📵Northwestern (probably) has a new offensive coordinator
And, the men's basketball team is exactly who we thought they were.
Well, it looks like Pat Fitzgerald got his guy. I’ll have more on Northwestern’s (likely) new offensive coordinator below.
But when it comes to why I’m referencing Northwestern legend Dennis Green in the above GIF, it has to do with the men’s basketball program. A 44-point outing against Purdue on Sunday that included a 16-point first half was brutal to watch. And that’s kind of what I thought it would be like all season. Get ready for a long winter. At least so far, the Wildcats are who we thought they were.
Just so we’re all on the same page for the next couple of weeks, here’s what we’re looking at for future newsletters:
I’ll talk to you again on Thursday, Dec. 19. That’s the day after the men’s basketball team takes on Michigan State.
I’ll be traveling during the bulk of those next two weeks so you won’t get newsletters then. But I’ll be back the week of Monday, Jan. 6.
With that, let’s blame some things.
📵Blame Mike Bajakian
It looks like Northwestern has found its Mick McCall replacement in Mike Bajakian. There hasn’t been an announcement yet (as of early Tuesday morning), but The Athletic and Yahoo Sports got the news first late last week. And Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune reported that his sources were telling him that “Pat Fitzgerald is zeroing in on” Bajakian.
Here’s what you should know about Bajakian: he’s bounced between college football and the NFL. Once the job at NU becomes official, it’ll be his 12th job since 1996. His longest stop at a single destination was four years as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterbacks coach from 2015 through 2018.
He’s been a college offensive coordinator four times:
Central Michigan (2007–2009)
Cincinnati (2010–2012)
Tennessee (2013–2014)
Boston College (2019)
You might be wondering whether BC is a hotbed for offensive coaching talent.
It’s not.
But he turned what was one of the worst offenses in a major conference in 2018 into a borderline top-25 unit in 2019. And he’ll be facing a similar task in 2020. That might be what makes him most attractive to Fitzgerald.
In the ACC this season, Bajakian’s offense finished tops among non-Clemson teams in offensive success rate (an analytical measure of whether a play was successful or not) and points per scoring opportunity. While the ACC wasn’t very good outside of Dabo Swinney’s juggernaut, the improvements were notable.
Now, I can’t admit to watching much of Boston College this season. Nor did I catch mutch Tennessee, Cincinnati, and Central Michigan over the past decade-plus. In the coming weeks, though, I might dive in to see what Bajakian’s offenses are all about.
📵Blame offense
We all kind of knew this was coming. Chris Collins’ offense has been real bad this season. The Wildcats had their first big test this weekend down in West Lafayette against a Purdue team coming off an absolute dismantling of Virginia.
Northwestern got enough stops against Purdue on Sunday. Holding the Boilermakers to 39% from the field and 23% from three was impressive. Their rotations were sharp and they matched up pretty well with Purdue from an athletic standpoint on the perimeter.
But my biggest fear about Pat Spencer looks to be coming true. He appeared a bit lost going up against Purdue’s guards. The point guard was on the court for just 17 minutes. He didn’t make a shot and had just two assists compared to three turnovers.
I wrote this on Nov. 26 after some big games from Spencer:
I’m still skeptical about how he’ll be able to deal with the size of Big Ten opponents on offense. He doesn’t get many easy shots off the dribble, but has some nice touch from 12-16 feet. If you close out on him under control, you can keep him under wraps, I think.
Purdue did that, and Spencer looked, for the first time this season, like a lacrosse player trying to play basketball.
Freshman Boo Buie was much more impactful in his 24 minutes. And, even if he isn’t the “starter,” I think Buie will end up being the team’s primary ball-handler pretty soon.
But it’s just one game.
Northwestern now sits at 4-4 and doesn’t play this week because of finals. The Wildcats return to action on Sunday against SIU-Edwardsville and then play Michigan State a week from tomorrow.
Northwestern student journalism of the week
Peter Warren of the Daily Northwestern did a nice job recapping the women’s basketball team’s tight win over Boston College this week. The Wildcats are now 7-1.
That’s where we’ll end things this week. Thanks for sticking with another edition of 📵Blame the Phones.
And remember, if you want to be one my bag people, it’s here.
Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas. I’d love to hear them.
Take care,
Josh Rosenblat