Gary Patterson

[TGHusker]

I actually just looked up who his assistants were that season

Brad Childress-OC

Kevin Cosgrove-DC

The bold: :ahhhhhhhh

 

[NUinID]

That someone from Wisc - would have been an amazing story of Barry coming back home.

There was an interview a year or so back with Barry that says he was very interested in the NU job when TO retired, but was not going to go after it after he heard his very good friend Solich was in line for the job.  

I don't know if Stoops was tops on Byrne's list of not, but I know Mack Brown was on the list.  He was still at North Carolina

 

[Apathy]

Like our season wasn’t bad already and know they lay the crap on us

 

[NUinID]

Why?  Because we did such a bang up job in 03' and 07'?  From everything I've ever been told about then when I was more connected with the program, there wasn't going to be a legitimate national search.  Byrne wanted to offer the job to Bob Stoops, TO pulled rank, and the rest is history.  We all know Stoops went on to have a great career at OU.  However, I have always wondered if he'd have been successful here.  The reason Bob Stoops left KState and Snyder for the exact same job at Florida and Spurrier was because he hated the long hours Snyder expected out of his assistants.  At Florida, the hours were short and the tee times were a many.  While his work ethic worked at OU with talent rich Texas at his feet, I question if it would have worked here.  I've always felt a coach like Snyder would have far better success here than a coach like Spurrier.   

Snyder is definitely a grinder, but I doubt that is the reason he left KSU.  He left because he got a very large raise in pay.  

 

[NebraskaHarry]

I hoped Nebraska fans would not overreact to this. It's stupid.

 

[StPaulHusker]

There was an interview a year or so back with Barry that says he was very interested in the NU job when TO retired, but was not going to go after it after he heard his very good friend Solich was in line for the job.  

I don't know if Stoops was tops on Byrne's list of not, but I know Mack Brown was on the list.  He was still at North Carolina

Solich was about to bolt to Minnesota, iirc

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Solich was about to bolt to Minnesota, iirc

Solich was going to go to Minnesota in the early to mid-90s, but Osborne wanted him to stay, and promised him the NU job after the '97 season.  Osborne thought he would be retire to at that time, but didn't expect to be doing as well as he did from '94-97.  But, Osborne kept his promise and retired.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Solich was going to go to Minnesota in the early to mid-90s, but Osborne wanted him to stay, and promised him the NU job after the '97 season.  Osborne thought he would be retire to at that time, but didn't expect to be doing as well as he did from '94-97.

So I was close.

Self High Five

 

[ColoradoHusk]

So I was close.

Self High Five

 

[Apathy]

So I was close.

Self High Five

 

[broganreynik]

This is just what I needed to cheer me up. My top choice for the last three coaching searches actually interviewed here and we turned him away.

View attachment 11977

 

[Landlord]

Osborne was a hell of a head coach...but did a poor job of setting us up for future success by making some truly bone-headed coaching hires. Patterson would have been a thousand times better than Pelini, but Osborne was fixated on Pelini. As long as we’re reminiscing, if we had done a legitimate national search in 1998 for a head coach, how many better candidates were out there than Frank “I define mediocre” Solich?

Just because those coaches didn't end up being great for a long time doesn't mean they were bone-headed. Most coaching hires fail, especially when you have expectations like NU. Osborne earned the right to pick his predecessor, and Solich was a fine head coach if we're looking at the results. He had a single down year, but brought us a conference championship, three straight top 10 finishes, a national championship game appearance, and a Fiesta Bowl win in his first six years, with the same win percentage and just slightly less accomplishments than Osborne (the greatest coach of all time) achieved in his first six years.

Pelini was also a good coaching hire. Osborne was fixated on Pelini because that is who, by a landslide, our fanbase wanted, and because he was a good, qualified candidate. Pelini's resume, for example, was quite similar to Kirby Smart's resume before being hired at Georgia, who's currently the #1 team in the nation. Patterson was also a good, qualified candidate, but the fanbase wasn't pining hard for Patterson.

If Pelini were Plan A over Patterson, that was a baaad misjudgment.

I disagree.

Bo was the same guy in 2007 that he was in 2003 and 2013.

UNL money was fixated on him. Hopefully those same people aren't in charge anymore.

Again, they were fixated on him because that's who we wanted, and he was a good candidate. He certainly wasn't the same guy as far as his disdain for the athletic department/director, and the fanbase. This was once upon a time his dream job. That changed.

The character concerns around Bo were well known at the time of his first exit from Nebraska.

What character concerns? I'm not aware of those.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Just because those coaches didn't end up being great for a long time doesn't mean they were bone-headed. Most coaching hires fail, especially when you have expectations like NU. Osborne earned the right to pick his predecessor, and Solich was a fine head coach if we're looking at the results. He had a single down year, but brought us a conference championship, three straight top 10 finishes, a national championship game appearance, and a Fiesta Bowl win in his first six years, with the same win percentage and just slightly less accomplishments than Osborne (the greatest coach of all time) achieved in his first six years.

Pelini was also a good coaching hire. Osborne was fixated on Pelini because that is who, by a landslide, our fanbase wanted, and because he was a good, qualified candidate. Pelini's resume, for example, was quite similar to Kirby Smart's resume before being hired at Georgia, who's currently the #1 team in the nation. Patterson was also a good, qualified candidate, but the fanbase wasn't pining hard for Patterson.

I disagree.

Again, they were fixated on him because that's who we wanted, and he was a good candidate. He certainly wasn't the same guy as far as his disdain for the athletic department/director, and the fanbase. This was once upon a time his dream job. That changed.

What character concerns? I'm not aware of those.

Losing his s#!t on the sidelines, i suppose.

 

[STL Husker]

I didn't want Pelini because as defensive coordinator. The one year under Frank Pelini's defense  had 3 losses, all 3 of them blowouts. We lost to Missouri, Texas and Kansas St that year by a combined score of 110-40.

Those blowout losses continued every year he was a head coach at Nebraska.

That year we also led the NCAA in interceptions and Demorrio Williams was among the sack leaders.  He also seemed to manage the blowout problem while at OU and LSU.  Looking back at it now you can see a connection, but it would have been foolish not to hire him because of those 3 losses 5 years prior.  You may not have wanted him, but just about everyone else was talking about how we got a great coach and he seemed to have proved it over the first couple of years.  He just couldn't maintain the talent to fit the system.

edit:  Not to mention that at the time we would gladly go back to just 3 blowout losses compared to what we were getting from Cosgrove's D.

 

[StPaulHusker]

I didn't want Pelini because as defensive coordinator. The one year under Frank Pelini's defense  had 3 losses, all 3 of them blowouts. We lost to Missouri, Texas and Kansas St that year by a combined score of 110-40.

Those blowout losses continued every year he was a head coach at Nebraska.

Our biggest loss in 2010 was by 12 points.  So not EVERY year