OmahaPoohBear
Banned
Not that this thread needs to continue but some of the credit you give Callahan for his importance to Oakland can be given to Solich and shows his impact on keeping us a top program for 25 years. Did Solich not recruit alot of good players to NU? According to Osborne if it were not for Frank we may never have had Rozier along with many others. Solich did spend about 20 years as a very successful assistant, was Osborne's eye in the both. If you listened to the two of them talk on headsets during games (there is a DVD/tape of the 98 Orange Bowl with them talking strategy) Frank had alot to do with playcalling. I would dare to say that Solich was as crucial to NU's success during that time and that is why Tom wanted to name Frank as his successor.How do you figure that Gruden built that team? People act like Callahan was a dog in the backseat for a ride in the car. Gruden built that offense with Callahan and relied on him and his knowledge. People are quick to point out that Gruden built that Oakland team that Callahan took to the Super Bowl, but neglect to talk about how Gruden has done jack sh#t since winning a Super Bowl with Dungy/Kiffin's defense. Is it possible that Callahan was, dare I say it, crucial to Gruden's success?
There is not one other NFL franchise that has had half that amount of coaching turnover. To say that Callahan had nothing to do with building that Super Bowl team and was the cause of it's demise is ignorant.
That 99 team was all Osborne recruited players. The reason that team was so potent was because of the defense and McBride was still the DC. Solich did a good job that season in coaching the players that were there. I will give him credit where credit is due, but that comparison that you made is a reach.
If you want to compare the coaching ability of Gruden to Callahan just look at that Super Bowl that they coached against each other. I don't know how much Gruden let Callahan do at Oakland while he was head coach but when they went face to face, Gruden was 3 steps ahead of Callahan the entire time.