robsker

Bo will be doing well... very well to win a conference championship --- and that seems very unlikely. NC! No way.

I agree that Texas is less daunting than the others mentioned. But NU is still on the short end of the stick. I would hate another loss to Texas... that would be adding insult to the injury of the past 6 years for Husker fans. I understand this and have been likewise tempted but, I have made up my mind to not lower my standards of where I want to see this program exist simply to avoid additional embarrassment. The only way this program gains back any respect nationally, or even within our own division or conference, is to beat some worthwhile opponents. We can't beat them if we don't play them so...... There's been enough adding insult injury for the past 15 years. a little more now isn't going to phase me in the least. I can come on HB, rant like a lunatic for a few days and eventually will calm down. I guess that'll just keep up until it doesn't have to anymore. Very compelling argument. And they say that internet posts never change anyone's view. Here is evidence to the contrary... in view of your arguments here, i change my perspective... I agree with you.

Knapp, the vast majority of fans have no idea what Bob was like. If he came back from the dead and coached again, many Nebraska fans would be pooping bricks about 3 games into the season. Happy 3,333 posts, BTW. I think Bo's demeanor fits in with the Nebraska zeitgeist far better than people think. We're still a largely rural state, more Blue Collar than White Collar. Maybe not in Omaha (whose media has the least connection to Pelini, not unsurprisingly), but most of the rest of the state. That's not to say Nebraskans are happy their coach said the things caught on tape, or had the petulant meltdown at the presser, but I think much more is being made of that in Omaha and nationally than folks here really care. We care, just... not that much. Answering some other things said in this thread about the media: The national storyline about Bo is just as robsker said, "the Poster Child for a childish unsportsmanlike coach." People could maybe quibble with a word here or there, but that's not an unfair or unrealistic description. It's also tissue-thin. It's a 24-hour news world. Today this is Bo's description. In 2009 it was definitely the media's perception of who Bo was. In April, 2013 and months beyond, he was the example of all that was right with college football after Jack's Spring Game run. Those storylines change faster than the weather in Nebraska, where today it's 65 degrees and tomorrow tops out at 25. It only takes one winning season for that storyline to change. Suddenly they'll dredge up the Jack run, the approbations he's received from dozens of former players, he'll be the toast of the town. But even then, he'll be one "chickensh#t" rant away from Bad Bo again. Is it good to have an overall good reputation, locally and nationally? Yes, absolutely. Do I lose a lot of sleep when that reputation isn't good? For something like tape-gate or the chickensh#t rant, no, not so much. It's all about the perspective. And that perspective changes daily. Hourly. Well said and I think quite true. The only thing is, for me... even if it may be for a time, I do not like seeing the University of Nebraska viewed poorly. I have lived in 9 states and been a part of 7 universities and while each has its upside, none match up w/ the Nebraska experience. My memories of NU when I was a student there were great and, in a way I cannot quite articulate, the people of Nebraska (in my anecdotal experience) were also great and unique as well. So any sense in which the school and the state I am so fond of is viewed poorly, I am saddened. But, like you, no sleep is lost over it. But there seems to be a simple answer here... get a new coach to be the leader. It looks like we'll have to wait one more year.

His lack or restraint on the sidelines, his temper tantrums, his tape, his interviews, and all this together leading to NU having a horrible national reputation as a result of Pelini's poor,poor representation of the university indeed warrants his firing. Living out of state, I encounter fans who, when they see i am an NU fan say "how can you like that program, their coach is a jerk and they are among the scum of college football." It happens all the time. Bo has given NU a very bad reputation based upon his childish, unsportsmanlike conduct. The results on the field are not the point. The national perspective of NU football as being numbered among the scum of college football (based upon perspectives of guys like Bo, Carl, Suh, Incognito, Dennard --- but, most notably and consistently --- Bo) is why the commentators are shocked (justifiably) that NU did not send Pelini packing. This is all anecdotal. I also live outside Nebraska, and few even remember who our coach is. Mostly they remember us getting shellacked by Wisconsin last year. My brother lives in Los Angeles and the Huskers are highly thought of there. But we're still just sampling a tiny portion of the college football fanbase. Of course it is anecdotal. That said, look at the national media and see how NU is portrayed there and, in particular, how Bo is presented. Bo is close to, if not literally, presented in the national sports media as the Poster Child for a childish unsportsmanlike coach. The vast majority of what is presented is direct, or thinly veiled, criticism of what is wrong about NU. It is not good to see NU presented nationally in such light and so widely viewed in such a negative way.

His lack or restraint on the sidelines, his temper tantrums, his tape, his interviews, and all this together leading to NU having a horrible national reputation as a result of Pelini's poor,poor representation of the university indeed warrants his firing. Living out of state, I encounter fans who, when they see i am an NU fan say "how can you like that program, their coach is a jerk and they are among the scum of college football." It happens all the time. Bo has given NU a very bad reputation based upon his childish, unsportsmanlike conduct. The results on the field are not the point. The national perspective of NU football as being numbered among the scum of college football (based upon perspectives of guys like Bo, Carl, Suh, Incognito, Dennard --- but, most notably and consistently --- Bo) is why the commentators are shocked (justifiably) that NU did not send Pelini packing.

Cubs win the World Series in 2014. It will be an awesome year.

Or. The hope is that throughout these last six years and throughout the next one more year, that people can have a little bit of humility and think, "Well, Tom Osborne has given his life to this program for 39 years, had a part in every single notable thing we have ever accomplished, resurrected and reunited a fractured and dying program, and in general is the most responsible for all of the best accomplishments we've ever had. Since I don't know what goes on behind closed doors, and since he has given me no reason to make baseless insinuations upon his character or his heart's intention, I think...yeah. I think I can trust what he has to say. Even if he is wrong, I think he has earned that much from me, considering I have no birthright to the success of Nebraska football and am only a beneficiary of it." whose quote is that? That is a great quote --- I like it a great deal. Thanks.

I agree that Texas is less daunting than the others mentioned. But NU is still on the short end of the stick. I would hate another loss to Texas... that would be adding insult to the injury of the past 6 years for Husker fans.

A Husker vs. Hawkeye rivalry is natural and makes sense. Both are upper-mid-conference level (landing typically somewhere between 3rd and 7th or so in the conference). Each program --- not historically, but over the past decade or so --- are basically equally competitive. The games of late that have been played are competitive with victory on both sides. There is a border element to the rivalry as well. It makes total sense. From a national perspective such a rivalry is meaningless --- like a Mississippi/Mississippi State or BYU/Utah type rivalry. This is because neither team (Iowa or NU) is nationally competitive. But that does not mean the game is not of interest locally. Iowa is NU's only real likely rival --- or, at least, its most natural rival.

I see no one accepting anything like mediocrity... it is just an objective analysis. Look at NU on the field this year, look how they are coached and how they play... do the same with Texas and you conclude that NU is pretty mid-level and Texas, while not that good, are a level up. So... w/o excepting anything or conceding anything... but just assessing the probabilities here... were they to play Texas, as much as I hate to say so the Horns would most likely beat the Huskers (and, perhaps do so handily). Were the Huskers to play the other teams mentioned as possibilities --- like Georgia, LSU, or Texas Tech --- objective analysis would again predict that the Huskers would be more than likely defeated by each of these teams too. So... I do not see the Huskers favored to beat any of these teams. that said, anything can happen in one game so one never knows... but by prediction analysis... NU is an underdog in each of these games.

I would be really surprised if a better coach were not available --- really surprised. I think it was a mistake --- not because of the on-field performance (or lack thereof) so much so as the reputation of the football program... Living out-of-state, based upon my seeing the perception of other football fans, when NU comes up, the response is almost uniformly the same --- they think lack of class. They think of Ritchie incognito, Bo Pelini, Carl Pelini and Suh (and, if they are older, add Lawrence Phillips in there) --- and they think very, very negatively about NU football as a result. They see temper tantrums, headset throwing, F-bomb laced tirades, angered-drenched defiant interviews, etc.... The point is, if a poll were taken nationally, and the question is what football program displays the least class... NU would be tops or close to tops in the poll. That the NU administration chose to retain a coach who has contributed so much to the negative perception of the program and the university is most disappointing. To me anyway, the poor coaching quality and on-field lack of results are secondary to the class of the program... which has been, and seemingly remains, compromised. I see this as a mistake and speaks volumes about the AD --- and not well.

Barry Sanders also did not have break away speed. It is Ameer's vision and his ability to move laterally that make him special. Although no one is Sanders peer with respect to lateral movement, I think Ameer most resembles his style of play That is quite true --- Barry Sanders and Walter Payton --- the two unmitigated best RB's ever --- did not have elite speed. Tossing in a different, but I think related notion... the best WR ever, Gerry Rice also lacked great speed. So speed, while a great thing to have, does not need to be elite if other attributes can compensate. At the college level, AA is a great back... even sans the kind of speed we all are so enamored of.

Who else do you think is reasonably attainable? Better question - how do you see him as several levels up from Bo, but simultaneously not the level we need? How many levels are there total? How many levels is he from the top? There are 10 win coaches, there are eleven win coaches, there are 12 win coaches and there is Nick Saban. Bo is in the 10 win coach category and Richt is in the eleven win coaches category. Duh! coaches do not win or lose games on their own. Wins and losses are governed by talent, health of the team, schedule strength, distribution of home vs. away teams you play that are tough, player conditioning, and coaching --- among other variables. To measure coaches by the record of the team is a only one way to measure the job of a coach --- and is, at that, a poor way. Measure instead those things that are determined by fewer variables and can be directly tied into the coaches performance. How well does the coach deal with media, hire assistant coaches, graduate his players, manage the roster (using redshirts wisely), recruit, have his team play with solid fundamentals, is his team focused (or are they confused), how well does he make real-time adjustments and half-time adjustments, how long does it take for problem areas on the team to be corrected? By measuring those things that are most closely and directly associated with the coach (and not other variables) you get a better assessment of the quality of the coaching performance. On this criteria, NU has a coach who is either not quite acceptable, or... perhaps barely acceptable. NU needs much, much better than that.

Who else do you think is reasonably attainable? Better question - how do you see him as several levels up from Bo, but simultaneously not the level we need? How many levels are there total? How many levels is he from the top? As to who is available, I have no notion. As to levels, they are arbitrary --- you set them as yo wish. For me, I use a 1-10 scale where 1 is horrible and 10 is awesome --- with 5 being acceptable. On that scale, I would have Bo as a level 4 or level 5 type coach --- call him 4.5 overall (based upon he being out coached at the half so often, poor real-time adjustments, fielding a team that is unprepared, unfocused, poor in fundamentals, the turnovers, the penalties, the confused players on D, his poor work with the media, his poor hires, his being a fairly poor PR guy, etc. --- note that record is not so much the issue given our schedules --- but those things one can directly measure that relate back to coaching... and Bo is just below acceptable). Richt seems to be a level 6.5 type coach (or, at least that is what I surmise). I'd like to think NU could get a level 7.5 or level 8 coach (or... at least I hope). But who knows?

the 6 games we have seen of a freshman QB is not enough to say a great deal about where he will go from here. But some things can already be said with some level of confidence. First, TA seemingly does not possess any "extraordinary" attributes. Many freshman QB's instantly place on display something special. For example, TMart had that legendary first step and running ability that was clear immediately. Others have had special skills on display immediately. Armstrong has no immediately obvious extraordinary attributes. A second thing already clear is that TA is really not a dual threat QB --- he is not a good runner (perhaps he is still hindered with his knee?). Now... he might progress in many areas and be anything from a serviceable QB to a really good college QB. Time will tell. Stanton we know nothing about yet. Could he pass TA? Sure. Might he be essentially equal to TA? Again sure. Or he could be lesser. Again... time will tell.

I would think Richt is substantially better a coach than is Bo (several levels up from Bo)... but still probably not the level of coach that NU needs. If NU ended up with a coach like Richt that would be a major step up but not as many steps up as I'd like to see.

You're treating the hiring and firing of head coaches like it is some one variable decision. It's not just about wins and losses and it's not just about how we win and how we lose. So if I were the person in charge of making the decision to hire or fire Bo Pelini, here's what I would consider: Record--Bo Pelini has won at least 9 games every season he's been a head coach. He's also lost 4 games every season. We've been in conference championship games, and we've been close to winning said conference championship games. We've also been embarrassed on national TV multiple times. We've been ranked as high as #5 in the nation and have been in the Top 10 on a few occasions. It's year six of Bo's time here, and he hasn't shown that he can get over the 10 win mark, but he also hasn't shown that he can fail to reach the 9 win mark. Overall, this decision is a wash; Bo Pelini can not be let go on record alone. Image--Bo has been shown on national TV yelling at his coaches, yelling at the refs, and yelling at his players. He's an emotional, fiery guy. While some people do not like that, other people are okay with that. Any person outside of the program (the program includes the fans) can't make a reasonable judgment as to the character of Bo Pelini because all they read about and see on TV are his outbursts. That's misleading information. Overall, this decision is a wash; Bo Pelini can not be let go on image alone. Combined with record, the scale should be tipped a little towards firing--we could always get a coach who doesn't yell a lot; that way, people outside the program can't form that perception about the new coach and Nebraska. His Players--It's been said numerous times that the players would run through walls for their coach. That's something that can't be ignored, and something that wouldn't be true for a new coach. Bo came here in 2008 and, with players that were recruited and played under a different person, Bo commanded and earned their respect. A player-coach relationship like that is something that not a lot of programs have, and it's something we'd give up if we let Bo go. Overall, Bo should not be fired for this reason.Combined with record and image, the scale should be tipped towards keeping Bo Pelini. The Program--We have not been in an controversy since Bo Pelini has been here. Keeping the program out of trouble is good; especially in a time where scandals and investigations are the norm. Staying clean and winning football games is good. Overall, Bo should not be fired for this reason. Combined with record, image, and players, Bo Pelini should be retained as the head coach at Nebraska. If the decision has already been made to let Bo go, then we better have a damn good replacement already in waiting. If we don't we risk scrambling for a hire, again. To me there is only one question to assess regarding firing a coach --- and none of what you wrote is connected (at least directly) to the main question. The question is this --- what gives the program a greater probability of future success both short term and long term --- retaining the current HC or hiring a different HC? It is as simple as that.. To answer that question one needs to know who is out there that is available, interested and attainable. I do not know who is out there as alternatives... but the Bo regime is unlikely to make NU much (if any) different than they are now (which is not good enough). The only reason not to go elsewhere is if you are not confidant that you can get someone good. If that is the case, you suck it up live with the mediocre coaching another year and keep looking in hopes that you can recruit a good coach.. So... removing Bo is only 1/2 the picture... NU needs to know who will be the replacement --- or, at least have confidence that a good coach will take the job and give NU a greater probability of future success than we have at present.

He will doubtless stay. His draft potential is nowhere near high enough to consider coming out. He is a really good college RB... but his lack of size and lack of elite speed relative to a deep RB pool eleigible for the draft would probably place him outside of the top 8-10 or so backs and, as such, not in the top 3 rounds. Making it in the NFL as a RB is brutally hard. Many excellent college RBs --- and Ameer is a excellent (or, at the very least, very good) by college standards --- but his draft potential is likely not as great as many here surmise. Think of Rex Burkhead as an example

I am not convinced that NU fan expectations are different at all from fan expectation at USC, Texas, Alabama, FSU, Miami, Oklahoma, Georgia, South Carolina, OSU, Oregon, Stanford, Notre Dame, or a hand full of other fan bases. The expectations here are fairly typical of historic program fan bases. Nothing special. Generally our fan base demands effort, intensity, sound fundamentals, competitiveness against essentially any competition and a few conference championships with semi-regularity and a shot at national significance now and then. Not unreasonable at all.

Very mature of the young man and quite impressive. He has displayed maturity, humility, responsibility, and leadership. I hope he sets down with coach Pelini and teaches his head coach these attributes. Bo has a lot that he can learn from this young man.

I live in Idaho and know plenty of die-hard BSU fans... and they are fairly convinced that their privilege of having Peterson as a coach is coming to an end. Many see him at NU next year. Most here (at least who I talk to) predict Texas or USC (though USC seems less likely) or NU --- the three positions people assume will open that are at name schools. The consensus emerging here is that Peterson would certainly entertain the notion of NU. Of course, no one here really knows from insider info (at least that I talk to) --- but BSU fans are beginning (for the first time) to resign themselves to the reality that their coach is too good to retain and that he will exit after this season.

for me it is all out effort by every player, every play regardless of score. Having the team in shape, with good cardio and playing like their hair is on fire all game. Playing smart. Not being unprepared mentally, not being confused on the field, not looking lost on the field. making real adjustments on O and D during the game. Not being out-coached at the halftime intermission. Playing with solid fundamentals. decent roster management. Reasonable sideline demeanor. Hanging on to the football. This is really not too much to ask but is way, way beyond what is and has been happening these past years (a decade, essentially).

perhaps... but the program cannot take another year with Bo. Each day with Bo is a one day delay in the road to recovery

It was neat that a national sportscaster called Gregory the "best pass rusher" in the nation. Burch can get open and he looked good. The DL interior was pretty solid. AA looked good. Imani Cross was impressive (good speed for a large body builder type). I thought that the defense in general was pretty good. So those are the silver linings...

a 40 year anomaly is a pretty long anomaly