TGHusker
Heisman Trophy Winner
After seeing Bama win another championship, it makes me wonder if NU could get back to that kind of dominance. Thus the poll question.
My take: No.
1.We were fortunate to have Coach Bob and Coach Tom for such a long period of time. In today's world, it is almost unheard of a young coach staying at someplace like NU for 25 years. Coaches ladder climb to the SEC or to the NFL or to some glamour job like USC. If the head coach sticks around, the assistants are taking on new jobs and rising on their own career ladder. Not too many coaches keep assistants like Tom did. Coach longevity is the key to long term dominance.
2. Recruiting disadvantages: we've talked before about this many times - does NU have natural recruiting disadvantages - yes. Location, location - far away not only from the warmer climates but from the hot recruiting area.
3. Scholarship limits, cultural & demographic shifts all have affected NU negatively over the past 20 years.
Because of our "brand", I do believe NU can be successful and eventually compete occasionally for and win a national championship. However, there has been a whole new generation that has never experienced the NU that us older guys experienced - when NU was the bama of its day. There has got to be a total cultural shift in the perception of what NU football is. That will only come by winning something of worth, consistently - like conference championships which we haven't done since 1999. We also shouldn't forget that it wasn't just the 1990s in which we were one of the few dominant players - one could easily argue that NU was the team of the decade for the 1970s (2 national championships and high winning %) and even though we did not win a national championship in the 1980s - we were always in the discussion - perhaps more than any team except maybe Miami or Oklahoma.
My take: No.
1.We were fortunate to have Coach Bob and Coach Tom for such a long period of time. In today's world, it is almost unheard of a young coach staying at someplace like NU for 25 years. Coaches ladder climb to the SEC or to the NFL or to some glamour job like USC. If the head coach sticks around, the assistants are taking on new jobs and rising on their own career ladder. Not too many coaches keep assistants like Tom did. Coach longevity is the key to long term dominance.
2. Recruiting disadvantages: we've talked before about this many times - does NU have natural recruiting disadvantages - yes. Location, location - far away not only from the warmer climates but from the hot recruiting area.
3. Scholarship limits, cultural & demographic shifts all have affected NU negatively over the past 20 years.
Because of our "brand", I do believe NU can be successful and eventually compete occasionally for and win a national championship. However, there has been a whole new generation that has never experienced the NU that us older guys experienced - when NU was the bama of its day. There has got to be a total cultural shift in the perception of what NU football is. That will only come by winning something of worth, consistently - like conference championships which we haven't done since 1999. We also shouldn't forget that it wasn't just the 1990s in which we were one of the few dominant players - one could easily argue that NU was the team of the decade for the 1970s (2 national championships and high winning %) and even though we did not win a national championship in the 1980s - we were always in the discussion - perhaps more than any team except maybe Miami or Oklahoma.
