If you’ve only been paying attention to the football team so far, I don’t blame you.

Northwestern is 5-0, the rest of the Big Ten is struggling and it feels like a year the Wildcats could contend for a Big Ten title. However, you’re missing out on the many other sports that have found success this fall. Excluding football, the fall sports have a combined 33-14-4 record plus a win in a cross country meet.

Point is, NU’s success this fall goes way beyond the gridiron. But why is NU having a renaissance this fall and starting to look like a Big Ten contender? The answer has less to do with who is on the field and more with who leads them off of it.

We all know and adore Pat Fitzgerald and his enthusiasm when it comes to NU and the football team. The dozens of T-shirts I see at football games prove just how much this campus loves Fitz. He does a great job interacting with the student body through firesides and events such as Wednesday’s Wildside 101. It is clear he cares about this campus, but he is not the only coach whose passion for the Cats and the sport has led to success.

Tim Lenahan is the reigning Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading NU to its first ever Big Ten title in men’s soccer last season. Now in his 12th year with the program, Lenahan has quietly produced great results, great players and even better coaches. He is the winningest men’s soccer coach in NU history and has taken the Cats to the postseason in six of the last eight seasons. Those who have met him know how much passion he has for NU and how much he bleeds purple leading his team.

Tracey Fuchs has been remarkable in just her fourth season as the coach of the field hockey team. She has brought the Cats back to where the program was in the early 1990s, when the team last made the NCAA Championships. Fuchs has had three winning seasons so far as coach, which is pretty good for a team that hadn’t boasted a winning record since 1995 before Fuchs arrived on campus.

Keylor Chan, volleyball coach for the last 13 seasons, has proven he belongs in Evanston. NU was a program in the doldrums before Chan arrived and brought a new culture. The new blood infused some life into NU: The team has finished over .500 in seven of the last 10 seasons. Chan’s enthusiasm is contagious, and he always finds the bright side of everything, including 3-0 losses to the No. 1 team in the country.

So that leaves me with women’s soccer. It was a team that looked lifeless at times last year, letting opponents dominate play and, to put it nicely, shellack them game in and game out. It was a team desperate for a new direction and new life. After releasing Stephanie Foster, athletic director Jim Phillips  had many options, and luckily he chose wisely. The man who brought us women’s basketball coach Joe McKeown and Fuchs  hired Michael Moynihan to lead the Cats in 2012. Moynihan is a successful coach who has experienced nine NCAA Championships. This is the type of coach NU needed, and Phillips delivered in a big way for the Cats.  The record may not show it, but this year’s squad is playing with more fire and is much more competitive. The difference is a passionate coach like Moynihan.

So while you watch NU take on Penn State on Saturday, think about spending Sunday on Lake Michigan cheering on field hockey.

Gameday editor Josh Walfish is a Medill sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected].