Pelini reaching out to former NU players

huskernumerouno · February 22, 2008

BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Friday, Feb 22, 2008 - 12:49:36 am CST

Here with the February cold was a prediction from a proud Husker alum.

“I pretty much guarantee this year there will not be two golf outings,” Mitch Krenk said with a laugh.

Whatever awkwardness last football season brought for Krenk seems just a bizarre memory now. Anger has been overcome by optimism. Krenk will toast to that.

Not many months ago, it was far different. As president of the N Club — a group for Husker letterwinners in any sport — Krenk was caught in the middle.

Perhaps you remember two Husker golf tournaments on the same day last April, one of them being the annual N Club tournament. It had a rival, as 105 former football players showed up for another tournament at another Lincoln golf course.

That tournament came with a Tom Osborne appearance and a tribute to Doak Ostergard, the longtime NU trainer who had been asked to leave his post a couple months earlier by then-head coach Bill Callahan.

While the alternative tournament was said to not be a protest, it was perceived by some as being one.

The departure of Ostergard peeved some former Huskers, who already felt excluded from the program by Callahan and then-athletic director Steve Pederson.

“Some guys didn’t feel connected to the program they helped build,” Ostergard explained then. “The best-case scenario is that all those guys feel connected again.”

Today should help the cause. Members of the N Club are invited to Memorial Stadium for an afternoon meeting with Bo Pelini and the new football coaching staff.

Krenk is predicting at least 100 former players will attend, maybe many more.

“A bunch of old football players probably aren’t the best at RVSPing,” he said.

The other day, Krenk heard back from Bruce Mathison, a former Husker quarterback who was his teammate in 1981-82. Mathison hasn’t been a familiar face at alumni functions, but he and a buddy were planning to come from Arizona to this one.

Said Krenk: “I just mentioned to Coach Pelini that we thought it would be a great idea to have kind of a meet-and-greet with the former players and the coaching staff. He said, ‘Hey, tell us when and where. It’d be great.’”

Jeff Jamrog, assistant athletic director for football operations, said this is just the start. With Tom Osborne as athletic director, and former players like himself, Marvin Sanders and Barney Cotton on the Husker staff, he said the program plans to always have the door open to former Huskers.

“We all understand what all those former players did to make the University of Nebraska great all those years,” Jamrog said.

During last year’s tension, Krenk struggled convincing some former players to come to events.

“I’d tell guys, ‘Let’s all stay together. We’re always going to be the letterwinners. Nobody can change that. We just need to stay positive, stay together. Things will work out.’”

Krenk has started to see a change. Recently, former Husker and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers opened a restaurant in Omaha.

Rodgers asked Krenk if he thought he could help get some former players to come.

“I e-mailed and quite a few guys showed up and helped Johnny out,” Krenk said. “To me, that’s what it’s all about. When a guy walks into a room and sees a teammate he hasn’t seen in 20 years, it’s like, ‘Holy smokes.’ His face just lights up.”

Wins and losses will eventually mean the most, but for now, as the honeymoon goes on, Pelini seems to be finding the right notes.

Krenk said it just feels good again. A logjam on the first teebox at this year’s N Club golf outing will be gladly accepted.

“I was lucky to play with some great players that weren’t from Nebraska: Roger Craig, Mike Rozier, Irving Fryar,” Krenk said. “They weren’t from Nebraska but they’re Nebraska guys, and that’s how I really feel about Coach Pelini. He’s not from here but he’s a Nebraska guy.”

Briefly

Tickets continue to sell at an impressive rate for the April 19 Red-White Spring Game.

As of Thursday afternoon, Jamrog said 37,500 tickets have been sold.

“Obviously, we’re hoping for a sellout,” Jamrog said. “I think that (the interest) sends a great message to our football team. It’s a great motivator, great lift for the kids, to just show that the whole state’s behind them.”

The Husker spring-game record attendance was set in Callahan’s second season, in 2005, when 63,416 fans showed up. The Spring Game attracted about 61,000 fans in Callahan’s first year.

Last season, 54,288 fans attended. As is often the case with spring games, that number came with the help of a big walk-up crowd. About half of the tickets sold last year came the day of the game.

NU begins spring practice March 26.