Ulty

I'd call Eichhorst and say, "You're able to handle this, right? Good. Let me know how it goes." Then I'd sit in my office and look studious. That would have been Monday. Then I'd order Chinese take-out. Some chicken lo mein would really hit the spot.

If you want a great example of fair weather fans, you have to look no further than Oklahoma. When OU was down in the mid-90's, you couldn't find a person to admit they were OU fans and you couldn't give away OU memorabilia. But as soon as they started winning again, holy sh#t, they're all of a sudden "life long fans" who support the team thru thick and thin.

Yeah, but they went five straight years without a winning season, 4 straight without a bowl, and Blake's years were more miserable than anything Callahan produced at Nebraska. Can we honestly say that if NU strung together multiple years of the same putrid magnitude that our fans would act any differently? We saw a taste of that ugliness during the Callahan years, but thankfully it didn't last long enough to send us completely over the edge.

I think our "greatest fans" moniker is well-deserved, but more of a product of being able to witness consisten winning football for consecutive decades and being able to handle that winning (and the occasional loss) with class and dignity. That consistency is the difference between NU and schools like K-State and Mizzou who have a couple successful seasons here and there and act like complete douchebags, because they don't know how to handle success. NU does. So does Oklahoma.We aren't used to handling failure, and it's hard to do so with dignity. If we had losing seasons year after year, the stadium would eventually stop filling up, most fans wouldn't be so eager to applaud for the opponents, and you wouldn't see nearly as much red about town.

Let me put it another way. $ Byrne bolted for A&M because he didn't want to be the AD to fire Solich. Are we to believe TO retired because he didn't want to be the AD to fire Bo? I don't think so, but I could be wrong.

No way. TO retired because he was old, had already stayed was past the amount of time he had originally planned on when he returned, and was comfortable finally having good coaches in place for the major sports with a new arena and facilities.

Eichhorst left a brewing $h!tstorm at Miami (if those sanctions ever actually come, I guess) that only hit the wires after he became AD there. There is no way he would leave that behind just to knowingly get caught up in a scandal that would require him to fire a 9+ win coach in his first year. Surely he knows the history of this place. And TO surely would not wantonly pass the buck to someone else like that.

Bo is a complete moron to be making comments like that just seconds before he is suppose to do a 1 on 1 radio interview, just a few feet away from the mic. He said in the post practice report yesterday that he learned "There could be a microphone hidden anywhere". Give me a break, YOU WERE WAITING TO START A RADIO INTERVIEW TWO FEET FROM WHERE YOU WHERE STANDING... OF COURSE THERE IS A DAMN MICROPHONE.

I totally agree with this. His lack of judgment in making the comments outloud is probably worse than the comments themselves, imo.

He deserves heat for it and will need to make amends. Maybe he deserves some sort of official punishment from the AD, and maybe he won't be around next year. You reap what you sow, and he has no one to blame but himself. However, I think Bo has made enough changes in his public persona and how he conducts himself since that time that his coaching is still far and away what needs to be worked on.

If he was still making these sorts of comments today and making a fool of himself, I'd be inclined to say that we should can him now. But he has changed and improved. Hopefully he can change and improve his coaching too!

I know he's on schollie this year, but when's the last time a walk-on QB started for NU? Tommy's the future, but RKIII starting would be a neat storyline and I'm in favor of seeing it happen. But, then let those two duke it out and see who performs best. We need these two game ready if TMs injury lingers.

Turman as far as I can remember.

Monte Christo started against Texas in 1998.

Whoever is or will be the head coach at Nebraska, the most important thing is that he gets it. Gets the program, gets the state, gets the culture.

 

 

That's why I want Bo to succeed. He gets it. That's also why people entertain thoughts about Scott Frost and Craig Bohl - they get it, because they're from here.

 

Whoever it is, they don't have to be a Nebraska native, they don't have to have head coaching experience, they don't have to necessarily be a proven, elite coach, although all of those things would be great assets to have. More than anything, they have to belong, and they have to want to belong.

 

THAT is why finding a successful coach at Nebraska is different than other programs. We're not, and we shouldn't, find a Nick Saban, a Mack Brown, a Chip Kelly, etc. Other schools just simply do not have the same culture, and so it works for them to find whoever has the most championships or the highest price tag without any consideration of cultural context. Sometimes some schools are close and go through something similar, such as Michigan with Rich Rodriguez, but for the most part it is entirely unique, and when other schools don't take those considerations, what keeps happening as a result? Sanctions, vacated wins, scandals, and probations.

 

Not here. Not at Nebraska.

 

That's why I believe Darin Erstad was a great hire, despite zero coaching experience. That's why enough people still support and want for Bo to be the guy that gets us back. That's also why the last decade has been so rough - we have gotten away from our identity.

Well said.

That video from the Ohio State post-game locker room brought all sorts of warm fuzzies about the team and the direction of the program.

With all apologies for pissing on this positive thread, I guess I'm confused as to how Bo went from such pride and elation here to the rage that he was spewing shortly thereafter in front of Greg Sharpe? I guess in between was the press conference where he went off on Dirk, so maybe that was what flipped the trigger, but he should have ignored all of that then and enjoyed the victory. I would like to think that he would be better able to ignore that now, as his public persona has softened the last couple of years and he has done lots of positive things, but the PR damage has already been done.

John Bishop ‏@JohnBishop71 25m

First I've seen from a national guy RT @TeddyGreenstein: Pelini/Nebraska -- time to file for divorce: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-pelini-20130917,0,1958147,full.column … #Huskers

 

In the article it says that Bo actively pursued the Ohio St., and Penn. St jobs.... And last offseason he went after the Tennessee, and Arkansas jobs.... There is way to much of this kind of talk for it not to be somewhat true... Where there's smoke there's fire....

Actively pursued Penn State? On the heels of arguably the most damning scandal in the history of college sports? Is this serious? Who are this guy's sources?

I've bit my tongue enough on this one - you're flat out wrong. Our fans frequently say nasty sh#t to our team members, yeah it might be a select few, but the insults are more personalized when its not a mass group "booing".

 

Players get called the "N" word frequently, as well as people making fun of their faith. On campus, social media, after games (the bad ones), during games. Taylor almost left the program because of the fans (ever wonder why Bo tried so hard to get him to not care about pleasing others? Media especially) Our coaches get lambasted on twitter frequently. The "N" word flies around a lot in the age of social media and even on the sidelines when things aren't going so well.

 

How would you feel if you messed up and some knucklehead started calling you racist names and threatening to kill/harm you? And they then, in turn, start clapping their hands when the other team walks off the field saying they played a good game. I imagine not so well.

I doubt that the same morons who are hurling racial epithets are the same ones who stay to applaud the visiting team for the most part, but I don't think anyone can really argue the rest of your post. This crap happens everywhere, and it's disgusting, and social media makes it more visible. I wish it wouldn't happen anywhere, and I wish fans could police themselves better.

Down to the individuals, especially the student section, I would guess that our fanbase is not really much different than any other, except for the organized willingness to show class toward opponents en masse, but we have the same kinds of idiots that any other place will have (just different numbers of whom are tolerated perhaps).

I heard about Thenarse's comments about NU fans cursing at him, while cheering the opposing team on their way out.

 

Was he complaining about the opposing team being cheered on the way out? Really?

And no one should condone college kids getting cursed at by anyone playing a game. That's not right. But in Thenarse's case, I walked by him once in Lincoln leaving the gym while he was walking in, and we briefly made eye contact. He sneered and said "What are you looking at, big man?" I did not respond, but sometimes players walk around town with some pretty lousy attitudes, and it makes it harder to be sympathetic towards them.

Yeah, there is a continegent of the fan base who are insufferable d-bags, but taking on an attitude with the entire fanbase is not going to do a player or a coach any favors. Being able to deal with the negative nancies appropriately (i.e. ignore them) is part of the job.

Obviously, the butthurt person who released this recording of Bo is some vindictive person who is angry about the UCLA meltdown and the rough start to the year. I'm sure we can all agree that if Bo has a strong year, no one will care. So here's my question. What's the number of wins it will take to keep or not keep coach? Here is my prediction: (with included games already)

 

 

UCLA-W

 

 

So let me get this. If you were a coach at college level or above and you were losing at half time and your crowd if leaving and booing you would not be pissed one bit??

I keep seeing this excuse over and over. Yeah, most of us might get pissed in a similar situation, and most of us have been angry at a boss or customer. But an intelligent person in a high-profile leadership position, should not say what Bo said about those customers outloud in a room where cameras and recorders were present.

I don't buy the "private room" excuse, either, he was about to record a radio show with several others present. With the kind of relationship he has built with the media, especially at that partuicular point in time, it was simply reckless and unprofessional.

I doubt Mendenhall would leave BYU at this point, all he has to do is win 8 games a year, they're independant now, and he's got full support from everyone.

 

Yeah, I forgot they were independent, lol. But money talks, you know? Can BYU realistically match what we can offer? I say no but if he gets a massive pay raise like to say 1.5 mil a year, I don't think we can pay him $2.5 mil a year. At that point, we'd have to really whip out the check book. I realistically can't see anyone we could really steal away from another school.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't BYU have a sh#t ton of money available if they really wanted to use it? BYU is owned and operated by the LDS church, which has quite a bit of wealth, and they took the football team independent for the purposes of exposure. If they felt that Mendenhall, or any other coach, was the key to furthering their mission, I bet they would pony up the dough to keep him.

This video is the best bit of Husker entertainment I've had since about 12:15 p.m. on Saturday.

 

Now we learn he launched into a tirade at Barfknecht in a jewelery store, while he was likely buying a Christmas present for his wife? How can you be the highest paid Nebraska state employee in history and behave in that way?

 

 

Wait, what??

In the OWH. Barfknecht should be taken with a grain of salt, but here it is: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130916/HUSKERS/130918903/1001

That senitment is what I meant in my "We may never recover thread." I don't know if we'll achieve greatness again. But of course I wrote my thread with a little too much gloom and sap and got slammed for it. I'm actually glad that many in Husker nation are more optimistic than I am, but this is my fear.

The morning after, having read most of this thread but not the multitude of others, after the UCLA game, after Tommie-gate: I'm not angry, I'm not circling the wagons...I'm just sad. That's all I feel about the whole situation right now. Sad.

 

There just isn't enough you can say about that meltdown. AT HOME!!! AT HOME!!! That was the real deal sealer for me. I mentioned to a friend of mine before this game... "What's the worst loss Nebraska has had at home?" And sure enough, this was the worst since 1961. That's just vomitous.

It was a painful loss, sure. But how do you figure it was the worst home loss since '61? I can think of several much worse losses just in the past few years. This one just seems to have a different sting to it.

Ah, the 2011 Ohio State game. While watching that game, I remember thinking that that night would lead to Pelini's demise. I may have been right after all, sadly.

At least Bo Pelini is trending on Twitter....

And suddenly Nebraska is relevant again!

The only reason this audio didn't come out until now is because we had Dr. Tom Osborne as our AD at the time.

are you saying that TO was able to keep it under wraps?

Maybe he hid it in his desk drawer when the authorities and SI came snooping around?

Ron Kellogg III will not come in and complete more than 66% of his passes.

 

There are thousands of guys who throw beautiful spirals in practice.

 

I remember sitting in the stadium in 2000 (give or take a year) shortly after Eric Crouch had minor shoulder surgery (IIRC) and watching practices where he was firing 40 yard lasers, perfect spirals, right on target, just about every throw. Then in games his passing looked nothing like the sort. Good thing we didn't need him to throw too much, but that to me showed the difference between what guys can do in practice vs. game action.

My OP got more and more sad and melodramatic the more I wrote, yet I clicked submit anyway!

After a loss like this, just about every single person starts their own thread to analyze the matter. How annoying. I'm going to do the same thing.

I don't think NU recovers from this. I'm not saying we'll go rapidly downhill (any further than we are), but we may not get better. There are plenty of threads suggesting that Pelini and Co. need to go, and suggesting who the next coach should be. I don't have an answer or even a guess, but I predict that we won't get anyone who will blow our minds. NU will be competing with the likes of Texas and USC for new coaches, meaning for any superstar coaches out there, NU will be 3rd fiddle at best. For anyone who is left who has strong Nebraska ties, out in the coaching ranks right now are Frost, Bohl, Gill, and Solich.

If Pelini stays, and at 9 wins per season, he just might, I don't think any of us have confidence that he will get any better than what he has already shown in 5+ years. He is what he is. And without that confidence or fire, we may keep up 9 wins per based on patsies alone, but there won't be enough optimism to bring in the recruits or assistants to get us over the hump.

I had the same feeling two years ago early in the 3rd quarter again Ohio State. NU is going to get blown out, have a bad season, and Bo will either never improve, or else he'll get fired and we won't be able to find a great replacement. The end of NU football as we know it, except for the memories. However, the miraculous come back that night restored the faith, at least temporarily. I don't know if that faith can be restored now, and I don't know if we are going to get any better.

At least the 90s can never be taken away from us. The memories have become greater than the dreams.