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If you're headed into a large media event, and you have a topic that you may not want to talk about, a great way to avoid it is to give long, coach speak-like answers, and hope to run out the clock. Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald executed that plan perfectly, largely dodging any discussion on unionization, while speaking at length about the academic prowess of his athletes, his QB situation – and not a ton else.
Fitzgerald opened with a statement that lauded the stability of his program with their coaching staff, keeping not just their coordinators together, but their entire staff, for the last four seasons:
Pat Fitzgerald pointing out how stable Northwestern's staff has been over the last several years. A rarity in big time college football
— Land-Grant Holy Land (@Landgrant33) July 28, 2014
He also mentioned that Northwestern isn't a big "preseason hype" kind of place, which, well ... :
Fitz: "We're not a preseason hype kind of place." pic.twitter.com/SZSVWKU1nu
— Inside Northwestern (@insidenu) July 28, 2014
The coach spoke at length of the leadership development of QB Trevor Siemian, who will likely be the sole option at QB this year, rather than the duo that the Wildcats had been using the for the last few seasons.
Fitzgerald lauding the leadership growth of Trevor Siemian, feels good about where the team's QB situation.
— Land-Grant Holy Land (@Landgrant33) July 28, 2014
Finally, with the shot clock winding down...somebody finally asked about the elephant in the room, unions. How did that impact his team?
Pat Fitzgerald goes 12 minutes, 18 seconds before he hears the players union question at Big Ten media days.
— Jim Naveau (@Lima_Naveau) July 28, 2014
The answer?
Fitz on #Northwestern players' response to unionization: "I'm proud of the maturity our guys demonstrated throughout the whole process."
— ESPN Big Ten (@ESPN_BigTen) July 28, 2014
Fitz said there's no more "unified" team in the country after the unionization effort.
— Inside Northwestern (@insidenu) July 28, 2014
Well, there you go.