QB Brooks Haack Leaves UL for Northwestern

[ManAboutTown]

This is my one and only post on this. I've been reading for several months here and there. I have a growing family and a demanding job so I didn't feel like getting into conversations I couldn't keep up with. With that being said, I rub elbows with the biggest donors of this university. I know a very large number of diehard as well as bandwagon fans of the university. I am friends with numerous ex and current players and their families in various sports. I know low level professors and high level members of the university on a personal level. I know high school teachers and coaches that these players confide in. This is not to toot my horn but to lay a foundation of who I have access to within this community. I've had numerous conversations over the last couple of years with all of these parties concerning my alma mater and the athletic department that I feel very passionate about. Very few of them, if any, have the in depth information on individual situations like you seem to have on EVERY SINGLE THING that goes on in UL athletics. I watch you crawfish every time someone calls you out. You throw out information and then when it comes down to it, it's not your place to talk. Numbers only matter until they don't. Facts are rock solid until they aren't. I don't know if you have inside info on this situation or not, but you are in the wrong business if you know everything you claim to. I'd send my resume to outside the lines because you are the best investigative reporter on the planet. Brooks is no longer a Cajun. I wish him nothing but the best. We have work to do to return to the standard that Hudspeth has set and Brooks is not part of it. That is all. Geaux Cajuns.

First and foremost, obviously I jumped the gun on where Brooks would land. To question whether he had other options is your prerogative, but what you're really trying to do is say he didn't because that A) proves many of you right on the Haack isn't 'good enough' comments and B) shows that I don't know what I'm talking about.

Let me make it clear: If you don't think things change hourly in the world of collegiate athletics, you sir have no idea what YOU'RE talking about. The idea that he was desperate for a spot to play and jumped at NWST because it was the only option is stupid, and uninformed.

As far as my connections to the goings on around school: I've been fortunate. My schedule is such that I can be involved with a lot, and I've been fortunate enough to facilitate relationships with individuals that are entrenched in our Atheltic program. My age affords me the opportunity to get to know players and my wallet allows me to get to know the people that pull the strings around here. I make my comments based largely on what those guys trust me to know without saying too much. If you have a problem with that, don't read. Ignore button; put it to use.

I've never 'crawfished' on anything. I've laid down opinions that have been wrong before, but I always stand by what I post here. ALWAYS. And I can do that because I'm not making ____ up, like a lot of people here do. Things change all the time within our Atheltic program; if you can't understand that, no point in talking.

If you have an issue with something I say, or me personally, I extend the same invitation to you that I've extended to others. You know where I'll be.

[Cajunrunner]

And this was the morning the Brooks Haack thread turned into a schlong slinging contest.

[Just1More]

When you have 1 to play 1 FCS certainly increases chance to play. All things considered NWST seems like a pretty logical place for him to go. Just as a sidenote app state's fcs QB is the best this FBS conference has seen in a long time, and 2 FCS move ups have kicked this FBS conference ___ for 2 years.

Pretty comical that we're the snooty FBS group in this conversation. I still don't know how much Brooks was limited by his own skill, and how much he simply didn't fit our coaching staff's offense. I guess the easier route at this point is to pretend we had all of the pieces in place to go 8-4, but our FCS QB couldn't get it done.

[MetryCajun]

This Hud/Haack debate is one of the strangest I have seen here on RP. For 4 years Hud delivered an above average offense and a below average defense. And more wins than we have ever experienced. We get a new QB and all a sudden he is an egomaniac who has turned out OC into one of the worst play callers in Football. How can that be?
Anyone who has ever followed football knows that when a coach says he is splitting reps between two QB's it almost always means you do not have a good enough QB. As the season played out it became painfully obvious that the coaches initial assessment was correct. Neither had the skill set to be a consistent winner at this level of football.
But still to this day we have people ripping the play calling and saying we are headed for the gutter. The fact is we are only headed for the gutter if Davis, Ray or Weaver play like the guys we had this year. Broadway/Gautier level play will get us back to winning and and bowl bids. Yes we have issues at other positions, but we almost always do. Finding a more consistent QB will cover up a multitude of sins.
Good luck to Brooks and I have no doubt he will be an asset to NWST.

[AirBill]

Anyone who has ever followed football knows that when a coach says he is splitting reps between two QB's it almost always means you do not have a good enough QB.

^^ THIS

Now, it's over. Best of luck to Brooks. I hope he leads NSU to the FCS championship. I think we can all agree on that. That said, can we drop it now and talk about UL sports instead of a former player? Sheez...

[mxt3999]

^ MetryCajun gets it

[CajunRebel]

This Hud/Haack debate is one of the strangest I have seen here on RP. For 4 years Hud delivered an above average offense and a below average defense. And more wins than we have ever experienced. We get a new QB and all a sudden he is an egomaniac who has turned out OC into one of the worst play callers in Football. How can that be?
Anyone who has ever followed football knows that when a coach says he is splitting reps between two QB's it almost always means you do not have a good enough QB. As the season played out it became painfully obvious that the coaches initial assessment was correct. Neither had the skill set to be a consistent winner at this level of football.
But still to this day we have people ripping the play calling and saying we are headed for the gutter. The fact is we are only headed for the gutter if Davis, Ray or Weaver play like the guys we had this year. Broadway/Gautier level play will get us back to winning and and bowl bids. Yes we have issues at other positions, but we almost always do. Finding a more consistent QB will cover up a multitude of sins.
Good luck to Brooks and I have no doubt he will be an asset to NWST.

And at the end of the year our "terrible" OC that had no idea how to coach Haack ended up at a Big 10 school and our "stud" QB ended up at a Southland school. I'm no football expert, but that tells me all I need to know right there.

I wish Haack the very best at Northwestern. I hope he is able to get the playing time he wanted and I hope he kicks butt there.

With that said, I'm really excited about the QBs we have on OUR team.

[ULGrad@HOU]

I think you are right Metry in the fact that it wasn't clear at first, who could be the consistent QB, but the whole situation was handled poorly from the beginning and it was painfully obvious the timing on swapping them was wrong. It did become clear and should have become clear in practice that Nixon was not really cut out to throw the ball, and you can't have a QB running the offense at the FBS level that doesn't have that skill set. We'll never know if Haack had been given the opportunity from the beginning and the offense built to use his ability of throwing the ball from the beginning on how well the offense could have been. It was just a mess and that is where I see the frustration coming from.

[MetryCajun]

I think you are right Metry in the fact that it wasn't clear who could be the consistent QB, but the whole situation was handled poorly from the beginning and it was painfully obvious the timing on swapping them was wrong. It did become clear and should have become clear in practice that Nixon was not really cut out to throw the ball, and you can't have a QB running the offense at the FBS level that doesn't have that skill set. We'll never know if Haack had been given the opportunity from the beginning and the offense built to use his ability of throwing the ball from the beginning on how well the offense could have been. It was just a mess and that is where I see the frustration coming from.

Agree on Nixon. He was not a QB, but I think it speaks volumes that Haack could not beat him out. My biggest beef is that Haack/Nixon were given too many opportunities. I would have gone with Davis earlier and used Haack as a back up. Oh well as AirBill said... It is in the past. Really hope Davis or the other guys are the answer.

[Just1More]

This Hud/Haack debate is one of the strangest I have seen here on RP. For 4 years Hud delivered an above average offense and a below average defense. And more wins than we have ever experienced. We get a new QB and all a sudden he is an egomaniac who has turned out OC into one of the worst play callers in Football. How can that be?
Anyone who has ever followed football knows that when a coach says he is splitting reps between two QB's it almost always means you do not have a good enough QB. As the season played out it became painfully obvious that the coaches initial assessment was correct. Neither had the skill set to be a consistent winner at this level of football.
But still to this day we have people ripping the play calling and saying we are headed for the gutter. The fact is we are only headed for the gutter if Davis, Ray or Weaver play like the guys we had this year. Broadway/Gautier level play will get us back to winning and and bowl bids. Yes we have issues at other positions, but we almost always do. Finding a more consistent QB will cover up a multitude of sins.
Good luck to Brooks and I have no doubt he will be an asset to NWST.

The two individuals in question are not football compatible. I think the lesson from last year is that all future Hud QBs require major athletic mobility and a decent arm. We didn't have that in our two competing QBs last year. Some of us felt the offense should have adjusted towards the better passer... not a hopeless exercise of wishing one of those two would become Gauthier/Broadway. I think we're back on track for Hud with JD and Weaver.

I do agree with you in that the QB is a monsterously important component of an offense. I don't think a QB so much can mask other failures as much as he must make the successes occur... or they won't happen. As this particular chapter closes (hopefully), I believe it's more about Hud returning to his system (and QB style) than anything else.