Xmas32

I'm a CFB junkie so I was pretty aware of Mike Riley when he got hired. My thoughts were: -Ok, polar opposite of Pelini, not the worst thing in the world -Will be around 4-5 years to "right the ship" before turning over the reigns to Frost -Will turn out a couple awesome WRs -Jet Sweeps! -Will maintain 8/9 wins per year but lose a couple games that make zero sense but hopefully offset that with a huge upset or two I really thought Riley was hired for culture change first and coaching second. When I saw the staff Riley brought with him I thought, "Dang, this is the best we can do?" I think the world of Riley as a man, he's the rare coach that is universally respected amongst his peers. Sadly, it was evident Riley was over his head pretty quickly. I wish him well in his next endeavor as it's clear that he won't be the coach @ NU much longer.

Mullens might be looking to get away from the shadow of Knight and Pat Kilkenney (other huge booster that everyone forgets to mention and is arguably more meddlesome than Knight). I'm sure he gets told on a daily basis that if weren't for the above two that Oregon athletics would be no where. That would eat at a person after a while. You have to think he'd get a pretty wide berth when it comes to making decisions. I know NU athletics is a bit of a mess particularly with the flagship program. That being said, this is a great time to step in if you're the new AD. You always want to be the guy after the guy who replaces the man (Eichorst replacing TO). Eichorst certainly screwed some things up, he did a lot of pretty good things as well. The next AD will heap the benefits provided he/she (I see you out there Hayseed with your Karen Jennings TShirts) isn't completely tone deaf. Lastly, money isn't the end all, be all but Mullens would command a pretty nice raise. I believe he's making around $750k @ Oregon. Nebraska would probably make an offer in the $1.1-$1.3 range. As for the Danny White talk. He's an intriguing candidate no doubt and I'm sure one day he'll make a great P5 AD. That being said I'd rather take the guy who has already spent 15+ years at P5 jobs. Plus, Mullens is in his late 40s so age isn't really a factor.

It's probably a little bit of both. Oregon started to ramp up their facilities before Mullens got there. It should be noted that Knight doesn't just give money for athletics, he and his wife pledged $500mm (yes that's million) for Oregon to build a new science center. http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2016/10/phil_and_penny_knight_will_giv.html Any good AD is going to know how to maximize an asset like Knight. I would be very surprised if Nebraska switched over to Nike.

Would be pretty happy with either Mullens or Long.

No. Assuming a neutral field I think UCF would be somewhere between a 7-10 point favorite and even that feels high.

Please use one of the other threads to discuss Riley's future. There is an existing thread that is already dedicated to Riley's future and how it might affect recruiting.

Yes the parallels are the similar.

Agreed it does seem questionable given the circumstances.

IIRC this is something that has affected Bryant all the way back to HS. Riley and the other coaches were aware of it. Sometimes you just need to roll the dice on a guy and hope it works out. The juice was worth the squeeze in this case. Definitely bummed for Bryant. Hopefully this doesn't affect any long term quality of life issues.

No worries amigo. Happy to have some conversation about topics other than the usual banter.

I knew it! Should've rolled with the root beer scratch n sniff ones! Orange is also acceptable.

It's not quite as cut and dried as that. Long also hired Mike Anderson to coach MBB and that's worked out pretty well. Long does seem to be pretty well respected amongst his peers. We're all aware of his involvement with the CFP committee. He was also named AD of the year in 2015. One thing that I do like about Long is he's worked under some larger than life football coaches and at some big time programs. He got hired by Bo Schembechler when Bo was the AD at Michigan and stayed there for 10 years. He replaced Frank Broyles (Arkansas version of TO) when Broyles retired from the AD spot and has been there for almost 10 years. He was also at Oklahoma in the early 2000s for a couple years and oversaw the football and MBB programs. Long's also worked in 5 of the 6 major conferences which is pretty impressive. I didn't intend for this to be such a pro Jeff Long post but the more I look at his background, the more you can't help but be impressed. I'll let someone else tackle Pollard.

Mullens has seemingly done a nice job across the board in terms of raising the bar for all of Oregon's sports. It looks like they've finished in the top 10 the last 2 years in the Director's Cup (used to be known as the Sears Director's Cup) for overall athletic excellence which is good given that Nebraska tries to be pretty strong across the board in all their sports. He also deserves a tip of the cap for running one of the few athletic departments in the NCAA that is self sufficient. Has hired Helfrich and Taggert for CFB. Long has been discussed a fair bit already. Good track record on hiring with both Petrino and big Bert, both were lauded quite a bit at the time. Petrino lead Arkansas to big time success, he just happened to be a scumbag too. Props to Long though in that he moved on swiftly from Petrino once news broke. Honestly, I'd be pretty happy if Nebraska hired any of the 3 mentioned.

That's fair. I agree with you on Chizik, that was a disaster. As for Sanderson leaving, PSU is located in arguably the top spot for HS wrestling in the country. I think Sanderson saw the opportunity to take the head job at a place where you have elite talent in your backyard, great facilities and rabid fan support. I did find an article (albeit a dated one) that gives some further explanation. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/sports/29wrestling.html

Don't forget the crisp meat burritos!

I don't get the knock on Pollard. He's done a nice job hiring coaches. Matt Campbell looks like he might turn out to be pretty solid and he made great hires in Prohm and getting Hoiberg to Ames. Is it just an ISU thing?

I do what I can. It's been a rough season and I fear it's going to get rougher. There's been so much hostility on the board lately that I hope a little humor can help things out.

Twas an amazing race. I've kept the screws in my ankle so I can always say that I have a piece of Scott Frost inside me.

Did I ever tell you about the time I went horseback riding with FROST, but there weren’t any horses around? Well, FROST throws a saddle on my back and rides me around Wyoming for three days. Well, wouldn’t you know it, my stamina increases with each day and I develop tremendous leg muscles. So anyway, FROST decides to enter me in the Breeders’ Cup, right, under the name Turkish Delight. And I’m running in second place, and I’m running and I break my ankle! They’re about to shoot me. Then someone from the crowd yells out, God bless him, ‘Don’t shoot him, he’s a human.'”

That would be a cruel twist of irony for Lee if Fritz came to NU.

I think the only reason Niumatalolo strongly considered leaving for BYU is due to his connection with the LDS faith. I honestly think he'll be at Navy for his entire career. Maybe he comes back to BYU at some point but that's the only other job I could see him considering. http://coachingsearch.com/article?a=Ken-Niumatalolo-The-BYU-job-is-just-different-I-need-to-listen

Jeff Long as AD wouldn't totally shock me. TO would've gotten the chance to work with Long when they were both on the College Football Playoff committee. If Osborne gives a favorable recommendation, who knows? I do like that Long has hired 2 football coaches and showed some strong moxie with the Petrino scandal. That was probably a bit of a tough call given the level of success Petrino had Arkansas at. Long also hired Mike Anderson from Mizzou to coach MBB and that's worked out pretty well.

The Navy coach is never coming to Nebraska. He had a chance to take over BYU and coach his son and decided to stick with Navy. I think that speaks volumes. If (and that's a big if) Riley gets another year I think Nebraska loses Bray and possibly Donte Williams to better offers. Bray had a chance to take the DC job @ SJSU last year and decided to stay, with Riley essentially being a lame duck coach next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave. Williams strikes me as a hired gun which is great if you have him, however, he did leave Arizona after one year and I wouldn't be totally surprised to see him jump again. There are probably going to be quite a few big time openings and you figure a guy like Williams who has a proven track record of recruiting at a high level is going to get courted pretty heavily. Riley's precarious situation doesn't exactly give a vote of confidence. Also, Cav probably gets shown the door as well. Again, how difficult will it be to get a top flight O Line coach if he knows that there is a good that he's going to get let go if Riley gets fired? Man, this situation is a mess.

Couldn't agree more. This is one thing that I'm surprised Nebraska doesn't take advantage of more. There are quite a few powerhouse JUCOs in Kansas that in theory Nebraska could target to help offset either recruiting misses or help bolster numbers. I know geography doesn't matter as much to JUCOs because the guys come from all over but dang, Kansas is still pretty close.

Tune in Tuesday. Today is far too nice of a day outside to spend it suffering fools.