Fru

I have a difficult time believing Rhule made a good faith effort to get the best possible WR coach, and it just happened to be this child. Biggest assistant $$ pool in program history. Absolutely baffling hire.

Yeah they got bounced in the NIT in 17-18. But my overall point is, a .500 B1G record doesn’t guarantee an NCAA bid.

I feel like any time a coach has to restructure their contract… they’re on the hot seat. I can’t help but remember the 2017-18 season where Neb went 22-11 overall, 13-5 in the conference and finished 4th overall in the B1G, and still didn’t get a tournament bid.

Going into this season I had zero faith in Fred. I didn’t think they’d get 5 wins total, and didn’t think they’d get a single conference win. Currently at 8 wins, one against a top ten ranked rival. Also took the number one team in the country to OT. I imagine 15 wins is probably the target number for Fred to keep his job. If they can keep up this defensive play, a lower post season tournament seems possible.

I think the trenches determine how far we go. As of now I’d say 3-4 wins. I’m not terribly inspired by Knighton or Raiola. Portal additions/losses can change things, but that’s where my head is at for now.

I don’t think anyone expected Raiola to have the OL completely flipped in one season. I think it’s fair to say that most folks expected to see some kind of growth. They didn’t need to be perfect, they just needed to look like they were taking the right steps forward. The only thing off the top of my head I can say that they appeared to improve on, was false starts. I remember in ‘21 there were multiple games where there were constant and sometimes consecutive false starts that absolutely killed drives. I don’t recall seeing anything quite that egregious like that this past year. That being said… I do remember our OL often times looking completely clueless and not giving any effort. The blocked PAT against Illinois comes to mind, as does North Dakota. I said this in a different thread, but what’re the sheer odds that the absolute best guy Rhule could find for OL, just happened to be the guy that was already here? Rhule has more money for assistants than any other Neb head coach has ever had. Why not pony up and go get a proven guy for one of the most critical units on the team?

Excellent post. Very well said. Rhule talks a big game about developing the trenches. Then he goes out and hires a DL coach whose college experience is 2 years at an FCS school. Then you’ve got Donovan. What’re the sheer odds that the absolute best guy Rhule could find for OL just happened to already be on the staff? Yes OL takes time to flip. Yes DR had a couple bad breaks. But there were times the OL truly looked like they’d never played football before. The DC hire is also a little confusing/concerning. I would’ve also guessed a DC would’ve been hired first and then give input on assistants. I’m also leery of a 3-3-5 system, if that’s what he intends to run. Yeah yeah yeah, it allows flexibility for this that and the other thing. But forgive me if I’m a bit jaded by coaches who have to show they’re the smartest guy in the stadium. Looking at the arrival-departure list, I feel like we’ve only really upgraded at a couple spots. Every other spot looks like a lateral replacement or even a bit of a downgrade. Rhule has the biggest $$ pool for assistants a Neb head coach has ever had, and these hires seem to have thin or unimpressive resumes. I’ve also heard a bunch about how all these guys are great recruiters. Okay, that’s fine. But in our worst years and thru multiple staffs, we’ve always been able to outrecruit our division. The issue is we haven’t been able to develop and keep guys. To me, that gets fixed by having competent coaches. I was hoping Rhule would fill out a staff with experienced guys, with some of that experience coming from the B1G. Few seem to fit that description.

Raiola definitely walked into a bad situation. He also caught some bad breaks with Nouili and Prochazka. Obviously OL takes some time to flip and maybe he just needs more time. But with how comically bad the OL has been for years now and Rhule having the largest assistant $ pool the AD has ever given a head coach… it’s difficult not to think “Go get a proven guy.”

Wow, massive win. I didn’t think this team would notch 5 wins this season. Happy to be wrong.

Unreal.

“Coach, Hank from DeWitt here. What do you think about changing the tunnel walk music from Sirius? Should Nebraska switch to Nike from Adidas? You’ll never do all red uniforms, right? You hate Lil Red too, dontcha? When is the right time to play The Killigan’s song?”

Fickell is my first pick too. I’d argue the ranked team stuff is appropriately emphasized. Dude is wanting top dollar, and his best win is a 2016 win against 19th ranked Navy. I also have to question him for hiring Joe Brady as his OC at Carolina. Brady had one of the thinnest resumes ever and his biggest claim to fame was a one year stint as a passing game coordinator for a team that had a record number of draft picks. Really Matt? That’s the guy you think is ready to be an NFL OC? My mother in law could have been the passing game coordinator for LSU that year and had similar results.

So Jim Grobe was the interim after Briles got axed, and went 7-6. Did Baylor have any sanctions that Rhule had to deal with? Scholarship limits? Bowl bans? TV bans? As far as I can find Baylor got a slap on the wrist for ticky tack recruiting violations that didn’t take effect until after Rhule was gone. Sure it couldn’t have been easy to take on the Baylor gig at the time, but Briles, Grobe and Aranda have all had winning seasons at Baylor. Is winning there really the Herculean feat we’ve made it out to be? He hasn’t beat a ranked team since a 2016 game against Navy. I hope he‘s able to put a staff together, because if he’s the guy… I’m not seeing it.

TO isn’t the Don Corleone Puppet Master that he often gets made out to be.

Who knows if Trev shooting down 3 assistants at $1m each is even true. If it was in fact shot down, is it perhaps because of who the assistants were going to be? Brian Ferentz makes just under $1m/year. Doesn’t mean he’s worth it.

Would love it, but I fear he’s too settled at Utah to want to uproot and start completely over. I think Kyle Whittingham, Gary Patterson, or Chris Petersen would’ve been excellent post Bo hires. The program was in a solid place and a competent hire could’ve seized the West a bit.

Jon Bowling Roger and or Curtis Craig

http://amp.thecomeback.com/ncaa/college-football-world-reacts-kirk-ferentz-buyout.html Article from this summer says $48m. Brian makes $900k/yr as possibly the worst OC of all time. Parker makes $595k/yr as an excellent DC. Things could get very interesting in Iowa City.

Almost. I’ll have to check but I think his buyout is pretty steep. Not sure if Iowa has deep enough pockets to move on. Promoting Parker would probably be the move. But if they can’t move on from Kirk, can Parker possibly be lured away? Have to imagine he’s getting looks.

It’s kinda poetic how Iowa and Wisconsin fans have been hammering Neb for years for moving on from coaches who won 9 games. Funny how things work out.

Was at that game. A 3 win team with half a staff and a backup QB had them on the ropes, and their fans were acting like they won the Super Bowl. I’m with ya teach. The B1G West is not the murderer’s row they get made out to be.

I’m glad someone finally said it. A lot of average to below average in the B1G West. The league has done a great job of rebranding mediocrity as “toughness.” Really a shame Neb hasn’t had their s*** together these last few years. The division has been up for grabs for years, hard not to think we left some on the table.

Can anything just be normal?

I think the drama of the 90’s bled into the “experience” of Nebraska football a bit. The gossip, stories and “Well I heard…” is an added bonus. Maybe Scott got hammered and blew off a meeting with a top recruit. Or maybe a 5 star QB with all the options in the world wanted to play for a top program, and not a 3 win team with a head coach hanging by a thread. Maybe everything isn’t a soap opera.

Few things will compare to the excitement of Frost being named head coach. Obviously it went off the rails, but boy did everything in the world seem right when it became official. I wouldn’t say I’m excited for the rest of the year, but it does feel a bit refreshing at the moment, kinda like a weight has been lifted. Expectations are low. If the offense continues to gel, I think there’s enough talent on this team for them to win a shootout or two.