JeffKinney87

Sick Burn.

Now we are the second grader.

Around the time of Bo's firing I heard : "Of the 2,053 men who have ever coached major college football, 107 – about 5 percent – had winning percentages of .706 or better through five seasons. Of those 107 coaches, 43 are in the College Football Hall of Fame. Sixty-two worked before World War II. And eight – much less than 1 percent – won nine games in each of their first five seasons as a head coach. Of those eight, only one inherited a team with a losing record. His name is Bo Pelini." https://www.dailynebraskan.com/sports/tegler-pelini-s-record-stands-out-among-coaches-despite-fans-calling-for-his-firing/article_9fea7a20-5d75-11e3-9072-0019bb30f31a.html I learned this off of Huskerboard (and my own echo chamber)

You seem to have a fixation on sportswriters. Let me try to re-iterate all of my points again. There were posters on this board who claimed Osborne and or Solich are a big part of why we are in the situation we are. I showed (via wins and losses), that Tom Osborne's picks for coaches were world's away better than anything any other AD has put together at NU. Both Frank and Bo also ran relatively clean programs. This is undeniable. If this is so, then why do many in our fan base still feel that Osborne or Solich helped cause this situation? My theory is that the portions of the fanbase uncritically accepted whatever excuses came from our incompetent ADs and sportswriters. Whether you agree with my theory or not, I think it is undeniable that Osborne's picks for coach were superior. I did not say that the media got Bo or Frank fired. I did not say that sportswriters don't "cover every base". I simply said that there is a portion of Nebraska fans that uncritically accept what they read or hear from sportswriters and ADs. When ADs and sportswriter's inevitably make excuses for hiring or firing the wrong person, the fans don't see it for what it is: trying to cover up a poor decision. Regarding the bolded, that is obviously not true. Find me an article (not a blog post or board post, but an article from a Nebraska newspaper), that was critical of the Frost Hiring, Bo Pelini firing, Mike Riley hire, or even the Matt Rhule hire, shortly after they occurred. All I could find was a couple of articles from the UNL campus newspaper.

The whole argument regarding the media is a motte and bailey. The only time I mentioned the media in my post was: "we decided to instead gulp down the excuses for firing proven winners given to us by incompetent ADs, and sports writers." I never said the media caused Bo or Frank to be fired (although they certainly didn't help), I said there are portions of the fanbase who believe the excuses put out by our incompetent ADs and sports writers. So we never learn from our mistakes. We keep repeating them, and just changing the excuses. I trust Tom Osborne to fire a coach or make a hire, not Shawn Eichorst or Dirk Chatelain. Is anyone arguing that the sports writers don't provide constant excuses for poor decisions by our ADs and administration. If they were truly critical they would be attacking the poor decision making going back almost 20 years now, by those not named Tom Osborne.

I don't think I'm going to have to get used to winning this year. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Reading the comments makes me think we are never going to get out of the muck and mire that is NU Football. Osborne anointed a man who's record at Nebraska was 58-19. Frank was left championship level talent, but so was Osborne, and both of them had trouble getting a steady hand on the wheel (albeit it is true that Frank had a harder time of it). When Frank was let go our AD hired Bill Callahan who went 27-22. Tom Osborne came back as AD and hired Bo Pelini who went 67-27. After Bo was fired, our AD hired Mike Riley who went 19-19, then a new AD hired Scott Frost who went 16-31. Osborne selections: 125 - 46, all other ADs: 62 - 72. The problem was not Osborne or Solich, it was that despite us having 2 golden opportunities in both Frank and Bo to slowly build a championship level program (Like Osborne's long journey to his first National Championship), we decided to instead gulp down the excuses for firing proven winners given to us by incompetent ADs, and sports writers. Winners win, losers don't. You can say all you want about the rumors and attitude and off the field stuff from Solich and Pelini, but at the end of the day they won games, and had relatively clean programs. Everything else that gets peddled out there like a "curse", or "we had to fire Bo", is just people trying to excuse what they probably knew then, and certainly know now, were poor decisions. Now in the Year of Our Lord 2023, we are hiring a career .500 coach who has beaten one ranked team at the college level, and expecting to restore the glory. My glass of kool-aid is running low.

Could maybe one small part of our lives not be commercialized to death? My Lord it is getting ridiculous.

I agree that they aren't equivalent. I was just trying to give a baseball example that most people recognize, and because I played baseball in high school, so that is a lot easier for me to understand. Regarding the bolded, I absolutely agree that injuries can be devastating to athletes and their families. The proponents of the anti-fragile athlete may be absolutely wrong, to be honest I am not an expert and I do not know whether or not they are right, but they are certainly putting forward their point of view to prevent injuries. They are not going around saying, BE TOUGHER, they are trying to implement programs that actually make your body more resilient, and have less of a chance of suffering injuries. I am new, and may not have made that clear in my post. Either way, like I said above, my intention was not to hi-jack the topic, and I will butt out now.

Without making this a baseball discussion, I agree with you in the bolded. I would just say that I think the reason pitchers don't throw complete games anymore, is because they aren't stressing their body in games, practice, and training to accomplish this feat, instead they are working on max velocity. In the same way our QBs are not stressing their body in games, practice, and training/conditioning to run the ball with authority, and consequently they can't. I also agree that in both football and baseball there are a multiplicity of reasons for increased injuries, but I do think the fragile athlete mentality plays a part. With that said, I think I have side-tracked this forum enough with my crazy opinions. I honestly just wanted to comment on the anti-fragility training that is starting to be talked about in strength and conditioning programs. I think it is key in reversing our upward trending injuries. That said, I will pipe down now.

Your opinion is reasonable as well. I hope for no injuries regardless!

I agree with most of what you say, and you did not draw any consternation from me, just my opinion. Taken with a grain of salt. I added more in my response to runningblind, but I am fine agreeing to disagree.

I understand what you are saying, but some of that thinking is beginning to be challenged. It may seem counter-intuitive, but think of a pitcher throwing fewer pitches...that should lead to fewer injuries right? Less stress on his arm...etc. Instead injuries have begun to explode, even though every precaution has been taken to make these athletes train, practice, and play with less risk. Like I said before I am no expert, but I know there is a school of thought that says having your QB be protected in practice, training, and games will make the QB more fragile, and more prone to injury, because they AREN'T stressing their bodies to make them stronger and more resilient. Like I said I am no expert, but it does make sense to me based on some of the things I have seen. Again just my 2 cents

I agree 100% with the bolded! In almost every sport (especially baseball) they are doing more and more to create a "fragile" athlete. This is always sold as a way to prevent injuries, but after 10-20 years of this mentality, the injuries are not being reduced at all, in fact in some sports they've gone sky high. We also tend to have a lot of non-contact injuries now compared to in the past. You cannot wrap these guys in bubble-wrap. In a chaotic world, the best you can do is train them to be able to not only handle adversity, toughness, and injury, but train them to be resilient in the sense that the likelihood of injury is lower overall. This is mainly done (I am no expert) through training and conditioning programs, and in the type of practice you encourage. This is pure speculation, but I would guess most of the quarterbacks getting injured today is due to sacks rather than "running hard through opponents". Please see more from a physical trainer Sal Marinello, I like on the "Coach and Kernan" (baseball) podcast. Just my two cents. https://coachsalm.substack.com/

Why do we not stick with what works?

Was our first offensive possession so fluid because the plays were scripted? Seems like Haarberg is less decisive now.

If you could for a moment put yourself in someone else's shoes, I think you would realize that other fans also support the team, but some think we are going in the wrong direction or are making a mistake. In fact I would argue that the Kool Aid drinkers are the one's who need to become a "bit of a thinker", instead of just blindly following whatever statements are issued out of our athletic department. We were told from on high that Bill Callahan...wait I mean Mike Riley...wait actually it's Scott Frost would lead us to the promised land. When they didn't then we were told it was one or more players and their issues, then we were told that said coaches just needed more time. All the statements in your above post have been spoken by "our betters" for the better part of 20 years. They all turned out to be wrong. You can absolutely can be positive about this team and coach, I have no problem with that, but there's no need to tell those who disagree with you to shut up. I will gladly hear out your opinions even if I don't agree, maybe I will even learn something. You might even want to become a "bit of a listener", and you might learn something from the other side.

Great way to honor Memorial Stadium. So many great memories. Thanks for sharing these Mavric.

For what it's worth I do hope I am wrong...that said there are far more duds than Nick Sabans among mediocre NFL coaches...so we might be waiting a long time if we stick with this strategy. Mike Riley and Bill Callahan both come to mind. Time will certainly tell if I am wrong. As far as being too early...if we are going to honor a 8 year contract for this coach...it may way way too late.

I respect that opinion...and even though I really liked Bo Pelini as NU Head coach, I have no desire to relitigate that. I am simply saying if you want a bounceback coach I just don't think a .500 lifetime coach like Matt Rhule is the guy to go to.

As you say...we got that bounceback in Bo Pelini, so I think it's unfair to say that everyone else gets to bounce back and we don't. In my humble opinion, the AD, Big donors, the media, and some of the fanbase have learned next to nothing since firing Solich. If you want a great bounceback you need an up and coming coach with fire in his belly and an indomitable will to win. Instead we got Matt Rhule. We have already tried the mediocre NFL coach before...Bill Callahan...why would we expect anything different the 2nd time around?