Manufactured Controversy?

[Husker_x]

I've started paying more attention to football again now that the season is just about upon us. I like 1620's shows--I even like the addition of Jason Peter. But I can't help but notice that between the two new shows, and a few local scribes at the LJS or OWH, there has been a conversation, like a some kind of coordinated effort, where they've taken it upon themselves to ask the question, "Is Bo the guy for Nebraska?" I could understand this question when the hiring process was going on in 07. A place like Nebraska is not, you would think, a place a coordinator would come to cut his teeth, and we've seen the results as Pelini has taken some time to acclimate to the endless headaches head coaches alone have to deal with. I'm not especially optimistic about this season, and if I'm reading the temperature of the board or Huskerland in general correctly, most people are, if optimistic at all, still cautious.

 

What I don't quite understand, though, is where guys like Peter get off on comparing the job Pelini has today to the Disney World of football he lived in in the mid-90s. He played under one of the greatest, most experienced football minds in history with one of the most committed staffs beneath him. His system had been in place for multiple decades and they'd been in the same conference the entire time. In the 90s you had a collusion of experience, talent, and conditioning that gave us our run. Pelini, on the other hand, took over a program which had utterly collapsed. Not crumbled. Not slumped. Not leaned slightly to the left. Collapsed. He was given the job of rebuilding a program and taking it to a national championship, not just the second part. Were it not for a few hidden gems like Suh and Prince our climb back up would have been that much steeper, but I think we're poised to very soon start competing at that next level.

 

Nine win seasons may not be as sexy as they used to be, but ask a lot of the powerhouse teams around who didn't hit that mark in recent years. You want consistency? Well that's a start. I see no advantage in manufacturing a coaching controversy a week before fall camp gets underway. What is it for? What does it help? Would they like to see Nebraska become a coaching carousel, where even after you put in a few years with moderate success and seem poised, with our near-future schedules, to have a shot at a run, you still have no job security? I got bad news. You think Nebraska football is not what it once was now. Just wait. Wait until you have to hire new talent in that atmosphere. See how far it gets you.

 

So maybe the question of the thread is this: What question should we be asking? Is Pelini the guy? Or why the hell are we asking if Pelini is the guy?

 

Discuss!

[NUpolo8]

The point that supersedes all points when having discussions like this is this: a great many Nebraska fans take entitlement to levels that boggle the mind. So, it's easy for me to see that question come up when the team melts in a bowl game, or gets their ears pinned back by programs like Michigan or Wisconsin. Hell, I was a little guilty of it after the bowl game. But in all seriousness, the starting QB for the 97 team was booed at home. So nothing really surprises me about what certain people would say about this program considering this team could run the table andnthere would probably be topics on here bitching about how they didn't do it "correctly", whatever that means.

 

It certainly doesn't help to try and stir that pot before the season, you're right about that, but I question if Peter has done anything to help the program since he took the pads off. Plus, it's frigging talk radio. It's their world to stir the pot.

 

Ultimately, and I'm using my EXPERT analysis here, for some reason I think this year is going to be a good one. Indent see the struggles a great many people do. I guess hope springs eternal for me.

[Moiraine]

Jason Peter almost always says stupid things

[NebraskaHarry]

I could easily go through all the reasons I know Bo is a great fit for Nebraska. But it just becomes so repetitive and time consuming that I'll just say this...

 

I support Bo Pelini.

[HuskerFowler]

count me in for...Why the hell are we asking?

 

My question would be; Who better would you get to come here to be our head coach after firing a coach for winning 9 games?

 

Everyone worth their salt knows its very hard to recruit here, hell Urban Meyer has mentioned struggling at Ohio State (because he had it so good at Florida). Fan expectations are unreasonably high. The "but we are Nebraska" crap has got to stop, and alot of people need to be more realistic. We will consistently win 9 10 11 games. Its going to take a special season where both the offense and defense are at the top of the game in talent and experience...see 09 defense combined with a good offense (yet to be seen) and that will get us a NC run. In the mean time being consistently good is how its going to be. We cant recruit well enough right now to just be able to reload, really only Alabama and LSU and USC can do that right now.

 

We havent been able to have both offense and defense in the same season quite yet. I think we are going to be really close this year, which will set us up for a run next year, but that will be dependent on how much Taylor improves this season. I can see us finally putting it all together this year playing good football on both sides of the ball, and winning the Big 10...... then get ready for all the hype for the 2013 season.

[The Dude]

Jason Peter was alright when he was co-hosting The Spread. Surprisingly, he never really provided any great insight, but his frankness could be entertaining. That was until he fully committed to his curmudgeon shtick, which is predictable and tedious.

 

He could at least try to pretend he doesn't have some sort of butthurt vendetta against Pelini. Maybe it's his nasally, whiny voice that makes it seem worse than it really is.

 

All in all, yeah it's a manufactured controversy.

[Count 'Bility]

The Nebraska entitlement thing is spot on in terms of recent success. How did Osborne fair before 1993. Callahan like back to back blowout losses to end 1990. the losses in 91 and 92 were obvious reassurance that the program was not yet top 10 caliber. They had this unbelievable 5 year run, and so many began to believe that it was that good for the past 20 years, and now 15 years later, they still have the mindset.

[Nebula]

All the key points were hit by the OP and especially NUpolo (damn good post, man.)

 

This is nothing new. They said the same stuff about Osborne. Hell, he almost left because of it. And I distinctly remember when Charlie McBride had no clue what he was doing, until all of the sudden guys like Farley and the Browns and that whole laundry list of NFL Blackshirts we had during that era showed up and started crushing opposing offenses like Panzers running over anthills. Then he was a defensive genius.

 

Polo's first sentence is the crux of the issue. There are plenty of rational, reasonable Nebraska fans. But some of our most idiotic mates are, unfortunately, the loudest. (And doesn't that seem to be the case in all aspects of life? Like, the dumbest guy at work always talks about how things "oughta be done" while doing just a piss poor job on his own responsibilities.) I see this as an 8 or 9 win season, and I won't think something is fundamentally wrong with our staff if that pans out. When Husker_x put the word collapsed in italics, he was speaking the truth. Now we have to adjust everything to deal with our new conference, which flat out plays a different style of football than the Big 12 did. I accept that. I really do believe that Bo can win us a championship down the road, but it takes time and luck for that to fall into place. Demanding perfection within five years isn't just unreasonable, it's idiotic.

 

Jason Peter is a little better on radio than I thought he'd be, but guys like that are classic. "We didn't win because of decades of coaching experience and obscene talent and depth, we just wanted it more. Had more heart." Not really, bro. If you'd have played on the '83 team, you'd have zero banners on your wall, and you'd have played for an excellent team. A LOT has to fall into place just so to reach the peak. You should know. You were in Columbia in '97.

[Husker_x]

count me in for...Why the hell are we asking?

 

My question would be; Who better would you get to come here to be our head coach after firing a coach for winning 9 games?

 

Everyone worth their salt knows its very hard to recruit here, hell Urban Meyer has mentioned struggling at Ohio State (because he had it so good at Florida). Fan expectations are unreasonably high. The "but we are Nebraska" crap has got to stop, and alot of people need to be more realistic. We will consistently win 9 10 11 games. Its going to take a special season where both the offense and defense are at the top of the game in talent and experience...see 09 defense combined with a good offense (yet to be seen) and that will get us a NC run. In the mean time being consistently good is how its going to be. We cant recruit well enough right now to just be able to reload, really only Alabama and LSU and USC can do that right now.

 

We havent been able to have both offense and defense in the same season quite yet. I think we are going to be really close this year, which will set us up for a run next year, but that will be dependent on how much Taylor improves this season. I can see us finally putting it all together this year playing good football on both sides of the ball, and winning the Big 10...... then get ready for all the hype for the 2013 season.

 

The way I see it, if you can consistently win nine you can consistently win ten. If you can consistently win ten and hitch your wagon to a stud quarterback or a lights out defense every few years, you've put yourself in position to go on a run. In a place like Nebraska, with the recruiting disadvantages we face, I don't really know what more you can ask for. The 90s run was only possible after thirty years of groundwork. I think Pelini has a shot at a title sooner than that, but people also gotta wake up and realize that those kinds of runs are very, very rare. They are not a reasonable expectation.

[HuskerFanChuck]

Good posts all. Agreed that it's not even a question that needs to be or should be asked. In my mind, it's about like what seemed to me to be a manufactured controversy by Tom Shatel and Dirk about Bo's comments regarding distractions. He answered honestly, and I never really saw any blame given in the conversation, and yet here we have those two deciding they need to hit Bo over the head regarding the media and the fans, because they acted like he had just punted their dog. Overblown media pseudo-controversy. I'd say "Can you tell it's still the offseason?", but in these instances, I think that becomes too cliche, because it's now going so far outside of just the offseason. The local media need to find some better entertainment for themselves than creating the pseudo-controversy.

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

I'm old enough to remember the 80s' and I can tell you first hand that even when TO was ripping off 9win seasons left and right, people including the national media was questioning whether DONU needed a change! Losing like 7(?) bowls in a row. Some we weren't even competitive! Alot of th people I was around back then, were pushing for a change! Give Pelini 5 years with teams of only his own recruits. Then we can approach this conversation. Until then, it's just ridiculous to expect too much more than he has given us.

 

We were a couple of plays from 2 BCS games! And then had to switch conferences! Look, Peters gets away with some of this crap because he was a warrior for TO! He won championships! And I'm not asking him to be a homer on his radio show. He has a job to do and objectivity should be a requirement. But it just seems like he's bitter about something! I don't know what, but he shouldn't let this bitterness infect the environment and culture Bos tring to build.

[HuskerFanChuck]

I'm old enough to remember the 80s' and I can tell you first hand that even when TO was ripping off 9win seasons left and right, people including the national media was questioning whether DONU needed a change! Losing like 7(?) bowls in a row. Some we weren't even competitive! Alot of th people I was around back then, were pushing for a change! Give Pelini 5 years with teams of only his own recruits. Then we can approach this conversation. Until then, it's just ridiculous to expect too much more than he has given us.

 

We were a couple of plays from 2 BCS games! And then had to switch conferences! Look, Peters gets away with some of this crap because he was a warrior for TO! He won championships! And I'm not asking him to be a homer on his radio show. He has a job to do and objectivity should be a requirement. But it just seems like he's bitter about something! I don't know what, but he shouldn't let this bitterness infect the environment and culture Bos tring to build.

The really weird thing about that me is that I would have thought that JP would have some type of loyalty towards TO. And this is TO's guy that he's pummelling. Just... weird. I'd expect it from someone like Bishop. I like John, but John's always been a 'glass-half-empty', devil's advocate type person. Met him, nice guy in person, but he just kind of has that radio personna. But until JP got on the radio and started doing the curmudgeon shtick to a T (that was a great description above, btw), I really don't remember him being THIS abrasive toward the football program.

[huskerdude171]

I've started paying more attention to football again now that the season is just about upon us. I like 1620's shows--I even like the addition of Jason Peter. But I can't help but notice that between the two new shows, and a few local scribes at the LJS or OWH, there has been a conversation, like a some kind of coordinated effort, where they've taken it upon themselves to ask the question, "Is Bo the guy for Nebraska?" I could understand this question when the hiring process was going on in 07. A place like Nebraska is not, you would think, a place a coordinator would come to cut his teeth, and we've seen the results as Pelini has taken some time to acclimate to the endless headaches head coaches alone have to deal with. I'm not especially optimistic about this season, and if I'm reading the temperature of the board or Huskerland in general correctly, most people are, if optimistic at all, still cautious.

 

What I don't quite understand, though, is where guys like Peter get off on comparing the job Pelini has today to the Disney World of football he lived in in the mid-90s. He played under one of the greatest, most experienced football minds in history with one of the most committed staffs beneath him. His system had been in place for multiple decades and they'd been in the same conference the entire time. In the 90s you had a collusion of experience, talent, and conditioning that gave us our run. Pelini, on the other hand, took over a program which had utterly collapsed. Not crumbled. Not slumped. Not leaned slightly to the left. Collapsed. He was given the job of rebuilding a program and taking it to a national championship, not just the second part. Were it not for a few hidden gems like Suh and Prince our climb back up would have been that much steeper, but I think we're poised to very soon start competing at that next level.

 

I would love to believe that we are about compete at that level this year, but I honestly don't see it happening. Pelini has definitely had his work cut out for him, and the atmosphere of CFB nowadays is remarkably different from what it was in the Osborne era. Bo took over a decimated program, full of raw talent recruited by Callahan. The only problem was that Callahan hired a terrible staff, tried to implement an NFL style offense into a team whose players were designed to run the option. Steve Pederson brought the program to a new low with his firing of Frank Solich, making Nebraska a coaching graveyard. Why do you think Ohio State and Florida could land Urban Meyer and not Nebraska? The "powerhouse" image had been destroyed at the end of the '01 season in the Rose Bowl against Miami, and Nebraska officially entered their free-fall.

 

After the damage by Callahan, Cosgrove, and Pederson was done and they had all cashed out and skipped town, it was T.O.'s job to find the best replacement. Bo was the best possible coach that could have came to Nebraska that year, and fans felt they wanted a familiar face after the program had been hijacked by Callahan and Co. Pelini is a good motivator, and with the talent pool left, he was able to produce an elite, championship caliber defense in year 2. Only problem is our offense looked like a high school offense. The consistent defense continued into year 3, only to let another conference championship slip through our fingers on account of bad game day coaching and a horrible offensive strategy against Oklahoma. But since that point, Nebraska has shown signs of decline, as much of the talent left on the defensive side of the ball, (Prince, Hagg, Pierre Allen, Crick, Dejon Gomes, etc.) and other playmakers left from the Callahan era.

 

The 2011 defense was a shell of its former self, and was showed to be unprepared for the season, which is completely unacceptable. The embarrassment against Wisconsin on national TV, on a game that could have been a close, competitive game if the coaching and preparation had been able to keep the team in the game. Instead we dug ourselves a hole and did major damage to the image and recruiting of Nebraska. Then we thought later in the season because we had beat Michigan State, we were destined for the Rose Bowl. We got a reality check the next week against Northwestern, along with another shelling by a spread-offense attack at Michigan. The bowl performance was putrid, with every opportunity to put South Carolina away in that game slipping away in the first half, and the lack of effective halftime adjustments after SC had taken the lead on an unexcusable hail mary. Plays that would have never happened in the two years before.

 

The recruiting has generally been 'down', with the exceptions of some players on offense, like Jamal Turner and Kenny Bell. Were depending on a transfer from Memphis to save our secondary, our LB position is greatly weaker this year without tackling machine Lavonte David, and the D-Line hasn't shown the ability to get a consistent pass rush. With these major talent holes in the defense, you have to wonder about Pelini's ability to recruit top level talent. Right now were a distant 3rd place in the Big Ten in recruiting behind Ohio State and Michigan, who seem to have a new 4 or 5 star recruit just about every day.

 

This year will make or break Bo's career at Nebraska. These are all his players, his system has been in place for 5 years, and the offense is an experienced (even though inconsistent) unit entering year 2 of an offensive system. There are no more excuses for the crucial mistakes, lackluster performances in big games, and the coaches not being able to get their team to perform consistently on a week to week basis. Without major improvements on both sides of the ball, we are not going to see a Big Ten championship this year or maybe not even a few years in the future. If Tim Beck can't get Martinez to perform well as a passer, our offense will again struggle against top-tier defenses. If we can't seem to get pressure with our front 4, or LB play worsening, and a leaky secondary, we're going to struggle against explosive offenses and be put out of games. And that will lead to another (hopefully) 9 win season with a couple of embarrassments along the way.

[JJ Husker]

Good post Husker_ x. I would be another in the camp of why are they even asking if Pelini is the right guy. The guy took on a shambles of a program, nothing at all like the mid 90's program and really nothing at all like any during Osbornes tenure. Consistently winning 9, following Callahan, should not be scoffed at or written off. It will take years to rebuild and it may very well never approach the mid 90's run ever again. That kind of dominance takes years to build and then it takes the right mix of talent, a good measure of luck, and the stars aligning to see the NC's. The guys creating the controversy are almost forced to do it to give themselves something to talk about. Luckily I am not exposed to JP's bs here in Colorado. If it weren't for contrived controversy, there would be no controversy at all and that makes it tough to blather on the radio or sell newspapers. Look at it this way, would you rather consistently win 8-9+ and still have to lament occasional losses like Wiscy, Mich, and NW or would you rather roll the dice, start over again, and risk the next guy being another Callahan? The coaching carousel is not the way to go (unless you want to end up like a CU).

[HuskerShark]

The guys on AM 590 have been whining about this whole deal ever since B1G media days saying that Pelini is just complaining and making excuses. BS! He's just stating things how they are. It's funny how Urban Meyer made the comment recently about how much more difficult it is to recruit to a school in the midwest compared to Florida, and when Bo says essentially the same thing, everybody wants to decapitate him for it. Urban Meyer said the same thing, and he is at FREAKIN OHIO STATE! tOSU appeals WAY more to recruits than Nebraska does IMO. I don't jump all over Pelini for simply stating facts. Just wait till this season is under way and see what happens. If you ask me, this season may be a huge defining moment for Pelini as a head coach at Nebraska, good or bad.

 

I'll give him the next 2 years to win the conference title before I begin thinking Bo is not the right guy for the job. He took a team that 4 or 5 years ago was simply atrocious and turned them into a 9-win-per-year team. Not an easy task, and I think he is ready to take the team to the next level. Personally, I'm glad to have him as our head coach and I can't wait for this season to begin. I got my Dish Network service ordered yesterday, and I'm ready to go.