Would Osborne make it today

[SaturnDrew]

Would T.O. make it as a head coach today? No, I don’t mean at his age right now. I don’t even mean the coach who was 60-3 over a 5 year period. I’m talking about Osborne when he first started.

 

In 1973 Tom took over from Bob Devaney who had been the modern day savior of Nebraska Football. Under the Bobfather, the Huskers had been National Champion 2 of the previous 3 years, won 3 of the 4 Big 8 Championships (and the 4th by forfeit). NU also had at one time had a 32 game unbeaten string. Devaney was 40-2-2 in his last 44 games. Bob won 7 Big 8 Championships in 11 years and an 8th from a forfeit.

 

Osborne from 1973-1976 had a good winning record of 37-10-2, which at the time was just outside the top 10 major college best records for those years. Huskers shared the Big 8 crown with OU in 1975 although they lost to the Sooners 35-10. No National Championships. Huskers rallied to beat Texas Tech in the Astro Blue Bonnet Bowl or Tom would have been fired, according to a NU Regent who told him afterward.

 

Add 2 more seasons and NU has the 11th best winning % in the country, there is one more Big 8 Championship shared with OU, and Nebraska won that year 17-14, but lost the rematch in the Orange Bowl.

 

Osborne even traveled to Boulder to interview for the Colorado head coaching job. (don’t think there wasn’t a long line of people willing to help him move). Add 2 more years and a couple more losses to Oklahoma. By then Nebraska is #9 in the country for winning %.

 

So in his first 8 years Tom has a good record but no NC’s, a couple shared Big 8 Championships, and a 1-9 record vs. Barry Switzer and the Sooners. Would that cut it today?

 

The fact he was almost fired in 1978 means that, sadly, in the era of college football we are in right now, he probably would have been canned today. I don't doubt his coaching abilities, but that is the sad atmosphere that college football has created: Win, win now, and keep winning or you're fired.

[sarge87]

I really really really hope Mack Brown isn't Bo Pelini's Barry Switzer.

 

 

Never!! Brown doesn't have the personality that Switzer did.

Or the NCAA violations of the Switzer era.

 

As the ole adage goes, "If you ain't cheatin', you're not tryin'."

[mmmtodd]

Tom Osborne is a winner. A class act as well. Men like that dont fail, never mind generational differences. He is transcendent. Nebraska is truly f'ing blessed to have had a man born in, raised in, and dedicated to, one great blip on the map. Sayin he couldnt make it today is saying we cant make it today. Bo Pelini is great, and Im glad to have him. But give me a 30 year old Osborne, or any age Osborne, any day of the week over him. The man is Nebraska.

[VA Husker Fan]

Tom Osborne is a winner. A class act as well. Men like that dont fail, never mind generational differences. He is transcendent. Nebraska is truly f'ing blessed to have had a man born in, raised in, and dedicated to, one great blip on the map. Sayin he couldnt make it today is saying we cant make it today. Bo Pelini is great, and Im glad to have him. But give me a 30 year old Osborne, or any age Osborne, any day of the week over him. The man is Nebraska.

That's obvious now. I don't think you were around back at the time in question, when it most certainly was not. The notion was that he couldn't beat Oklahoma (even though that period was Oklahoma maybe as good as ever, helped immensely by enough cheating that that the NCAA wouldn't let them be on TV or in bowls for a couple of years). He lost some games people thought we had no business losing (Wisconsin and Washington St), and plain and simple, he wasn't Bob Devaney. Devaney was colorful and immensely popular. Devaney was Nebraska. Osborne was dull, and too serious, and his teams reflected it. It seemed that they were too tight going into the big games, rather than being loose and fired up like the OU teams that were beating us. And I think there actually was something to that, and I remember hearing that Gill, Rozier and Fryar got him to loosen up more before the OU game.

 

Obviously he did have good teams and won some big games, including bowls. But that wasn't what people focused on. Nobody was projecting the kind of success he was to have. I'm glad you younger guys have an appreciation for what Osborne did. He deserves it. But I don't think you realize it wasn't a slam dunk for all 25 years.

[mmmtodd]

I realize it wasnt a slam dunk, that there were struggles. But lets not start shooting gnats- these 'struggles' would be viewed completely different without some semblance of success to begin with. We're no more, or less, spoiled today than we were 25 years ago.

 

Im saying that the guy is a winner. PERIOD. The question is "would Osborne make it today?" The answer is yes. He'd make it anywhere, anytime he pleased.

[junior4949]

Shooting gnats? His entire career at Nebraska came down to one game. Had he lost that game, he wouldn't have been our coach. It's that simple. Carr at Michigan won a NC in a lot less time than TO, yet he was forced out. Fulmer won a NC in a lot less time than TO, yet he was forced out. Coker won a NC in a lot less time than TO, yet he was fired. The game and attitude towards the game has changed. If Stoops follows up last season with a couple more just like it, I guarantee you OU will begin looking for another coach. Take R.C. Slocum for example. He had the best winning percentage of any coach in the SWC ahead of Darrell Royal. He only lost 12 home games his entire headcoaching career at A&M. He reached 100 wins faster than any other active coach. He never had a losing season. He won 4 conference championships. Yet, he was fired in 2002. College football just isn't the same as it used to be.

[cb1954]

Depends who the AD is

 

Ding Ding Ding - Correct Answer!! With SP he (the young T.O.) would have been fired.

[Paperback Writer]

I think what saved Osborne in the mid/late 1970's is that his teams never had a 2002 or 2007 season. Sure Osborne felt the heat for not beating OU but the Sooners were a monster back then; arguably the best program of that era along with Bama and USC. A couple of those loses to OU were to MNC teams (1974-75) and a couple of others were to an OU team that might have been the best (1977-78). And then there was "Sooner Magic" in several close games lost in the closing minutes. Many fans like myself figured (hoped) that in an upcoming season the ball would finally bounce the right way or the Huskers would catch a break during bowl season like in 1970. It was only a matter of time when Osborne and the Big Red would have another MNC. I never thought it would take until 1994; but the 1982-83 seasons where Nebraska was the best team in the country changed everything. Husker fans knew Osborne and the Big Red had arrived.