One last time in the film room.
Welcome back to the film room for a very special edition.
No, this is not a breakdown of how each quarterback performed during spring ball or how a new transfer will fit into Zach Lujan’s system. Instead, this breakdown will take a look at how the last 18 months working for this tremendous site has shaped not only my college experience but the rest of my life.
Sometimes, life works in strange ways, and my journey to Inside NU is the epitome of that statement. I never intended to be at Northwestern, originally attending Boston University for college. However, there was one thing I felt myself missing more than anything on Commonwealth Ave — football. I found myself hopping the MBTA for an hour trek south to Providence to watch Brown practice in spring ball. Big shoutout to coach Perry for letting me wander around the practice field. When I decided to transfer, I knew I had to go to a place where I could put football at the forefront of my college experience. To steal a line from David Braun, I wanted to go to a place with world-class academics and Big Ten athletics.
Once accepted to NU, I was ready to put journalism behind me and focus solely on becoming the best football coach possible. I wanted to work for Pat Fitzgerald because I had always admired the program he had built from afar. In fact, I had multiple conversations with then Director of Football Operations Jacob Schmidt about joining the staff during the summer of 2022; however, the chaos of trying to get an entire football program over to Ireland prevented any plan from going into place, and the rest is history. I was officially onboarded for Inside mere weeks later.
Like most of my past film reviews, I rambled for way too long in the introduction. So without further ado, let’s dive in.
The Stats
I have written 193 articles for this site and covered 10 different teams. Inside has brought me to nine different states ranging from Las Vegas, Nevada to Brooklyn, New York, with a stop in Davenport, Iowa along the way (shoutout to the world’s largest truck stop). There have been too many press conferences to count, and too many gifs I wanted to tweet that got overturned. 1000s of text messages between Bradley, Iggy and myself trying to dictate what the coverage for the week would look like as we were flying by the seat of our pants. To cap all of this off, I covered one bowl game and a trip to the Big Dance. Last and certainly not least, 40 hours inside the Evanston City Council chambers while the New Ryan Field was up for debate.
To say it has been a busy year and a half may be the understatement of a lifetime. The hours were most definitely long and so were most of the car rides (why is the Midwest so freaking big?), but I don’t throw out these numbers to toot my own horn. I’ve said many times that my only goal in this position was to provide our readers with the best content possible. Seeing people engage with our stuff, whether positively or negatively, was rewarding for me because it showed that we were filling an empty space. When the comments flowed in, or a story did good numbers, it made the all-nighters and stress-induced moments well worth it.
Before Northwestern faced off against Nebraska at Welsh-Ryan arena, I was in the elevator with our now-managing editor Brendan Preisman, and two adults looked at us and said, “I read Inside NU every day. You guys do great work.” To whoever that was, I hope you know how much that stuck with me. At the end of the day, we’re a bunch of college kids still trying to figure this shit out, so I’m so proud to be just a small part of bringing all of you the coverage of Northwestern Athletics that you all want and deserve.
With that being said, it’s time to move on to our next section.
The Good
Much like our QB film reviews, let’s talk about the positives first. Trust me, there were a lot of them.
The memories and friendships made
Well, you’ve hit the point where I thank everyone for helping me along the way.
First, I want to thank my parents for putting up with this craziness for the past 18 months. One of the coolest parts of all of this is now my family gathers around the TV on Saturday afternoons to watch the ‘Cats play football or throughout the week to play basketball. I did not grow up in a sports household, so now watching my family grow to love sports because of Inside NU is really special. I know when I bring my kids to the new Ryan Field, there will be three generations of Golds wearing purple.
I want to thank our amazing staff for all the hard work they have put in over the past year. This site would not run without the contributions we get from everyone with a byline. Our site would not be where it is today without people like Gavin Dorsey, Sarah Effress, Ben Chasen and many others paving the way for me. Also, Sophia Vlahakis, John Ferrara and Ethan Segall all were incredible supporters for me this year, and I cannot wait to see the direction Ethan and Sophia take this site in for the upcoming year.
My job would not be possible without the help of people inside Northwestern Athletics. I have bugged all of these people numerous times, so hopefully they don’t block my number now that they don’t have to see me so often. In all seriousness, a huge thank you to Zach Wingrove, Jacob Pavilack, Sean Dennison, Paul Kennedy, Ryan Haley, Shealyn Abbott and Liam Kennedy. They make the whole place run, and I’m positive they are the best in the business.
I also want to thank those in power for always taking me seriously as a journalist. As a student, you never think you’ll be asking hardballs to the athletic director and president of a university, but President Schill and Dr. Gragg have been tremendous to get to know and work with throughout the year. They have 10 million things to do, but I appreciate that they would always take a few minutes to say hello and have a conversation with me. They knew how important student journalists are to NU sports, so I am thankful that they treated us with the utmost respect.
Chris Collins has been nothing short of phenomenal to myself and all student media. After the Purdue game this year, I fully lost my train of thought and forgot my question in the middle of the presser. An already embarrassing moment for me, Collins had every right to rip me to shreds after a heartbreaking loss, but he didn’t. Instead, he told me that he loved me and I was still his guy. It was a small moment, but one that has left a lasting imprint on me. So coach, no matter how long you rock the purple, you will always have a fan in me.
David Braun is another person who I have so much respect and admiration for. I do not envy the situation he was in last summer one bit, but I watched him sit at Big Ten media day last year and handle every fastball fired at him with humility and grace. For anyone wondering if that’s just how he is when the camera is off — it’s not. As much as I enjoy talking to him about football, he will be the first to ask you how your family is doing or how the quarter is treating you. He is a true Midwesterner, always stopping to say hello when he sees you.
Lastly, I could not write this piece without talking about Kate Drohan. When I traveled down to Tuscaloosa last year for the NCAA Super Regionals, I watched the ‘Cats fall just short against the Crimson Tide. At the final presser, there was not a dry eye from Northwestern as it left the podium. Despite already leaving the room, Drohan came back in and gave me and Ethan a hug, thanking us for the coverage we provided all season. Much like the guys in the Welsh-Ryan elevator, having a coach say that to me reminded me why we do this job.
To be honest, this one is the hardest because I don’t have the right words to convey what Iggy and Bradley mean to me. Sure, we were the three EICs, but these guys are way closer to best friends than coworkers. I don’t know if there are two harder-working people than those two dudes. When something needed to get figured out, you bet the three of us were going to find a solution. They made what could be a very stressful job so much fun, and I can not thank them enough for promoting me to EIC, but more importantly for their friendship.
I think the perfect way to describe Iggy’s and my relationship is that we are each other’s mutual therapists. Whether it’s freaking out in the press box during a game or over text as we stress over whether a story will get finished on time, one of us is always there to say take a deep breath. He is my car ride buddy, always keeping me company as I power through whatever drive we had. Before you make fun of him for not knowing how to drive, he is from NYC. The other EIC is fair game though. My favorite memory with Iggy is after the Nebraska football game, he and I headed to our hotel’s rooftop bar and grabbed a drink. For the next two hours, we sat around a fire pit talking about the site, our futures and a litany of other topics. With the craziness swirling around us constantly, sharing a moment like that was special and one that I’ll cherish forever. Not to be forgotten, but that was just the start to one of the most legendary nights I’ve ever had in college, so shout out to Iggy.
Now onto Braddy Scoops as I like to call him. I seriously don’t think there is someone I hear from more throughout the day than Brad. Whether it is explaining run game concepts to him (I swear half of our texts are just trap vs counter) or talking about how good Juan Soto is, Brad was a person who I wish I had known before college. Do I still have to teach him the most basic life skills? You bet, but he’s getting there. For as much as I rip on him, he is one of the best reporters out there and is going to go very far in this industry. I’m just going to sit back and watch as he goes to the moon, and I’ll laugh the day everyone calls him Braddy Scoops.
The Bad
Like every job, there have to be some drawbacks. Right?
Evanston City Council and Land Use Commission
Well, that’s 40 hours of my life I’m never getting back.
In all seriousness, I don’t think you can talk about my tenure at Inside NU without mentioning my dive into local politics. For 40 hours, I listened to people debate Evanston’s zoning code and how the new Ryan Field was going to impact their daily lives. I owe a big one to the West Lot Pirates for cracking jokes during the proceedings because I started to lose it. For example…
This is a waste of time. https://t.co/QZEBLyb9Rk
— David Gold (@david_a_gold) November 21, 2023
With that being said, I think the final part of this film review should be the five best moments from my time covering these hearings.
- The former Giordanos’ delivery guy warning that a new stadium and its concerts would lead to an increase of LSD and Molly usage. Also saying that no new restaurants should be placed around the stadium because it will harm Chicago restaurants. #Chicagosbigtenteam
- A public comment using all 45 seconds for a moment of silence for the death of the neighborhood around Ryan Field.
- A public commentator bringing up a Pinocchio doll to convey NU is lying (same person did No. 2 and 3 on this list).
- The pure amount of posters printed at Kinkos for these events.
- The guy who said he broke out a stopwatch and timed how long each cheer was during an NU football game.
All in all, I am quite thankful that the temporary stadium on campus did not need to go through the same process as the New Ryan Field. Alas, it was an experience I’ll never forget.
Final thoughts
Much like every QB film piece I’ve ever wrote, this went on way too long.
To close, I want to thank all of you who have made Inside NU a part of your routine. This site does not exist without your readership, so I am forever indebted to all of you. You have provided me with one of the best college experiences and gave me the platform to do exactly what I set out to do when I transferred from Boston University. I will still be around and pop up time to time because they can’t get rid of me just yet; however, for this last installment of my film reviews, I’m signing off.