Northwestern Potluck II: Who’s your 10th assistant?

You may have heard that the NCAA has changed a number of things this season and for upcoming seasons, including the change to the redshirt rule (a max of 4 games now allows a player to retain eligibility), fair catches on kickoffs inside the 25 bringing the ball out to the 25, and, from a 2017 announcement, the addition of a 10th assistant to coaching staffs.

LPW noted this morning that Northwestern made a number of changes ahead of the 2018 season: Pat Fitzgerald tapped 10th assistant Louis Ayeni to be its RB coach and recruiting coordinator, shifted RB coach Matt McPherson to the secondary, hired Tim McGarigle to replace Randy Bates as LB coach, and fucking finally created the position of special teams coordinator for Jeff Genyk, stripping that from...Pat Fitzgerald. So, team, your questions:

[1] As we never did anything with our Slack channel on 10th assistants (thanks, Jesse), tell us about your 10th assistant! Is it filling the need your team most needs filled?

[2] Can you remember one single Northwestern special-teamer? Why or why not?

BRT: I remember Hunter Niswander, because his last name is Niswander.

Thumpasaurus: Lovie Smith made the best decision of his tenure so far by hiring Trinity Catholic HS (St Louis) coach Cory Patterson as a position coach. Clearly making a talent pipeline was a priority as their team was loaded, but Patterson is also generally seen as an up-and-coming coach prospect who wasn’t going to stay at high school forever. We needed talent; he got us Isaiah Williams.

Mark Venric was pretty dece if I recall correctly.

Creighton: Iowa hired Derrick Foster form Samford University as their new running backs coach, a job previously being done by offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. Coach Foster’s resume doesn’t have any FBS experience, but being able to free up Brian Ferentz (and Levar Woods to some extent) to focus on their other duties will be huge.

Blake Faulkner is a name I just made up that sounds like someone who would play football at jNW.

Dead Read: Didn’t you have a punt returner named Musso? His dad played for Alabama and was nicknamed “Italian Stallion.” That is the sum total of my knowledge regarding Northwestern special teamers.

[MNW note: Yes, Brian Musso. I’m sure an old-timer can tell us if he had a nickname as part of the 1995 Big Ten Champions.]

LPW: Venric Mark, when healthy was always a threat on kickoff and punt returns.

WSR: Aren’t all Northwestern players special teams players? Everyone is gritty and truly committed to the team objectives and are all outstanding poet-warrior-lovers.

Jesse: I would have been all prepared if Mike Riley was still around but then I remembered that the 10th assistant was actually Barrett Rudd and that is pretty cool. While he’s definitely not going to be the make or break guy for us, he’s actually a really important local kid who made a decent NFL living. He’s one of two LB coaches because OF COURSE WE HAVE TWO OF THOSE, and like, I don’t know, this is a new staff and everything is still in flux.

As for a Northwestern special teams person? I just remember that terrible punter you had when we watched the hail mary game in Lincoln. I don’t know his name. I don’t care to know his name, but I remember by the end of the game you were just annoyed as shit and that made me happy.

[MNW note: Fuck you for making me remember Brandon Williams.]

Beez: Wisconsin promoted former Wisconsin QB legend/guy who was on the team, Jon Budmayr, to the QB Coach position as their 10th assistant. The Internet tells me he’s been a grad assistant under Chryst for two seasons and was the quality control assistant or whatever it’s called the past two seasons. The rumor is he has been critical in getting and keeping commitments from the next QB who will surely save the program. He’s also focused on getting Hornibrook to “clean up his mistakes” aka vault into the 3rd best QB in the B1G spot.

Northwestern special teams? Seriously? My only memory of NW special teams is that time Michigan kicked a game-winning FG while all 14 of the UM players on the field were moving prior to the snap.

B1G 2018: Northwestern Week

Monday: Preview | Potluck (worst 10-win season) | Mailbag Call

Tuesday: Coaches | Potluck (10th Assistant)

Wednesday: Traditions | Potluck (Transfer Season)

Thursday: Basketball? | Potluck (Predictions)

Friday: HATE (Would you like to write Northwestern hate? Feel free to let us know, or just publish a FanPost on Friday! We’ll front-page it.) | Mailbag