Northwestern Football 2020: Coaching Changes

Hello friends! Pull up a comfy chair, and our butlers will come around with your drink of choice as we enjoy the fine July weather here on the shores of Lake Michigan as I bring you up to speed on this year’s changes to Northwestern’s offensive coaching staff.

Remember to keep your chairs six feet apart from unrelated guests and remember to wear your mask when not enjoying our quality libations—-

Let’s pause the self-deprecating butler and yacht club jokes for a sec: I don’t think we’re going to have any football played this fall. Even if there is football to be played at Ryan Field, I won’t be there or attend any sporting event until there’s a vaccine for this pandemic. If I wasn’t allergic to peanuts, I’d say break out a snickers bar because this is going to be a while.

Everyone, please stay safe, wear masks and practice social distancing. We’re all in this together.

So if there’s going to be football this fall, there could be few or no fans in the stands.

We’re quite good at social distancing at Ryan Field :)

After last year’s garbage fire of a season —

— pardon me, gotta get something off my chest —

WHY THE FUCK DO WE ALWAYS HAVE SHIT SEASONS AFTER EXCELLENT ONES?

— ahh, that feels better —

Pat Fitzgerald needed to make some changes, and he finally got rid of Offensive Coordinator Mick McCall!!!

Thank god, this was LONG overdue. MNW talked a bit about this earlier this year, To recap, his offense turned stale and unimaginative, and don’t get us started on whether or not we’ve established the run yet or anything regarding speed options.

In his place comes Mike Bajakian, recently Boston College’s offensive coordinator.

Here’s what our friends at InsideNU have to say about Bajakian

Bajakian took a group that had been 88th in that measure in 2018 and improved them to 37th.

The Eagles put up 30.9 points per game, 453.1 yards per game, and 5.9 yards per play, even amassing a program-record 691 yards in a 58-27 win over Syracuse. All of that was despite a midseason injury to starting quarterback Anthony Brown, who left against Louisville and missed the entirety of the season’s final six games.

Starting running back AJ Dillon had 1731 yards and 14 touchdowns on 5.3 yards per carry for the season. As a team, BC rushed for a whopping 267.8 yards per game, passed for 183.4 yards per game, and totaled 48 touchdowns (20 through the air) to just six interceptions and five lost fumbles.

And also

Despite BC stumbling its way to a 6-6 record, the 45-year-old coordinator led an offense that averaged 450+ yards per game throughout the season, good for 26th in the nation. Given that Boston College finished 2018 as the 88th ranked offense according to SP+, it’s safe to say that Bajakian’s lone season in Chestnut Hill was a successful one

I’m cautiously optimistic...

Welcome Coach Bajakian and I look forward to seeing what you can do.