Solich v. Pelini

[Comish]

Frank Solich made an overhaul of the staff cuz it needed to be done. And frankly, the Darlintons, Tenopirs, Youngs, and so on needed to step away anyway. They were past their prime. It showed on the field. It showed in recruiting. If Solich was to succeed, and "turn it around", it was clearly time to inject some freshness into the program.

Not to mention, and this is purely specualtion, there's always the possible dynamic of jealousy of Frank. "Why did he get the job?". it is what it is.

yeah, he did it to save his skin, sure. But with success of the program at heart I believe.

As far as it working or not, that's just something that we'll never know, but will ALWAYS be brought up from time to time.

What hurt Frank the most was in recruiting. He was an excellent recruiter himself, but a lot of the staff were ancient and/or hobbled enough that the demands of travel limited their recruiting.

He DID make substantial staff changes that appeared to be working but one year was not nearly enough.

And speaking of lack of support, good ol' Stevie Pederson was so petulant that he took down all the pictures of Frank in the athletic complex........even though (as others have correctly noted) his contributions to the Husker program went far beyond his head coaching stint. A few of us have tried through back door channels to get the university to honor Frank at a future home game (the MAC plays enough mid-week contests to enable this), but so far it hasn't materialized. And part of the reason is Frank is too humble to be very open to it.

 

[Ric Flair]

Frank seems like a genuinely decent guy who simply wasn't up to being a head coach at a program like Nebraska or to being the guy to follow Osborne. There's no shame in that at all. Not many coaches would be. In addition, Frank was a guy who as a player and an assistant coach devoted his playing days and much of his professional career to the program. He deserves a hell of a lot of appreciation for that.

Pelini is a psychotic jacka$$ and a genuine loser. He'll spend his life blaming others for his problems while giving speeches about personal responsibility. I've spoken to people familiar with Youngstown and read posts from others who know something about the culture there. Apparently it's famous for turning out classless paranoid white trash who have chips on their shoulder and issues with accountability. So Pelini will fit right back in.

 

[NUance]

Frank seems like a genuinely decent guy who simply wasn't up to being a head coach at a program like Nebraska or to being the guy to follow Osborne. There's no shame in that at all. Not many coaches would be. In addition, Frank was a guy who as a player and an assistant coach devoted his playing days and much of his professional career to the program. He deserves a hell of a lot of appreciation for that.

Pelini is a psychotic jacka$$ and a genuine loser. He'll spend his life blaming others for his problems while giving speeches about personal responsibility. I've spoken to people familiar with Youngstown and read posts from others who know something about the culture there. Apparently it's famous for turning out classless paranoid white trash who have chips on their shoulder and issues with accountability. So Pelini will fit right back in.

Yeah, that's pretty much my take on it too. I might not say Pelini was a psychotic jacka$$. But he definitely has issues with his temper. To the point where it affected his gametime thinking.

 

[SWAMI]

Frank would not have been here another year if he had went 12-0 and a top recruiting class. Some know the real story on this, and I have too much respect for the man to repeat it. Humans make errors, Frank made a big one. The University loved Frank and did everything to protect him from being torn apart by the media. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Good man, good coach, great players, heart of Lion. One of my favorite all time Huskers.

I've heard this before but no one ever elaborates. PM me and elaborate, please.

I'll have what Elf's having, please.

Likewise. PM me, too.

 

[swmohusker]

Frank had keys to a Ferrari and Bo had keys to a fiero and had the same success. I give the edge to bo.

 

[beanman]

Frank had keys to a Ferrari and Bo had keys to a fiero and had the same success. I give the edge to bo.

I'll agree that Frank inherited a great program, but saying they had the same success is incorrect. 3 top 10 finishes for Frank. A conference title. A better win %. A 1-loss season. Two 2-loss seasons. Bo can claim none of these.

Even better is the fact that Frank wasn't a douchebag.

 

[swmohusker]

Frank had keys to a Ferrari and Bo had keys to a fiero and had the same success. I give the edge to bo.

I'll agree that Frank inherited a great program, but saying they had the same success is incorrect. 3 top 10 finishes for Frank. A conference title. A better win %. A 1-loss season. Two 2-loss seasons. Bo can claim none of these.
Even better is the fact that Frank wasn't a douchebag.

On the heels of Osborne solich was solid but when that magic wore off and the cupboard was bare u got the real solich. Pelini was on the heels an unspeakable time in husker history. Flip flop the Times they took over and the results would be similar. From our 90s run to Frank and Bill to bo is not comparable. U can compare what bo and Frank have done recently and I guess bo gets the nod.

 

[drfish]

They both hired inexperienced coordinators. Solich tried to do the offense and then turned it over to Barney. When Charlie McBride retired, Frank promoted from within. Didn't work any better for him,

 

[Glendower]

Frank Solich was a Husker legend. And he got a raw deal. He had just reorganized his staff. And he was given one year, just one year, to produce results with the new staff. IF there were off the field reasons, the admin should have said that there were circumstances away from the football field that led to his dismissal and that the admin was Ok with the on field results.

Speaking of on field results......

Obviously the peak of this man's HC career was winning the Big 12 and the Fiesta Bowl in 1999-00. We lost to eventual national champ OU in 2000-01 and we had a great season going in 2001 with a No. 1 ranking going into the final week of the regular season.

The Colorado game spiraled out of control... for the most part. But it should be noted that, deep into the second half, Nebraska was in position to draw within one score and fumbled at the goal line. CU then reclaimed momentum and won the game. The 2001 BCS title game in the Rose Bowl was a loss to a team that many argue was the best ever in CFB. Obviously the 1990s Huskers have an argument to make in that regard too. But the fact that people were talking about Miami in that way means that we should not have felt too awful bad about losing to them even if the game was lopsided.

2002 was a rough year. No doubt about it. But we had Jamal at the QB and we still almost got to the program standard for wins. Two losses by less than a touchdown. And the bowl loss to Ole Miss, quaterbacked by that Manning kid, beat us by less than one score.

In 2003, we lost to Texas, a team that was two years away from beating USC for the national title. We lost to a one of the better Missouri Tiger teams of all time. And the Tigers resorted to trick plays to get the job done. The third loss came to Kansas State. And the Wildcats, just for the record, went on to blast No. 1 Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game.

Frank should have been retained. And I would argue that Frank would have probably got our offense to the point where it would have been one of the most envied in the country. We were already doing some of the things with speed option that would have led right to zone read. And we would have been at the tip of the spear in terms of innovation.

Yeah, that KSU team was poorly represented in the polls because of injuries early in the season. I'm forgetting their names, but their QB and RB were both awesome, but were injured early in the season, which contributed to some losses. I think they both came back in time for the NU game and made Nebraska look foolish.

 

[creekchubb]

Pm me too please

 

[Glendower]

Frank had keys to a Ferrari and Bo had keys to a fiero and had the same success. I give the edge to bo.

I'll agree that Frank inherited a great program, but saying they had the same success is incorrect. 3 top 10 finishes for Frank. A conference title. A better win %. A 1-loss season. Two 2-loss seasons. Bo can claim none of these.

Even better is the fact that Frank wasn't a douchebag.

Bo was handed Suh and the teams that got him the closest he ever had to relevance. BC gave him some great athletes.

 

[LJsurf41]

Fearless was a helluva player, professional partier in the Sigma Nu house and was a stellar position coach. My old man and him were fraternity brothers/close friends in those days, a great guy but as has been insinuated on this board and in the press he has a penchant for the drink. I don't think he was going to lead us into a future consistent with the bar TO set in his last decade of coaching. That being said I think his departure from NU could have been handled with more grace or maybe another season should have been given to see if he could implement some changes to ensure a better showing on the field. I think Bo is also a better position coach/coordinator at the FBS level as well. His track record as a DC speaks for itself at NU and LSU; despite what we think about him personally. Looking back at both hires, maybe it can be said that TO was a great HC but not the best AD when it came to decisions like this. It must be tough trying to find a perfect balance between tradition/loyalty and success on the field. That being said, s**t happens and despite the way things went with TO, FS and Bo they all surely landed on their feet and live blessed lives. More will be revealed in the coming months and who knows we may be better off with Riley than any of them.

 

[AFhusker]

Frank had keys to a Ferrari and Bo had keys to a fiero and had the same success. I give the edge to bo.

I'll agree that Frank inherited a great program, but saying they had the same success is incorrect. 3 top 10 finishes for Frank. A conference title. A better win %. A 1-loss season. Two 2-loss seasons. Bo can claim none of these.

Even better is the fact that Frank wasn't a douchebag.

To be fair, Frank had four years of Tom's last recruiting class and took over a defending MNC program and put it in the toilet. Bo also was given a good amount of talent from Bill, but nowhere near what Frank inherited. It isn't surprising that after Toms last class graduated NU ended up 7-7 and the only reason as to why they went to a bowl game was a game against McNeese State. It isn't surprising that Bill was handed the least amount of talent, (which is why he was forced to go the JUCO route as much as he did) and had the worst results.

With that said, I am not defending any of the coaches here. If I had my choice I wouldn't have any of the three as the HC of NU.

 

[AFhusker]

Fearless was a helluva player, professional partier in the Sigma Nu house and was a stellar position coach. My old man and him were fraternity brothers/close friends in those days, a great guy but as has been insinuated on this board and in the press he has a penchant for the drink. I don't think he was going to lead us into a future consistent with the bar TO set in his last decade of coaching. That being said I think his departure from NU could have been handled with more grace or maybe another season should have been given to see if he could implement some changes to ensure a better showing on the field. I think Bo is also a better position coach/coordinator at the FBS level as well. His track record as a DC speaks for itself at NU and LSU; despite what we think about him personally. Looking back at both hires, maybe it can be said that TO was a great HC but not the best AD when it came to decisions like this. It must be tough trying to find a perfect balance between tradition/loyalty and success on the field. That being said, s**t happens and despite the way things went with TO, FS and Bo they all surely landed on their feet and live blessed lives. More will be revealed in the coming months and who knows we may be better off with Riley than any of them.

Very well said.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Actually the only reason we made a bowl in 2002 was because of an opening game win (48-10) over Arizona St in the Eddie Robinson classic i believe. THAT was the extra game. Not McNeese St.