Can Northwestern ever be competitive again?

[jmoney]

12 hours ago, rsotelo said:

Another issue is that Northwestern probably has to take a pass on 80% or more of the blue chip recruits due to academic requirements for admissions.  Same goes for the Ivy league schools.  Hard to compete with schools with 70%-85% admission acceptance rates.

Ran into a late 90s era member of the Providence Catholic wrecking crew at a party. He and I bonded over how hard Northwestern was for me (a premed major) to get four A- and zero A in a quarter studying 35 hours per week and him to get 2 B-, 2 C+ after being a really good high school student managing as a member of a dedicated wrestling program. He said being such a mediocre student at Northwestern was embarrassing to him.  It made him feel a lot better that you can do everything possible at Northwestern and still only have a 3.7 GPA in premed. 

[ScottishSteel]

I believe Northwestern has long had a school self imposed roster cap as well; something like only 20 guys on the team.

[Greenwave]

As stated Pariano was able to build some solid consistent programs with the Admin.  Several of the Ivy’s have been consistent for a while like Stanford and Princeton.   Recently Columbia and Davidson have been building solid programs with coaching changes.   So it can be done, just to what extend due to the academic standards.  Army and Navy have also been solid and we all know those student athletes are pushed daily.

 

My thought even if the Administration did have a turnover they could have just shifted their focus away from some sports.  I for one was utterly surprised how small their new football stadium was.  Not saying it is not nice but it does not house large seating availability.  I would guess most MAC schools football stadiums seat more.

It may be that many coaches would struggle there.

 

 

[The Kid]

2 hours ago, Greenwave said:

As stated Pariano was able to build some solid consistent programs with the Admin.  Several of the Ivy’s have been consistent for a while like Stanford and Princeton.   Recently Columbia and Davidson have been building solid programs with coaching changes.   So it can be done, just to what extend due to the academic standards.  Army and Navy have also been solid and we all know those student athletes are pushed daily.

 

My thought even if the Administration did have a turnover they could have just shifted their focus away from some sports.  I for one was utterly surprised how small their new football stadium was.  Not saying it is not nice but it does not house large seating availability.  I would guess most MAC schools football stadiums seat more.

It may be that many coaches would struggle there.

 

 

It has to be one of the most beautiful campuses in the country imo.

Their alumni should be able to fund a reasonable NIL collective. 

They have a lot to offer for academically focused young men. 

 

Edited March 10 by The Kid

[bnwtwg]

3 hours ago, Greenwave said:

 I for one was utterly surprised how small their new football stadium was.  Not saying it is not nice but it does not house large seating availability.  I would guess most MAC schools football stadiums seat more.

There is nothing more quiet than an 11 AM kickoff at Northwestern. Even when they have the occasional good year, no one goes. It's not a sports school, it's an academics school that is good at one or two sports each year.

[TexRef]

13 hours ago, juniorvarsity said:

Wrestle for the most academically prestigious school in the Big Ten. It's a good value proposition that the right coach could sell. 

Tony Ramos could be a good fit.

Northwestern is not going to fire Storniolo. He's been there 10 years. They were doing well not long ago. Davidson, Cannon, SeaBass, Deakin, DeAugustino, Yahyah Thomas, Chumbley. There's 12 AAs between these 8 guys with Storniolo. And 4 of them transferred their senior year.

Can Ramos even spell Nerdwestern? 

[Fletcher]

9 hours ago, jmoney said:

Ran into a late 90s era member of the Providence Catholic wrecking crew at a party. He and I bonded over how hard Northwestern was for me (a premed major) to get four A- and zero A in a quarter studying 35 hours per week and him to get 2 B-, 2 C+ after being a really good high school student managing as a member of a dedicated wrestling program. He said being such a mediocre student at Northwestern was embarrassing to him.  It made him feel a lot better that you can do everything possible at Northwestern and still only have a 3.7 GPA in premed. 

One of the few schools that has not jumped on the grade inflation bandwagon.

Pre-med there is no joke and organic chemistry is brutal. Congrats!

[Fletcher]

6 hours ago, Greenwave said:

As stated Pariano was able to build some solid consistent programs with the Admin.  Several of the Ivy’s have been consistent for a while like Stanford and Princeton.   Recently Columbia and Davidson have been building solid programs with coaching changes.   So it can be done, just to what extend due to the academic standards.  Army and Navy have also been solid and we all know those student athletes are pushed daily.

 

My thought even if the Administration did have a turnover they could have just shifted their focus away from some sports.  I for one was utterly surprised how small their new football stadium was.  Not saying it is not nice but it does not house large seating availability.  I would guess most MAC schools football stadiums seat more.

It may be that many coaches would struggle there.

 

 

Not sure if you're talking about the stadium on the lakefront, but that's temporary just until they complete construction at Ryan Field, which will have close to the same seating capacity as the prior Ryan Field (which was never full anyways unless OSU or ND's in town)

[Southend]

50 minutes ago, TexRef said:

Can Ramos even spell Nerdwestern? 

Lol

[Idaho]

7 hours ago, ScottishSteel said:

I believe Northwestern has long had a school self imposed roster cap as well; something like only 20 guys on the team.

Yep... I think they are at 22 this year. I have friend whose son wrestles for Northwestern He loves wrestling there. 

[Southend]

2 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

There is nothing more quiet than an 11 AM kickoff at Northwestern. Even when they have the occasional good year, no one goes. It's not a sports school, it's an academics school that is good at one or two sports each year.

The administrators have to change the culture there. It could be done. Lots of high academic schools compete highly in other big conferences. Northwestern is not an anomaly.

[bnwtwg]

3 minutes ago, Southend said:

The administrators have to change the culture there. It could be done. Lots of high academic schools compete highly in other big conferences. Northwestern is not an anomaly.

It's ok to have an outstanding university's primary focus be that of academics and research first. NW gives a significant portion back to the Big Ten in that regard rather than athletics. Would we love to have more participation from fans across the spectrum? Of course! But most people in the local area did not go to NW, and NW brings students nationally that do not stick around in the north burbs. Sprinkle in that many alumni that are around are not a stereotypical sports fan and you have a recipe for lackadaisical attendance for any sport. The athletic department does well within the confines placed upon it, but it will never be a top priority.

[Southend]

1 hour ago, bnwtwg said:

It's ok to have an outstanding university's primary focus be that of academics and research first. NW gives a significant portion back to the Big Ten in that regard rather than athletics. Would we love to have more participation from fans across the spectrum? Of course! But most people in the local area did not go to NW, and NW brings students nationally that do not stick around in the north burbs. Sprinkle in that many alumni that are around are not a stereotypical sports fan and you have a recipe for lackadaisical attendance for any sport. The athletic department does well within the confines placed upon it, but it will never be a top priority.

Fair statement, you said it all. The athletic department is handicapped by the confines placed upon it. 
Things change over time. 

[CHROMEBIRD]

15 hours ago, juniorvarsity said:

Wrestle for the most academically prestigious school in the Big Ten. It's a good value proposition that the right coach could sell. 

Tony Ramos could be a good fit.

I agree in theory, but we're talking the upper echelon of D1 wrestling where guys transfer from NU to ASU and Stanford to Ohio State. It also doesn't help that the sport straddles 3 quarters at Northwestern, so you have wrestlers dealing with twice the midterms and twice the finals in difficult-ass classes through brutal Chi burb winters. Meanwhile you miss out on rush and formals, Dance Marathon also used to be during the season (but I think it's later in the spring now), it can be rough. The school also didn't provide a ton of support for student athletes outside of tutoring and medical. Supposedly, it's much better now but NU could be doing more if it wanted to, esp with that fat endowment.

[Southend]

Yes NU , COULD , be doing more if they wanted to.

i see the similar scholastic institutions doing what the Northwestern administrators could do. Duke comes to mind, Vanderbilt has an excellent research reputation. Notre Dames academics is another that is kind of in the same slot. But yes because these school’s primary focus is on academics, it’s not a precursor to limited athletic help.  

[Gene Mills Fan]

they jumped the shark when they canceled Midlands but let the basketball keep going.

[Southend]

7 minutes ago, Gene Mills Fan said:

they jumped the shark when they canceled Midlands but let the basketball keep going.

Ha. Yeah, that was a big deal then. Now we see midlands and scuffle are merely after thoughts. 

[bnwtwg]

17 minutes ago, Southend said:

Yes NU , COULD , be doing more if they wanted to.

i see the similar scholastic institutions doing what the Northwestern administrators could do. Duke comes to mind, Vanderbilt has an excellent research reputation. Notre Dames academics is another that is kind of in the same slot. But yes because these school’s primary focus is on academics, it’s not a precursor to limited athletic help.  

Duke basketball sure but you have obviously never been in their wrestling facilities or you would not use them as an example.

[Southend]

2 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

Duke basketball sure but you have obviously never been in their wrestling facilities or you would not use them as an example.

The b-ball building is smaller than about 3 or 4 Indiana high school gyms. Football facilities top notch ,lacrosse the same . My point is the same. 

[Major Kong]

Enjoying the different takes on this. You would hope that some big bucks alum would step up (heck, I gave them some $$), but I am not aware of any super wealthy ex NU wrestlers. I assume there are is one out there but who knows. Mike Wilbon was a classmate of mine and is very supportive of athletics but not sure he knows we have a wrestling team. (Most students didn't in my day - and we were good). I actually think Storney is a very good coach when he has something to work with, but it seems a bunch of stuff has snowballed - Midlands demise, NIL, transfer portal, loss of top assistant coaches, etc. Right now they have exactly two kids who look like they have any chance at all of developing into potential AA contenders - Billy DeKraker and Eddie Enright. The rest just seem a cut below average B10 level, and the recruits don't look much better. I really wonder how and if this can be turned around.

[GV4444]

Quick takes, being the best academic school in the Big 10 may be a selling point, but is drawback, too.  Rice didn't win too many Southwest Conference football titles against Texas and Oklahoma.  

It's easier to spend on women's field hockey, because you already are forced to spend money a certain way under Title IX.

Rather than compare to Duke basketball, compare to Duke wrestling.  They have the same problem.  

Comparing to say Columbia and Davidson isn't really comparable.  It's relative success.   Put either in the Big 10 and they don't shine so much.   

Having rich successful alumni helps, but just like Rice, Duke, et al.  you get run over by the shear numbers against big state schools.  The team needs an NIL sugar daddy that pluck some of the best Ivy/Stanford recruits.

We will all miss the days when 10 champions came from 10 different schools.  I recently saw an old photo from one of Ben Askren's championship years.  It had quite the assortment of schools among 10 different schools.  I doubt we will see another champion from American University.  

[Southend]

Never say never. Old administrators leave. It’s a matter of if they want to invest in athletics. Now they could care less. Unlike Vanderbilt ND and Duke. Even Stanford could get back if they wanted to.  

[jmoney]

11 hours ago, Fletcher said:

One of the few schools that has not jumped on the grade inflation bandwagon.

Pre-med there is no joke and organic chemistry is brutal. Congrats!

thank you, good sir!

[Major Kong]

21 hours ago, Idaho said:

Yep... I think they are at 22 this year. I have friend whose son wrestles for Northwestern He loves wrestling there. 

If you are actually from Idaho, that must be Dedrick Navarro. He's obviously one of the best kids on the team. Shame he couldn't qualify for NCAAs. Beat multiple kids who were chosen at large.

[Idaho]

1 hour ago, Major Kong said:

If you are actually from Idaho, that must be Dedrick Navarro. He's obviously one of the best kids on the team. Shame he couldn't qualify for NCAAs. Beat multiple kids who were chosen at large.

Yep -great kid, great family and great high school community. I was hoping he would get an at large.