Tom Shatel: Husker fans may have final word

[formerfan]

Published Monday

November 7, 2005

 

Tom Shatel: Husker fans may have final word

 

Something happened Saturday. Something big. Something important.

 

I got that feeling during the ride back up I-29 Saturday night. My cell phone rang nonstop. Friends from Omaha, Lincoln, Dallas, the West Coast.

 

They all wanted to talk about the Kansas-Nebraska game. They all wanted to know what was going to happen next. As each one spoke emotionally, it struck me: something about this game, the way it played out, struck all the way to the soul of Nebraska fans.

 

The phone rang one last time. It was a friend, Steve. A lot of folks have a core group they hang out with. Mine involves bad golf, talking football and telling a few lies.

 

"Come over when you get back," Steve said. "We're having a meeting."

 

So there they were, Steve, Denny and Frank. Confident and successful businessmen by day, hurting Huskerheads tonight. The debacle had ended just after three. It was 9:30 p.m. They looked drained.

 

We talked until about midnight.

 

We talked about Bill Callahan. How long would he last? Is he overmatched in this job? Can he motivate these kids? Does he just need more time? Will it all kick in magically in the third or fourth year? How could he recruit off this? Is this just a bad experiment?

 

We talked about Steve Pederson. If he didn't have a coach ready to go, should he have fired Frank Solich? Was the hiring of Callahan rushed and ill conceived? Would Pederson ever be able to raise money again? Would he sleep tonight?

 

The three lamented the changing of the guard and toasted the end of an era.

 

They groused about the reality of KU manhandling Nebraska and the Huskers failing to run for one yard when it needed to against the mighty Jayhawks.

 

Steve, who attended the game, talked about how the Huskers weren't focused, how on the sideline the players kept looking at the Kansas song girls. And I didn't ask how he knew about the Kansas song girls.

 

They wondered how if Pederson couldn't raise money, and his football vision collapsed, if the athletic director would get fired. They wondered who would fire him. Harvey Perlman? Would boosters, such as Howard Hawks, the regents, step in at some point?

 

And would Pederson go before Callahan? Would they go out together? Would you be able to hire another athletic director with a mess here?

 

Hey, what if Nebraska turns it around and wins out this year? Wins at USC and beats Texas next year? What if the KU game was just a bad, bad, speed bump? Finally, Frank says, "This is like a wake."

 

"How many people do you suppose are doing this same thing tonight?" Denny asked.

 

These are interesting times for Nebraska football fans.

 

For years, decades, they have been on the sidelines, in the stands, in the coffee shops and bars and malls and anywhere else you talk pigskin in this football-mad state.

 

They give money. They buy sweatshirts. They flood chat boards. They have a national reputation. But they most have been, well, spectators in the whole Big Red game.

 

Not anymore. Now, Husker fans are about to become part of the story.

 

For starters, they are the keepers of the last tradition of the old Nebraska. Yep, the sellout streak at Memorial Stadium. That's up to the fans. Will there be empty seats some day? Will there be season tickets for sale by the bushel?

 

Question: How long will Callahan last here? The immediate answer is up to the coach himself. Win and win some more and Callahan can pitch a tent as long as he likes.

 

But if he doesn't win, and this program continues to slide, or run in place, then you, ladies and gentlemen, will be called for jury duty.

 

In college football, there are high-paid coaches and athletic directors. But the folks with the most power are the ones who buy tickets and write big checks.

 

Case in point: The Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex, Pederson's personal baby. The price tag is $50 million. In two years, nearly $21 million has been raised. That's a huge deficit in this state. Any state.

 

Meanwhile, project director Boyd Epley has the ill-timed gall to say he's disappointed in the response. He must not be paying attention to the economy. Or the numbers on the scoreboard.

 

Husker fans like to think of themselves as the "greatest fans in college football." That doesn't mean they have to be sheep. Fans are fans. Nebraska fans are better than most. Choosing to not support something financially as a statement doesn't make you a bad fan. It makes you a fan, period.

 

Historically, NU fans are spoiled. But so is the university. It gets this state's undying devotion, through thick and mostly thick. There has never been thin like this. Now, NU may have to work to keep its fans' loyalty. That's how it works in the real world.

 

One of the things that Frank, Denny and Steve say is they feel like they got snookered by Pederson, that he sold himself as a savior of NU football, and he's been more like a con artist. I hear that a lot from NU fans. If this works out, Pederson will be a lucky genius. But Saturday looked a long way from there. If this thing goes the wrong way, Nebraska fans will have the power to take their program back.

 

Time will tell. This story could still have a happy football ending for Pederson and his coach. Either way, Nebraska fans are now part of the story, like never before.

 

From: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=2060371

[clone]

The sellout streak will continue. That's the only leverage a fan has. Two bad seasons out of forty. The fans aren't going to give up on the huskers that easily. I don't think the husker faithful are that shallow.

[Foppa]

I agree that fans WANT to keep the sellout streak going, but if there are 77,000 + fans like me that don't want to spend hard-earned $$ watching players who aren't motivated and averaging a couple of yards rushing a game, then it WILL disappear. Not by intent, but by disinterest.

[skersfan]

All that decide to sell their season tickets let me know.

[clone]

All that decide to sell their season tickets let me know.

Me too!!

[NamelessHusker]

Count me in. I would love season tickets as well

[mcrooks7]

As long as everyone else is saying it, I'll take 'em too. Seriously. Please. Disgusted enough by the play? I'll take 'em off your hands.