Those No Longer With Us

[teachercd]

Do you mean to tell me that in a brief interaction with a stranger, Bo Pelini didn't fly off in a rage or call you a c***? 

You know who was really warm-hearted with children and pets? Hitler. But the "gotcha" media never showed that side of him!

He actually did call me that.

Wait, is that not normal?  I feel like I get called that like 6 times a day!!!

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Sims play was pretty infuriating last year. He got so flustered with even simple plays that I ended up feeling sorry for him. He actually seemed afraid when asked to step back in for Haarberg. Seemed clear that football, or at least quarterbacking, wasn't going to work out for him.

I didn't know he landed at a Power 4 conference. Honestly wish him well. 

 

[teachercd]

Sims huge upside is he is a freak athlete.  I would argue that even against CU he was the best athlete on the field.  

 

[Lorewarn]

The truth is that even after Tapegate, Eichorst gave Bo a contract extension, an extra plane for recruiting, and a bigger budget, not to mention a major PR campaign to promote the lighter side of Bo. The Boleivers often have a hard time believing that. Whatever you think of Eichorst, both tapes suggest Bo was a disloyal prick himself and no pleasure to work with. Nebraska fans didn't invent that. It followed Bo elsewhere. 

This is an important point people forget. The tape released after the UCLA game in 2013, and let's not forget that 9 games later, Bo publicly dared Eichorst to fire him, and instead of doing so (maybe with his hands tied by the boosters, who knows) Eichorst instead gave Bo more tools to succeed.

Now, in hindsight, Pearlman was hurting Nebraska far more than Bo ever did, and Eichorst was emblematic of and maybe to some degree even an active participant in that as well. But at the end of the day, when you're coaching at a top 8 all-time school and you're no closer to winning a championship in year seven than you were in year one, while seemingly actively trying to alienate your fanbase, and setting program or national records of poor performance, the writing is on the wall. 

Our post-Bo ineptitude is mostly unrelated to whether firing Bo was the right decision. Two separate decisions, and Eichorst made one right and made the other as wrong as possible. 

 

[teachercd]

This is an important point people forget. The tape released after the UCLA game in 2013, and let's not forget that 9 games later, Bo publicly dared Eichorst to fire him, and instead of doing so (maybe with his hands tied by the boosters, who knows) Eichorst instead gave Bo more tools to succeed.

Now, in hindsight, Pearlman was hurting Nebraska far more than Bo ever did, and Eichorst was emblematic of and maybe to some degree even an active participant in that as well. But at the end of the day, when you're coaching at a top 8 all-time school and you're no closer to winning a championship in year seven than you were in year one, while seemingly actively trying to alienate your fanbase, and setting program or national records of poor performance, the writing is on the wall. 

Our post-Bo ineptitude is mostly unrelated to whether firing Bo was the right decision. Two separate decisions, and Eichorst made one right and made the other as wrong as possible. 

9-10 wins a season now, and NU is in the playoff hunt every single year.

Finished 1st or 2nd every season but one (3rd) and STILL has dudes playing in the NFL including a future HOFer in David.

I get it, he had 2-3 bad games against Wisconsin (who is on a major downturn).  

Actually, with the exception of Iowa you could argue that even LESS teams try a power run game now in the his conference.  

The tapes mean zero.  If you think the coaches like us, you are insane.  We are annoying, we annoy them, we don't usually know what we are talking about and we rip on the coaches non-stop.  And as far as hating his boss, who cares, we have all had a boss we hate and talked s#!t on. 

 

[Lorewarn]

9-10 wins a season now, and NU is in the playoff hunt every single year.

Finished 1st or 2nd every season but one (3rd) and STILL has dudes playing in the NFL including a future HOFer in David.

I get it, he had 2-3 bad games against Wisconsin (who is on a major downturn).  

Actually, with the exception of Iowa you could argue that even LESS teams try a power run game now in the his conference.  

First, if you look at who had the tiebreakers, and place them accordingly, these are Bo's actual division standings in the Big XII North, then B1G Legends, then B1G West:

2nd

1st

1st

3rd

1st

3rd

3rd

So like I said, no closer to winning a championship in year seven than you were in year one, while coaching at a blue blood will never be sustainable. 7 years was more than enough time and data to conclude that Bo's ceiling and floor were an inch apart, and trending downwards rather than upwards.

Second, Bo's particular style of 9-10 wins would not put NU in the playoff hunt (read, top 12-14) every year. If you don't believe me, here's where we ranked after conference championship weekend every year and how many wins we had at the time:

2009 - 10 wins, ranked #20 (not in the playoff hunt)

2010 - 10 wins, ranked #18 (more or less not in the playoff hunt but maybe in the most chaotic scenario)

2011 - 9 wins, ranked #21 (not in the playoff hunt)

2012 - 10 wins, ranked #23 (not in the playoff hunt)

2013 - 9 wins, unranked

2014 - 9 wins, unranked

Last, there's absolutely zero scenario where Bo continuing on as he had been would stay at 9-10 wins a year. He got remarkably lucky to coincide with the worst in decades versions of OSU/Mich/PSU, and was also coaching in the B1G before the middle and lower tier teams suddenly had hundreds of millions to drop on high caliber coaching staffs and state of the art facilities etc. 

 

[Wistrom Disciple]

Well you brought up "the truth" he spoke without specifics. My guess, based on years of these exchanges, is that it has something to do with fairweather fans and the AD being a c***. Tapegate One was after the Ohio State game, in which he raged at the fairthweather fans who left at halftime of a lifeless performance by Nebraska. In truth, it was just a small segment of the student section, and in fact a still packed Memorial Stadium cheered wildly for the biggest comeback in Nebraska history. Thin-skinned Bo just saw the glass as 97% empty and went after the entire state. We don't have fairweather fans, but they do know good (and bad) football when they see it. 

It's not a lie that a couple Husker beat reporters had started hammering Bo, but in truth that comes with the territory, coach. Plenty of football-crazed hotbeds serve up much worse than Dirk Chatelien. Bo couldn't escape scrutiny at Youngstown State or LSU either, so there's an excellent chance it's on Bo.

The truth is that even after Tapegate, Eichorst gave Bo a contract extension, an extra plane for recruiting, and a bigger budget, not to mention a major PR campaign to promote the lighter side of Bo. The Boleivers often have a hard time believing that. Whatever you think of Eichorst, both tapes suggest Bo was a disloyal prick himself and no pleasure to work with. Nebraska fans didn't invent that. It followed Bo elsewhere. 

Nebraska has zero fair-weather fans... like none at all? You sure about that? Yes, a large majority of Husker fans are loyal and have stuck through our worst decade of football in a lifetime. However, Bo wasn't targeting his criticism on the fans that stayed, he said what anyone would say at that impromptu question, 'they left before the game was over? F@#& them.' It's what I would expect most people to say, though maybe with a little less anger. 

A one year contract extension leaving Bo with little more security than a 2-3? year contract in an era when most high level coaches had contracts 4-5+ years was a problem. The World-Herald mentioned it in an article around then that other schools used the limited commitment to negatively recruit against us. I must have missed the major PR campaign to promote Bo... I don't recall Perlman or Eichorst firmly supporting Bo at any juncture, especially after Osborne was canned involuntarily retired.

I guess we have different perspectives on loyalty based on how you mention it above. His players would suggest he's one of the most loyal coaches they have ever had. Like @teachercd mentioned, having met Bo and had several conversations with players and athletic department staffers during that time, he was genuinely a good person. Rough around the edges and skeptical until comfortable, he was a damn good coach for us and ran a good program. Thankfully, he didn't have mean tweets and instead would just tell you* straight up when he didn't like someone or something. *A trait this world could use more of in this day and age.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

9-10 wins a season now, and NU is in the playoff hunt every single year.

Finished 1st or 2nd every season but one (3rd) and STILL has dudes playing in the NFL including a future HOFer in David.

I get it, he had 2-3 bad games against Wisconsin (who is on a major downturn).  

Actually, with the exception of Iowa you could argue that even LESS teams try a power run game now in the his conference.  

The tapes mean zero.  If you think the coaches like us, you are insane.  We are annoying, we annoy them, we don't usually know what we are talking about and we rip on the coaches non-stop.  And as far as hating his boss, who cares, we have all had a boss we hate and talked s#!t on. 

Eh, not really. There are plenty of coaches who win games and manage to get along reasonably well with the administrators, fans, and media. I mean, that's what good coaches do. Until they don't and get fired. At major public universities, they are often the highest paid government employee in the state, so a little PR comes with the territory. Matt Rhule wasn't a politically correct choice. Just a good guy as well as a respected coach.  Was Bo Pelini worse than most? Yes. Was he treated unfairly? No. He literally asked for it. We can crunch the numbers all we want, but there was always this little nugget: during the 7 year tenure of Bo Pelini at Nebraska, only 3 Power 5 teams had worse records against ranked opponents. It just felt like we'd dropped off the map of college football relevance, and I don't see why we were supposed to accept that.

Who knew we had so much further to plummet?

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I must have missed the major PR campaign to promote Bo... I don't recall Perlman or Eichorst firmly supporting Bo at any juncture, especially after Osborne was canned involuntarily retired.

You may have forgotten those clips of Bo helping a serviceman propose to his girlfriend, pranking his team in the locker room, the Bo and his cat stuff, and the major publicity around Team Jack, including traditional and social media. This was in 2013 and 2014 when Bo's national reputation had taken a hit, and it was a very intentional media campaign to warm up Bo's image, conceived by, produced, and budgeted through Shawn Eichorst's Athletic Department. It worked, and Bo helped his own cause by actually calming down and warming up. Even his sideline behavior was better. When the product on the field suffered at the end of both 2013 and 2014, Bo largely reverted. 

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Nebraska has zero fair-weather fans... like none at all? You sure about that? Yes, a large majority of Husker fans are loyal and have stuck through our worst decade of football in a lifetime. However, Bo wasn't targeting his criticism on the fans that stayed, he said what anyone would say at that impromptu question.

This thread made me go back and listen again, and I gotta say......no. Not many coaches would rant like that to the people who happened to be in the room, going well beyond the impromptu question. 

 

[Wistrom Disciple]

You may have forgotten those clips of Bo helping a serviceman propose to his girlfriend, pranking his team in the locker room, the Bo and his cat stuff, and the major publicity around Team Jack, including traditional and social media. This was in 2013 and 2014 when Bo's national reputation had taken a hit, and it was a very intentional media campaign to warm up Bo's image, conceived by, produced, and budgeted through Shawn Eichorst's Athletic Department. It worked, and Bo helped his own cause by actually calming down and warming up. Even his sideline behavior was better. When the product on the field suffered at the end of both 2013 and 2014, Bo largely reverted. 

You believe those were supported by Eichorst and Perlman? Those two nitwits couldn't wait to bring in their own guy and scrub away Bo & Osborne alike. From my limited interactions with staffers at the time, many in the athletic department liked Bo and the staff and would privately support the program. Where the support was lacking with the administration and University leadership. Having seen the direction our program took after Pelini, I would have much rather seen Pelini stay and seen the other two leave.

 

[Wistrom Disciple]

This thread made me go back and listen again, and I gotta say......no. Not many coaches would rant like that to the people who happened to be in the room, going well beyond the impromptu question. 

You think Urban Meyer, Ryan Day, Kirby Smart, Nick Saban, etc. would have a peaceful and politically correct answer in a private conversation after that question immediately following a heated, emotional game? Not a chance.

 

[teachercd]

First, if you look at who had the tiebreakers, and place them accordingly, these are Bo's actual division standings in the Big XII North, then B1G Legends, then B1G West:

2nd

1st

1st

3rd

1st

3rd

3rd

So like I said, no closer to winning a championship in year seven than you were in year one, while coaching at a blue blood will never be sustainable. 7 years was more than enough time and data to conclude that Bo's ceiling and floor were an inch apart, and trending downwards rather than upwards.

Second, Bo's particular style of 9-10 wins would not put NU in the playoff hunt (read, top 12-14) every year. If you don't believe me, here's where we ranked after conference championship weekend every year and how many wins we had at the time:

2009 - 10 wins, ranked #20 (not in the playoff hunt)

2010 - 10 wins, ranked #18 (more or less not in the playoff hunt but maybe in the most chaotic scenario)

2011 - 9 wins, ranked #21 (not in the playoff hunt)

2012 - 10 wins, ranked #23 (not in the playoff hunt)

2013 - 9 wins, unranked

2014 - 9 wins, unranked

Last, there's absolutely zero scenario where Bo continuing on as he had been would stay at 9-10 wins a year. He got remarkably lucky to coincide with the worst in decades versions of OSU/Mich/PSU, and was also coaching in the B1G before the middle and lower tier teams suddenly had hundreds of millions to drop on high caliber coaching staffs and state of the art facilities etc. 

So now he is a bad coach and got lucky.  Okay.  

Well, I hope Rhule is bad enough this year to get 10 wins!

 

[Lorewarn]

A one year contract extension leaving Bo with little more security than a 2-3? year contract in an era when most high level coaches had contracts 4-5+ years was a problem. The World-Herald mentioned it in an article around then that other schools used the limited commitment to negatively recruit against us. I must have missed the major PR campaign to promote Bo... I don't recall Perlman or Eichorst firmly supporting Bo at any juncture, especially after Osborne was canned involuntarily retired.

Sorry, but you're just straight up wrong here. March 7, 2014 Pelini's contract was through February 2028. March 8th, 2014, his contract was extended to last through February 28, 2019. That's a 5 year contract, not 2-3, and since there was no 2-3 year contract, there was nothing for other schools to use to negatively recruit against us.

I must have missed the major PR campaign to promote Bo... I don't recall Perlman or Eichorst firmly supporting Bo at any juncture, especially after Osborne was canned involuntarily retired.

Guy more or less covered it, but here's some of the specific examples of the larger obvious concerted effort:

- Engaging with FauxPelini on twitter and walking out of the spring game tunnel walk with the cat









- Modeling the team's 2014 alternate uniforms, which NFL.com's reporting summed up as "Nebraska coach Bo Pelini seemingly is trying to present a kindler, gentler -- and funnier -- side in public the past eight months, and he was at it again Friday."

 

[teachercd]

My god, we are the lamest fan base.

We make up rumors about our coaches when we hate them.  

Then when they do something nice, we tear it the f#&% down.

And then we think the coaches should be giving us fans HJ's and french kissing us.