Q&A with Steve Pederson

[Blackshirt]

Courtesy the paper without an editor... errr.. the lincoln journal..

 

 

You have said that the Texas loss last year was a big blow. Several deep-pocketed boosters made the trip to Austin for that game. Is that when you really started to consider the possibility of making a change?

 

"I didn't make any determinations on one game or one thing. It was evaluating the whole program. I think that's always the way you have to do it. I've been through different kinds of losses before, so I don't get too high or low after one loss or another."

 

Did you underestimate the potential for negative reaction to the change?

 

"I don't know how you ever estimate what the reaction is going to be. I don't know if Iknow how to answer that exactly because when I thought about the coaching change, I thought about, 'Is this the right thing to do or not?' And I think it's hard to gauge reaction. And I don't think you should do something or not do something because of reaction."

When you entertained Bill in Lincoln on Jan. 7, did you know quickly that he was the right guy?

 

"It's kind of interesting. After having talked to so many people about Bill, and hearing all of these things, I was anxious to get him in here.

 

"Marc Boehm picked him up at the airport and brought him to our house, and we just got right into it. We just started visiting. He loved talking about this like I loved talking about this. He was exactly what people told me I would find, which is meticulously prepared. He knew so much about our program. He knew players. He had done such in-depth research on our program.

 

"Some people come in and say, 'Here's what I'm going to do.' Bill really talked about what it was that made Nebraska special, what it was that he had seen over the years, from another vantage point, about why Nebraska was special, the kinds of things that he would do -

 

"Then we went over to dinner, and the chancellor joined us. By the the time we finished dinner, I was charged up."

 

Other than Charlie McBride, who were some of the people who spoke highly of him?

 

"Jon Gruden. Bruce Allen, who he worked for at the Raiders. Barry Alvarez. Adam Treu and John Parrella, who played for us. And the coaches and GMs in the NFL. Those are the names most people would know."

 

You didn't just bring in a new coach. You brought in a whole new offensive philosophy. Were you concerned that fans would struggle with such a radical change?

 

"Ibelieve that you get the right coach, and whatever he chooses to do offensively and defensively, you've got to trust the coach to do it. I think some people think you go out looking for somebody who runs this kind of offense. Ididn't do that. You trust their judgement on what they need to be able to do to be successful here.

 

"As I talked to coaches, all of them were saying the same things about the kinds of things we needed to do on offense. They wouldn't have all probably run the exact same offense, but they were all talking about the kinds of things we needed to do to, what you like to call, open up the offense.

 

"Every person said, in college football today, you need to be able to do that. So Iknew whoever Ihired was probably going to make pretty radical changes to the offense and probably make some changes to the defense."

 

What most impressed you about Bill in his first weeks on the job?

 

"Instantly, he got at recruiting, and that was certainly impressive. He had a focused plan on hiring his assistants. He knew the kinds of people he wanted to hire -

 

"Iloved the way he treated people around here, everyone in the department, the people around here. He was engaged with everybody here. Right off the bat, you felt that.

 

"He took instant control of the program, and everybody knew where we were going."

 

With the No. 1 offense going against the second- and third-string defense, it appeared the spring game was set up to wow the crowd a little bit with an aerial show sure to please. True?

 

"We never talked about that. We were just trying to have a fun day. At the end of the game, I was walking back in the tunnel, having gone to a couple of different events, and Bill was coming out of the tunnel to go over to meet with the players' parents, and he said, 'Did you like those 49 passes?' We kind of laughed about it."

 

The recruiting effort for 2005 seems to be off to a good start. What are some of the things that are really impressing these kids?

 

"These guys are hard workers. They spend time at recruiting. Bill spends time at recruiting. Kids can tell if you really care about them and if you're really excited about them. They can tell.

 

"They've also done a great job of selling all the great things about Nebraska."

 

You like to watch football practice. What are your thoughts on how things are going? Is Bill struggling to find a winning hand with the cards he was dealt?

 

"All great coaches are great teachers, and what I see on the practice field is so much teaching going on. If you have great teachers, eventually the kids will learn."

 

Turning to the championship fund-raising drive, you said you wanted to have $20 million by the end of 2004, but the total to date is about $15 million. Why do you suppose boosters have been slow to contribute?

 

"I think some of it is that Paul Meyers (assistant athletic director for development) and I have really turned our attention back to some of this stuff more recently. There were so many other things going on, so many things we had to get cleaned up, we haven't spent as much time at it the last couple of months as we should.

 

"I feel like we've really picked up steam in the last two or three weeks on this."

 

What were your thoughts seeing Bill and Tom Osborne together on that stage during the groundbreaking ceremony?

 

"It was great. Ithink certainly Tom is a legendary Hall of Fame coach, and I believe, when it's all over, Bill will be, too.

 

"That's what Nebraska is all about. The tradition. I wish Coach Devaney had been there to shake Bill's hand, too.

 

"It's neat. It's the history and the future together."

 

Given the major changes to the offensive system, what's a reasonable window of time to give Bill to contend for a national title?

 

"What we have to do is get back to where we're a dominant team in the North Division. If we can be the dominant team in the North Division, then you're playing for the championship of the Big 12, then you put yourself in a position to play for the national championship. We've got to recruit hard, and we've got to coach hard.

 

"I don't know what that time frame is. I believe, if you work hard, good things happen, but I'dhate to put any timeline on what Ithink will happen."

 

When you think about fan reaction, what's a feel-good record for 2004 - 7-4? 8-3?

 

"I don't know that. Ithink that probably what people are going to want to see is that we're playing hard and that were moving the program forward. Generally, I don't like to measure with wins and losses.

 

"The other thing is, we've been playing 12 and 13 games for a number of years. This will be back to our first 11-game schedule again, so when you start comparing wins, it's not going to be apples to apples."

 

You have initiated major changes in the athletic department. More than you planned initially? Do you ever step back and say, 'Whoa?'

 

"The problem is that college athletics is moving so fast. If we had said, 'Let's wait and do the facility after a while,' it's already 2006 before we're in the facility. So the longer you wait, the further you put yourself away from the kinds of facilities you want to have for recruiting.

 

"You could wait and make coaching changes later on, but when you feel like the time is right to do that, you have to do it.

 

"In your first year, would you come in and have to do all these things? Not in a perfect world. But if you feel like that's what needs to be done, Iguess I'm one of those people who feels like you have to move forward.

 

"Once you know what it is that you believe needs to happen, you've got to go do it."