Who was more important in making Nebraska what it is today?

[knapplc]

I got to thinking about this yesterday. Without The Bobfather, Nebraska football may never have gotten off the ground - we may be no different than Kansas or Iowa State today, with occasional good teams but mostly cannon-fodder for the real heavyweights in college football. So Devaney is clearly crucially important to what Nebraska is, winning back-to-back championships along the way.

But The Bobfather retired from coaching forty years ago. Osborne took over, never won less than nine games, played for the conference championship at least half the years he was HC, played for the national championship five or more times, and won three titles over a 25-year career. Osborne's influence can't be overstated.

Is it possible to say which coach was more important to who/what we are today? Can you make that call without factoring in their respective stints as AD? Either way, as coach or as coach/AD, can you determine who was more/most important to the edifice that is Nebraska Football? Or is this one of those unanswerable questions?

 

[huskerscott]

Gotta go with the Bobfather...... History buffs correct me if Im wrong but didnt Bob hire a young little known assistant named Tom Osborne in 1963 after Tom was done with the Redskins.

Who was it that hired Bob???? Maybe that is the person that deserves all the credit.

 

[Blaze1up]

It is impossible to answer your question without an examination and review of your past treatment. Medical Marijuana, I have no answer.

COACH: As most of us know, you launched your coaching career at Nebraska as a graduate assistant under Bob Devaney and took over as head coach only a few years later. What kind of system did you pick up from Bob and what did you add to the mix as you went along?

OSBORNE: Bob Devaney taught me a lot about ways to handle people. He was a good people person and had a tremendous sense of humor. Bob had a good sense of when to push and drive players and when to back off, when to come down on a player that wasn't working hard and when to put his arm around him to get him going again.

I wasn't Bob Devaney, so I had to do it my own way, but I appreciated the way he accomplished things. Under Bob, Nebraska played a hard-nosed brand of football. They had a good running game and played aggressive defense, and I suppose some of that rubbed off on me.

 

[bshirt]

I voted Devaney too. He took over a hopelessly shipwrecked NU cfb program and instantly starting winning. He also hired TO for his OC and then for HC.

TO, as hugely great as he was and still is, took over a program that won two NCs in the previous three years.

They're both elite HC's by any standard but Devaney built it from nothing. I hope he's having a double Beam on ice somewhere right now......

 

[Saunders]

Devaney. Without him, Osborne never comes to NU.

 

[bhamHusker]

Devaney for the reasons others have already listed plus for not firing Osborne in the 80s.

 

[corncraze]

Sorry Dr. Tom, but Devaney who developed a mediocre program into a national powerhouse. One could even goes as far to say that Devaney was so developmental to the program that he recognized he needed to put Osborne as head coach. Bob gotta us going, Tom kept the stock rising. However back to freshman science class, there is no effect without an initial cause - Devaney was that cause.

 

[knapplc]

I'm surprised Dr. Tom only has one vote. While I, of course, recognize the importance of The Bobfather, he retired 40 years ago and we're talking about what Nebraska football is today. That's why I made the poll - I figured it was more of a tossup than this is turning out to be.

 

[Redmusky]

I went with Bob. Foundation is the most important first step

 

[NUance]

Devaney was the paterfamilias of NU football. Why do you think he's call The Bobfather.

 

[knapplc]

True, he is The Bobfather. But what happens in those 40 years since he hung up his clipboard without Osborne?

 

[junior4949]

I'm surprised Dr. Tom only has one vote. While I, of course, recognize the importance of The Bobfather, he retired 40 years ago and we're talking about what Nebraska football is today. That's why I made the poll - I figured it was more of a tossup than this is turning out to be.

If we're going with what Nebraska football is today without looking much into the past, then TO would have gotten my vote. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have had Clownahan. Dollar Bill wanted to hire Bob Stoops to replace TO, but TO put the pressure on and lobbied for Solich.

 

[The Dude]

I'll go with Dr. Tom just to be a contrarian. Devany doesn't win those titles without Osborne as OC.... DUN DUN DUNNNNN.

 

[knapplc]

For the record, even though it looks like I'm lobbying for Dr. Tom, I voted "Impossible to tell" because both were so important.

We're one of the few schools out there who can boast back-to-back legendary coaches. I sometimes wonder if I/we realize how unusually lucky that is.

 

[dylan]

I'm surprised Dr. Tom only has one vote. While I, of course, recognize the importance of The Bobfather, he retired 40 years ago and we're talking about what Nebraska football is today. That's why I made the poll - I figured it was more of a tossup than this is turning out to be.

If we're going with what Nebraska football is today without looking much into the past, then TO would have gotten my vote. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have had Clownahan. Dollar Bill wanted to hire Bob Stoops to replace TO, but TO put the pressure on and lobbied for Solich.

TO is not responsible for callahan. in fact, he came back and cleaned up that mess. i agree that solich was far from the best choice, but multiple people are responsible for his failure, including TO for trying to keep the old gang together.

if you really want someone to blame for the post osborne years though, i'd go with graham spanier. if he hires TO's choice for AD (papik) instead of dollar bill, there is a very good chance that TO would have stuck around longer as coach and then moved into the AD office whenever he wanted.

as to the original question in this thread though, i'd probably go with the third choice, it's impossible to tell. devaney obviously built the program, but the question is whether he could have taken it to the heights he did without a brilliant young offensive coordinator named osborne. kudos to the dude for noting this important fact.