Looks like Northwestern fans won’t have to do without Tim Doyle just yet.
Doyle, the Wildcats’ sometime leading scorer, rebounder and assist man, and the all-time leader in hair gel, finally left NU after last season, at the age of 24.
But he’s back, as a studio analyst for the Big Ten Network. This news broke a week before Halloween, so it’s a little old. But it still bears mention.
Doyle will join Gene Keady, who coached Purdue to six Big Ten championships and Jimmy Jackson, who was twice the Big Ten player of the year at Ohio State and spent 14 years in the NBA.
And Doyle? Well, he probably holds a claim to the record for number of times color commentators used the phrase “YMCA rec league” in conjunction with his throwback play on the court.
You have to wonder if he’s going to exact his revenge in the studio this season.
The NU team Doyle will be periodically commenting on is vastly different from the one he left in March.
Doyle and center Vince Scott, who had both been the main personalities for the Cats, are gone.
Sophomore forward Kevin Coble, who led the team in scoring and rebounding last season, has taken an indefinite leave from the team to be with his sick mother in Phoenix.
The team in white that takes the floor at Welsh-Ryan Arena next Thursday against Stanford could confuse NU students who left for the summer and didn’t keep up with the Cats.
Junior guard Craig Moore will be there, hoisting up 3-pointers. So will junior guard Sterling Williams, driving and dishing on a nightly basis. And sophomore forward Jeff Ryan, flashing his deceptive speed and wearing high socks.
But beyond that, the Cats could have a little trouble claiming their identity from years past. Whether this is a good or bad thing is open to debate.
On the women’s side, NU finally has some redwoods to contribute to the forest of post players in the Big Ten, populated by players such as Michigan State’s Allyssa DeHaan, who could probably post up Sparty if she wanted.
Freshman Amy Jaeschke, a McDonald’s All-American in high school, is 6-foot-5. Her cousin Ellen, a transfer from Air Force, is 6-foot-2. Add in these new additions with senior Melissa Miller (6-foot-1) and sophomore Kaitlin McInerney (6-foot-2), and NU could have a legitimate presence in the paint this season.
This is good news for a team that got outrebounded by nearly six boards per game last year. And eight rebounds per game the year before.
While these two teams might seem different from years past, their coaches are in the same position they’re always in.
Men’s coach Bill Carmody, entering his eighth year with the Cats, is still looking for that first tournament appearance since he left Princeton.
Women’s coach Beth Combs, in her fourth year at NU, is still looking to turn that corner with a team that is, by now, made in her image.
Both have a lot of history against them. Both have a lot of green talent to deal with. And nobody is expecting a lot from either of them.
But crazier things have happened. And what better time than the present to speculate?
Sports editor David Morrison is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
