Redout Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg...38&u_sid=969160 Callahan will lead us back to the promise land redout Quote Link to comment
Guest WyomingHusker Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 OH WOW! I hope Pederson is happy! We shall be deliverd and time will tell. Quote Link to comment
Redout Posted January 9, 2004 Author Share Posted January 9, 2004 ESPN confirms: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1703364 OMAHA, Neb. -- Former Oakland Raiders' coach Bill Callahan accepted the Nebraska football job Thursday after interviewing with the school, ESPN.com's John Clayton reported. Callahan's agent, Gary O'Hagan, said the coach told him earlier Thursday that he likes Lincoln and was interested in the job. Callahan met with Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson in the afternoon. Callahan told the Lincoln Journal Star that he planned to be in town for the day. Nebraska associate athletic director Mark Boehm said earlier Thursday the search for a new Nebraska football coach would be over soon. Boehm filled in for Pederson at the Nebraska Special Olympics Breakfast of Champions on Thursday in Omaha. He said Pederson missed the event because his interview with Callahan was not completed Wednesday night. "I tell you this, this will come to a close shortly," Boehm told The Associated Press. Pederson has acknowledged interviewing Arkansas coach Houston Nutt and Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. Zimmer turned down an offer from Nebraska on Monday to remain in the pros, Dallas coach Bill Parcells said. Last week, Nutt rejected Nebraska's $2 million offer. Pederson also expressed interest in Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders, but Saunders wanted to continue his career in the NFL and withdrew from consideration. Callahan's flight was late getting to Lincoln on Wednesday, which required the interview be continued Thursday, Boehm said. Callahan's meeting with Nebraska officials comes only a week after he was fired by the Raiders following a 4-12 season. The Huskers have been looking for a coach since Frank Solich was fired Nov. 29 -- a day after leading the Huskers to a 9-3 regular season. Callahan, who led the Raiders to the Super Bowl two years ago, was fired by Oakland shortly after quarterback Rich Gannon criticized Callahan and offensive coordinator Marc Trestman for a bad offensive system. Callahan would be a perfect fit for Nebraska, O'Hagan, said Tuesday night. Interviews reportedly were held Wednesday with interim Nebraska coach and defensive coordinator Bo Pelini, quarterbacks coach Turner Gill, and other candidates. Quote Link to comment
Redout Posted January 9, 2004 Author Share Posted January 9, 2004 Trev Alberts chimes in: By Trev Alberts Special to ESPN.com The ideal situation for the Nebraska football program would have been to fire Frank Solich and then "win the press conference" by having a replacement in there just a few days later. Everyone in the Husker family would have been ecstatic with that, but we all know things did not work out that way. Once that scenario failed to play out the focus for athletic director Steve Pederson became getting the best coach out there, and all of the candidates who interviewed were good football coaches. That includes new coach Bill Callahan, whose NFL experience and college background bring some additional credibility to the Cornhusker program. Bill Callahan won't face the same lockerroom obstacles at Nebraska as he did in Oakland. Callahan is less than a year removed from taking the Oakland Raiders to the Super Bowl and knows what it takes to be successful at the highest level. And don't put too much stock in that 4-12 record this year in Oakland because there are far bigger issues at play in the NFL than someone outside the lockerroom can fathom. And don't put much stock in the player unrest that helped get Callahan get fired. When the average salary on the team is higher than the coach's salary the leader loses a lot of his authority, and when he doesn't have the power to make personnel decisions the coach carries even less weight with the players. Neither will be an issue in Lincoln. Taking all that into account, how ironic is it that Callahan could take the Raiders to the big game last season yet end up making more money at Nebraska? College football has changed a lot over the last few years, and when things like that happen it's easy to see why guys like Pete Carroll, Nick Saban and Al Groh have already come back to college. But Callahan is not just a pro coach trying something new, he is a coach whose roots are in college. He coached at Illinois and Wisconsin, among others, during a college career that lasted from 1980-94. Callahan's boss at Wisconsin, Barry Alvarez, has raved about Callahan's ability to recruit, which is mandatory in this job if Callahan hopes to bring in the best players outside the state. The reality is that every high school kid dreams of playing in the NFL one day whether he has a realistic shot or not, and Callahan can look every recruit in the eye and tell him he knows what it takes to be a success at the next level. He has coached players like Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Rich Gannon and knows how they got to the top of the heap. Of course, there are plenty of other things in the larger picture that helped Callahan land the job. Near the top of the list is his understanding of the passing game and the ability to take the Nebraska offense into the 21st century, which will be another recruiting advantage. The Cornhuskers were never going to get the kind of athletes they needed -- especially at quarterback -- to compete in today's game running an offense that does not let the skill players shine. And don't discount the fact that Callahan wanted this job and this challenge. He has been called a traditionalist and that's a good thing, because anyone who takes over this program must have a grasp of the Nebraska tradition. Interim coach Bo Pelini certainly did a terrific job with the defense over the course of the season, but if there was one overriding complaint about him it was that he did not understand the lore of Nebraska football. Nebraska fans, administrators, coaches and players take everything about their program very seriously, and because of Callahan's experience under Alvarez in Madison he can relate to that kind of feeling about a football team. Some in the Nebraska family might say "Well, they just took the first guy who would say yes." I ask those people, aren't you glad it was Bill Callahan, someone who has been to the top of the NFL and worked with some of the best coaches at the college level? Remember, Bob Stoops was not the first choice at Oklahoma and Jim Tressel was not at the top of Ohio State's list when those jobs came open. Does Callahan face have challenges? Of course. With his pedigree there is enough credibility to face them head on, but he little time to get comfortable. This year's recruiting class is not yet lost and there are still great players to be had, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact his presence will have. The opportunity to walk into the home of the best available high school quarterback and tell him you have a spot for him in the West Coast offense -- with no competition -- is a huge one and Callahan needs to take immediate advantage. Nebraska fans are historically impatient and do not settle for mediocrity, and the connection between football and the identity of the entire state is what makes them special. They are also the most knowledgeable fans in college football and they know the difference between good losses and bad. The Husker fans understand what effort and preparation mean and can swallow a two or three-point loss if they know their team played the best game possible. What they cannot abide is a 38-7 home loss to Kansas State in which the team is manhandled. Do those fans expect Callahan him to win the national championship in the coming year? Probably not, but there will be high expectations for the ensuing seasons. One of the issues that hindered the search is that the university did not do a very good job of articulating why Frank Solich was fired in the first place. It wasn't because he won "only" nine games. There were other issues within the program that helped Steve Peterson make that decision, and Pederson was obviously able to convince Callahan that Solich's dismissal was not about some magic number of wins he failed to reach. Steve Pederson will realize in the end that he could have done some things differently. Bill Callahan won't help him win the press conference at this late date but, all things considered, getting a coach one year removed from the biggest game in football is a pretty good deal. Trev Alberts is a college football analyst for ESPN and a regular contributor to ESPN.com during the season Quote Link to comment
Eric the Red Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Basically, all the things I have heard of this guy is he has that character, integrity yada yada, but can he recruit??? Will he keep the option? Which I think is the greatest offensive play ever developed if used correctly, What offense will he run?? Apparently NZone has reported Pelini will be kept on as Assisstant head coach and DCordinator. Okay, great...I'm not upset, but what about Gill?? Is he gone?? I would think if he walks into someones home with that big fat AFC championship ring that ought to work. Well I want to be the first to say .... Welcome aboard Coach Callahan, I will support you and the coaches you hire or retain, I will root as loud as I can, I will support your decisions, I am prouder than ever to wear red. Good Luck Quote Link to comment
Blackshirt Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Right on. I second Eric's sentiment. Welcome to Lincoln Coach Callahan. Good luck, and welcome to "The way it should be!!" GBR!!! Quote Link to comment
RedCountry Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Very nice. LIke i said several times, I have a real good feeling about Cally, and he was my favorite of the mentioned candidates. And blackshirt, see below for the complete quote you referenced. GBR!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Eric the Red Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 If Bo is kept, I think little will be lost as far as recruiting, I hope. One of the next questions is who will Callahan bring in?? What philosophy? but who will he keep as coaches? Oh things are juicy now Quote Link to comment
Eric the Red Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 What Bill Romanowski has said about our new coach: "I've been coached by the so-called best in the history of the game," said Raiders linebacker Bill Romanowski, who played for Bill Walsh and Seifert in San Francisco and Mike Shanahan in Denver. "This guy, when it's all said and done, I think he'll go down as one of the best coaches in history. "This guy is a coach. He's not about ego. He's not about trying to build himself up. He's about coaching football, and he's very good at it." Prettycool, I think we got our man Quote Link to comment
Eric the Red Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 "There's nobody that's on the screws more than Bill Callahan is," said Jim Harbaugh, the 15-year NFL quarterback who began his coaching career this year as an offensive assistant in Oakland. "His organization, his dedication just rubs off on all the assistants. I could not be in a better place to learn how to be a coach." Quote Link to comment
Eric the Red Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Behind the scenes, Callahan had coordinated Oakland's running game and coached the offensive line, earning a reputation as a detail-oriented perfectionist. "If you put a guy six inches deep in mud, Coach Callahan would look at the film and say, 'If you rotated your shoulder just a quarter-turn this way, it could have been seven inches,' " Raiders guard Frank Middleton said. Quote Link to comment
Eric the Red Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 (Barry)Alvarez marveled at Callahan's meticulous organizational skill, recalling a time when the two were discussing Bill Parcells' new book. After Alvarez said he hadn't read it, Callahan produced a typed outline the next day. "It was like Cliff Notes," Alvarez said. "I didn't even have to read it. He'd broken it down for me." Callahan has collected files on offensive theory from everyone from Bear Bryant to Bill Walsh and filed them carefully away so they can be pulled out at a moment's notice. Quote Link to comment
HuskerBob Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 oh boy, Romo the wacko endorses BC huh?!?! oh well, even as sprung as romo is, he still has to know the game, since hes been around for so damn long the more I see the more I like. thanks for the breakdown eric THE RED!! Quote Link to comment
DaveH Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Could it be? Is it really all done? Pheeeew.... Anyway, I am curious to see if Bo and Gill will stay or if they are even welcome to stay. I would hope so. Any word of a press conference yet? I would really like to keep Bo on the defense because of his performance this year. I would hope Callahan recognizes this. What about Cotton? Quote Link to comment
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