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Ten Triumphs of Callahan Era
Ten Triumphs of the Callahan Era
Recruiting, Zac Taylor among NU coach's biggest success stories
by Samuel McKewon
November 14, 2007
During this bye week, as the Bill Callahan Era likely draws to a close, we'll revisit some of key accomplishments - and struggles - of his time at Nebraska. First, we review the top ten successes of Callahan's four seasons.
The light is fading on Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan. All signs point to that, and if those markers are a ruse, then Athletic Director Tom Osborne owes an explanation to any recruit who jumped ship when he took over.
What could have saved Callahan after that 4-3 start, former Athletic Director Steve Pederson’s firing and Osborne’s return? Probably a 4-1 finish. As it stands, Nebraska will be lucky to finish 2-3 and sneak in the back door of some forgiving bowl game. Callahan's attitude both during and after NU's 73-31 win over Kansas State punctuated his fate; by Monday, he was selling his offensive philosophy to any Big 12 reporter willing to listen.
So there is room for criticism, for analyzing how and why such a smart, organized man failed at a school that rewards intelligence and tidiness.
We’ll get there. Today, though, we look at the positives.
Yes, there were some. More than this list of ten. But here's a Decalogue to chew on. The memories you can thank Callahan for giving you.
A clean program that graduates its players: Don't underestimate this. It matters. It always, always matters. Callahan may not be the right coach to lead Nebraska back to national prominence, but he never put them in the tabloids, either. That's character, leadership and discipline - along with some good kids - at work.
The modern athletic director and the U.S. Supreme Court essentially created this monster we call the college football business - and all the ugly side dishes that go along with it. The first virtues to go are usually academic achievement and civil obedience.
Well, Callahan got his kids to class and kept most of them out of trouble. Were there a few dustups? Sure. It's hard to stem the pervasive influence and the availability of booze.
But you never heard about any stripper/rape scandals. No late-night shootings at 20th and Garfield. No players getting paid ten grand to pick up sofa lint. No whispers about HGH or ecstasy. No brawls with the baseball team. None of those wonderful misunderstandings that include broken doors, shattered windows, stolen Playstations and police chases. No NCAA sanctions for unethical phone calls. Under Callahan, the Huskers have kept their noses about as clean as guys in a major college football program could.
And, as of the 2006 NCAA Division I Graduation Rates Report, the Huskers had a 84 percent graduation rate, behind only Boston College in BCS Conferences. Of course, NU's academic tradition was established well before Callahan arrived at NU, but he kept it going.
In short, he seemed to take this portion of his job seriously.
Modernization of Offense: We'll touch more on the intricacies of Callahan's West Coast Offense in the "failures" piece. Rather, this success is at the most basic level.
The path that Frank Solich and his staff were traveling was near a dead end. After Bobby Newcombe was hurt in the opening game of Solich's six-year tenure, the coach never returned to his rumored plan of using a run/pass guy like Newcombe to gradually move NU toward a more wide-open attack. Don't get me wrong: Eric Crouch was an extraordinary football player. He was also The Last Mohican. And his replacement, Jammal Lord, was a receiver playing quarterback. Against any reasonably good defense, that offense had run its course.
So NU was bound for an overhaul anyway in 2004. Implementing the WCO certainly was more painful, but the tough love was necessary. Something had to jar Nebraska out of its eroding cocoon. Callahan's attack did just that, while retaining some elements of power football; should a new coach be hired, the transition - regardless of the offense - will be smoother than the last.
The essence of the WCO philosophy - somewhere on that grass chessboard, there is always a five-yard gain - is a bit utopian, but Callahan's intention to exploit match-ups while controlling the clock is a winning theory.
Expansion of Recruiting: NU has a bigger recruiting footprint thanks to Callahan's willingness to aim high and pursue the best talent in California, Texas and Florida. Whether or not all of those players signed with the Huskers, or even panned out once they did sign, is only part of the equation. Callahan, top recruiter John Blake and the rest of the staff heightened Nebraska's profile by merely knocking on the biggest doors and getting some of the most talented kids on campus for visits. A new, equally ambitious staff can build on the foundation that now has been laid.
As a result, the cupboard is plenty full for the next two seasons; unless many players choose to transfer, NU has solid talent and depth at quarterback, running back, receiver, kicker, cornerback and safety. The 2007 recruiting class, in particular, will make the presumed new coach's transition much smoother.
Clinics/camps: Always well-attended and quickly known for their ability to teach quarterbacks. There's a flip side to that coin; the old camps used to be more of a Husker family get-together, and Callahan, as expected, moved away from that.
Zac Taylor: Callahan recruited the Oklahoman, taught him the offense, and benefited from his natural leadership and character. The two were clearly close - in between pro football stints, Taylor happily returned to Lincoln to coach a little and soak up some more WCO expertise, and has defended him in recent weeks - and their relationship probably helped the Huskers through some of the rough spots in 2005 and 2006. The heart-stopping drive against Texas A&M was Taylor's signature moment, and it doubled as one of Callahan's best wins.
We're not suggesting Callahan "made" Taylor the Big 12 Player of the Year any more than Tom Osborne made Tommie Frazier the best option quarterback in college football history, but Callahan's coaching personality certainly clicked with Taylor, who became this era’s most prolific, successful player.
"Restore The Order"/Remember The Alamo: Callahan's best two-game stint included a motivational ploy - handing out "Restore The Order" t-shirts before NU's 30-3 pummeling of Colorado - and nearly the second-strangest play in college football history during the Huskers' 32-28 win over Michigan in the Alamo Bowl.
Nebraska's offense and defense found its stride in those last two contests of the 2005 season. The stars seemed to align. The Huskers created turnovers, pressured the quarterback and converted key third down plays. It looked like a team that was buying in to the system.
CU actually represented the North Division one week later in the Big 12 Championship game, and the Buffaloes looked like they hadn't recovered from the beating NU gave them. Truth be told, they still haven't. Nebraska was a 16-point underdog going into Boulder that Friday, and emerged from it having outgained Colorado 497-212. Afterward, the vainglorious and humble celebrated alike, a scene captured quite well in this story from the Lincoln Journal-Star.
Some parallel universe that was, huh?
As for the Michigan game: That's when even more fence-riding fans, still turned off by blowout losses to Missouri and Kansas, got on board. A fun and close victory over the talented Wolverines (even if it wasn't UM's best team), in front the biggest ESPN audience to watch a bowl game, had a distinct, "we're-getting-there" feel. It was the Huskers' first prestige win since the 2001 Oklahoma game.
Screen passes: Callahan knows how to design them - and call them in the right spots - as well as anyone in college. The 26-yard beauty from Joe Ganz to Marlon Lucky in NU's 73-31 win over Kansas State was just Callahan's latest creation. Are they really "his," per se? Not necessarily, but Callahan has used the play as a suitable replacement for the draw running play other teams use.
Their finest hour might have been in 2005, when Callahan burned Iowa State over and over with it in 27-20 overtime win. After NU's offense ran in mud for three consecutive games to start that season, including that pitiful, conservative effort against Pittsburgh, Callahan unleashed Taylor to throw 55 passes. Running back Cory Ross caught eight of them for 131 yards, including one for a 70-yard score.
It was the same type of play that twice got NU into scoring position against Oklahoma in last year's Big 12 Championship game. The same play that's helped Marlon Lucky develop into a more complete, NFL-style back. And Callahan managed to create a quicker-developing screen. Something that doesn't take three weeks to open up. He should be commended for it.
Like Osborne, who running spread option shovel passes in 1992 and quarterback shotgun counters in 1997, Callahan could take something familiar and effectively twist it.
The opening drive against Auburn: Callahan doesn't need to audition for jobs during some teleconference; his 15-play, 80-yard, seven-and-a-half minute symphony - against a defense that punished LSU and Florida - does the job just fine. It actually covered 95 yards if you count Maurice Purify's personal foul penalty, and it included many of Callahan's staples: Power running, screen passes, precision routes, hot reads. Just a flawless script. Again and again, Callahan has shown that, if he has time to prepare and a match up to exploit - in that case it was the Tigers' up field pursuit - he'll devise an initial plan to score points. Adjustments are a slightly different story, but if you ever questioned Callahan's sheer acumen for offense, that one sequence dispelled it.
Shawn Watson: Callahan's old friend was a terrific hire for offensive coordinator. He balances Callahan out, and clearly made a difference this season once he was brought down to the sidelines coach up the offense as they went on and off the field.
Callahan's gift is the passing game; Watson's calling card at Colorado was power running and play action. Callahan seems way inside his head as he call plays; Watson is a more effective at being hands-on. Callahan can be vague and obtuse when talking about his team and schemes; Watson is able to create a clear-yet-brief picture of the offense's strengths and weaknesses. If Callahan is fired, and Watson is kept on, fans should not complain.
His fortitude: Truth is, Callahan's suffered slings and arrows this year - both at home and abroad - that would have sent many coaches heading for a plush, cash-laden exit called a buyout or, even worse, into a snide, immature rage. He hasn't always said the best things, but he hasn't been presented with the easiest questions. And since he's dealing with a media pool that asks things carefully, with respect, and not for own glory or show, he can't just pull a Mike Gundy. And he hasn't.
And there is something to be said for Callahan not resigning. No, he has not been "excellent in all areas," as he claimed. Far from it. But if he believes he deserves to stay, why should he march to the beat of some rich booster's drum? Or Osborne’s drum? Must he notarize the writing on the wall? Maybe Callahan's indulging in some pride, but a man's still allowed his convictions, yes? If Callahan wants to be smug without being profane, he's entitled to it for 10 more days.
And if he chooses to be fired - Frank Solich did - then so be it.
Should he really be shamed for making Osborne do a "tough" thing? Hell no. The word "fired" has become so dirty that's it resulted in an erosion of self-belief; not just in coaching, but anywhere in the workplace. Like the rejection is too great. Like doing the boss's bidding is the cleaner, more respectable route.
Well, sometimes it is. And sometimes it isn’t.
Here's the bottom line: Callahan has committed no gross offense. If he's fired, he'll leave with no real egg on his face. Rather, he’ll go, in part, as a casualty of modern college football and the culture war (rightly) waged on former AD Pederson. It was Pederson who should've tuned in Callahan to the idiosyncrasies of this state and this fan base instead of tinkering with the logo and creating an athletic department right out of "Gattaca."
Callahan got off to a poor start, recovered some, had some triumphs, and eventually watched his Babylon fall with great speed and calamitous noise, partially due to the poor foundation he laid in that first year. The coach commandeered an easy-to-bail ship, and the minute NU's "showtime" hour against Southern California went bust, all those smaller errors came back into focus.
Nebraskans are smart. Very smart, independent and loyal. They pay attention, they analyze and they rarely forget.
In that spirit, hopefully they don't forget the good times and good players Bill Callahan brought to Nebraska. He’ll on his terms and his convictions intact. He was not a joke, a disgrace, a fool, a jerk, a dictator or an idiot.
He just wasn't a match. The home of Johnny Carson asks for more. Later this week, we'll examine where Callahan fell short.
Ten Triumphs of Callahan Era
Ten Triumphs of the Callahan Era
Recruiting, Zac Taylor among NU coach's biggest success stories
by Samuel McKewon
November 14, 2007
During this bye week, as the Bill Callahan Era likely draws to a close, we'll revisit some of key accomplishments - and struggles - of his time at Nebraska. First, we review the top ten successes of Callahan's four seasons.
The light is fading on Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan. All signs point to that, and if those markers are a ruse, then Athletic Director Tom Osborne owes an explanation to any recruit who jumped ship when he took over.
What could have saved Callahan after that 4-3 start, former Athletic Director Steve Pederson’s firing and Osborne’s return? Probably a 4-1 finish. As it stands, Nebraska will be lucky to finish 2-3 and sneak in the back door of some forgiving bowl game. Callahan's attitude both during and after NU's 73-31 win over Kansas State punctuated his fate; by Monday, he was selling his offensive philosophy to any Big 12 reporter willing to listen.
So there is room for criticism, for analyzing how and why such a smart, organized man failed at a school that rewards intelligence and tidiness.
We’ll get there. Today, though, we look at the positives.
Yes, there were some. More than this list of ten. But here's a Decalogue to chew on. The memories you can thank Callahan for giving you.
A clean program that graduates its players: Don't underestimate this. It matters. It always, always matters. Callahan may not be the right coach to lead Nebraska back to national prominence, but he never put them in the tabloids, either. That's character, leadership and discipline - along with some good kids - at work.
The modern athletic director and the U.S. Supreme Court essentially created this monster we call the college football business - and all the ugly side dishes that go along with it. The first virtues to go are usually academic achievement and civil obedience.
Well, Callahan got his kids to class and kept most of them out of trouble. Were there a few dustups? Sure. It's hard to stem the pervasive influence and the availability of booze.
But you never heard about any stripper/rape scandals. No late-night shootings at 20th and Garfield. No players getting paid ten grand to pick up sofa lint. No whispers about HGH or ecstasy. No brawls with the baseball team. None of those wonderful misunderstandings that include broken doors, shattered windows, stolen Playstations and police chases. No NCAA sanctions for unethical phone calls. Under Callahan, the Huskers have kept their noses about as clean as guys in a major college football program could.
And, as of the 2006 NCAA Division I Graduation Rates Report, the Huskers had a 84 percent graduation rate, behind only Boston College in BCS Conferences. Of course, NU's academic tradition was established well before Callahan arrived at NU, but he kept it going.
In short, he seemed to take this portion of his job seriously.
Modernization of Offense: We'll touch more on the intricacies of Callahan's West Coast Offense in the "failures" piece. Rather, this success is at the most basic level.
The path that Frank Solich and his staff were traveling was near a dead end. After Bobby Newcombe was hurt in the opening game of Solich's six-year tenure, the coach never returned to his rumored plan of using a run/pass guy like Newcombe to gradually move NU toward a more wide-open attack. Don't get me wrong: Eric Crouch was an extraordinary football player. He was also The Last Mohican. And his replacement, Jammal Lord, was a receiver playing quarterback. Against any reasonably good defense, that offense had run its course.
So NU was bound for an overhaul anyway in 2004. Implementing the WCO certainly was more painful, but the tough love was necessary. Something had to jar Nebraska out of its eroding cocoon. Callahan's attack did just that, while retaining some elements of power football; should a new coach be hired, the transition - regardless of the offense - will be smoother than the last.
The essence of the WCO philosophy - somewhere on that grass chessboard, there is always a five-yard gain - is a bit utopian, but Callahan's intention to exploit match-ups while controlling the clock is a winning theory.
Expansion of Recruiting: NU has a bigger recruiting footprint thanks to Callahan's willingness to aim high and pursue the best talent in California, Texas and Florida. Whether or not all of those players signed with the Huskers, or even panned out once they did sign, is only part of the equation. Callahan, top recruiter John Blake and the rest of the staff heightened Nebraska's profile by merely knocking on the biggest doors and getting some of the most talented kids on campus for visits. A new, equally ambitious staff can build on the foundation that now has been laid.
As a result, the cupboard is plenty full for the next two seasons; unless many players choose to transfer, NU has solid talent and depth at quarterback, running back, receiver, kicker, cornerback and safety. The 2007 recruiting class, in particular, will make the presumed new coach's transition much smoother.
Clinics/camps: Always well-attended and quickly known for their ability to teach quarterbacks. There's a flip side to that coin; the old camps used to be more of a Husker family get-together, and Callahan, as expected, moved away from that.
Zac Taylor: Callahan recruited the Oklahoman, taught him the offense, and benefited from his natural leadership and character. The two were clearly close - in between pro football stints, Taylor happily returned to Lincoln to coach a little and soak up some more WCO expertise, and has defended him in recent weeks - and their relationship probably helped the Huskers through some of the rough spots in 2005 and 2006. The heart-stopping drive against Texas A&M was Taylor's signature moment, and it doubled as one of Callahan's best wins.
We're not suggesting Callahan "made" Taylor the Big 12 Player of the Year any more than Tom Osborne made Tommie Frazier the best option quarterback in college football history, but Callahan's coaching personality certainly clicked with Taylor, who became this era’s most prolific, successful player.
"Restore The Order"/Remember The Alamo: Callahan's best two-game stint included a motivational ploy - handing out "Restore The Order" t-shirts before NU's 30-3 pummeling of Colorado - and nearly the second-strangest play in college football history during the Huskers' 32-28 win over Michigan in the Alamo Bowl.
Nebraska's offense and defense found its stride in those last two contests of the 2005 season. The stars seemed to align. The Huskers created turnovers, pressured the quarterback and converted key third down plays. It looked like a team that was buying in to the system.
CU actually represented the North Division one week later in the Big 12 Championship game, and the Buffaloes looked like they hadn't recovered from the beating NU gave them. Truth be told, they still haven't. Nebraska was a 16-point underdog going into Boulder that Friday, and emerged from it having outgained Colorado 497-212. Afterward, the vainglorious and humble celebrated alike, a scene captured quite well in this story from the Lincoln Journal-Star.
Some parallel universe that was, huh?
As for the Michigan game: That's when even more fence-riding fans, still turned off by blowout losses to Missouri and Kansas, got on board. A fun and close victory over the talented Wolverines (even if it wasn't UM's best team), in front the biggest ESPN audience to watch a bowl game, had a distinct, "we're-getting-there" feel. It was the Huskers' first prestige win since the 2001 Oklahoma game.
Screen passes: Callahan knows how to design them - and call them in the right spots - as well as anyone in college. The 26-yard beauty from Joe Ganz to Marlon Lucky in NU's 73-31 win over Kansas State was just Callahan's latest creation. Are they really "his," per se? Not necessarily, but Callahan has used the play as a suitable replacement for the draw running play other teams use.
Their finest hour might have been in 2005, when Callahan burned Iowa State over and over with it in 27-20 overtime win. After NU's offense ran in mud for three consecutive games to start that season, including that pitiful, conservative effort against Pittsburgh, Callahan unleashed Taylor to throw 55 passes. Running back Cory Ross caught eight of them for 131 yards, including one for a 70-yard score.
It was the same type of play that twice got NU into scoring position against Oklahoma in last year's Big 12 Championship game. The same play that's helped Marlon Lucky develop into a more complete, NFL-style back. And Callahan managed to create a quicker-developing screen. Something that doesn't take three weeks to open up. He should be commended for it.
Like Osborne, who running spread option shovel passes in 1992 and quarterback shotgun counters in 1997, Callahan could take something familiar and effectively twist it.
The opening drive against Auburn: Callahan doesn't need to audition for jobs during some teleconference; his 15-play, 80-yard, seven-and-a-half minute symphony - against a defense that punished LSU and Florida - does the job just fine. It actually covered 95 yards if you count Maurice Purify's personal foul penalty, and it included many of Callahan's staples: Power running, screen passes, precision routes, hot reads. Just a flawless script. Again and again, Callahan has shown that, if he has time to prepare and a match up to exploit - in that case it was the Tigers' up field pursuit - he'll devise an initial plan to score points. Adjustments are a slightly different story, but if you ever questioned Callahan's sheer acumen for offense, that one sequence dispelled it.
Shawn Watson: Callahan's old friend was a terrific hire for offensive coordinator. He balances Callahan out, and clearly made a difference this season once he was brought down to the sidelines coach up the offense as they went on and off the field.
Callahan's gift is the passing game; Watson's calling card at Colorado was power running and play action. Callahan seems way inside his head as he call plays; Watson is a more effective at being hands-on. Callahan can be vague and obtuse when talking about his team and schemes; Watson is able to create a clear-yet-brief picture of the offense's strengths and weaknesses. If Callahan is fired, and Watson is kept on, fans should not complain.
His fortitude: Truth is, Callahan's suffered slings and arrows this year - both at home and abroad - that would have sent many coaches heading for a plush, cash-laden exit called a buyout or, even worse, into a snide, immature rage. He hasn't always said the best things, but he hasn't been presented with the easiest questions. And since he's dealing with a media pool that asks things carefully, with respect, and not for own glory or show, he can't just pull a Mike Gundy. And he hasn't.
And there is something to be said for Callahan not resigning. No, he has not been "excellent in all areas," as he claimed. Far from it. But if he believes he deserves to stay, why should he march to the beat of some rich booster's drum? Or Osborne’s drum? Must he notarize the writing on the wall? Maybe Callahan's indulging in some pride, but a man's still allowed his convictions, yes? If Callahan wants to be smug without being profane, he's entitled to it for 10 more days.
And if he chooses to be fired - Frank Solich did - then so be it.
Should he really be shamed for making Osborne do a "tough" thing? Hell no. The word "fired" has become so dirty that's it resulted in an erosion of self-belief; not just in coaching, but anywhere in the workplace. Like the rejection is too great. Like doing the boss's bidding is the cleaner, more respectable route.
Well, sometimes it is. And sometimes it isn’t.
Here's the bottom line: Callahan has committed no gross offense. If he's fired, he'll leave with no real egg on his face. Rather, he’ll go, in part, as a casualty of modern college football and the culture war (rightly) waged on former AD Pederson. It was Pederson who should've tuned in Callahan to the idiosyncrasies of this state and this fan base instead of tinkering with the logo and creating an athletic department right out of "Gattaca."
Callahan got off to a poor start, recovered some, had some triumphs, and eventually watched his Babylon fall with great speed and calamitous noise, partially due to the poor foundation he laid in that first year. The coach commandeered an easy-to-bail ship, and the minute NU's "showtime" hour against Southern California went bust, all those smaller errors came back into focus.
Nebraskans are smart. Very smart, independent and loyal. They pay attention, they analyze and they rarely forget.
In that spirit, hopefully they don't forget the good times and good players Bill Callahan brought to Nebraska. He’ll on his terms and his convictions intact. He was not a joke, a disgrace, a fool, a jerk, a dictator or an idiot.
He just wasn't a match. The home of Johnny Carson asks for more. Later this week, we'll examine where Callahan fell short.
