Bill Carmody out at Northwestern.

March 16, 2013 at 5:13 pm
Filed under Basketball, Northwestern

After 13 seasons with an 192-210 record since leaving Princeton, Bill Carmody and Northwestern parted ways today.

Under Carmody the Wildcats made it to the NIT four consecutive times but were unable to ever reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

In recent years Carmody's teams repeatedly came up one tantalizing game, injury, play, bad break or basket short of their ultimate goal.

Athletic Director Jim Phillips will discuss this coaching change further at a 6:30 pm ET press conference, which you can stream live here.

Permalink

Steven Postrel said,

March 16, 2013 @ 9:53 pm

It's been a tough couple of days for the Cradle. We've had the Carmody Canning, the Henderson Homestick, the Mooney Meltdown, the Robinson Rubout, the Scott Skunking, and the Thompson Tipping. How's Geoff Petrie doing?

daniel schmidt said,

March 16, 2013 @ 10:54 pm

Coach Carmody,

As an 11 year season ticket holder in Evanston (who became a transplant Cats fan because of my love for all things Princeton Basketball), my heart sinks tonight knowing that Evanston will most likely never see as crisp a back-door pass nor the look of shame on a beaten defender's face as he looks to the ground to avoid embarrassment after getting beat by a simple cut. Thank you for handling this whole ride with high-class and good nature - the end included. You're an incredibly good man and will do wonders in whatever you decide what's next. Good luck to you, Coach Carmody.

Now that the Evanston Chapter of your life is over, in hindsight, I wonder (as I'm sure, you must at some-level) what would have happened had you stayed the course in Princeton? Would the Tigers have regained Top 10 form like we saw with that special 1998 Class? Are you now solidifying your own Legacy - stepping outside of the shadow of Carrill?

No one can blame you for taking the chance in doing what had never been done. You took a calculated risk instead of playing it safe. Your decision to roll the dice in Evanston exponentially spawned the evolution of the Carrill Cradle. (I'd argue that this evolution partly was your downfall as simply more teams were able to effectively decode the offense as the spawn spread-out across the country.) You launched career paths and allowed dreams to come-true. Specifically:

Craig Robinson. Wonder what you're doing without your start in Evanston with Carmody? Without Brown, you probably don't end-up in OSU.

JT3. How long do you stick around with a relatively young and job-secure Carmody in-seat? Surely you don't get the Hoyas job as quickly as you did without the stint in Princeton. Do you take-off for a mid-major at some-point and eventually get a look at the Hoyas job? And if you don't get the Hoyas job, what happens to....

Sydney? Definitely not at Fairfield. Maybe you get a spot on the Princeton bench and are still (like Earl) waiting for your shot at a big-time program? And what happens to...

Mitch Henderson? Where do you get your start? And where are you now?

So many what-ifs, much like a couple of shots that rimmed-in and rimmed-out.....shots that had they fallen, yo would have made the Tournament and they'd be naming the Court after you some day like they did with Coach Carrill.

Not fair, I suppose, but it is what makes the game of Basketball, and more importantly, life, all the more interesting.

My Thanks for Many Great Years in Evanston,
-A Fan in 211, Row RR

Jon H. said,

March 16, 2013 @ 10:57 pm

Why do I think that Tommy Amaker's name will come up in this discussion? Would he want another shot at the Big Ten?

Jon Solomon said,

March 17, 2013 @ 10:09 am

Daniel, thank you for your words. That's tremendous stuff.

Jon H., I doubt Amaker will be interested in NU. While he's used job openings at major conference programs like Miami for further leverage / recruiting sway at Harvard, this doesn't strike me as a likely fit - especially with the pieces he has coming back.

The Crimson are better-positioned for the immediate future than the Wildcats!

Jon

Jon H. said,

March 17, 2013 @ 11:22 am

Jon - agreed, but the tide is going to turn against him at Harvard at some point. You may have a better sense of whether NU would ever sell its basketball soul on the recruiting end in order to field a Big Ten contender. You've got to figure that the AD is looking to do something more and the Harvard model has got to be a tempting one.

Jon Solomon said,

March 17, 2013 @ 3:12 pm

One additional Northwestern point: They've done no upgrades in their arena/facilities for basketball (beyond a new floor) during Carmody's tenure. That's another area where Harvard actually holds an advantage!

RSS feed for comments on this post

You must be logged in to post a comment.