The problem with your scenario is that is far too much time to make change. I can't take 2-3 years of this. The more years we stick with Riley and let him implement his system, the longer the rebuild will be to get out of it.
We all know this isn't going to work out. We all knew deep down from the beggining a life long .500 coach wasn't going to suddenly become a national title contender, but we are all die hard Cornhusker fans that we wanted to believe it to work.
Best case scenario is to dump him now. Dont give him time to implement his system, because the longer he is here the longer it will take to fix what he changes with the next coach. Admit the loss of a season now and move on. Heck, how awesome would it be if they just fired him now and Osborne was brought in as interim head coach. Obviously firing Riley mid season of his first year will never happen, but I can dream, right? But seriously, this isn't going to work so get rid of him at years end. Soon we will start to see the player give up on him too.
Echorst is a flop as well. He failed at Miami, he failed at Nebraska. How, with as big of a university as Nebraska is, do you hire your next head coach within a week of firing your old one? Seeminly only giving interviews to a select few and then coming away with a 62 year old .500 coach? Utter failure.
Yesterdays game has left an empty feeling in my stomach. Riley is way too over his head in Lincoln. He had a cushion job in Corvallis, where losing seasons were acceptable and no one turned the heater on his seat. That is not going to fly in Lincoln. I don't know if he realized that.
Maybe best case scenario is Riley is such a nice guy, he realizes he cant succeed here and he has failed that he just resigns at years end. Now Mike, that would be the real nice thing to do.