I still find it bizarre how many people continue to defend the Callahan Era as if it was a good thing for this program. There were many positives about Callahan's time here (high-scoring offense, grades were a priority, Football 101 as a Breast Cancer fundraiser, etc) but the overall net effect was highly negative - toxic, even - to the program. There are about three dozen factors that go into that, one major of which is Steve Pederson, but still - sticking up for the guy? He was almost 180 degrees the polar opposite of the culture of this program. If that's what you want, go be a fan of another team.
I can only assume you are talking about me. I’m not really sticking up for him, I just think it is pretty stupid for people to still be blaming him for what is happening now when he has been gone for almost 4 years.
It is like blaming Frankie for Billy C’s shortcomings.
You in part. If that's all you were doing I'd be chiming in right along beside you. This may just be my perception, but between you and zoogies, any time there's a comment directed at Callahan in a negative way, you rush in to post something in his favor. I don't get it. Bill Callahan has just about nothing to do with Nebraska Football. His coaching techniques and philosophies are not representative of what we are or what we intend to be. He was a bad coach for Nebraska not just because he lost, but because he didn't care what was lost during his tenure. He was, essentially, an opponent coach sitting in our head coach's office for four years. I liken it to having Pat Hill, the Fresno coach, take over Nebraska for four years while still acting like he's coaching Fresno. Callahan had no interest in being
Nebraska's head coach - he just needed a job. He treated it like it was an ordinary job, and that you cannot do.
However, I often think the criticism leveled at Callahan goes way over the top. There are dozens of examples, but off the top of my head I'll toss out the "throat-slash" thing for which he was wrongly and unnecessarily vilified, the "he's not wearing a Nebraska shirt at the press conference" nonsense, and the licking his lips thing - all of which were ridiculous things to use against him, but all of which were. While wrong for Nebraska, he was not a bad person, nor was he a bad coach. He was a bad fit. His mistakes were more inherent than intentional - although, there were a few cultural whitewashings he attempted that I very strongly disagree with.
I would rather watch paint dry than read any of Dirk Chatelain's nonsense so I can't speak for what he wrote, but the gist of what I'm getting is that Callahan is being blamed in part for the woes of our offensive line. While it's possible that echoes of what Callahan did could be influencing today's line, the reality is that Callahan was a very good offensive line coach (hence the praise he's getting in the NFL today) and I really don't see a solid argument for blaming the line on Callahan - other than cultural mindset, which is something I strongly disagree with him on. The worst thing Callahan did for our O Line was get himself fired, thus turning off several strong recruits and shelling the line. But that's not really his
fault, and I think it's stupid to blame him for it.
Today's O Line is the product of three things, in my opinion - a necessarily heavy focus on defensive recruiting, poor coaching and injuries. Four things, if you count the exodus of Callahan's recruits (but again, you can't blame Callahan, or the recruits for leaving in a time of upheaval). We've lost some guys due to attrition (injuries), Barney has not been teaching solid technique (or they're not learning, regardless, they're not performing well) and that leaves us with the defensive focus of our recruiting efforts. That falls on Bo, and while it was necessary, it almost seems to have been a focus to the detriment of the O Line, and that's a problem.
