cm husker

I don't want to nit pick language, but this was his prepared portion. "We'll see how it goes"? Really? Comeon man. I know you are a competitor and want to win, but language and attitude matter. You can't be a "lead by example" guy as a coach, even if that worked as a player. What you verbalize is internalized. And we aren't in a "see how it goes" situation. The message should be that they need to go out and take it. I also don't like that he doesn't really build the team up at all. he talks about the challenges and overcoming mental errors, but he doesn't really instill a lot of confidence that they can get it done. His tone is always one of "let's do the best we can and see where the chips fall." I actually get and respect that in a sense, but it needs to be coupled with some steely-eyed determination. Some real "want to" kind of attitude. Every great coach is process oriented, but the goal needs to be clear, too. I just don't see a lot of fire in Coach Riley, and I haven't seen it from one of his "lieutenants" either. Someone needs to step up and be the "screw" so to speak. I know that using a person's first name is relationship building 101, but it just comes off as contrived. As far as the substance of his comments, every coach can look at tape and identify ways to improve. It's really about translating that read from film to the field. And so far, across his career, I just haven't seen much evidence that he can do that, at least not consistently across a team and in a way that generates wins. He can say that, but where is the improvement this year? Where's the evidence across other years? I also HATE that he's subtly eluding to a talent deficiency by immediately going into recruiting. This last sentece: what does that even mean??? "So as I gather information and I watch and learn I feel really good about it."? More missing forests for trees. The fact is, NU should not have been in a situation where a hail mary or a last ditch play could lose them the game. I made this point previously. Let's say that NU should have won each of 5 of the past 6 games, 8 out of 10 times in each case. By losing all 6, Riley is defying logic and statistics. These failures are attributable to far more than one play of bad luck. They are attributable mainly to poor game planning, preparation and play calling, in my opinion. Philosophically, this offense is just poor. That's what needs to be fixed first and foremost. But instead, he implies that the culture has been bad. I fundamentally disagree with him. The culture under Bo wasn't pretty, but it was effective and at its core, it was the same as what Riley and other successful coaches talk about: belief in the system, belief in each other and belief in yourself. Bo put a hard edge on things, but he wanted those same great things, during and after football, for his players. He produced a number of outstanding student athletes during his tenure and had a very low incidence of actual problems off the field. I just don't believe the argument that NU was a culturally bankrupt place under Bo. Therefore, I don't buy the argument that Riley has to rebuild the culture. I'm sure you do. All coaches would. Begs the question why Bo didn't get one ever, not even in '13 when he was retained. This reference to recruiting is where Riley really really lost me. What a deflection. I still don't get what he's trying to say about "as we find out more." How much more do you need to know after 30+ years of coaching? "We will never know till we get there"? What does this mean??? Sipple called him an "inspirational Monday speaker" but I'm not seeing it. I just see another guy who can talk the coach speak, but where are the results? Where's the vision? Again, rematches against awful teams like those played so far shouldn't be required. And the belief that "oh, we just got unlucky 6 out of 6 times" is dangerous. Not to mention that it ignores the whipping put on you by arguably the worst coaching staff in P5 football. Those other teams may have had close games, but (a) they won, (b) they also had dominating games, and © most have also beaten better competition already. I can't stand Dirk, and now we get to listen to his roll of stupid questions. Riley did a good job handling him. Here, he hit a great point: no two games tell the whole story. Texas beat OU and then got crushed by a bad ISU team. Do those two games tell some sort of story? Not really. Just like a bad loss to Wisconsin last year didn't tell a whole story. Reporters and fans look for too many conclusions in too few games. I'm sure if NU pulls off an upset in Lincoln this week, which they have plenty of talent to do, there will be talk of corners turned "and this is why we did what we did" but that won't be any more accurate than to say that the loss to Purdue, on its own, means coaches' heads should roll today. But factually, Riley is wrong; few, if any teams, have seen Purdue score 55 points under any circumstances. And to point that 28 points were given to them, I wish Riley would just flat out state that his play calling was awful and was the cause of that meltdown. The absence of that statement, for all the talk of him being a stand up guy, I fail to see the accountability. ok... Back to why I like Coach Riley a lot as a mentor of young men and why I think moving him to athletic director might make some good sense (unless we want to do something really smart like hire Meyers or one of the other NU alum that have been tossed out). While I personally agree with him on his last statement, I think he's dead wrong about Husker fans in general. We know for a fact that it's not really about running a clean program that graduates successful human beings. We've fired three coaches, two of whom had great records, who all ran clean programs. Backed into a corner, at least 50% of Husker fans would take a championship with sanctions over no championship at all. I sincerely believe that NU could run an 70s/80s style OU or 90s/00s style Miami program, and if the championships were rolling in, there'd be no complaints and lots of rationalizations. Not really clear what he's trying to say here, but he did a nice job deflecting Dirk. "We aren't running the ball enough." I don't understand... does he mean not effectively or that he actually is going to push his staff to force the run more? What are NU's defensive stats in conference, especially controlling for this last game, which was a debacle due to offensive play calling? It doesn't seem like it's been that awful. I really don't get him... sometimes he just seems like a spectator in all of this. Scary in his lackadaisical response here. "Some good, some bad, whatever." I get that coaches need to have people around them with whom they are comfortable and have trust, but come on. I'd also question what he's referring to when he talks about top rated D's. Love this statement and so glad to hear him say it.

Some thoughts: Have to laugh for crying? I get the wry humor, but that fell flat, in my opinion. A little too trite considering the situation. I like that he starts with the positives, but this sort of statistical stuff is not useful. I do like that he gets into individual play and effort later. I think he could have given a better review of the D and admitted they were put in some awful positions by the offense (play calling). I don't like that he talks about "containing the big play" later in the PC. College football, on both sides of the ball, is about creating the big play. This is a philosophical concern I have about this staff. They don't think with that killer instinct, or at least it doesn't appear that way. They also don't disguise defenses, which is what makes it so much easier for opposing teams to convert and to take shots at big plays. I'm not sure why they don't do a better job of that, but it's awful right now. I remember during a preseason presser, when asked about what parts of the team he was excited about, Riley led off with "we have a real weapon at punter." What??? That's scary that he led with that. The players downers will say "well, that's because we have no talent" but my concern lies in that it even comes to his mind as a reply to that question. This team has plenty of offensive firepower, as he's said previously when he tlaks about overall production. The special teams in general has been miserable, and a 29 yard starting position is not good (4 yards better than just taking a knee). I'll just say that it's nice to see Alex Lewis continue to get the praise he deserves. Is he a Weigert? No, but he's a very solid player who has been put in some very difficult positions. Discussed ad nauseam, but if you don't commit to the run game, you're not going to get much out of it. Take away Ryker's carries, and you had 112 yards on 22 carries. That's a 5.1 yard average. You get Janovich 1 carry (in fact, you get him only 1 touch). Unacceptable. Coach Riley talks about knowing how to fix these things, but when the heck is the going to? Is he going to demote Langs? Or at least take over play calling? I'm baffled by what NU is trying to accomplish on offense, but it's very very clear that the "we'll focus on power running" was a line of bull run by the apologists looking to justify the hire. This is a pretty passing offense, and unless the staff radically changes their philosophy, NU will be, at best, a 9 win team, and that will be inconsistent, too. This is such trees for the forest stuff. Focusing on some random penalties that were ultimately inconsequential? Glossing over the turnovers and 28 point swing caused by an awful game plan? This is where I started wondering if Riley was going to stand up and take some responsibility, because so far he hasn't. When rewatching the game, there actually weren't that many big plays given up. The first long QB run where a LB and whole D was out of position on an unexpected call. Then a long pass play. But those were hardly the reason why NU lost this game. The D, overall, didn't play that badly, except that they were put in horrendous positions and don't run "a take away D." For all the talk about this being a one gap, disruptive style of D, this team is extremely vanilla and the playcalling is anything but disruptive. 5 TD drives of 22 or less yards... unacceptable to put your defense in that situation. Purdue started 10 drives in its own territory and came away with only 3 scores on those drives. By contrast, on drives they started in NU territory, they came away with 5 touchdowns on 5 opportunities. NU's staff should have been looking to grind out this game. With a "weapon" like Foltz and the struggles of a first time starter at QB, it's unbelievable they didn't try to play a field position game. Really, it's inexcusable. And here we go... eye rolling time. Anyone else think he has marching orders to soft glove the Husker Nation at every opportunity? Talk about damaged psyches... those who think Bo was an abusive coach toward the fans are far more fragile than the players today. The ass kissing commences. Would have been nice if this same sort of support had been rendered to Bo. Eichorst and his boss are total snakes. Clearly. These are the types of moments that make me like Riley. He, like his predecessor and Solich, really cares about the welfare of his players. They are not just commodities to him. Not just an means to an end, which is how I always viewed Callahan's "pro" mindset.

I always like these because not everyone has time to listen: http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/life-in-the-red/read-all-about-it-riley-presser-transcript/article_6d02fcde-81b0-11e5-91c9-db7aff2531d4.html

I would be shocked (and disbelieving) if told that we had zero contact. I would bet that the lines go full contact, but nothing on the ground (e.g., cut blocking). The scout d probably goes to a fit, except on QB. I would hope that our D is going to a fit most of the time but works in some full contact for a few sessions a week. It's tough, though. Beyond pure "injury" a lot of folks can get "hurt" doing that. By mid season everyone is hurt and recovery time is needed during the week. on the flipside, I agree with the above that contact in practice conditions players better so that htey are less prone to injury at game speed. It's unfortunately that the NCAA has restricted practice so much in the name of injury prevention. I think, like so many of their regulations, it's having an opposite effect.

Was he fired, or did he resign? Forced to resign would be closer to the truth. And Oklahoma had their pick of coaching candidates and went with John Blake because recruiting took a serious hit under Gibbs and Schellenberger. Those John Blake kids were the ones that Stoops won his NC with, and some argue that Stoops' highest point of his Oklahoma tenure was with Blake's kids. 1. OU didn't have their pick of candidates, and NU's would be even less appealing. 2. "Blake's players won the championship" is a myth perpetuated by recruitniks (and those desperate to believe NU would win because of his recruiting). In reality, several of the key components of those teams were actually recruited by and signed by Stoops. I also wouldn't call that Stoop's pinnacle, despite the championship. The B12 south was very bad during those years (the North, on the other hand, was quite good). I'm still surprised Blake didn't get us on probation while he was here.

Yep. With Phillips comments about "fixing his hips" to be a first round pick says a lot. Strength coach watches film and see a lot. Figure Phillips has seen some pretty good talent at USC........ I'm sure Mark is doing a fine job, but wasn't he really a beaver most of his career. And with USC during their most down years?

It's pretty hard to "control" for what Perlman got done academically versus what any breathing chancellor would have done. People talk about football being the front porch but not the most important room in be university. I agree with that analogy. Most people will never see the back rooms. But if you're jacking up your front porch as badly as he has, then it doesn't give me much confidence the rest of the house is in good order. Unless there's an intentionality here.

Did you call for Pelini to be fired? not until he gave up 408 yards in 3 quarters, in his 7th season. Which by the way was after, he told the fans to F off, as well as dare his boss to fire him, among many other "endearing" things he did. All the while the entire country knew he was going to be fired, it was only a matter of when, not if. But I'm guessing you can't see the difference between the two and call me hypocritical anyways. No, I don't see the difference. Because NU just got lit up by an awful team and the entire country thinks it's a matter of when, and not if, with Riley. Your entitlement is just odd because you want better than .700 but are fine with .333.

Did you call for Pelini to be fired?

No kidding. Pelini is gone and we replaced him with a nicer person, but a much worse football coach. You may end up being correct when it is said and done, but I'm not sure if I agree yet. Bo probably would have gotten embarrassed by Wisconsin again this year since they obviously know the keys to murdering his defensive scheme. This year, we're a field goal a game from being 6-2 or 7-1 You do realize that Wisconsin has a new coach this year, right? A guy from the Riley coaching tree whose offense is not good.

It's going to become increasingly clear that this isn't an effort thing. Heck, Riley even said it wasn't an effort issue today in the press conference (said that it "frankly isn't" when pressed). I respect him for that, because he's right. He also made some great points about human nature and resisting the urge to throw up your hands when faced with adversity. Said the frustration is not a human flaw issue. It's a result of the bad losses suffered so far. I wonder if guys like Benning will eat their words at some point. Because there's no historic precedent to indicate this staff has the ability to get anyone to perform over their own heads. That's just plain reality.

He might be an NFL caliber athlete but he's not an NFL caliber football player. With decent coaching he would've been. He was definitely on the right trajectory prior to this year. at least he got exposed as someone who cant adapt to a new defense before someone wasted a pick on him Hahahahahahaha Hahahahaahahahahahaahahaha No one has been able to adapt to a Baker defense during his career, apparently. F you and fans like you who would drag a kid like Gerry through the mud to further your apologist agenda.

I don't see a problem with that Leaving aside the clear indication that he never supported Bo similarly, do you not recall his "the program just seemed tired under Solich" and other similar gems? The "man" is clueless.

He might be an NFL caliber athlete but he's not an NFL caliber football player. That's why he needs good coaching. Coaching matters. It's why all Olympians have it.

That's quite a culture change from previous regime. ^ Agree. We'll get there -- at least, we won't suffer a program we can't be proud of in the meantime. Would anyone trade this season for another typical 9-win season under Bo? I suspect many would. I don't see what's all that special about being unranked that makes us Nebraska fans accept that amount of boorishness and lack of class for the guy representing the university, and placed in charge of its student-athletes. Between the talent and the mentality Bo left in place, I believe a brick-by-brick rebuild is right. Talent wise, no -- even better management and recruiting isn't going to dramatically transform the raw talent blueprint. Mentality wise, the thing more crucial and defining for a team's performance, absolutely and totally. Some would trade this season for having Pelini back and being 7-2 or whatever. But a lot of people wouldn't. I'd go 0-12 for years before I wanted Pelini back. That's demented.

Many people over the last 3-4 years of BP's tenure as HC thought the product on the field was not up to Nebraska standards. The product that MR is putting on the field right now is definitely not up to Nebraska's standards. I figured 8-4 at worst this year record wise. Well that is not happening. Looking at our schedule Illinois and Purdue are two teams that Nebraska should not have lost to this year. They are not that good, they just aren't. I don't expect SE to say anything else than what he just put out. He has to live with his and Harvey's decision. You can't fire someone that was 9-4+ each year and have a losing record the next year. Riley needed to be at least 7-5 on the year. i would give him that. NU is not as good as I thought they would be and some schools, Iowa, NW and BYU are better than I thought they would be. You can take a step back but this is 5 steps back. SE will go down in flames with his decision. He has to it was his call. When you make the wrong call like this you have to go down. If he and SE and MR survive this year he better hope than Riley goes at least 8-4 next year. The only place they aren't "surviving" this year is with people who assign too much legitimacy to message boards. ---------------------------------------- That's quite a culture change from previous regime. You're crazy if you think that the rank and file are happier than the message board fanatics. Go to ESPN.com and FB to see what "regular" fans think; it does not look good for this admin.

I hate Dirk. He's awful. And I'd love to see Dirk slammed by Riley. I don't understand this, why? He doesn't always pump sunshine up the programs butt? He calls it like it is? We all know the team has gotten worse throughout the season. He asked fair questions. His job isn't to lob softball questions at the head coach. Because he's a pencil neck weasel who doesn't understand the game. And he's an awful writer, from a technical sense.

Why, because he broke it? While the wheels may have come off this year, it's been broken for awhile. Bullcrap. No one with a brain believes that line anymore.

I know I said "successful" but maybe we don't even need successful. I actually think Riley could be a solid AD. A really solid AD. I'd support hiring him as AD and getting SE and Perlman gone.

So he handles questions better than he does a game clock. Maybe he should be a PR guy, or a politician. He shouldn't be a college football coach at nebraska Make him our AD. Save the cash on buyout, too.

Thank god he's not thinking about sacrificing these kids' season. This is what gives me some loyalty to him.

"What's that machine? what's that machine called? What's it?" an Iphone, coach. "yeah, that's prrrettty cool."

All I know is that the next AD needs to have been a successful coach.

Why, because he broke it?

I hate Dirk. He's awful. And I'd love to see Dirk slammed by Riley.