The husker O-line troubles run deep

[Nebula]

Who was the OL coach in 2003 when they played horrible against any team with a pulse despite having starters that had a combined 8 letters between them going into the season and were (RS)SO, JR, SR, JR, SR?

 

 

Oh, that NU team that had a bowl winning 10 - 3 record? In a truly amazing display of outstanding stupidity we fired them all to bring in the mighty Clownahan regime. Truly an epic moment.

 

Btw, how many times have we done better than 10 - 3 since?

Frank had to go. Why is he still at Ohio if he was such an incredible coach? Why is his name NEVER mentioned when, say, the Tennessee job is vacant?

 

I respect the hell out of Frank Solich, I truly do. He is Nebraska through and through, and he contributed a ton of time, effort, sweat and blood to this program. But letting him go was the right decision, imo.

[Pedro Guerrero]

Who was the OL coach in 2003 when they played horrible against any team with a pulse despite having starters that had a combined 8 letters between them going into the season and were (RS)SO, JR, SR, JR, SR?

 

 

Oh, that NU team that had a bowl winning 10 - 3 record? In a truly amazing display of outstanding stupidity we fired them all to bring in the mighty Clownahan regime. Truly an epic moment.

 

Btw, how many times have we done better than 10 - 3 since?

 

Shawn Watson & Ted Gilmore helped NU to a couple 10 win seasons, should they still be here? Should they have gotten passes because the team won 10 games?

 

Just because a team wins 10 games doesn’t mean that all the pieces of the puzzle are put together. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t some turds within the staff.

[bshirt]

Who was the OL coach in 2003 when they played horrible against any team with a pulse despite having starters that had a combined 8 letters between them going into the season and were (RS)SO, JR, SR, JR, SR?

 

 

Oh, that NU team that had a bowl winning 10 - 3 record? In a truly amazing display of outstanding stupidity we fired them all to bring in the mighty Clownahan regime. Truly an epic moment.

 

Btw, how many times have we done better than 10 - 3 since?

Frank had to go. Why is he still at Ohio if he was such an incredible coach? Why is his name NEVER mentioned when, say, the Tennessee job is vacant?

 

I respect the hell out of Frank Solich, I truly do. He is Nebraska through and through, and he contributed a ton of time, effort, sweat and blood to this program. But letting him go was the right decision, imo.

 

Well, he was around 60 years old then. Think that might have mattered?

[Nebula]

Who was the OL coach in 2003 when they played horrible against any team with a pulse despite having starters that had a combined 8 letters between them going into the season and were (RS)SO, JR, SR, JR, SR?

 

 

Oh, that NU team that had a bowl winning 10 - 3 record? In a truly amazing display of outstanding stupidity we fired them all to bring in the mighty Clownahan regime. Truly an epic moment.

 

Btw, how many times have we done better than 10 - 3 since?

Frank had to go. Why is he still at Ohio if he was such an incredible coach? Why is his name NEVER mentioned when, say, the Tennessee job is vacant?

 

I respect the hell out of Frank Solich, I truly do. He is Nebraska through and through, and he contributed a ton of time, effort, sweat and blood to this program. But letting him go was the right decision, imo.

 

Well, he was around 60 years old then. Think that might have mattered?

No.

[Saunders]

Oh God... not another Frank Solich thread....

[GSG]

 

 

Different Frank? My bad guys.

[Nebula]

Oh God... not another Frank Solich thread....

 

Point taken.

[knapplc]

I still find it bizarre how many people continue to defend the Callahan Era as if it was a good thing for this program. There were many positives about Callahan's time here (high-scoring offense, grades were a priority, Football 101 as a Breast Cancer fundraiser, etc) but the overall net effect was highly negative - toxic, even - to the program. There are about three dozen factors that go into that, one major of which is Steve Pederson, but still - sticking up for the guy? He was almost 180 degrees the polar opposite of the culture of this program. If that's what you want, go be a fan of another team.

[The Dude]

I still find it bizarre how many people continue to defend the Callahan Era as if it was a good thing for this program. There were many positives about Callahan's time here (high-scoring offense, grades were a priority, Football 101 as a Breast Cancer fundraiser, etc) but the overall net effect was highly negative - toxic, even - to the program. There are about three dozen factors that go into that, one major of which is Steve Pederson, but still - sticking up for the guy? He was almost 180 degrees the polar opposite of the culture of this program. If that's what you want, go be a fan of another team.

Yeah it makes no sense.

[Pedro Guerrero]

I still find it bizarre how many people continue to defend the Callahan Era as if it was a good thing for this program. There were many positives about Callahan's time here (high-scoring offense, grades were a priority, Football 101 as a Breast Cancer fundraiser, etc) but the overall net effect was highly negative - toxic, even - to the program. There are about three dozen factors that go into that, one major of which is Steve Pederson, but still - sticking up for the guy? He was almost 180 degrees the polar opposite of the culture of this program. If that's what you want, go be a fan of another team.

 

I can only assume you are talking about me. I’m not really sticking up for him, I just think it is pretty stupid for people to still be blaming him for what is happening now when he has been gone for almost 4 years.

 

It is like blaming Frankie for Billy C’s shortcomings.

[kchusker_chris]

I still find it bizarre how many people continue to defend the Callahan Era as if it was a good thing for this program. There were many positives about Callahan's time here (high-scoring offense, grades were a priority, Football 101 as a Breast Cancer fundraiser, etc) but the overall net effect was highly negative - toxic, even - to the program. There are about three dozen factors that go into that, one major of which is Steve Pederson, but still - sticking up for the guy? He was almost 180 degrees the polar opposite of the culture of this program. If that's what you want, go be a fan of another team.

 

I can only assume you are talking about me. Im not really sticking up for him, I just think it is pretty stupid for people to still be blaming him for what is happening now when he has been gone for almost 4 years.

 

It is like blaming Frankie for Billy Cs shortcomings.

I'm w/ ya on this one. The "it's all BC's fault" thing is getting old. (i'll add that to the Huskerboard excuse list) It's not that I'm defending BC in any way - it's just that at some point you have to step up and take responsibility for the product on the field, and begin to point the finger in the right direction. BC got canned 3 years in. He was still transitioning from the days of Solich. No one had a problem w/ that. But heaven forbid we should cast a negative light on the crapbox Cotton has built in that same time span.

 

If we are blaming the current state of the OL on Callahan, we probably need to be crediting the current state of the defense on Callahan, or Suh's success on Callahan...but we all know better right? We seem to have no problem using the BC excuse on our shortcomings though. Everything good = Bo. Anything bad = BC leftover.

 

...and to say we haven't had a single great lineman since 2001 would be ignoring the production of guys like Matt Slauson, who started 16 games last year at the next level. Or maybe Carl Nicks should wave his super bowl ring in Dirk's face, and tell him a story about his trip to the Pro Bowl. BS. (or did Frank recruit those guys so the credit needs to go to him?)

[knapplc]

I still find it bizarre how many people continue to defend the Callahan Era as if it was a good thing for this program. There were many positives about Callahan's time here (high-scoring offense, grades were a priority, Football 101 as a Breast Cancer fundraiser, etc) but the overall net effect was highly negative - toxic, even - to the program. There are about three dozen factors that go into that, one major of which is Steve Pederson, but still - sticking up for the guy? He was almost 180 degrees the polar opposite of the culture of this program. If that's what you want, go be a fan of another team.

 

I can only assume you are talking about me. I’m not really sticking up for him, I just think it is pretty stupid for people to still be blaming him for what is happening now when he has been gone for almost 4 years.

 

It is like blaming Frankie for Billy C’s shortcomings.

 

You in part. If that's all you were doing I'd be chiming in right along beside you. This may just be my perception, but between you and zoogies, any time there's a comment directed at Callahan in a negative way, you rush in to post something in his favor. I don't get it. Bill Callahan has just about nothing to do with Nebraska Football. His coaching techniques and philosophies are not representative of what we are or what we intend to be. He was a bad coach for Nebraska not just because he lost, but because he didn't care what was lost during his tenure. He was, essentially, an opponent coach sitting in our head coach's office for four years. I liken it to having Pat Hill, the Fresno coach, take over Nebraska for four years while still acting like he's coaching Fresno. Callahan had no interest in being Nebraska's head coach - he just needed a job. He treated it like it was an ordinary job, and that you cannot do.

 

However, I often think the criticism leveled at Callahan goes way over the top. There are dozens of examples, but off the top of my head I'll toss out the "throat-slash" thing for which he was wrongly and unnecessarily vilified, the "he's not wearing a Nebraska shirt at the press conference" nonsense, and the licking his lips thing - all of which were ridiculous things to use against him, but all of which were. While wrong for Nebraska, he was not a bad person, nor was he a bad coach. He was a bad fit. His mistakes were more inherent than intentional - although, there were a few cultural whitewashings he attempted that I very strongly disagree with.

 

I would rather watch paint dry than read any of Dirk Chatelain's nonsense so I can't speak for what he wrote, but the gist of what I'm getting is that Callahan is being blamed in part for the woes of our offensive line. While it's possible that echoes of what Callahan did could be influencing today's line, the reality is that Callahan was a very good offensive line coach (hence the praise he's getting in the NFL today) and I really don't see a solid argument for blaming the line on Callahan - other than cultural mindset, which is something I strongly disagree with him on. The worst thing Callahan did for our O Line was get himself fired, thus turning off several strong recruits and shelling the line. But that's not really his fault, and I think it's stupid to blame him for it.

 

Today's O Line is the product of three things, in my opinion - a necessarily heavy focus on defensive recruiting, poor coaching and injuries. Four things, if you count the exodus of Callahan's recruits (but again, you can't blame Callahan, or the recruits for leaving in a time of upheaval). We've lost some guys due to attrition (injuries), Barney has not been teaching solid technique (or they're not learning, regardless, they're not performing well) and that leaves us with the defensive focus of our recruiting efforts. That falls on Bo, and while it was necessary, it almost seems to have been a focus to the detriment of the O Line, and that's a problem.

[Hercules]

I still find it bizarre how many people continue to defend the Callahan Era as if it was a good thing for this program. There were many positives about Callahan's time here (high-scoring offense, grades were a priority, Football 101 as a Breast Cancer fundraiser, etc) but the overall net effect was highly negative - toxic, even - to the program. There are about three dozen factors that go into that, one major of which is Steve Pederson, but still - sticking up for the guy? He was almost 180 degrees the polar opposite of the culture of this program. If that's what you want, go be a fan of another team.

 

I can only assume you are talking about me. I’m not really sticking up for him, I just think it is pretty stupid for people to still be blaming him for what is happening now when he has been gone for almost 4 years.

 

It is like blaming Frankie for Billy C’s shortcomings.

I'm w/ ya on this one. The "it's all BC's fault" thing is getting old. (i'll add that to the Huskerboard excuse list) It's not that I'm defending BC in any way - it's just that at some point you have to step up and take responsibility for the product on the field, and begin to point the finger in the right direction. BC got canned 3 years in. He was still transitioning from the days of Solich. No one had a problem w/ that. But heaven forbid we should cast a negative light on the crapbox Cotton has built in that same time span.

 

If we are blaming the current state of the OL on Callahan, we probably need to be crediting the current state of the defense on Callahan, or Suh's success on Callahan...but we all know better right? We seem to have no problem using the BC excuse on our shortcomings though. Everything good = Bo. Anything bad = BC leftover.

 

...and to say we haven't had a single great lineman since 2001 would be ignoring the production of guys like Matt Slauson, who started 16 games last year at the next level. Or maybe Carl Nicks should wave his super bowl ring in Dirk's face, and tell him a story about his trip to the Pro Bowl. BS. (or did Frank recruit those guys so the credit needs to go to him?)

 

I agree with you for the most part, but the fact that you bring up Matt Slauson and Carl Nicks as examples of great offensive linemen goes to show how far standards have fallen. Those guys probably wouldn't have been on the 2 deep on the Pipeline, and they were not even remotely close to the type of lineman Nebraska is known for having (Toniu Fonoti, Dominic Raiola, Aaron Graham, Zach Weigert, Dave Rimington, Dean Steinkuhler, among many others).

[CornHOLIO]

Although it was probably in his best interests at the time, I blame Gabbert..He was getting some nice OLs to sign with him, and when he bailed, they bailed..It was still a great trade (Callihan for Pelini).

 

 

Aaaaaannnnd.

 

Have any of you ever tried to pancake a linebacker while you're pass blocking?

[irafreak]

Who was the OL coach in 2003 when they played horrible against any team with a pulse despite having starters that had a combined 8 letters between them going into the season and were (RS)SO, JR, SR, JR, SR?

 

 

Oh, that NU team that had a bowl winning 10 - 3 record? In a truly amazing display of outstanding stupidity we fired them all to bring in the mighty Clownahan regime. Truly an epic moment.

 

Btw, how many times have we done better than 10 - 3 since?

Frank had to go. Why is he still at Ohio if he was such an incredible coach? Why is his name NEVER mentioned when, say, the Tennessee job is vacant?

 

I respect the hell out of Frank Solich, I truly do. He is Nebraska through and through, and he contributed a ton of time, effort, sweat and blood to this program. But letting him go was the right decision, imo.

Why did we get rid of that minus button?