robsker

A mid-season fire would be unwise I'd think. It takes time to ensure the right fit --- or, at least the more time you have the greater probability of a better hire. It goes back to having had been prepared... perhaps feelers are already out there. Who knows. But... as much as I said earlier that we have no idea if Bo was really on the hot seat or not because we do not know the AD's views of Bo. Well... his hand is likely forced now. Whatever may have been his stance 20 minutes ago, now with this unfolding, his position will likely be changed --- not by choice but by necessity.

Thanks for bringing a smile into this otherwise gloomy incident!

That one is hard to say. But you might be right. In any event... no one wins on something like this.

Context is, of course, meaningful. That said, there is no context whereby any adult in a position of leadership should function that way. No context justifies that.

Well. That is unfortunate for everyone. No one can even remotely respond to this whole thing without great sadness. It is just plain horrible. Nothing need be said in commentary on this one. It is just plain sad.

Sure it aint Beck's? Or Doc Sadler's? Positive. It's Bo's. Time to take the blinders off. We are not getting better, no matter how you spin it. Thor... few here are as down on things as I... but even I think NU will get better on defense --- even over the next few weeks. As guys like Valentine, Gerry, Banderas, Gregory, and a slew of other newer athletes get some more experience they will improve some and that should be a modest improvement for the unit. Now the unit could get beat down and lose confidence and not really improve much (or at all). But there is at least as good a chance that there will be improvement. Great improvement? probably not. Some improvement? I think so.

What dirty laundry? Tommie chose to have an opinion that MANY folks on here had. Tommie just happens to be a Husker legend, and a noticeable voice among us all. I mean, are we all supposed to be held to the same standard that you are setting for Tommie? Or is it just that because he's Tommie, and a former player, he's not supposed to have a public opinion if it is critical? I'm sure if Tommie was sunshine pumping in public about Bo, there would be a post about that. But instead of being critical of Tommie, we would be heaping praise. How so? Tommie has never been a fan of Bo. People, especially in the press, know that and realize that. When I refer to 'people this like', I mean people like a Dirk or Tommie who have always been hard on Bo, no matter the situation. But regardless of that, as I said, criticisms happen as a coach. Negatively react to those criticisms, such as today, and you only make things worse. Bring levity, and you think the reaction would be the same? Listen, I know Tommie is an a..hole. He's very outspoken, and doesn't like to bite his tongue. But Tommie also is not an employee of the University. And he isn't a representative of the state, nor a representative of 105 young men, either. Bo is. One of these guys needs to learn how to publicly versus privately handle situations where one has much more to lose than the other. true enough. One is a highly paid professional expected to have diplomacy and the wherewithal to deal with public criticism. The other is a high profile fan. The standards/expectations for the former vastly exceed those of the latter.

Never hire an inexperienced person when you can get an experienced person with certifiable evidence of excellence at that position. The mistake of hiring a newbie is evident with Bo... we do not need another rookie coach "learning" and cutting his teeth (so to speak) on our program. That is what lesser programs are for from a coaching pool perspective --- a coach proves themselves at a low-level program and moves up to the big program. Frost should not even receive consideration as a HC.

8-4 seems about right. next most likely... 9-3. NU has an easy schedule.

Understanding another person's motives is hard to do with any accuracy. To assert that Tommie does not "care" about NU (or, at least question whether he does) is not something we can really do. Perhaps he does care. Deeply. So much so that he thinks what is best for the program is to have a coaching change. That is, perhaps he cares so much about the program he is willing to speak out. Or perhaps he does not care so much. Who knows? Neither of us can really know what motivated what he said... unless he tells us why he said it. Anyway... he said what he said and could have done do more professionally --- and Bo could have responded more professionally. Regarding recruiting... someone asked about the impact on recruiting of the Tommie/Bo tiff? Well. Potential recruits will read this webpage (and the other one). And they will read the newspaper columns in Nebraska. And they will directly hear what ESPN and other venues at the national level say (or have opposing team recruiters point out to them all these things if they have not already seen it). So... ample stuff is out there for an opposing recruiter to recruit against NU. That is... basically, the proverbial horse is already out of the barn kind of thing --- look at scores, see what is written... and much exists that already makes recruiting difficult. The Tommie/Bo thing is just another horse following the others.

Again... if the AD at Nebraska is numbered among those few who do believe Bo can elevate the program --- even if I and 1000 other posters think otherwise.... Bo will not be fired. And we have no way of knowing what the AD thinks... So stating with confidence that Bo is gone (or, for that matter, not gone) is not possible.

Really... we have no idea whether Bo's seat is hot or not. We can express all the opinions we want and it influences little (perhaps nothing). The newspaper columnists can say all they want. All of us could w/o exception call for Bo to be fired (or retained) and it would mean nothing. The only ones whose opinions matter are those in the decision making role in the athletic department... and we have no idea what they think. Bo's seat could be on fire. Or his seat could be cool as ice. We have no way of knowing.

Ahh.. I am a 50 year Blackhawk fan and hockey is to me awesome (10 times what football is). Anyway... the Penguins/Husker analogy is well... I cannot agree. The Penguins are arguably the MOST talented team in Hockey... bar none. Or... maybe the Hawks are a peer. The Pens have folded as you say and played poorly in the playoffs. In contrast, the Huskers do have talent... but nowhere near the top of all of football (the way the Pens have talent relative to the NHL). Anyway, qualitatively your argument is fine.... both under perform at crunch time.

Agreed. Tommy should recognize that his views carry weight and are heard well beyond that of a typical fan (like any of us). As a legacy star, it would have been nice for Tommy to have measured what he said before he said it and consider what the implications would be. People like us --- posting here --- are liking clanging gongs... we make noise and it dissipates into nothingness without impact. But Tommy --- with a formal forum to provide views that is rather high-profile (at least in Husker nation) and as a person of stature in NU history has to be more politically correct. Knapp earlier said that both Tommy and Bo made mistakes in that interchange. Agreed.

A suggestion for what Bo could have said. --- something along theses lines. "Hey i appreciate Tommy Frazier and all he has meant to NU football and I know that he is speaking out with a great deal of passion wanting our football team to succeed. So I appreciate his devotion to all things Husker. And I agree with him at least in this --- I too want to see this team improve and will do all I can toward that end. What i love about NU football is the passion our fans --- including ex-players who are now fans." and leave it at that. This Bo Pelini.... Not Dr. Phil.... No way in hell Bo ever says anything like that.... I agree that he would never say that. But... that is what he should have said (or something along those lines or what Hedley suggested)... a diplomatic answer would have diffused that situation. Hedley is correct. Bo's answer was rather immature.

A suggestion for what Bo could have said. --- something along theses lines. "Hey i appreciate Tommy Frazier and all he has meant to NU football and I know that he is speaking out with a great deal of passion wanting our football team to succeed. So I appreciate his devotion to all things Husker. And I agree with him at least in this --- I too want to see this team improve and will do all I can toward that end. What i love about NU football is the passion our fans --- including ex-players who are now fans." and leave it at that.

well said

agree...so what to we have to lose?...Bo Pelini.....hell, anyone we bring in should be able to beat the patsies and hang 8 wins each year...you guys are afraid of your own damn shadows.... this simply is not true. i am sure mich. thought that when they brought in rich rod. and nd with weis. of course...and they ditched them too...my point, keep looking for the right guy...like M and ND... or do should we get used to 3-4 blow outs each season? wtf??? Because we might be able to be more successful sooner if the guy tweaks his staff with experienced coaches in the right places. That coupled with him allowing them to do their jobs might fix the problem and keep the recruiting sides of things stable. The guy runs a clean program, you don't hear our players in the news left and right, we graduate our players, etc that's HUGE with how much negative crap is going on behind closed doors in most programs. I'm willing to give him a chance IF he makes changes to his staff because of these things. If he is still unsuccessful after that then we have a problem......... but he has tweeked his staff --- that is how we have the DC and OC that are there now... among others. Tweeking of the staff has been fairly common thing here under Bo. So... he has already done this and is still unsuccessful and we have a problem. How many tweeks does he get before we look for the common denominator?

you are in no minority --- probably w/o exception every poster here wants Bo to right the ship. There are those who think it unlikely (like me) and thus advocate for a coaching change thinking that "righting the ship" is more probable under someone else (again like me). But everyone here --- I assume --- would rather see the ship righted sooner rather than later --- no matter who is in charge.

agreed. What is weird is that NU is, essentially, no longer a "football" school. Football is still emphasized... but to warrant being a football school in the sense of having a nationally competitive program... the results of the last decade plus a few --- coupled with the current trajectory makes it impossible to call NU any longer a football school. It is an historic football program... but no longer a football school.

I could see this, but it's still just week 4. I agree that Shawn should probably meet with Bo and put it all out on the table. And I'd force Bo to take a long hard look at this program and report back with the changes he intends on making to address the issues that have plagued this program for 18 months. You're almost forcing him to interview for his job again, which I'm not sure Bo would take well. You hit the risk of my proposed approach quite well. What would be Bo's response? And that response would go a long way towards determining whether he is the man to have here come next season or not. If he did not respond well... then he is not that man we want as coach any longer. If he responds well... and meets the measureables with time... then he is.

I think it's pretty difficult to put out feelers and not have it become public. I don't think any talk of the hiring should leave Shawn's office until at least after the Northwestern game. Just so we're clear, I'm not on board w/ Bo anymore (was on the fence before, firmly off it now). Unless he wins out, and takes Ohio State to the wire in the championship game...I'll remain there for a long, long time. And frankly, as bad as this sounds...I'm kind of worried this team might go 9-3, get blown out in a bowl and we go through this same thing again next year, and the next year, and the next year. If it's gonna happen eventually, lets just get it over with. I'm convinced at this point that we've peaked...and we're actually starting to regress, but due to scheduling the regression will not fully appear in wins/losses for a few years. Adding Rutgers/Maryland to the mix, and shifting Michigan to the other side is only going to make us look better on paper. But bottom line, we're going to play 4-5 decent teams each year, so we're going to have 4 losses all but built in to go along with our 8 built in wins. Even Bo can get a win in 1 out of the 5 games against descent teams to get to 9... Excellent post. Your assessment makes perfect sense and your stated fears I hold as well. We differ only in that I would put out feelers now. I would, as well, let Bo know this. I'd pull him in and state that I want this program to improve and that I am actively pursuing whatever is needed to increase the probability of long-term program success. I'd state that I'd prefer that the leader be Bo and that the problems would be fixed under his leadership... and I would delineate the problems and address measurables that we together can track with time to measure improvement. I would state that I would do everything in my power to see him meet those measureables and that I want him to succeed and hope not to have to go in another direction. That said, I would tell him that I am looking at other options as potentials with the hope of not having to exercise those options. I'd end by saying that the better good of the program is paramount and that I would exercise whatever is the best option come season's end and reiterate that I hope he is that option.

I, of course, do NOT mean publicly. You put out feelers. You make connections. You frame things as a potential opportunity to coaches you might be interested in --- framing it in personal interaction with potential coaches this way: "were we to make a change at season's end, and were to be looking for a coach we would be interested in you... what are your thoughts? What would it take? Who do you see as having as a staff? How reasonable would it be to assemble that staff? What do see as your approach to improve our program?" And this, of course, happens all the time. It is behind the scenes. By doing this, the probability of bringing in quality in atimely fashion is greatly enhanced.

this...there is no reason to wait, at least begin the hunt for a successor....Bo has moved this program forward as far as he can...we appreciate that, but we need to keep move on. There are about 120 reasons to wait. Those kids deserve better. Firing anyone at this point in the season is essentially throwing in the towel. Fire JP? What upgrade would be made? Mack Brown had an experienced DC on staff already...in a non-assistant role so he's still operating at full. Who does NU have that can step up? no one advocated firing him now. What has been forwarded is the notion of starting to shop for a replacement now so as to better ensure right fit. It happens in industry all the time. While the unit (or individual) that is to be replaced is still operative, though the decision has been made to make the change, the high-level administration is actively pursuing the replacements.

Huskershark: you say what many others have said here too... that you like values Bo instilled. man... I struggle with that. I just do not see a grown man who throws temper tantrums (albeit he has not done that for a while.. but he did early on), who berates players publicly on the sidelines, who does not often take any blame for the problems on the team --- and throws his players and their "lack of execution" under the bus --- I have a hard time respecting that. Now... players do graduate and that is wonderful --- what Bo inherited there he maintained. Good for him. And... as far as we know, the team has no major off-field problems and there is no hint of any violations associated with anything. That too is to Bo's credit. So I do see good things --- important and good things to commend Bo for. But the conduct he has portrayed (admittedly more in his past than his present ... save for the blaming the players) makes me question the notion of "great values."