Callahan's Legacy

T_O_Bull

T_O_Bull

All-American
:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

It took a day and a half and 157 picks before the first Husker was picked in the NFL draft and he had to change positions. The great recruiter who used the line, "I can help you get to the NFL" in his pitch to recruits obviously didn't live up to his word. What a schmuck. Good ridence!

T_O_B

:restore ORDER RESTORED! :restore

 
dude, i wish you'd quit beating around the bush and just tell us how you really feel.

 
T_O_Bull said:
:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

It took a day and a half and 157 picks before the first Husker was picked in the NFL draft and he had to change positions. The great recruiter who used the line, "I can help you get to the NFL" in his pitch to recruits obviously didn't live up to his word. What a schmuck. Good ridence!

T_O_B

:restore ORDER RESTORED! :restore
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Thats just one of Callahans problem. He would tell them that famous line and give us good recruits but he just didn't know how to coach them. Poor Slausen has to deal with Callahan in New York all over again......that'll be awkward <_<

 
strigori said:
Two years in a row without a first day pick. But he was a recruiting wiz right?
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The guy could recruit the hell out of anything, he really was a great recruiter.

Now, as far as picking the right guys and developing their talent, that's a whole other ball of wax. He's like Weiss in Notre Dame, who once said that if a quarterback spent 3 days with him that kid would become a legend.

 
As much as I hate to dedhoarse , and I don't even necessarily dislike the guy, it is really surprising to see how poorly his recruits turned out, at least considering the hype he had as a great recruiter.

 
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JTrain said:
As much as I hate to dedhoarse , and I don't even necessarily dislike the guy, but it is really surprising to see how poorly his recruits turned out, at least considering the hype he had as a great recruiter.
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I'm with you --- nothing personal against Callahan --- but, he was not a good recruiter --- the proof is plain to see already, few --- very few -- of his recruits have been drafted (some will down the road) --- but... a reasonable argument can be made for Solich being at least as good a recruiter or perhaps better than Callahan --- certainly he was no worse. Neither, unfortunately were good. And the talent dearth at NU is evidence of this.

It should be clear for all to see at this point that the Huskers of say 2006-present have had less talent than has been the case on the NU squad for many decades. Even now, our talent is still off of the norm for NU (the gap maybe is closing some --- hard to tell). I think the players now are well developed (something Callahan, and maybe Soilich too struggled with) and the % performance the coaches get out of the talent they have is higher. Still, the raw material is not top 25 talent. heart and effort, intensity and wise play may land the team in the top 25 (I think maybe top 20) but if so, they will be overachievers. That is, actually a really fun thing to watch --- and it should be a great season of entertainment.

Yet.... the talent dearth legacy of Callahan remains.... fortunately it is farther back in the rear view mirror but the effects linger.

 
What kind of recruiter he is/was doesnt matter if you cant coach your kids. Its simple really. There are few kids who can come from HS "as is" and be impact players in college. They train year-round for a reason. BC seemed to be able to recruit. Had quite a few high ranked classes. Talented kids, but not good enough football players. I know more about MU than anyother so bear with me for a minute.

6 Mizzou players were drafted. Below are their names and stars and postion rankings in their respective classes

1st rd pick - Jeremy Maclin - :star :star :star :star - #24 WR

1st rd pick - Evander 'Ziggy' Hood - :star :star :star - #35 DE

2nd rd pick -William Moore - :star :star :star - #64 WR

3rd rd pick - Chase Coffman - :star :star :star - #19 TE

5th rd pick - Colin Brown - not ranked - walkon

6th rd pick - Stryker Sulak - :star :star - NR at DE

The only one who on HS merits alone who could have been expected to be great was Maclin and NOBODY thought he would do what he did. You have to grow players, we all know that did not happen during "his" term here. It sucks but complaining about it brings you nothing. Try having 33 players go in the draft in the from 84- 03 recruited under Warren Powers, Woody Widenhofer, Bob Stull and Larry Smith and having only 2 bowl teams to show for it. Obviously there was some talent, why did MU only win 3-5 games a year? Forget about it....I have gone and depressed myself for the day... :angry:

 
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strigori said:
Two years in a row without a first day pick. But he was a recruiting wiz right?
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Callahan was a great recruiter. Look at the guys we have along the OL, Ndamukong Suh, Barry Turry, and I could go on and on but that's not the point.

Our former head coach utterly failed, among other things, at player development.

You could give our former head coach USC's recruiting class and you'd still see horrible draft results like you did this year.

Bo, and our current coaching staff, knows how to teach and develop these young players.

If you still don't believe me then simply look at the difference between the way Nebraska played in '07 versus '08.

 
robsker said:
JTrain said:
As much as I hate to dedhoarse , and I don't even necessarily dislike the guy, but it is really surprising to see how poorly his recruits turned out, at least considering the hype he had as a great recruiter.
Click to expand...

I'm with you --- nothing personal against Callahan --- but, he was not a good recruiter --- the proof is plain to see already, few --- very few -- of his recruits have been drafted
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Our former coach's legacy is one of sheer, complete and utter failure...that we agree on.

Where we disagree is on the cause...

You think he wasn't a good recruiter because of what we saw in the draft this past weekend.

I know our former coach was a very good recruiter...he simply sucked at player development.

How many times did we, as fans, see a player come in, and under the instruction our former head coach, get worse as his career progressed?

How many times did we see the team, as the season went on, get worse under the former head coach?

With Nebraska '05-'07, "talent" was never the issue...lack of player development was, among a myriad of other issues but I digress, and that's what we're seeing now the fruits of four years of almost no player development.

 
HuskerJen said:
robsker said:
JTrain said:
As much as I hate to dedhoarse , and I don't even necessarily dislike the guy, but it is really surprising to see how poorly his recruits turned out, at least considering the hype he had as a great recruiter.
Click to expand...

I'm with you --- nothing personal against Callahan --- but, he was not a good recruiter --- the proof is plain to see already, few --- very few -- of his recruits have been drafted
Click to expand...
Our former coach's legacy is one of sheer, complete and utter failure...that we agree on.

Where we disagree is on the cause...

You think he wasn't a good recruiter because of what we saw in the draft this past weekend.

I know our former coach was a very good recruiter...he simply sucked at player development.

How many times did we, as fans, see a player come in, and under the instruction our former head coach, get worse as his career progressed?

How many times did we see the team, as the season went on, get worse under the former head coach?

With Nebraska '05-'07, "talent" was never the issue...lack of player development was, among a myriad of other issues but I digress, and that's what we're seeing now the fruits of four years of almost no player development.
Click to expand...
HuskerJen:

We don't entirely disagree --- I too think he was terrible (well, he and his staff were collectively terrible) at developing players. But... he has a poor recruiter.... or, to be fair... a modest recruiter too. I defend that by saying that even with bad coaching true NFL types by sheer talent alone get drafted --- we just had very, very little of such talent.

 
Jen and Fro, I think you might be overemphasizing the importance of player development. The fact is, a whole lot of whether someone has NFL type talent is determined the day he's conceived (aka genetics). That's not to say hard work, determination, film study, weight training, etc. doesn't factor in, but the biggest thing is if the kid has the physical tools.

Callahan probably wasn't a very good player developer, but I don't think that makes a whole lot of difference on whether his kids are drafted in the NFL. Look at the kids that are made into great college players who accomplish big things during their college careers, but never really get much of a look in the pros (Graham Harrell might be a good example). Mike Leach seems to be pretty good at player development, but that didn't seem to do much to help Harrell in the NFL draft. On the other hand, you have the case of Josh Freeman, who had an absolutely horrible coach in charge of him (Prince) and most would agree did not have a great college career. And yet he goes in the first round!

My point being, four to five years in college football generally does not make or break whether the player is talented enough to get a serious chance in the NFL. So the fact that Callahan's players are not getting drafted is more of a sign that he isn't a good talent scout/recruiter than a sign that he isn't a good player developer.

 
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robsker said:
HuskerJen said:
robsker said:
JTrain said:
As much as I hate to dedhoarse , and I don't even necessarily dislike the guy, but it is really surprising to see how poorly his recruits turned out, at least considering the hype he had as a great recruiter.
Click to expand...

I'm with you --- nothing personal against Callahan --- but, he was not a good recruiter --- the proof is plain to see already, few --- very few -- of his recruits have been drafted
Click to expand...
Our former coach's legacy is one of sheer, complete and utter failure...that we agree on.

Where we disagree is on the cause...

You think he wasn't a good recruiter because of what we saw in the draft this past weekend.

I know our former coach was a very good recruiter...he simply sucked at player development.

How many times did we, as fans, see a player come in, and under the instruction our former head coach, get worse as his career progressed?

How many times did we see the team, as the season went on, get worse under the former head coach?

With Nebraska '05-'07, "talent" was never the issue...lack of player development was, among a myriad of other issues but I digress, and that's what we're seeing now the fruits of four years of almost no player development.
Click to expand...
HuskerJen:

We don't entirely disagree --- I too think he was terrible (well, he and his staff were collectively terrible) at developing players. But... he has a poor recruiter.... or, to be fair... a modest recruiter too. I defend that by saying that even with bad coaching true NFL types by sheer talent alone get drafted --- we just had very, very little of such talent.
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Fair enough, I can see where you're coming from...

If the guys that were drafted this year, and/or signed free agent contracts, actually make an NFL roster...that will go a long way in determing just how much talent was really there.

Consider this: Under Bo, Suh's draft status has skyrockted and he's now about as close to a top 10 pick as you can get. I've heard speculation that Suh might, just might, be the #1 pick next year. Granted a lot of things need to go right for that to happen, but the potential is certainly there.

Can you honestly say that if the previous coaching staff was still here that Suh would be the player he is now? Methinks not. Player development is absolutely crucial.

 
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