Shatel's Callahan Interview

[Spartness]

Did anyone read it in the Sunday OWH? He sure asked him tougher questions, from his play calling to the criticism of him not making adjustments in the second half. I thought it was dumb to ask him about what happened to Marlon Lucky. Of course Callahan wasn't going to say anything about that.

 

How do you think Callahan handled the interview? Do you know of anyone who was more to-the-point and tougher than Shatel?

[MCAT800]

Didn't hear it but am curious as to BC response to his playcalling??

Do you have any insight on that??

[huskerfan500]

He showed Shatel his playbook basically and said he had a lot of plays. By the way I hate Shatel

[huskered17]

Well that answers that question.

 

 

GBR!!!

[DaveH]

Yea, I did. It was good. He did ask some good questions that people have been wondering for a while. Sadly, it won't be enough for some people.

 

I like the first few sentences where Shatel completed his backpedal about security at the stadium.

[MCAT800]

I would love to hear BC break it off in Shatels A$$

[DJR313]

Anyone got a link to the story? Help a brother out that didn't get the sunday paper!

[DaveH]

I am looking but haven't found it yet. I still have a copy. I'll form it into a paper airplane and throw it in your direction.

[tattooedhusker]

i can't find it on omaha.com either. not even in their archives. i could fedex you a copy...DaveH's idea is still better though

[Ohio Pete]

i can't find it on omaha.com either. not even in their archives. i could fedex you a copy...DaveH's idea is still better though

Weird Herald make you pay for Shatel (and other stuff) as part of their "online extra". Apparently designed to make me read the LJS. Idiots.

[Sugalean]

here is the whole article, please ignore the typos and misspellings as it has already been a long day.

 

 

Callahan’s method: We grind

LINCOLN —Five seconds.

You arrive at the guard desk at the Tom and Nancy Osborne Complex, give your name, state your business and before you know it, the door is buzzed and you are free to take the elevator up to the second floor, where coach Bill Callahan awaits.

Yes, there is progress going on at the Osborne complex these days.

Walk through the doors of the Husker football offices and you are hit with a wow factor. The players’ lounge, to the right, is immaculate, complete with pool table, Xbox games and a TV screen bigger than Matt Slauson. Down the hall, in the lobby area, stand five national championship trophies in a glass case — including two made of wood, from 1970 and 1971, which were apparently found in storage.

Callahan greets you. On a Friday in late April, he is wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt and is lost in recruiting and breaking down spring football tapes. He takes you on a 45-minute tour of the offices, and all the bells and whistles. There is video equipment that can break down film of a game by the end of the game. There is a recruiting office Callahan modeled after a National Football League pro personnel office.

He talks like a proud papa about the football offices he designed. His own office is not overwhelming. It’s got a bathroom and shower, which is his locker. He was offered more space. But he turned it down in favor of an offensive meeting room that adjoins his office. That’s where he spends most of his time.

Speaking of time, he says he has plenty for a post-spring Q and A:

Q. Talk about the talent level. Are you closing the gap to Texas and Oklahoma?

A. We’re getting there. You see the gap closing. That’s why I’m excited. I can see progress. You don’t see that in watching one game. But over the long haul, you see a lot more consistency. We left a lot of yards on the field last year. We had 965 plays, the most plays in college football last year.

See Shatel: Page 2

 

Shatel: Callahan says NU’s door is open to Osborne

Continued from Page 1

With that being said, I felt we were pretty efficient. But we’re still leaving yards on the field.

We need more depth. We have more competition, across the board. I respected what Frank (Solich) did, what Tom (Osborne) did. I have great admiration for what they achieved. But when you have a different system, everybody has a profile for what they want in their system. I’m not critical of that. I’m just trying to go out and find the players who can fit what we do. If we don’t, we try to work around it. That’s coaching.

Q. It’s like the old saying, you wouldn’t be here if things were great.

A. That’s exactly right. And not only that, the players wouldn’t need you if they were that good. I remember sitting in a draft room, and we were saying this guy can’t do this, he can’t do that. Al Davis turned around and said, “Well why do we need you then? Why did we hire you?”

Q. Kirk Herbstreit has already picked Missouri to win the Big 12 North next year. Is that a sign that people don’t respect what you’ve done so far?

A. I don’t worry about that. In the last two years, we are 8-2 against the North. We want to take care of the North. We are closing the gap on the South.

Q. Do you feel pressure to win big here?

A. I know when you’re at a pro gram like Nebraska, it’s important to deliver immediately. There’s no five-year window. You come in on the ground floor and you have plenty of time. We feel an urgency as a staff to succeed, soon. You’re going through an overhaul of a staff, a system, you are recruiting a different caliber of players. That being said, you have to turn it quickly. Our staff has embraced that. We are working hard to bring the program back up to those standards. We are not going to worry about that (pressure). We are doing the best we can. We grind. We grind.

Q. There was a great celebration in winning the North title last year, but some people mocked it. They say winning the North is nice but not what this is all about. Do you understand that mentality?

A. What I would say to that is, my goals are the same as the fans, to win a national championship. But that is a process and winning the North is a part of that pro­cess. You have to go through the North to put yourself in position to win bigger things. That’s how the conference is aligned now. It’s not what it used to be, in terms of an eight-team conference. The competitive landscape is much different than it was 10, 15 years ago.

We made the championship game last year. You have to beat those teams here. I fully under stand that.

Q. What’s the status of your contract extension? Is this a big year for you?

A. I don’t ever worry about my contract. I always approach every year the same, do the best I can. Chuck Knox once told me, if you are worried about that, you are in the wrong business. Look ing for another job, another con tract, is not what I’m focusing on. I’m not sitting here, worried that they are going to ship me to the Sand Hills for life. If we don’t do it, I’ll be disappointed. But I’m excited, I’m upbeat, about what we can get done next year.

Q. How comfortable are you as a college coach at Nebraska?

A. On a scale of 1 to 10? Ten. I enjoy it. I have a passion for this. I take that as a great responsibility every day I wake up. Right next to my mirror in the bath room, I have (a photo) that Big 12 championship trophy looking at me right in the eye.

Q. What does your wife think about that?

A. She’s fine with it. I don’t know if she looks at it or not. But I look at it.

Q. Some people assume you have a burning desire to get back to the NFL. True?

A. I’m trying to stay here. I think that’s a general perception. Just because you come from that league, people automatically assume that you want to go back. I get a chuckle out of it as I watch Pete Carroll go through this. I can’t tell you how many times people have him going to the NFL, and there he is, he’s still sit ting there, in Southern California. It’s natural, if you win big.

I’m happy. I hope this is it. I want to be here. I said that from day one, I’d like to finish my career at Nebraska. I hope we have the good fortune to do that. But in order to do that, you have to pro duce. It’s a production business, let’s face it.

Q. Speaking of perceptions, the hot one is that you can design a mean game plan but can’t adjust, especially after halftime. Your thoughts?

A. (As Callahan gets a four inch thick binder out of his book case): If you look at — and I’ll just pull this little stat out here — at what we did the first few years compared to now. Just listen to this.

In 2004 and 2005, we scored 41 and 49 points in the first quarter. Last year, we went 117. That was our best first quarter.

Second quarter, in 2004, we went 107; in 2005 we went 98. Last year, we went 135.

Third quarter, in ’04, 63. In ’05, 67. It was 49 last year.

Part of the 49, we turned the ball over five times. Last year, at the start of the third quarter, we were ahead seven times, behind three times, tied once. Our oppo­nents deferred six times. Field position: Two times we started inside the minus 5, eight times in the minus 20 yard line. We were only in plus territory one time.

We did not have a score on our first possession of the third quar ter. That’sa challenge for our team. Four turnovers on the first possession of the third quarter, and a fifth on the second drive against KU. That right there kills you. Four turnovers on the first possession of the third quarter, it kills you. Then the tide changes. It happens against Kansas, fum bled deep in our territory, bang, they score. At Iowa State, bang, they score. Fumbled at USC. Bang, they capitalized. It’s not just the perception that you can’t get it done, but it’s the change of momentum.

We turned it over on downs one time, against Missouri. Fourth and one? Remember the pass? Bootleg pass? Want me to put it on there for you? We dropped the pass.

We missed a field goal attempt against Oklahoma State, gave (Jordan) Congdon a 29-yard at tempt, missed. We punted five times on the first possession of the third quarter. We had two sacks in the first possession of the third quarter. What I say to you: better fundamental execution. You say, coach, how are you going to resolve that? I say, Tom, with better fundamental execution.

Q. How do you see yourself as a play caller?

A. I think pretty good. The big thing here in Nebraska is run the ball. Run the ball, coach. OK, well, we ran the ball. We finished fifth in the country in time of pos­session and had the most plays. I thought we managed games well. In order to do that, you have to be able to call plays. I feel very good about it.

Now, what you hear is that Au burn deal. OK, it (fake punt) was a risk. But it was early. We did re cover from that and did score. I remember the coach from Au burn saying, if you had that blocked, it’s gone. We were one block away. That’s the risk and chance you take. I will say this: We had seven specials this year, gadgets, gimmicks. We con verted six of the seven.

Q. Since you brought it up, what was your thinking on the fake punt in the Cotton Bowl?

A. It was a risk, but we felt it was a huge gain and could have broken their back. Had we executed it, we’d all be sitting here happy today. But that goes on me. I take responsibility for that. The thought process was to get some thing big early. If you are going to attempt a special, you do it early in the game. You don’t wait until late in the game. If it did fail, you can recover. It was discussed before the game. That’s why when it did happen, nobody was going off, half-cocked, at each other. We all understood the risk. It was talked about in our preparation. The players had co-know ledge of what the repercussions were. As long as it’s communicated, and people are on the same page, you can come back from it. But if it’s not communicated, and it’s pulled out of thin air, you can have the perception, what are we doing here?

Q. Go back to the USC game. It looked like you were trying to get out of there with minimal dam age.

A. No, that’s not true. We competed to win. I wouldn’t have called a fake punt pass, from negative field position, if we weren’t playing to win. We didn’t go in a shell. We had a plan. That was part of the plan. Everybody knew what we had to do. We didn’t exe cute it. We felt good that we could run on them, pound it for four quarters. Look at SC, the history of their games recently, if you are going to have a chance to beat them, it’s a four-quarter game. Just like I was watching the Rose Bowl the other day. The UCLA game. Oregon State. Those are battles, tough games.

Q. How is Marlon Lucky doing? Why was he admitted to the hospital?

A. I would respect his wishes and his family’s wishes, 100 per cent. Marlon is doing great. Fantastic.

 

Q. Have you seen an impact in recruiting from the facilities yet?

A. Absolutely. This is what we had to have. But as I told our play ers, this is not a country club. Just because you have a nice locker doesn’t mean we are going to cut reps. If anything, we will work harder. I want them to appreciate this. I have tremendous respect for what Tom did here, with the facilities he had. He didn’t have this. And he still won national championships. I have tremendous respect for that. There’s something to be said for that. But now we’re in a different age. For our recruiting, to be done on a national basis and scope, we have to broaden our horizons. We had to take the next step. This is the next step for Nebraska.

Q. How often do you talk to Coach Osborne? He’s at Creigh ton now. Would you like to have him here?

A. I wrote him shortly after recruiting and corresponded that he is always welcome to come here, to a practice, to come up stairs and visit. We want the door open to him and the former players. I’ve done a lot to open the avenues to our former players. You know, it’s amazing to me, a guy is on the radio one day (blasting Callahan), and the next day he’s touring our facility.

Q. The players rallied for Doak Ostergard. Were you surprised by that? Did you have anything to do with his dismissal?

A. I’m not going to comment on a former employee. It’s not fair.

As far as the former players, we’ve done everything possible to make them feel welcome here. They’re welcome to come see me, come to practice. We rolled out the red carpet in so many in stances. I think a lot of former players see that. I have their sons on our team. Ask those guys. They know what we’re doing here. We’re upholding every tradition in Nebraska history. And the most important one is winning.

[huskerfan500]

nice work, I could have done that just to lazy

[Husker_x]

I was actually quite surprised by the class of that interview. I don't think anyone should rag on the guy for asking those questions. Callahan is a big boy––he can handle it (and did handle it). Just hearing him talk about some of those situations––the Cotton Bowl and SC game––qualmed some of the questions I had about his decision making. (On a side note, it helps in the "battle" if you use your passing strength via Purify to put the run game in a short-yardage situation instead of settling for 3 and out). Anyway, I like the way Callahan thinks and his courage to face the tough questions. I can't say I disagree with his calling of trick plays. When your enemy cannot be overpowered, outwit him.

 

Now, let's see what he does with the Condoms next season when they're drowning in a sea of red.

[DJR313]

Awesome, thanks Sugalean.

[NUpolo8]

Ugh,

 

Good interview, but that whole "win the North and close the gap on the South" is not a high enough goal.

 

I know this might touch off an old debate but IMO he needs to aim higher.