Perhaps no one is better at getting more out of his players than Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald. His recruiting classes are never ranked anywhere the top of the Big Ten, yet his teams have recently been finishing near the top of the conference. And they play better on the road in conference games than most Big Ten teams.
Perhaps yesterday we learned one of the secrets to his success.
If you’re not following the Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein on Twitter, you should be. (Yes, even though he actually doesn’t believe in a college football playoff system) He gave us this tantalizing nugget from NU practice yesterday.
Funniest moment from #Northwestern practice:
Two players scuffle, take some swings at each other’s helmets …“You guys are idiots!” Fitz yells.
Then the two had to step off the field and walk a lap, holding hands.
Now aren’t you LOLing, ROTFL! or LMAO right now? Like I said, Fitz knows how to get the most out of his players, and how to prepare them for their opener Sept 4th vs Vanderbilt. If you’re a person who thinks that football players need to be swinging at each other to get “the fire and the passion” going, you’re a brain-dead meathead.
Save that acrimony for the game. Give your opponent, not your brother (because believe me, every football team is indeed a band of brothers), a beat down. Also, you should follow Fitz on Facebook and Twitter. He ends every status update/tweet with “GO CATS!!!”
Written by Paul M. Banks, president and CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest-focused webzine. He is also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, the Chicago Tribune’s blog network, Walter Football.com, the Washington Times Communities, Yardbarker Network and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank and @bigtenguru