed some light for us.  But assistant coaches move around a lot and certainly the COVID thing played into that here.

From my view, the big issue for them was losing those 3 guys to Michigan for fat NIL deals.  Without that--I am thinking they were gonna be Top 10 type team and no one would be wondering about any other issues.

[ionel]

5 hours ago, H82Lose said:

Something is going on, that entire staff got blown up. They had Howe and Brewer at one point, I am biased, but IMO two greats. I know them trying to force the jab on Howe is why he left, but then you have the Carter Young stuff etc...I don't know. 

Report at the time was that Kennedy also left due to the Covid mandate policy and Young had committed because Kennedy was there, thus Young changed his mind.

[Caveira]

Now this?

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/news/northwestern-cheerleader-sexual-harassment-hazing-scandal/