Eric the Red
Team HuskerBoard
Are Husker Fans Lowering Their Expectations?
Callahan `hot seat' comment creates quite the stir
June 1, 2007
By Trev Alberts
Special to CSTV.com
TREV ALBERTS
Trev Alberts is a football analyst for CSTV and CSTV.com.
E-mail here!
You've got college football questions and CSTV football analyst Trev Alberts has answers and opinions. Each week Alberts will be answering questions and queries on the world of college football. So if you've got a question for Trev, just ask him.
Why as a former player and fan of Husker football have you said that Coach Callahan is on the hot seat. I agree with you that he does need to start winning these big games soon...but Trev come on. I hope you understand that you have hurt the program and have really made people who are Nebraska fans, and always been supportive of you, question why you wrote this. It is going to be very difficult for NU to get a good coach in here after Callahan if he does not get a lot of time to turn this thing around. You know from the 1st coaching search that it was tough to find any good candidates to even consider going to NU because of the unreal expectations and pressure on the coaching staff. Please in the future do not add fuel to the fire on this topic as we have a small but focal segment that want Callahan and Pederson gone. And if that does transpire I am afraid Husker football will take decades to get back to a prominent power again. - Dan Schomaker
We of course had outstanding feedback from Nebraska fans this week, but there weren't very many questions posed and I'll start this week's mailbag off with this statement: I might indeed have lost touch with Nebraska football in some respects because somewhere between three or four years ago, apparently expectations have been lowered.
Let me state for the record that I am a huge Nebraska fan and I have a large investment into that place. I want nothing but championship level effort and results. But the day that Nebraskans, their fans, their coaches and their players ever lower their expectations and demands of excellence will be the end of the Nebraska that I knew.
I had the privilege of narrating a three parts series that many Huskers fans have on the history of Nebraska football. In doing that narration is when I really learned, to a great extent, how Nebraska had no tolerance for substandard performance, period. There were no exceptions because the state and its people defined itself by the success of the football program. I'm not saying that's necessarily right, but that was reality. It was stunning to me how it didn't matter who the coach was in that he was given an opportunity, a fair opportunity, and if he didn't get it done they found somebody who did.
This isn't a Frank Solich vs. Bill Callahan argument. I've read many of the posts, the threads, the blogs, and I'm not sure people remember me sitting at a desk in a studio at a competing network saying it was the right move to go in a different direction. I've had some reservations how Solich's firing was handled, but please don't try and turn this into an "I'm disappointed Solich isn't still the head coach." If Solich didn't get the job done, it was time for somebody to get it done. On a totally different matter, you could argue the point of whether or not Solich got the job done.
But when I came up with the names of those on the "hot seat" last week, it never was supposed to be a list of coaches who ought to be fired. The point is this: Callahan finds himself in the same position that other coaches that preceded him found themselves in. This is year No. 4 and it's time to produce. Nobody said he's not going to get it done. Let's not forget Steve Pederson essentially saying Nebraska wasn't going to play second fiddle to Kansas State and Texas. That statement comes under the premise of why Solich was fired.
Now, Nebraska has changed the program and if someone said that Callahan was on the hot seat after his first year that would be ludicrous. After year two, it would probably be ludicrous as well. After year three, I think it is fair for the coach to feel some pressure after we've been told to remain patient while the regime's own recruits mature and play a more prominent role. They've now brought in highly ranked recruiting classes, an All-American quarterback candidate in Sam Keller, who himself has said he looks forward to the day when he's introduced on Monday Night Football and can say, "Sam Keller, University of Nebraska." They've had years to get their specific players in, they play in a very weak North Division of the Big 12, which is probably the fourth weakest conference in the game.
All I've merely said all along is that there are no more excuses. This is the year, according to Nebraska football history, that will define and basically characterize what this regime is going to be about. I think that's fair.
I didn't say I didn't like Bill Callahan, or how difficult it is to change from an option based attack to a West Coast offense. But it is year No. 4. And I never said they weren't making progress. There's been progress, but it should be fairly easy to make progress with a stable staff, all the recruits, new facilities and having everything in place they supposedly need. Steve Pederson has done everything for Bill Callahan, bending over backwards for him. All I've said is that a seven win season, according to what I used to think the expectations were, is unacceptable. I guess I've lost touch because when Solich won only seven games that state was in a complete uproar.
When Nebraska won nine games last season, people said the Huskers were back. But that was only the fourth best record in 40 years of Nebraska. Back in the day, if you didn't win nine games, then they were considered terrible. I might have lost touch, which is my fault by not being there on a more regular basis. I didn't know that the expectations were different now than they used to be. If they are, I sincerely apologize.
This isn't a statement that I want Steve Pederson fired or Bill Callahan fired or Frank Solich back coaching or Tom Osborne. This is not a Bill Callahan issue or a Steve Pederson issue. I fully understand how difficult their jobs are. But when I read blogs that say when Nebraska wins seven games that they're getting better, I'm flabbergasted that they're lowering expectations and how effective they've been at doing such. There was a time when Nebraska lost and the state went into mourning for a week. I hope Nebraska fans haven't become callous to losing. There used to be a demand for excellence.
There will come a time, and I don't care who it is, when a coach will come under fire. There will come a time when Charlie Weis, if he keeps losing too many more games to Michigan or getting blown out in bowl games, will be on the hot seat at Notre Dame, and eventually he'll be shown the door.
And getting back to the original email, just because the coaching search last time wasn't handled correctly, and was ineffective, doesn't mean there aren't people dying to come coach at Nebraska.
Callahan `hot seat' comment creates quite the stir
June 1, 2007
By Trev Alberts
Special to CSTV.com
TREV ALBERTS
Trev Alberts is a football analyst for CSTV and CSTV.com.
E-mail here!
You've got college football questions and CSTV football analyst Trev Alberts has answers and opinions. Each week Alberts will be answering questions and queries on the world of college football. So if you've got a question for Trev, just ask him.
Why as a former player and fan of Husker football have you said that Coach Callahan is on the hot seat. I agree with you that he does need to start winning these big games soon...but Trev come on. I hope you understand that you have hurt the program and have really made people who are Nebraska fans, and always been supportive of you, question why you wrote this. It is going to be very difficult for NU to get a good coach in here after Callahan if he does not get a lot of time to turn this thing around. You know from the 1st coaching search that it was tough to find any good candidates to even consider going to NU because of the unreal expectations and pressure on the coaching staff. Please in the future do not add fuel to the fire on this topic as we have a small but focal segment that want Callahan and Pederson gone. And if that does transpire I am afraid Husker football will take decades to get back to a prominent power again. - Dan Schomaker
We of course had outstanding feedback from Nebraska fans this week, but there weren't very many questions posed and I'll start this week's mailbag off with this statement: I might indeed have lost touch with Nebraska football in some respects because somewhere between three or four years ago, apparently expectations have been lowered.
Let me state for the record that I am a huge Nebraska fan and I have a large investment into that place. I want nothing but championship level effort and results. But the day that Nebraskans, their fans, their coaches and their players ever lower their expectations and demands of excellence will be the end of the Nebraska that I knew.
I had the privilege of narrating a three parts series that many Huskers fans have on the history of Nebraska football. In doing that narration is when I really learned, to a great extent, how Nebraska had no tolerance for substandard performance, period. There were no exceptions because the state and its people defined itself by the success of the football program. I'm not saying that's necessarily right, but that was reality. It was stunning to me how it didn't matter who the coach was in that he was given an opportunity, a fair opportunity, and if he didn't get it done they found somebody who did.
This isn't a Frank Solich vs. Bill Callahan argument. I've read many of the posts, the threads, the blogs, and I'm not sure people remember me sitting at a desk in a studio at a competing network saying it was the right move to go in a different direction. I've had some reservations how Solich's firing was handled, but please don't try and turn this into an "I'm disappointed Solich isn't still the head coach." If Solich didn't get the job done, it was time for somebody to get it done. On a totally different matter, you could argue the point of whether or not Solich got the job done.
But when I came up with the names of those on the "hot seat" last week, it never was supposed to be a list of coaches who ought to be fired. The point is this: Callahan finds himself in the same position that other coaches that preceded him found themselves in. This is year No. 4 and it's time to produce. Nobody said he's not going to get it done. Let's not forget Steve Pederson essentially saying Nebraska wasn't going to play second fiddle to Kansas State and Texas. That statement comes under the premise of why Solich was fired.
Now, Nebraska has changed the program and if someone said that Callahan was on the hot seat after his first year that would be ludicrous. After year two, it would probably be ludicrous as well. After year three, I think it is fair for the coach to feel some pressure after we've been told to remain patient while the regime's own recruits mature and play a more prominent role. They've now brought in highly ranked recruiting classes, an All-American quarterback candidate in Sam Keller, who himself has said he looks forward to the day when he's introduced on Monday Night Football and can say, "Sam Keller, University of Nebraska." They've had years to get their specific players in, they play in a very weak North Division of the Big 12, which is probably the fourth weakest conference in the game.
All I've merely said all along is that there are no more excuses. This is the year, according to Nebraska football history, that will define and basically characterize what this regime is going to be about. I think that's fair.
I didn't say I didn't like Bill Callahan, or how difficult it is to change from an option based attack to a West Coast offense. But it is year No. 4. And I never said they weren't making progress. There's been progress, but it should be fairly easy to make progress with a stable staff, all the recruits, new facilities and having everything in place they supposedly need. Steve Pederson has done everything for Bill Callahan, bending over backwards for him. All I've said is that a seven win season, according to what I used to think the expectations were, is unacceptable. I guess I've lost touch because when Solich won only seven games that state was in a complete uproar.
When Nebraska won nine games last season, people said the Huskers were back. But that was only the fourth best record in 40 years of Nebraska. Back in the day, if you didn't win nine games, then they were considered terrible. I might have lost touch, which is my fault by not being there on a more regular basis. I didn't know that the expectations were different now than they used to be. If they are, I sincerely apologize.
This isn't a statement that I want Steve Pederson fired or Bill Callahan fired or Frank Solich back coaching or Tom Osborne. This is not a Bill Callahan issue or a Steve Pederson issue. I fully understand how difficult their jobs are. But when I read blogs that say when Nebraska wins seven games that they're getting better, I'm flabbergasted that they're lowering expectations and how effective they've been at doing such. There was a time when Nebraska lost and the state went into mourning for a week. I hope Nebraska fans haven't become callous to losing. There used to be a demand for excellence.
There will come a time, and I don't care who it is, when a coach will come under fire. There will come a time when Charlie Weis, if he keeps losing too many more games to Michigan or getting blown out in bowl games, will be on the hot seat at Notre Dame, and eventually he'll be shown the door.
And getting back to the original email, just because the coaching search last time wasn't handled correctly, and was ineffective, doesn't mean there aren't people dying to come coach at Nebraska.
Last edited by a moderator:
gee trev how do you really feel?
