LJS: Beck used to taking on a challenge

[The Dude]

And I wont stand up for that Beck song but Mellow Gold and Odelay are great albums at least.

+1

 

[The Dude]

Well, he couldn't be as bad as Watson could he? If he fails it could mean Pelini's head. This was Bo's chance to go out and get a legit OC. To me it just seems like we're settling on Beck. If Beck was "the guy" we wouldn't have needed to search around. Time will tell I guess. I will be very, very disappointed if it is Beck, but I wish him the best, and hope he can turn this thing around.

Actually this isn't true it's been speculated that Frost didn't come here because we didn't offer him the OC job. Beck becoming the OC has been decided along time ago possibly all the way back in 08'. Beck is a great hire and a guy who deserves a chance.

If it's true Bo has enough faith in Tim that he didn't even look around for an OC, that will certainly ease my worries some. I'll still be disappointed. I was really hoping we would go out and get a legit, proven coordinator or at least a Beck/Frost combo.

Look at it this way i'm not too sure there is anything about Frost's resume that says he's ready to be a OC. The only reason this board was pumped to get him is because of his past with Nebraska over a decade ago. Had he been just some WR coach for a few years at Oregon then onto Nebraska to be the OC we'd be scratching our heads.

Heres something else I'd like to add at this point I don't even give a damn about the scheme. I'd love for our offense to go back to the fundamentals mainly holding onto the. We can have the best scheme in the world but when you put the ball on the ground as much as our offense has the last few years scheme is a moot point.

I can't speak for everyone, but the reason I was pumped about Frost is because he was apart of a very successful offense we're tying to emulate. Plus Oregon showed they would have fought hard to keep him around no matter what. Which leads me to believe the guy can coach his @ss off. That made me more comfortable than promoting a guy from a horrid offense. Like I said Frost and Beck as Co's would have been ideal for me.

It's not like Beck's resume is exactly impressive.

 

[robsker]

Well, he couldn't be as bad as Watson could he? If he fails it could mean Pelini's head. This was Bo's chance to go out and get a legit OC. To me it just seems like we're settling on Beck. If Beck was "the guy" we wouldn't have needed to search around. Time will tell I guess. I will be very, very disappointed if it is Beck, but I wish him the best, and hope he can turn this thing around.

Actually this isn't true it's been speculated that Frost didn't come here because we didn't offer him the OC job. Beck becoming the OC has been decided along time ago possibly all the way back in 08'. Beck is a great hire and a guy who deserves a chance.

If it's true Bo has enough faith in Tim that he didn't even look around for an OC, that will certainly ease my worries some. I'll still be disappointed. I was really hoping we would go out and get a legit, proven coordinator or at least a Beck/Frost combo.

Look at it this way i'm not too sure there is anything about Frost's resume that says he's ready to be a OC. The only reason this board was pumped to get him is because of his past with Nebraska over a decade ago. Had he been just some WR coach for a few years at Oregon then onto Nebraska to be the OC we'd be scratching our heads.

Heres something else I'd like to add at this point I don't even give a damn about the scheme. I'd love for our offense to go back to the fundamentals mainly holding onto the. We can have the best scheme in the world but when you put the ball on the ground as much as our offense has the last few years scheme is a moot point.

I can't speak for everyone, but the reason I was pumped about Frost is because he was apart of a very successful offense we're tying to emulate. Plus Oregon showed they would have fought hard to keep him around no matter what. Which leads me to believe the guy can coach his @ss off. That made me more comfortable than promoting a guy from a horrid offense. Like I said Frost and Beck as Co's would have been ideal for me.

It's not like Beck's resume is exactly impressive.

Agreed.

Last choice is Beck. The next would have been Beck/Frost. The next level up... by a big margin would have been Warinner/Frost. Better still would have been a marquee, experienced OC with a history of success elsewhere... but it was a pipe dream to think that we could attract, at this point and in this context, such a candidate.

So... we settle for Beck... it would seem. Now, history has shown that sometimes when one "settles" they are richly rewarded with excellent performance... so it is possible that Beck will work out. That said, history has shown far, far, far more often that when you "settle".... you get less than ideal performance. Here's hoping we get lucky! If not, we'll have a very interesting off season a year from now as NU might then be looking for an entire new staff (or, at the very least, will be facing the last year to "get it together" before a full coaching staff change is made).

 

[knapplc]

The best case scenario would have been for Watson to convince someone to hire him as a head coach somewhere. His tenure at Nebraska being less than impressive, especially when you consider the lack of development of players he's coached and the glaring problems his offenses have evinced, made that impossible.

The alternative we were left with was terminating him, which is (apparently) what we've done. As with Solich in 2003, terminating a coach with a winning record makes it difficult to convince another guy to come here. The thought being, if they're firing a guy whose offense led to ten wins, what are they going to do with me if I get eight wins? That limited our options right there.

If Watson leaves for a promotion we're in a lot better position to hire. Watson's failure to secure a gig hampered our efforts quite a bit.

 

[da skers]

The best case scenario would have been for Watson to convince someone to hire him as a head coach somewhere. His tenure at Nebraska being less than impressive, especially when you consider the lack of development of players he's coached and the glaring problems his offenses have evinced, made that impossible.

The alternative we were left with was terminating him, which is (apparently) what we've done. As with Solich in 2003, terminating a coach with a winning record makes it difficult to convince another guy to come here. The thought being, if they're firing a guy whose offense led to ten wins, what are they going to do with me if I get eight wins? That limited our options right there.

If Watson leaves for a promotion we're in a lot better position to hire. Watson's failure to secure a gig hampered our efforts quite a bit.

He's had a standing offer for sometime. . he just hasn't chosen to accept it. Gilmore was the one who we were waiting on as he's the one who stepped away more or less on his terms. I can only pray Cotton is afforded the same opportunity in the near future, but alas I'm going to assume he'll end up with the RC duties and that will probably prolong his stay on the sidelines. And in all honesty. .. that might be an excellent place for him because he's very very very excellent on the administrative side of things.

 

[knapplc]

The best case scenario would have been for Watson to convince someone to hire him as a head coach somewhere. His tenure at Nebraska being less than impressive, especially when you consider the lack of development of players he's coached and the glaring problems his offenses have evinced, made that impossible.

The alternative we were left with was terminating him, which is (apparently) what we've done. As with Solich in 2003, terminating a coach with a winning record makes it difficult to convince another guy to come here. The thought being, if they're firing a guy whose offense led to ten wins, what are they going to do with me if I get eight wins? That limited our options right there.

If Watson leaves for a promotion we're in a lot better position to hire. Watson's failure to secure a gig hampered our efforts quite a bit.

He's had a standing offer for sometime. . he just hasn't chosen to accept it. Gilmore was the one who we were waiting on as he's the one who stepped away more or less on his terms. I can only pray Cotton is afforded the same opportunity in the near future, but alas I'm going to assume he'll end up with the RC duties and that will probably prolong his stay on the sidelines. And in all honesty. .. that might be an excellent place for him because he's very very very excellent on the administrative side of things.

Exactly, which is why he's been applying for every HC job in the past two years. He could have walked any time he wanted, and he knew that full well. He chose to stay in 2010, and I don't blame him - we all got bills to pay. But his effort was lackluster at best.

We have played softball with Watson to a fault. He should have been fired after the CCG, and nobody in the country would have blamed us. But we played nice and let him stay.... and he couldn't find a gig. So after two seasons of wide open doors and offers to help pack, we finally had to give him a knee in the backside. It's too bad, but it was inevitable.

 

[robsker]

The best case scenario would have been for Watson to convince someone to hire him as a head coach somewhere. His tenure at Nebraska being less than impressive, especially when you consider the lack of development of players he's coached and the glaring problems his offenses have evinced, made that impossible.

The alternative we were left with was terminating him, which is (apparently) what we've done. As with Solich in 2003, terminating a coach with a winning record makes it difficult to convince another guy to come here. The thought being, if they're firing a guy whose offense led to ten wins, what are they going to do with me if I get eight wins? That limited our options right there.

If Watson leaves for a promotion we're in a lot better position to hire. Watson's failure to secure a gig hampered our efforts quite a bit.

Good points.

About that 10 win thing... In the days where teams played 12 games --- including the bowl --- 10 wins was impressive. Now, playing 14 games... 10 wins does not mean as much. Then... if you look at those wins... we beat Idaho, Western Kentucky, SDSU, Kansas and Colorado... teams that ANY competitive team should have beat. Those were gimmes. So... we went 5 wins and 4 losses against real competition. In other words... on paper 10-4 looks pretty good... but look at this past season in detail... almost any level of detail... and it was not impressive and it is reasonable in view of this --- especially if you isolate the offensive contributions this year --- to see why we need a new offensive coaching staff.

I see your point thogh... superficially it would appear we were successful... but any scrutiny beyond the superficial and it is clear that we were not... especially on offense.

Rather than hone in on the 10 wins... have the candidates hone in on #48 total offense (or whatever it was... it was in the 40's nationally, right?)... or better still, recalculate total offense only using conference games and the bowl and the NU offense would be closer to something like #90 nationally.

So... the point is any candidate would know... if they looked closely, that the NU offense is a disaster.

 

[knapplc]

We finished 39th in Scoring Offense and 44th in Total Offense.

I suppose instead of 10 wins you could say we won 71% of our games (or lost 29% depending on how you look at it), but as you said, the point is the NU offense was a disaster.

 

[Nebula]

The best case scenario would have been for Watson to convince someone to hire him as a head coach somewhere. His tenure at Nebraska being less than impressive, especially when you consider the lack of development of players he's coached and the glaring problems his offenses have evinced, made that impossible.

The alternative we were left with was terminating him, which is (apparently) what we've done. As with Solich in 2003, terminating a coach with a winning record makes it difficult to convince another guy to come here. The thought being, if they're firing a guy whose offense led to ten wins, what are they going to do with me if I get eight wins? That limited our options right there.

If Watson leaves for a promotion we're in a lot better position to hire. Watson's failure to secure a gig hampered our efforts quite a bit.

Sure, but people in the football world also know how strong our defense has been the last couple of years. We really had no business challenging a MNC competitor with the offense we had in '09. That wasn't an average offense. That wasn’t a bad offense. That was an offense in the running for worst in the (D1) nation that year. We were the college football version of the famously offensively inept 2000 Baltimore Ravens with an even worse offense. And yet there we were, competing with one of the two best teams in the nation until the very last second. All of that was in spite of our offense, not partially due to it. As in 2000, when absolutely everyone with any interest in football knew that the Ravens won solely due to their defense and in spite of Trent Dilfer, so did people know that the '09 Huskers won due to Suh and those surly, salty Blackshirts and in spite of Watson. In '10, due to the secondary and Crick and David and in spite of a pressing and completely disorganized OC with a gimpy and confused deer-in-the-headlights frosh at QB for the second half of the season. The divide was so stark and vast between the two units that it had to be evident to anyone paying attention that Watson and our offense was not contributing their share to our winning efforts the last couple of years.

I just feel like, in regards to the bolded, nobody is/was thinking that. I really think the majority of people in the CFB world would look at that firing and say, they're finally firing the guy whose offense cost them championships. They're finally jettisoning the dead horse and getting a live pack animal to actually carry some of the weight.

 

[knapplc]

I just feel like, in regards to the bolded, nobody is/was thinking that. I really think the majority of people in the CFB world would look at that firing and say, they're finally firing the guy whose offense cost them championships. They're finally jettisoning the dead horse and getting a live pack animal to actually carry some of the weight.

You could be right, but then what's the theory on why we either struck out with so many candidates or never contacted anyone with Beck in mind all along? Is Beck that good? Is Bo just comfortable with him? Did we approach several others and get rejected? That I do not know, and nobody's providing names of candidates.

 

[roundegotrip]

Beck was always going to be the guy. We weren't shopping around for a playcaller; that's exactly why we didn't get Frost, and probably any other high profile guys we talked to. The job was already Beck's. We had Jamal Turner spilling the beans a MONTH ago that Beck was going to be the guy going forward.

 

[Nebula]

You could be right, but then what's the theory on why we either struck out with so many candidates or never contacted anyone with Beck in mind all along? Is Beck that good? Is Bo just comfortable with him? Did we approach several others and get rejected? That I do not know, and nobody's providing names of candidates.

Heh, good questions all. I read somewhere...maybe Sam wrote it...about how working for Bo can be difficult, particularly if you've got thin skin. So perhaps that eliminates a few candidates. Then again, I don't think Saban is handing out Singapore Slings on the sideline either. I'm not sure if we struck out with a high number of potential candidates. Sounds like Frost and maybe Warinner, maybe not. That's not to say there weren't more. There very well could have been.

I think people are high on Beck, and have been for a couple of years. All of us Husker fans have heard his name a fair amount the last few years, maybe more than you typically hear about a RB coach. That could be primarily due to his apparent prowess at combing the fertile fields of Texas for talent, or maybe it's out of respect for coaching abilities that we as fans haven't seen a ton of yet because he's merely been a positional assistant.

Redundant statement coming but the truth is, I really don't know.

 

[zoogs]

I don't think we struck out on many candidates at all. Some of the names speculated about, seems like we haven't talked to them, such as Warinner. And it looks like ALL of the guys we've talked to, have been talked to about coming here as a positions coach primarily, with the co-OC tag dangled out there.

I have no doubt that if we threw our OC job at someone with a hefty pay raise, they would leap for it. Not everyone, but a lot of folks out there.

Instead the only issue seems to be that we went for Frost and got turned down. Seems like we felt a bit entitled to Frost, that if we gave him a spot on the staff he'd just come and take it. And seems like Frost felt a bit entitled too, like we would just give him the keys to the offense again, only as a coach. Didn't work out, but that is something being blown a bit out of proportion. We lost on a positions coach, it isn't a huge deal.

I think Beck is kind of like Watson in 2006, when he came in here as TEs coach (and also recruiting coordinator, I think). He was brought in to be brought along, always in mind to be promoted to OC. We didn't have an OC that year and Watson assumed the roles a year later. I think Bo likes Watson, but with the offense's struggles, is turning to Beck, his guy all along.

 

[knapplc]

I think Beck is kind of like Watson in 2006, when he came in here as TEs coach (and also recruiting coordinator, I think). He was brought in to be brought along, always in mind to be promoted to OC. We didn't have an OC that year and Watson assumed the roles a year later. I think Bo likes Watson, but with the offense's struggles, is turning to Beck, his guy all along.

That's a good way of putting it. And that's what we offered Frost, and he turned down. He was basically offered upward mobility while learning on the job, and he declined. Maybe he feels he has that in Oregon, but frankly, I wouldn't bet on it. C'est la vie.

 

[Nebula]

I think Beck is kind of like Watson in 2006, when he came in here as TEs coach (and also recruiting coordinator, I think). He was brought in to be brought along, always in mind to be promoted to OC. We didn't have an OC that year and Watson assumed the roles a year later. I think Bo likes Watson, but with the offense's struggles, is turning to Beck, his guy all along.

That's a good way of putting it. And that's what we offered Frost, and he turned down. He was basically offered upward mobility while learning on the job, and he declined. Maybe he feels he has that in Oregon, but frankly, I wouldn't bet on it. C'est la vie.

Maybe there are some similarities between Beck and Papuchis, both Bo guys and fairly unknown entities who have seen their stock rise quite a bit. John is probably more nationally known atm than Beck but I only base that on hearing Papuchis' name surface during some of the coaching carousel stuff at UT and UF.

Some people have longer memories than others. Frost was livid about being booed in '96. I bet he's over it, but you never know. One thing Scott does know: Husker fans are fickle. And vocal.