ESPN Q&A with Tom Osborne

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knapplc

International Man of Mystery
Q&A: Nebraska AD Tom Osborne
As we continue to welcome Nebraska to the Big Ten blog, who better to provide the state of the Huskers than Tom Osborne? Big Ten fans will get to know Nebraska coach Bo Pelini and his players over the coming weeks and months, but everyone should know Osborne and his accomplishments.

In case you just started following college football or something, a quick Osborne overview:

* Nebraska head coach (1973-97)

* Three national titles (1994, 1995, 1997)

* Overall record of 255-49-3

* 1999 College Football Hall of Fame Inductee

* U.S. Congressman (Nebraska's Third District, Three Terms)

* Nebraska Athletic Director (Oct. 16, 2007-present)

Yeah, so he's kind of important.

I caught up with the Nebraska AD earlier this week, and here's our conversation:
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There is a good deal of concern about the welfare, the health of the league, as opposed to individual desires to get a bigger piece of the pie. That's probably a healthy thing because the long-term viability of the league eventually serves everyone well.

TO always knows what to say, and say it with grace.

 
I hate to think about this but, what will happen in terms of our coaching staff when TO steps down? Will he promote within(i hope, but whom?)? Or does he go with an outside hire who might want to bring in his own personel among the coaches.

The offseason has me thinking abnormally, it is awful. Cant wait for spring ball to start so i can retain my focus.

 
If you didn't know any better, reading most of those comments you'd think TO was the coach. Granted he obviously has an incrediable amount of football knowledge, but those weren't typical "AD" type answers. For some reason everytime I read something like this I can't get over the feeling that TO has a very heavy hand in how the program is being operated...

 
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n.e.husker said:
I hate to think about this but, what will happen in terms of our coaching staff when TO steps down? Will he promote within(i hope, but whom?)?
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Wasn't Jamrog's name floating around at some point?

There's also certain people who have said that the UNO athletic department director position might be a stepping stone for someone to eventually end up at UNL.

Edit: Either of those guys and Im not overly concerned about the health and future of the program.

 
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as much as i love Bo. tom is in a class of his own even in those responses you feel his composure and knowledge. i don't want Bo to lose his edge but man i wish he would learn a thing about the press from Tom. Theres no doubt in my mind that since he came back as AD that he has had his hands in the decisions made on the football staff but that being said i also think hes doing in all sports but thats what his job title says and our previous AD did not do that.

 
reksuH Fan said:
as much as i love Bo. tom is in a class of his own even in those responses you feel his composure and knowledge. i don't want Bo to lose his edge but man i wish he would learn a thing about the press from Tom. Theres no doubt in my mind that since he came back as AD that he has had his hands in the decisions made on the football staff but that being said i also think hes doing in all sports but thats what his job title says and our previous AD did not do that.
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You're right, Devany didn't do that to TO.

 
kchusker_chris said:
reksuH Fan said:
as much as i love Bo. tom is in a class of his own even in those responses you feel his composure and knowledge. i don't want Bo to lose his edge but man i wish he would learn a thing about the press from Tom. Theres no doubt in my mind that since he came back as AD that he has had his hands in the decisions made on the football staff but that being said i also think hes doing in all sports but thats what his job title says and our previous AD did not do that.
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You're right, Devany didn't do that to TO.
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well thats not who i was referring to i was thinking more along the lines of steve pederson. is that name allowed to be said on here? i don't think steve did much of anything but spend money around here because i know our athletics were not that good when he was here. do you think that tom having a say is a bad thing? i mean if he stays a few more years he might start to back out on input but i think where we were as far as the shape the athletic department was in he needed to take matters into his own hands. if he does or he doesn't have a big say in what goes on i still like where our sports programs are headed and how much better then before Tom came back.

 
Nobody really knows how much input Tom has in football. Everyone is guessing based on this or that clue, but for all we know Tom's involvement could be as little as saying "hi" to Bo in the hall once a week. I doubt he has much more than an advisory role, but I do know this - if I was Bo, I'd be in Tom's office every chance I got picking his brain. That experience isn't going to be there forever.

 
yes and no. I've work for some really smart people whom I did my best to learn from...but at some point your pride takes over. Bo's suposedly been "learning" from Tom for 3 years now. He needs a chance to do it his way. Maybe these changes are that chance, I don't know. Like you said, none of us really know how much influence Tom has over the football operations. I think we can all be sure it's more than just saying hi to Bo in the hallway though.

 
I'd bet it's not a lot more than saying hi in the hallway. While Bo is learning from Tom, you can bet he's running the ship HIS way. And Tom is smart enough to know that micro-managing Bo is an easy recipe to disaster. Tom is no puppet master, so any concerns about his heavy-handed influence are pretty far off base I suspect.

While football is the cash cow of any university, Tom now has 20 other teams to worry about, plus sundry other duties as an AD. I'm sure he spends more time on football-related issues than any other specific sport, but he's not putting undue influence in there.

 
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