n o r t h w e s t e r n f o o t b a l l • D I G I T A L P R O G R A M • N O R T H W E S T E R N v s . P U R D U E
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Finally, just after making that point, he was asked to compare his 'Cat program to Purdue's.
He demurred on discussing the Boilermakers, saying accurately that "I'm not intimate with it." But
then, with his jaw fairly jutting out, he finally said, "Our program's never been in a better place. Like
I said, I have one-million percent confidence that we'll get back on the winning track. The only issue
we have right now is winning on Saturdays. Our Monday through Friday and Sunday are absolutely
outstanding. Our players are awesome. Their character is impeccable. What they're doing in the
classroom (other schools are) not even close anywhere else in the country. All those things are A+,
championship level. I've said it a bunch of times now. We've got 98 percent of the thing humming
the right way. We just got the wrong two percent not humming, and that two percent is killing our
football success on the field. I'm not going to let that deter the success and the championship level
of our program. That's not going to happen. We'll get this thing turned around.
"I've got a track record of winning football games here. Kicking ass and taking names. We'll get
back to doing that. I promise you that. As long as I'm leader of this program, that's going to be the
mindset. I know it's not happening right now, and I'm bitterly disappointed, incredibly motivated
and I'll do everything in my power to squeeze everything out of these guys the next four weeks.
"But for the future, for 2020 and beyond, we will be back. I guarantee you that. We will be back,
and I can't wait."
