As usual Knapp goes succinct and accurate. He's such a jerk that way.
He also brought up "getting another Miles", and while that's hard I see optimism in how they got Miles. The Nee/Collier/Sadler processes were a nightmare, so the dept sat down, learned from past mistakes, and got it right. And that was for basketball, clearly not the alpha sport at Nebraska. I see no reason why the same thing wouldn't be done, with more care, for the bread winning flagship sport of the University when a change is made. The claim that it's be "just another Callahan" is insane.
Miles was a gold mine hire but only in hindsight, and also only after 2 years (who didn't love Bo after 2009?), and believe it or not, I think our basketball program was an easier sell to a good coach than our football program would be. Miles had all of the advantages (minus a recruiting hotbed) of a major bigtime program, without the expectations of one. That makes your job so much more comfortable.
Hmmmmm,
You make an interesting point, it's far easier to start from scratch and build something than it is to take over the reigns and steer it back towards past prominence. The only real problems I have in that statement is that many here insist Bo took over a dumpster fire and had to start over from scratch (not saying you have said that, but obviously it's all over the place here). Or, that Means Pedersen knew that, blew it up on purpose and just needed more time with his project and BC (obviously i do not believe this and I'm sure you don't).
Anyway, I would say Bo had a similar starting point to Miles. The facilities in North stadium were finally done or about to be done, I'm a believer in saying the program wasn't in shambles but it was without question down, and I remember thinking that 08 was not likely going to be a winning year, and many shared my belief. And that was going to be fine, these things take time. So really, both coaches had lowered expectations and brand new shiny toys in their chest to go start their programs.
Sure there are championships in the past in football, but as everyone has taken great joy in telling me lately, they were a long time ago and do not factor I'm today's game. So, why would they affect Bo then?
Bo won early, and so has Tim. Bo still had some detractors then, which seems weird, but they were a small minority. And obviously Bo has languished a bit. Now, accountability was spot on about this year being the "salad year" for Nebrasketball. Now, it's possible, but I suppose Miles could start getting short with the new expectations, start barking at officials more, cut off fan interaction, curse out people, and demand what he's doing is good enough, and so on, but I kinda doubt it.
Which brings me to my point, look at the first few steps each coach took when starting. Miles has made calculated, smart steps to involve everyone, make them feel part of something, put some good will in the bank, and generally made the program everyone's. Bo....well Bo didn't do that, let's just leave it at that. Unfortunately I believe some of the first critical choices Bo made were absolutely wrong, and he's paying for it now. And unfortunately, I think some of the incorrect choices he made he should have known better, and he should suffer the consequences. I think that's why he's scrambling around letting media back in, tweeting at people, etc. sure it's the right move, but it was the right move six years ago too. And this all feels a little desperate to me.
