The beneficiary of the low expectation arroyo that is Northwestern basketball, it is increasingly clear that Carmody will be spared the abattoir and granted a ninth life next season. Will there be more timid mews or a long-awaited roar from Evanston?
Reasons To Believe
With several credible performances of late, including a road win in Ann Arbor that cracked the Big Ten goose egg for his program, Bill Carmody is attempting to make a case against those who have arrived at dire conclusions about his tenure.
One can only hope, however, that Carmody’s ninth year in Evanston provides the final verdict on his leadership of a program whose apologists do it no favors by continuing to generate more excuses for failure than reasons for success. Though the challenges of a losing tradition, a rigorous but far from uncompliant admissions policy, and an unforgiving Big Ten are not for the yellow, the task is far from Sisyphean.
The chance to play right away in a major conference, a scholarship that is worth approximately $200K, a resume-gilding degree, a powerful alumni network, the nation’s third largest media market, and a picturesque campus is just the lead paragraph of the recruiting brochure. At the coach’s disposal is a rich talent pool in the backyard and countless basketball alumni whose Northwestern stories both as student-athletes and post-graduates are living, breathing sales tools for the program.
The Living Tradition
With program stalwarts like Shon Morris, Kevin Rankin, Evan Eschmeyer, Jitim Young, Winston Blake, and Tim Doyle, among others, as examples of the high upsides of the Northwestern case, there is no reason for poor confidence. When their resumes extend to the NBA, All-American and All-Big Ten teams, the Northwestern law and business schools, and impressive professional experiences, there is plenty to talk about with prospective parents and players.
Fortunately Carmody has tapped into at least one exemplar of the program’s merits by tasking Tavaras Hardy to the recruiting trail. Hardy has had a dramatic effect on the perception of the program, especially locally where Carmody, due to East Coast-centricity, a Croatian frequent flyer program, or other reasons, had struggled to find traction.
A gritty rebounder, jack of all trades, and distinguished student-athlete during his playing days, Hardy is yet another example of the kind of alumnus that should have been front and center in Carmody’s recruiting strategy from day one. Like Jitim Young, Sterling Williams, and Jeremy Nash, he is a Chicagoland product who has helped to erode the notion of Northwestern as being inaccessible and/or largely invisible to local coaches and players.
Lessons From Football
The institutional commitment to the program, while not financially reckless, is unquestionable and starts at the top with President Beinen. Along with former Athletic Director Mark Murphy, Beinen has given his highest revenue coaches the kind of resources that, as Randy Walker and Pat Fitzgerald have shown, is supportive of competitive recruiting and favorable results.
Perhaps telling is that tireless, buck stops here Walker and his successor have never wasted much oxygen on excuse-making. Instead Walker marched his team to Big Ten respectability and bowl berths while Fitzgerald continues to roll up his sleeves and win recruiting battles against some of the nation’s toniest programs.
While comparisons between football and basketball are not exact tools of evaluation, the fact that the programs have arrived at very different levels of success and overall perception is worth noting. Walker and Fitzgerald may have benefited modestly from the Rose Bowl berth of Gary Barnett’s tenure, but it was hardly the kind of sustained momentum that completely eradicated the ghosts of bad tradition. This is especially true when you consider Barnett, distracted by all the outside job interviews, went 8-16 in his final two seasons in Evanston and laid a Big Ten goose egg in his final year.
Admittedly, Barnett’s successes did help generate enthusiasm around the program and additional school, alumni, and booster investment with the Ryan Field improvements, new weight and locker rooms. But winning earns such investments. While not overlooking his many faults, he did provide an example of how hustle, can-do spirit, and raising of expectations can transform even seemingly intractable cultures of losing.
There are lessons to be learned from how Barnett’s breakthrough was achieved and how Walker and Fitzgerald have carried things forward. Attitude and personality matter.
Make Welsh-Ryan An Asset
There is no question that belief and hard work are much more effective tools for change than excuse-making and blame-gaming. The persistent griping about Welsh-Ryan whether from fans or from inside the program is self-defeating and cart before horse thinking. Like Barnett it is best to win first, complain about facilities second. It’s amazing how the wallets come out for winners.
The biggest problem with Welsh-Ryan is that it is either empty or filled primarily with rival fans. Generate greater enthusiasm for the program and Welsh-Ryan, given its pit-like size, has the potential to become a powerful home court advantage.
Murphy’s Disappointment Becomes Phillips’ Mandate
To his credit Mark Murphy was not among the excuse-makers, at least on the public record, citing the absence of a basketball breakthrough the “biggest disappointment” of his tenure at Northwestern. Hopefully new AD Jim Phillips will carry Murphy’s discontent forward and keep the pressure on the program.
The Season At Hand
Thanks to the evolution of Craig Moore into a Big Ten junior of distinction in the season’s second half, the playing into shape of Kevin Coble, and some long overdue breakouts of friskiness from previously bench-buried and/or injured players like Ivan Puljusic and Jeremy Nash, the team has looked better in the last two weeks.
That said, the results this season should be viewed with a critical eye. The graduations of Tim Doyle and Vince Scott and the Coble absence were not meaningless but are far from adequate explanations. What will likely be a twenty loss season and a dead last, one or two win finish in conference for an eighth-year coach just doesn’t support persuasive excuse-making.
When one considers the first-year results of Beilein, Lickliter, and Tubby, it becomes clear that Carmody needs to find a new gear or he will find himself eating even more exhaust in the years to come. The Big Ten’s coaching talent, impressive before, is becoming mercilessly good.
Next Year And Beyond
Hopefully Davide Curletti, the new addition to Carmody’s class of 2008 will, along with John Shurna, be the rebounder the program desperately needs. No one would complain if Carmody won the occasional battle for players like Luke Harangody or Robbie Hummel, but the fact is the program doesn’t need that level of recruit to achieve a breakthrough.
Players like Shon Morris, Brian Schwabe, Andre Goode, Rankin, Brody Deren, or Hardy were not stratospheric blue-chippers. They were tough-minded big men that Rich Falk and Bill Foster were able to bring to Evanston despite the same lack of tradition that the excuse-makers keep trumpeting. These kind of players are well within the program’s reach. That they haven’t arrived under Carmody’s watch has been unfortunate and punitive.
With Beinen as a loyal advocate until his retirement in August 2009 Carmody may well survive even another bottomed out ninth life. But seasons of these kind of lows cannot be excused as business as usual at Northwestern. If the program is to achieve breakthrough, expectations and demands from the university, the program, and its fans need to be higher.
Without putting an exact metric on it, Carmody needs to make a big, unmistakable step towards the notion of breakthrough next season. With even the program’s insiders suggesting next year is going to be the one, it is time to hold Carmody to it.
