My take on what needs to be done to right this ship...

[FLU]

Until we are willing to pay for the best, we can't be upset about the resulting product. It's like buying a Hyundai, which is an average car, and then complaining that it can't match up with a Mercedes.

I agree with FLU. The issue with Solich was not the record but NU fans knew there were systemic problems on how we were suddenly just being whacked in dramatic fashion. This does not happen with elite programs. Yes, they get upset, yes the kicker misses one, yes another team rises up and wins...I can accept that and this is not what we are talking about. We are talking about a defense that is regressing and one of the worst units I can remember, a team that often comes out flat, cannot make second half adjustments and is outcoached, a team that can't compete with the powers but also loses to teams that have no business beating us. This is UCLA who just last year lost 8 games including to Utah 31-6, USC 50-0, and Illinois 20-14! And they went up and down the field all over us!

 

No, this job is not for the fickle hearted...it is for someone who wants a challenge and understands the situation. We need to find someone that understands we can pay you big for a 5-year contract and yes we expect to win and play sound football even in defeat...not handing games over to the other teams. Sure some may pass on the job...but there is really not much downside as this level of coach (including Pelini) can get coaching jobs easily elsewhere or go and live a nice life as a coordinator in the NFL. What's the risk people?

 

 

Glad to see that there are some people on this board with some common sense. There are wayyyyy too many "sheep" who are willing to settle for and accept whatever product is given, and make excuses for all of our shortcomings.

[FLU]

There are other coaches out there besides just Petersen and Patterson. All I'm saying is that it needs to be a well-known commodity who kids will WANT to play for.

[GBR #1]

$3.1M per year buys me a sore throat on Sunday morning and a lack of esteem behind enemy lines. I am sick of Bo and his inexperienced BOyz. Let's get somebody in here who can coach, recruit, and restore Husker Nation to the elite!

[VectorVictor]

The guys Bo has gotten in the last couple years (Valentine,Curry,Moss,Williams) seem like better athletes then the guys he was gettting before that (Ashburn,Randle, and the Minnesota kid Tobi?)..... Also compare Compton,Whaley, and Fisher to Santos, Zaire,, and Charles Jackson.... Now im talking athletic ability, and that seems to have improved in recruiting lately....

 

We haven't seen those guys play yet, though. Compton looked really good coming out of highschool, as did Whaley. But something's not going well in developing players.

 

I dare say that lies with our strength and conditioning program. If we're seeing kids with speed get moribund during their time here, then we need to look at how they're being conditioned and adjust accordingly. Last time we were slow, we not only changed recruiting, our strength and conditioning changed as well to facilitate the necessary balance between speed and strength.

[Enhance]

How much money are we dumping into the basketball program again? Let's see.......how much money do even the most successful basketball programs bring in? Hmm.......we can afford to dump hundreds of millions into a bottom-dweller program that will never give us a return on investment (even if Miles can turn us into the second coming of Kansas), but we can't drop money on the football program for top-tier coaches? Pfft....

 

Flu, I hear exactly what you're saying, but you're pissing up a rope with this bunch. Nebraska wants to pay for performance--NOT before, so we're going to be forever stuck gambling on unproven commodities rather than spending more money up front to help reduce the risk of failure. All I know is that at best I only have so many more decades to live.

Let's take a look at this ignorance for a moment. Are you saying that you make important monetary decisions based on hopes and dreams over reasonable analysis? There isn't a single current coach out there who is worth the same or more than Pelini that would leave their current job, and anybody worth Pelini is no worse or better at face value. You'd be hiring a coach a lot like Pelini, as corncraze said.

 

Is that truthfully a reasonable gamble, in your opinion? Do you honestly feel that our problems can be solved by hiring another Pelini-level coach? The logistics behind hiring a great coach are unreasonable, so you're saying you want us to dump millions on someone who may or may not be better than Pelini, and that we should play this coaching carousel game until we find the right person?

 

Wow! (laughing here) Clearly I struck a nerve. That's a pretty impressive list of conclusions that you're drawing from what I said, kiddo! You need more than a little bit of work on that A to B to Conclusion thing. Mercy......lol

I'm sorry, but you clearly said you'd rather pay a lot of money up front for something and hope that it pans out. Your words, not mine. I then went on to point out that there isn't an available coach right now WORTH the millions you'd like to spend on him, at least not one that would be a marked improvement over Pelini. I apologize if my awareness of your ignorance offends you.

 

Let's just say I'm glad you're not in charge of the athletic department. If you were, you'd be hiring a new coach every few years, paying buyouts on previous coaches' salaries, and running the department into the ground, all in the name of finding the right fit.

[suh_fan93]

We don't have the athletes/playmakers right now. It's that simple. Couple that with some some sub par coaching and decisions made by those coaches and there you have today's version of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

 

My biggest gripe and I don't expect anyone on here anyway to agree with me but it's simply our staff's ability when it comes to assessing talent. Seeing/spotting players who have more 'natural talent' for any said position on the team and also developing that talent. Osborne was a master of this. Taking walk on's for example and seeing them reach their full potential. I think the coaches we have right now are failing from a player development standpoint relying on two or three playmakers every season if that to carry them through instead.

[Enhance]

My biggest gripe and I don't expect anyone on here anyway to agree with me but it's simply our staff's ability when it comes to assessing talent. Seeing/spotting a player who has more 'natural talent' for any said position on the team and then developing that talent. Osborne was a master of this. Taking walk on's for example and making the most out of them. From a player development standpoint I think our coaches suck at it right now to be perfectly honest with you.

I think there's evidence for and against this line of thinking. We've done OK in the JC transfer area (see Dejon Gomes and Lavonte David). Those two guys are Pelini recruits and they were fantastic players, David being one of the best linebackers we ever had. We also have a ton of talent at WR and in the defensive back field. I think our defensive backs are very talented young guys, who are unfortunately stuck behind a bad front seven.

 

But then, you look at the overall roster and the most important areas - offensive line and defensive line. I think most would agree with me when I say our defensive line shouldn't be bad. Meredith is a two year starter, Rome a four star recruit, Ankrah is very athletic, Steinkuhler a five star recruit, and Martin has a heck of a motor and is probably our best linemen. And offensively, we've had some of the worst luck in terms of players leaving, not panning out, injuries, etc. We also have guys who should have, by now, been very good (see Andrew Rodriguez), but he's a guy who has played musical chairs on the line and consistently looks lost out there.

 

We have an individual in a unit who plays well (see Martin, Compton) and overall units that play poorly. It took Pelini two years to make Suh the best defensive tackle to ever play the game, and he's been unable to produce anything in the same stratosphere since. Even a Crick-led defense last year wasn't playing that great.

 

So many interesting questions, so few answers.

[bbhusker]

I have been a supporter of Bo from the start, but after this game I'm starting to wonder if his stubborness won't be his downfall. On my count 14 of the last 16 games our defense has been pathetic. All we get to hear is how," He knows the system works, it has a proven track record" blah blah blah. How many losses will it take until he realizes he needs to change?

[southernoregonhusker]

"Ohio St is a proven name which is why they got meyer"

 

 

And Nebraska is not a proven name

 

Not to mention Meyer has already coached at tOSU and Ohio has a lot of good high school recruits. Nebraska isn't putting out a lot of D1 talent these days.

[2ndNnine]

saban and meyer are both cheaters. why don't we throw tressel's name in too? let's not pay 9 million sheckels out to someone who's just gonna get us the death penalty.

 

as long as bo is going to crappy bowl games and turning out academic all-americans there's no way he's getting the axe.

 

we gave osborne 22 years, i'm guessing bo will get the same.

[FLU]

How much money are we dumping into the basketball program again? Let's see.......how much money do even the most successful basketball programs bring in? Hmm.......we can afford to dump hundreds of millions into a bottom-dweller program that will never give us a return on investment (even if Miles can turn us into the second coming of Kansas), but we can't drop money on the football program for top-tier coaches? Pfft....

 

Flu, I hear exactly what you're saying, but you're pissing up a rope with this bunch. Nebraska wants to pay for performance--NOT before, so we're going to be forever stuck gambling on unproven commodities rather than spending more money up front to help reduce the risk of failure. All I know is that at best I only have so many more decades to live.

 

 

Thanks for understanding.