flfmrredfan

Actually, it was Prickman who brought this thread here with his ridiculous excuses and whining about his well deserved trashed legacy when it comes to what matters most about UNL: football. He needs to STFU and go away. His ego has done enough damage to NU football to last many lifetimes. I will give Prickman his parting shot: he certainly is one rung above on the ladder over Graham Spannier.

The only reason you know SPEM had no Plan B is hindsight. Since Ickyhorst's first choice, Riley took the job, we'll never know if he really did have a Plan B. Judging by his SPEM-like actions, it wouldn't surprise me in the least he had no Plan B.

SPEM was notoriously naïve when it came to hiring coaches. He was used and abused during the process. See Houston Nutt, and the huge raise he got just for NU's private lear jet landing in Arkansas. If it didn't involve NU football, that would be one hilarious story! I wouldn't believe anything Prickman or his egomaniac AD SPEM said about that situation. They were notorious for disinformation and propaganda to cover their azzes.

I'm sure you could have done a better job behind you anonymous HB account. By a far, far measure, he could have. Oh, if only...

"Perlman noted he had the misfortune of coming in the wake of the unprecedented career of Tom Osborne, one of the most successful and innovative football coaches of all time and a tough act for any coach to follow. To fail to recognize that, Perlman said, doesn’t give the legend his due." Oh, woe is Prickman! What a whiner! What he failed to recognize is the system both Devaney and Osborne set up for NU football and how well it worked, and that all he needed to do was provide the necessary support and LEAVE IT ALONE! That would have made his job, as far as football, much, much easier. But egomaniacs can't leave well enough alone, and instead, they feel compelled to leave their mark. Meanwhile, here NU football is, right smack in the middle of mediocrity. Hey Prickman, Osborne had to follow a legend, and he ended up okay. Partly because he had a much smarter (than you) AD over him. The same would have been true for Solich, but you and your egomaniac AD SPEM could not leave the system alone. Now, four coaches later, and a lot of payouts, NU football is in worse shape than during Solich. And the ONLY common denominator is YOU! Thanks a lot. Don't let the door hit your azz on the way out.

Osborne? But, not SPEM? Or, Ickyhorst? Wow! So much appreciation for Osborne, who got the task of cleaning up Prickman's original mess, Yet got cut out of the process which could have prevented Prickman from making yet another sorry decision. The nicknames are as obnoxious as hell. Cut it out. You might want to check your dictionary. SPEM is an acronym. As for what I use to refer to the current Chancellor and his AD, it is the best I can come up with for those who deserve absolutely no respect for the way they have allowed the NU football program to gravitate into mediocrity.

Not me. Osborne wasn't the one who actually hired SPEM. Neither was he the one who, despite the football program's gravitation towards mediocrity, gave him an ill-advised extension (along with his coach), costing NU unnecessary payouts when SPEM was, thankfully, fired.

Osborne? But, not SPEM? Or, Ickyhorst? Wow! So much appreciation for Osborne, who got the task of cleaning up Prickman's original mess, Yet got cut out of the process which could have prevented Prickman from making yet another sorry decision.

Pretty much where NU finds itself now, a football program gravitating towards mediocrity. Because the two idiots, SPEM and Prickman, who discarded all the efforts of those before them, made the decisions then, and would have made the same decisions if Turner were HC. How anyone can think Turner would have exceeded Solich's accomplishments, which included a Conference Championship, a Heisman trophy winner (among other awards), and a MNC appearance. Yet, that wasn't enough for the two idiots. They wanted change. And change, they (and sadly, the rest of us) got. I like Turner, and would have supported him if he were chosen as HC. But, he didn't have the experience then to run NU's program. Ask Kansas. I'm glad Turner didn't get the HC, because he too would have been vilified by so called "Husker fans" like Solich has been, all to justify the sorry decisions of two of the most anti-Husker football idiots ever to disgrace the halls of the AD.

After perusing so many Husker fan forums the last few years, this isn't baffling to me anymore. I've come to expect it from so many ignorant NU fans, who, possess short attention spans, are entitlement minded, and thus easily fall for a charlatan like SPEM and his braggadocio. They blindly expect that NU should win and recruit like some of the other elite schools like Alabama, etc., without investigating as to why that should be. The reason why so many current events rhyme with past events is because so many people fail to learn from history.

Let's find out! Together! What? That a 50 year old HC, who was nothing more than a Tier 2 HC at OSU, and the NFL for that matter, will be nothing more than a Tier 2 coach at NU? Why would you want to find that out when it is known already? If caLLLLLlahan couldn't move up to Tier 1 at NU, and he was younger, what makes anyone think Riley, at 50, with his extensive time as a Tier 2, will? Oh yeah. I forgot. Hope.

You are absolutely right about Bo, gober. But, the double standards and hypocrisy of many NU keyboard jockies hasn't gone. And, judging from 04-07 and the past few years, they probably never will. Which IS the point of cm's post.

It's understandable that you can see the obvious (in bold). I suspected this when ickyhorst got hired over Osborne's choice, but, now I can clearly see the obvious, and I don't rank anywhere near the intellectual prowess you do. The question is why more can't see this?

After the SPEM debacle, and the entitlement minded fans who supported that farce, I can't believe a person of your intelligence is shocked at the lack of reading comprehension (or logic) displayed on Husker forums. I've learned to expect it.

Wait.... Haven't you proclaimed that this staff will never be successful here? No, I've never said that, but I have my doubts that they will ever win a championship with their current system and definitely have doubts that they will ever get back to a consistent level of .700+ seasons. But it's not necessarily inevitable. They could hire a new OC for example. Or there could be a rush of elitely talented players born in Nebraska around 1998. All sorts of variables out there. OK....understand. In your first post, you implied that if we would have stayed the course with the old staff, the blow outs were not inevitable to continue. In this post, you imply that changes in the staff very well could be needed to reach the success we want. Now, I could have you mixed up with someone else so correct me if I'm wrong. But, aren't you one that has said you don't like this staff because they have always been a pass happy offensive staff and coaches don't change over night what they like and understand to do? cm can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe his personal belief is that the style of offense these coaches want to run, and relied on at times this year, is not a recipe for sustained success at Nebraska. That's correct. I'll expand a little more on my thoughts/philosophy on "being a fan." I try not to get too wrapped up in the wins and losses, and especially not the types of wins and losses. I think this is mainly because, being in my 30s now, my formative years were in the 80s and early 90s, just before "The Run." I grew up reading the "voices from the grandstands" and getting frustrated when people would attack Osborne for his losses and the quality (or supposed lack thereof) of his wins. When I look at what NU was doing relative to other teams with similar resources, I recognized he was squeezing more results out of his circumstances than I thought any other coach would. I also started to really believe in the "Nebraska Way," which was (to me) based on loyalty, continuity and camaraderie. I thought TO really instilled a culture of "Program, Teammate, Self" and I think it was reflected in the systems we ran on the field and the notion that "once a Husker, always a Husker" whether you were a star All American or a walkon scout team contributor. Later, playing on an OL and serving in the military, the valuing selflessness and always having your buddy's back, even over your own interest (unless it jeopardized the team or the mission), was really reinforced. I truly always felt that I cheered for Nebraska because they had my favorite football staff, not just because I was born and raised there. Today, I try to take the same perspective. I don't cheer for jerseys, team colors or the land where a university is situated. I cheer for the people who I want to see succeed, even if they come up short. It's why I have other "favorite" teams besides my alma mater and Nebraska. I seek two main qualities in a staff I. Football style and their approach/perspective on coaching. First, and foremost, a staff that I'm a fan of will always put the student-athlete's interests above winning (and everything else). Second, I love watching hard-nosed, run oriented football that employs a mobile QB, preferably with the option as a foundational component of the offense. I find this to be easily the most exciting (and difficult to defend) type of offense. Defensively, I'm less specific in what I'd like to see, but I do want to see a coordinator who has the ability to leverage his best athletes by putting them in position to be playmakers. College football, on both sides of the ball, is really about big plays. Offenses that attempt to "dink and dunk" their way down the field are going to struggle because 9+ play drive execution is tough for many college teams to perform consistently. You need to have a system that picks up yards in chunks, which is why I like the idea of running, getting a head of the sticks and then taking shots down field in the play action passing game. Defensively, I like a system that makes teams work horizontally, in the pass or run game, in order to move the ball because that often extends their drives, leading to more opportunities for miscues. II. Overall Persona. This is far less important to me than the first point, but I always like Osborne's, Solich's and guys like Turner Gill's persona. I like to root for coaches I perceive to be good people (honest, driven, high integrity guys). Often,if you're meeting my expectations with respect to treating your players, you're one of these guys, but I did like TO's unflappable persona, while not losing that fierce competitive fire that he had (see, staring down that dumb buffalo at CU). I wanted TO to win and achieve vindication. As it applies to the last three NU coaches, I'll be brief: 1. I never liked Callahan. I thought it was a terrible, desperation hire but another guy I didn't like. My initial dislike/distrust was based on the many stories about his treatment and relationship with his players at Oakland and previously. When he basically said "I'm going to install my system, regardless of the players on hand" and then later "just one game, one season," I realized he didn't remotely "get" college football and what it's about for kids with a limited amount of career and opportunities left. Guys like Pilkington leaving with a year of eligibility and stories about transfers not even getting a chance to talk to the HC were very disturbing to me. Obviously, I thought his offensive system was atrocious in general and not at all suited for Nebraska specifically. I was very skeptical of his recruiting tactics (and employment of guys like John Blake). I'm thankful he was fired and thought NU was lucky to get out of his tenure with only a poor on the field record. 2. I liked Bo mainly because he had TO's endorsement. I'm not big on hiring defensive coordinators as HC's at the college level, but I was good with it because I truly believe that Pelini is among the top defensive minds in CFB today. I also thought he was smart in his transition, maybe in coordination/under direction from Osborne. I think Bo personifies a "players first" mentality. Some people saw that as foster an "us against the world mentality" but I always thought that was way overblown. By many accounts, one could have said the same thing about the '95 Huskers when they felt they were under unfair fire by the media. I thought Bo had some real promise as an HC, I thought we were learning and improving/developing relationships in recruiting and that we were on the right track with changes to the offense. I think NU should have stayed the course with him. I was never ever offended by his on the field behavior (because I always understood his interest was in his players, who have almost uniformly expressed love for him as an assistant coach and HC), and definitely was not offended by, and actually agreed with, his sentiments on Tape Gate #1. I really wish TO had stayed on as AD to protect Bo like Bob protected him before, because similarly, I think Bo had more upside than downside going forward (and strategically, even if he failed, he could have been fired in year 9 or 10 and Frost or another guy could have been effectively identified and brought. I could go into more detail, but I'll leave it at that. 3. I was not a fan of firing Bo, but I'm trying to give Riley a fair chance to prove himself. I'll admit that my dislike of Perlman, who continues to fumble in his dealings with Nebraska football and improperly overstepping his areas of expertise, has made that a little tougher, but I still want what is best for these players. I really like Riley's overall perspective on coaching and player relationships. I think he gets an A+ in that regard, based on what I've seen and heard so far. I'm not at all a fan of the system he's used throughout his career and I'm skeptical about whether he has the ability to organize, motivate and execute a championship level season, but I'll give him some time to prove it one way or the other (if for no other reason than NU has no viable alternatives at this point and I don't want Perlman/Eichorst making another coaching decision). I generally like his on field and media persona, though for all the comparisons to TO, I don't know that I see that hardened competitive streak in Riley (but that's hard to observe from TV). I will say, looking at some of his early years, he had clips where he got into players and refs (throwing headsets, for example), but that seems to be gone. I don't know if the competitiveness is still there, but he's tempered the outward expressions, or if he's lost some of that fire over the years (hard to maintain that championship mentality when you consistently register .500 or worse seasons). I also have concerns that he's never really been a part of meaningful championships at the college or NFL level, even as an assistant. My overarching concern for NU at this point is that we don't really have a good plan over the next 10 years (unlike what I thought we had under Solich and Pelini). If Riley does great, he probably still retires in 8 to 10 years. If he does terribly, he probably is fired by 2018. In either event, NU is left scrambling/rebuilding, and a program like NU can't afford that level of discontinuity. That's why I really did not like the Perlman/Eichorst move, which I think was mainly over personal issues that professionals should have been able to sort out without hurting the Program. Ditto, except that you are much much more tolerant towards Riley than I am. We are definitely on the same page when it comes to the two clowns, Prickman and Ickyhorst, who turned NU football into a circus show.

Wait.... Haven't you proclaimed that this staff will never be successful here? Here's a tip for you. Go do some research, and find some evidence before you make an accusation. Although I encourage you not to, because you won't find anything to back up that false accusation.

The more I read about Ickyhorst, the more he resembles SPEM. I wonder if Ickyhorst is SPEM's revenge? Naw. Prickman picked both of those incompetent boobs, so, a pattern is evident.

Osborne said a lot of things that, without context, were taken wrong. He and his staff always tried to recruit speed. Speed on the part of OU hurt NU many, many times in the '70s and '80s. So, regardless of what you understand Osborne to say, he didn't just wake up one day in the '90s and suddenly decide to recruit speed. That just under estimates Osborne and his staff. And it ignores the speed of players like Neil Smith, Broderick Thomas, to name a few of the defensive players in the '80s. But, we do agree that the difference was in the way he and his staff changed their defense. And that was due in large measure to Kevin Steele's influence, and of course, the losses to the Florida schools in the late '80s and early '90s.

It would better help if NU had an upgrade in their head coach. Having upgrade talent would be icing on the cake then.

That defensive speed was obtained by following what the Florida schools were doing at the time. That is what Kevin Steele's influence brought. I suppose I can infer that you believe that NU under Osborne didn't recruit speed on defense before the '90s?

Some of that is just revisionist history. Nebraska, under Osborne, and even Devaney before him, were always recruiting NJ. Rich Glover and Mike Rozier are just two of the recruits from NJ, that come to mind, and there are lots more. It was Florida and Texas where NU wanted to make inroads to in order to get some of their talent. Much like many of the major D1A schools were trying to do. NU has always recruited speed. NU's rise in the '90s was partly due to the defensive changes made under Kevin Steele's influence. They put safeties at linebacker postions and linebackers at defensive end positions to upgrade the speed, and switched to a 4-3 defense. Exactly what the Florida schools like Miami, and FSU were doing at the time.

I thought Riley would be more competent than caLLLLLlahan, because, afterall, who isn't? Oops. At least Riley made a bowl game in his first year!

And bring in his "throw it all over the yard, PAC 12 basketball offense"???? This is freaking hilarious........ People here bitch about throwing it to much and you want the Frost offense????? Of course it is Frost, so he will do no wrong. LOL!!!!I'm assuming that since Frost is actually familiar with our program, he would formulate an offense to be successful here. I'd bet that he would call plays to the strengths of his players, something that the current staff lied about doing. You assume a lot, most of it wrong. Coaches run what they know! Frost is going to run his Oregon offense in Florida and should he come here in the distant future, he is not going to run an offense he has NEVER coached. He would bring an offense you claim to despise (Chuckle) Dream on Dream Weaver...... You mean his offense that is based on principles of Dr. Tom's? I'll take that. Now that is a stretch or a crap, how ever you want to frame it. Chip Kelly's offense based in the Osborne principle??? Ha! Ha! WOW! Nebraska 2015: 439 passing plays - 434 running plays Oregon 2015: 340 passing plays - 570 running plays Frost has said repeatedly that he wants an offense with a more powerful running game in addition to the up tempo-quick strike passing game... and that's exactly the type of offense that he ran at Oregon this year and that Frost will run in Florida. Unfortunately I'm going to have to join the chorus in saying that this person going by the name RADAR does not know what they are talking about... and appears to know nothing about football. Hear! Hear! And, I'll add, RADAR doesn't understand the unique situation of NU football, and what type of coach it takes to win consistently as during the Devaney and Osborne years.

Last I checked, it was Ickyhorst (by direction of Prickman) who fired Pelini, not the fans. The fans don't have a say in it, unless the overall majority speak loud enough, like at LSU. For once, the fans were the sane ones in that Prickman-like situation. I didn't say all Husker fans were dumb. Just some of the more ignorant, or, win at all cost fans were. Those who scream the loudest have no understanding of NU football's unique situation. They seem to think a trained monkey can win nine games a year at NU. What does that say about Riley? Or caLLLLLlahan? Unless NU puts out the money, and even that isn't a guarantee, a Saban or Meyer will not coach at NU. Thus, as CM wisely stated, it will take the right guy to turn NU back into what Devaney and Osborne built. NU had that guy at least once, maybe twice, but egos threw them out. Even if a coach wins the conference title, it won't stop the criticism of some fans. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to realize how badly Osborne would have been skewered on this site, and all the other NU forums, during his tenure. Especially in the '70's, and late '80s to early '90s.

Doing that didnt work well for the last guy. Thankfully Bo's focus on making good students is helping this coach get to a bowl game on 5 wins. Maybe MR should split his $150,000 bonus with Bo since that's the reason we qualify. They can say what ever they want about why BP was fired, he was fired because of the way he acted on the sideline, towards his bosses, towards the fan base and media. I was fine with his coaching and was very happy with the academic standards he set as a HC, but that type of personality is exhausting. If you have neve worked with or for someone like that you will never know. I have had a boss like that, it was like walking on egg shells all the time. One minute he was great and the next he would blow up about some stupid insignificant thing. If BP would have won 70+% of his games and had that type of academic record and a better additude about things, he would still be at Nebraska. He doesn't have to be the nicest guy in the world, he just needs to not be a big dick. We had a nice winner with Frank and ran him out of town, too. Nebraska fans need to fix themselves. Nebraska fans, even the ones on the internet, aren't the problem (and I know you know that). Incompetent, egotistic leadership is the problem NU suffers from during this dark period in NU football. Prickman made the two bad AD hires, both of whom followed their egos and fired 9+ win coaches. I agree that far too many NU fans posess a 'win at all cost' attitude, and support those dumb decisions. They really don't understand the unique situation of NU football, which causes them to support empty boasting and promises, as history repeats itself. Until Prickman, and his egotistical boy Ickyhorst are gone, this is the type of threads internet NU football forums will be subjected to. Also, it is sad reading all of the misinformation and rumors put out by SPEM getting repeated all over again, as if they were true. In fact, I'm starting to believe some of his former minions post here just to repeat that crap. Or, maybe Ickyhorst hired them.