Frank Solich article - The 1st Husker to run for 200 yards

[Elf]

Good article on Frank Solich. I often wonder what would have happened if we had not fumbled the ball going across the Texas goal line in 1999. Very high chance we would have won the national championship that year going undefeated. As it was, we badly beat a highly ranked Tenn team in the Fiesta Bowl as this article notes. A NC may have bought Frank more time and who knows maybe the Colorado disaster 2 years later may not have occurred - we may have had a better D or a more diverse O. A NC brings better recruits. Just never know

http://www.knoxnews.com/sports/vols/columnists/john-adams/ohio-coach-solichs-former-identity-was-nebraska-star-3bc79387-a15b-24fb-e053-0100007f2d9c-393308291.html

I like Solich but the issue wasn't being a MNC or couple wins away from securing the needed recruits. The issue was Solich had the wrong recruits on the board at key positions. It was almost like Solich went back to the 80s and didn't learn the "talent upgrade" issue TO went through (especially on D).

Still, Frank was a GREAT Husker!!

I think we all tend to forget that this was during the same period that the spread styled offenses exploded in the BIG 12. Times were changing, and if Frank made any mistake it was not evolving and adapting to the changing environment quick enough.

However by brining Pelini on who would go on to do a great job shut down the spread during that era was a great move, he updated the defensive scheme and we were better for it.

Idk about Barney, but I imagine we would have found a better OC too.

All in all he shouldn't have been fired, But Peterson and Perlman had their own ideas, and we all saw how that turned out.

Frank should have been fired when he went 7-7 and I was really surprised that he wasn't. Unless this is your first year as a head coach at NU, a .500 season or lower is unacceptable and should put you in the unemployment line.

 

[fb30]

For 1 mediocre season? That's a little harsh.

 

[MichiganDad3]

I thought a major contributor to recruiting under Solich was too many old assistants who were not healthy enough to recruit, or just didn't recruit because of the grind. Solich could not force assistants to resign because of the success of the program. Is there any truth to this?

 

[admo]

Good article on Frank Solich. I often wonder what would have happened if we had not fumbled the ball going across the Texas goal line in 1999. Very high chance we would have won the national championship that year going undefeated. As it was, we badly beat a highly ranked Tenn team in the Fiesta Bowl as this article notes. A NC may have bought Frank more time and who knows maybe the Colorado disaster 2 years later may not have occurred - we may have had a better D or a more diverse O. A NC brings better recruits. Just never know

http://www.knoxnews.com/sports/vols/columnists/john-adams/ohio-coach-solichs-former-identity-was-nebraska-star-3bc79387-a15b-24fb-e053-0100007f2d9c-393308291.html

I like Solich but the issue wasn't being a MNC or couple wins away from securing the needed recruits. The issue was Solich had the wrong recruits on the board at key positions. It was almost like Solich went back to the 80s and didn't learn the "talent upgrade" issue TO went through (especially on D).

Still, Frank was a GREAT Husker!!

Ummmm, most of the talent on the 03' team was on the defensive side of the ball. We have been in football purgatory ever since the handling of Solich.

At the time I remember I wanted him out. But looking back now days, you are absolutely right.

 

[The Dude]

Frank Solich is a helluva Husker.

I'd say he's behind only Devaney, Osborne and Epley in terms of contributions to our program.

 

[Elf]

For 1 mediocre season? That's a little harsh.

Really?

I recall some people wanting Riley out after his first game. That's what I'd call harsh.

I don't think it is harsh to say that one 7-7 season should have ended Frank's tenure at NU. After all, he was handed the keys to a Ferrari and turned it into something much less. A lot is made of the streaks that ended under Callahan's reign but the streak of winning seasons ended on Frank's watch.

 

[Elf]

Frank Solich is a helluva Husker.

I'd say he's behind only Devaney, Osborne and Epley in terms of contributions to our program.

Frank was one hell of a running backs coach, that's for sure. I never saw him play so I can't comment on that part of his tenure as a Husker.

 

[GBRFAN]

Frank Solich is a helluva Husker.

I'd say he's behind only Devaney, Osborne and Epley in terms of contributions to our program.

All this is true, however when we have our next successful run. It will only take about three years for FS to take one more step back on that list.

 

[NUinID]

For 1 mediocre season? That's a little harsh.

Really?

I recall some people wanting Riley out after his first game. That's what I'd call harsh.

I don't think it is harsh to say that one 7-7 season should have ended Frank's tenure at NU. After all, he was handed the keys to a Ferrari and turned it into something much less. A lot is made of the streaks that ended under Callahan's reign but the streak of winning seasons ended on Frank's watch.

Yeah I can tell you are one of the countless number of people that actually thought what was done in the mid 90's was going to last forever. That was a 7-7 team that was pretty close to winning about 3 more games.

FS wasn't as good a HC as TO was this is true, but by 2002 he had a lot of assistants that were not at the top of their game either, coaching or recruiting wise. The fact that he turned things around and won 9 games 10 if you count the bowl game, the next year with basically a new staff says something. I would have loved to have seen the new staff recruit for a couple of years.

 

[ColoNoCoHusker]

Good article on Frank Solich. I often wonder what would have happened if we had not fumbled the ball going across the Texas goal line in 1999. Very high chance we would have won the national championship that year going undefeated. As it was, we badly beat a highly ranked Tenn team in the Fiesta Bowl as this article notes. A NC may have bought Frank more time and who knows maybe the Colorado disaster 2 years later may not have occurred - we may have had a better D or a more diverse O. A NC brings better recruits. Just never know

http://www.knoxnews.com/sports/vols/columnists/john-adams/ohio-coach-solichs-former-identity-was-nebraska-star-3bc79387-a15b-24fb-e053-0100007f2d9c-393308291.html

I like Solich but the issue wasn't being a MNC or couple wins away from securing the needed recruits. The issue was Solich had the wrong recruits on the board at key positions. It was almost like Solich went back to the 80s and didn't learn the "talent upgrade" issue TO went through (especially on D).

Still, Frank was a GREAT Husker!!

Ummmm, most of the talent on the 03' team was on the defensive side of the ball. We have been in football purgatory ever since the handling of Solich.

I didn't state that clearly as I should have... In the 80s, TO & McBride figured out we needed completely different type of talent on D. Seems to me that Solich did not learn from this situation and ended up repeating it on Offense. We had some prolific players, prolific busts, and a lot of players that didn't fit the system.

I liked Solich but his off-field behavior really sealed the deal with ol' Pedey...

 

[fb30]

Frank is awesome. I try to watch Ohio games whenever there on. He seems happy there.

 

[cm husker]

Frank Solich is a helluva Husker.

I'd say he's behind only Devaney, Osborne and Epley in terms of contributions to our program.

Epley's a good add too... there's a number of guys who'd rank very close to Frank, but his time as a player I think is the differentiator compared to them.

 

[cm husker]

I thought a major contributor to recruiting under Solich was too many old assistants who were not healthy enough to recruit, or just didn't recruit because of the grind. Solich could not force assistants to resign because of the success of the program. Is there any truth to this?

This has always been my sense of it, and sort of how it played out in 2003. Of the coaches who were moved on, all but Tenipor seemed to be respectful of the decisions and Frank's handling of those changes. I think that's fairly telling about his abilities as an HC.

Personally, for all the talk about him needing to make changes sooner, I think it was absolutely untenable to fire anyone prior to the 2002. Can you imagine Tenipor being forced into retirement or fired any time between 1999 and 2001, even though by almost all accounts he was struggling to recruit and coach due to health issues? Should Bohl have been fired 2 seasons after taking over as McBride's handpicked successor, especially when NU had posted the nation's 8th best scoring defense in 2001?

I just have a really hard time criticizing Frank for the way he played things out in Nebraska.

With the benefit of hindsight, people can claim that he obviously should have tossed a bunch of venerable NU assistants on the ash heap a mere year or two removed from the 1997 championship, but I think that's a ridiculously unfair conclusion.

 

[Elf]

For 1 mediocre season? That's a little harsh.

Really?

I recall some people wanting Riley out after his first game. That's what I'd call harsh.

I don't think it is harsh to say that one 7-7 season should have ended Frank's tenure at NU. After all, he was handed the keys to a Ferrari and turned it into something much less. A lot is made of the streaks that ended under Callahan's reign but the streak of winning seasons ended on Frank's watch.

Yeah I can tell you are one of the countless number of people that actually thought what was done in the mid 90's was going to last forever. That was a 7-7 team that was pretty close to winning about 3 more games.

FS wasn't as good a HC as TO was this is true, but by 2002 he had a lot of assistants that were not at the top of their game either, coaching or recruiting wise. The fact that he turned things around and won 9 games 10 if you count the bowl game, the next year with basically a new staff says something. I would have loved to have seen the new staff recruit for a couple of years.

As soon as it was announced that Osborne had retired and named Frank as his successor, I knew our run was over. I even told my brother in law, well...it was a nice run but it had to end sooner or later. So yeah, I totally thought it was going to last forever. Lol.

Frank's 7-7 team may have been close to three more wins, but they didn't get those three wins. Just like Riley last year, 6-7 with some really close losses (5) that were nearly wins...but...they were still losses.

 

[cm husker]

So... You knew better than Osborne what was best for the program and could identify from the stands what kind of an HC he would be based on his performance as an assistant? Comon.

And the run last at least another 5 years, FYI.