Scout.com Nebraska Preview: Enter Mike Riley, the anti-Bo Pelini hire.

[Saunders]

Scout.com Nebraska Preview: Enter Mike Riley, the anti-Bo Pelini hire. Time to win - or else.

 

Enter Mike Riley, the anti-Bo Pelini hire.

 

Riley is a good media guy and a solid personality compared to the abrasive and occasionally odd Pelini.

 

Riley will be 62 at the start of the season, and most likely is at his last head coaching stop, while Pelini is 47 and will have a second act somewhere big in the FCS ranks as long as he doesn’t implode.

 

The other big difference? Pelini won a lot of games on a consistent basis. Riley hasn’t.

 

If Pelini had won conference championships and put Nebraska in the center of the national title hunt once in a while, he’d have been considered one of college football’s most interesting characters. But he didn’t, the act didn’t play well in Lincoln, and now he’s gone.

 

Preview: http://cfn.scout.com/2/1559222.html

What You Need To Know: http://cfn.scout.com/2/1559221.html

[Creighton Duke]

Drat. We're without our 9th-best player!

[cornographic]

Truth:

Riley is a safe, solid head football coach who should be just fine, but that’s not what Nebraska needs. The Huskers had just fine – they want to catch national championship lightening in a bottle ...

 

...And that’s how this will all be determined. Riley can’t just win nine games. He can’t just be competitive and be in the chase. Basically, what Nebraska was saying with the canning of Pelini was that it needed a new face of the program, and if that face doesn’t come up with double-digit victories and a conference title, he has failed.

[Guy Chamberlin]

I want it in the record that the problem with Bo wasn't simply that he didn't win a conference championship, or that he had a fiery personality, it's that his team didn't play with any of that fire. Although it did display a similar lack of discipline.

 

It appeared that the collected talent underperformed collectively, at the same time, unable to learn and adjust, often playing mistake-prone football at the first sign of pressure.

 

We didn't need a "nice guy" or a "safe pick", we needed a better coach.

[Saunders]

I want it in the record that the problem with Bo wasn't simply that he didn't win a conference championship, or that he had a fiery personality, it's that his team didn't play with any of that fire. Although it did display a similar lack of discipline.

 

It appeared that the collected talent underperformed collectively, at the same time, unable to learn and adjust, often playing mistake-prone football at the first sign of pressure.

 

We didn't need a "nice guy" or a "safe pick", we needed a better coach.

If Bo had won a title or 2, wasn't a complete dick, or wasn't getting blown out 1-2 times a year, he'd still be here. I think he skated by at the bare minimum, and those 3 reasons are why he's gone.

 

Riley is certainly a nice guy, I'm not sure about a "safe pick" though. The question is... Is he a better coach? Time will tell.

[Blackshirt39]

I want it in the record that the problem with Bo wasn't simply that he didn't win a conference championship, or that he had a fiery personality, it's that his team didn't play with any of that fire. Although it did display a similar lack of discipline.

 

It appeared that the collected talent underperformed collectively, at the same time, unable to learn and adjust, often playing mistake-prone football at the first sign of pressure.

 

We didn't need a "nice guy" or a "safe pick", we needed a better coach.

 

This. If this had been fixed under Pelini, the conference titles and big wins would have followed and he would probably still be here.

 

It's also not fair to say Riley was hired because he was the "Anti-Pelini." I think he was a highly qualified coach first who just happened to have a different approach than Pelini.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Riley is a famously nice guy who is also highly qualified.

 

And I have no doubt we would have hired some of the famously less-nice coaches if they had been available.

[Stumpy1]

I can't remember where I read it at but someone had talked to Riley's former players and staff members and both said not to be fooled by Riley"s nice guy demeanor, that he is a true competitor.

[Moiraine]

 

Truth:

Riley is a safe, solid head football coach who should be just fine, but that’s not what Nebraska needs. The Huskers had just fine – they want to catch national championship lightening in a bottle ...

 

...And that’s how this will all be determined. Riley can’t just win nine games. He can’t just be competitive and be in the chase. Basically, what Nebraska was saying with the canning of Pelini was that it needed a new face of the program, and if that face doesn’t come up with double-digit victories and a conference title, he has failed.

 

 

 

I don't agree with this. I would much MUCH rather have Riley winning 9 games forever than have Bo still here.

[Mavric]

Drat. We're without our 9th-best player!

 

And our 10th-best player might be third string.

[ScottyIce]

Who is Bo Pelini?

[Sargon]

Who is Bo Pelini?

 

[Hammerhead]

 

 

That meant there was no wiggle room when his team failed on the big stage against Wisconsin last season and against the Badgers in the 2012 Big Ten championship, and that made it easy to let him go despite all the success.

 

 

Winning a lot of games against inferior competition =/= success.