How will TO's retirement affect Bo's job security?

[nuhuskeralum]

Pretty much agree, Bo has at least 2 more years to show he can compete with ranked teams, not win them all, but compete. After that if he isn't showing he can get the basics down for tackling and playing physical football, his seat could be pretty hot. I don't think Ohio St has much to worry about with recruiting though.

[nuhuskeralum]

Indeed you are correct about some kids playing with heart. Thanks for pointing that out. I did not mean that every player w/o exception is playing flat, unfocused, and w/o heart. No. NU does have some players who play hard. But... generally, the team as a whole is flat and playing w/o heart.

I wonder if it just takes the right personality to excel with Bo. Kenny Bell and Burkhead are special players, but after that I think a lot of the guys are wondering if they will ever be put in the right scheme to succeed. It makes you wonder with Rome's problems, Moore, and Klachko. Why do they go vanilla against good teams instead of pulling out all the stops? I think they are mentally defeated or have had the heart beat out of them, they are not being coached up. Looked what has happened to Wisconsin after losing their whole offensive coaching staff, are all their athletes all of the sudden inferior? I know its a new quarterback but their lines were playing with anyone last year and look like a very mediocre squad this year. I don't really question the talent on this team as much as I do the leadership, but at the same time you can't fire BO for 9 win seasons. But you can put some strong bugs in his ear to get some assistants that can do the job.

[Landomatic]

Before anyone touts us as being better this year than last year, I think they need to look at things closer. The argument is that our offense is better this year than last year. However, I don't believe we led the nation in turnovers last year. Isn't it the offense that turns the ball over? I don't remember the defense giving up the second most yards to what now seems an inferior team in the past five decades either. Bo needs three more years, but at this juncture of the season I'm not willing to say we're a better team this year than last year.

 

Then, I read how we were in our zenith or whatever when TO retired and should have gotten a sure thing. If memory serves me correctly, $ Byrne wanted to hire Bob Stoops. Remember, at the time no one knew anything about Bob Stoops other than he was a redhot defensive coordinator. Sound familiar? Even the AD at the time wasn't going after a Saban or the likes, but rather was going after a hot defensive coordinator. Harvey Pearlman is a proven liar, but even he isn't dumb enough to give the new AD the power to fire Bo this season or probably next season for the matter. Eventually, the history books are more than likely going to shed more light that Harvey Pearlman has done more to destroy Husker football than any other individual. Bo gets at least three more years. The biggest question is whether or not he deserves it? The bar was moved when Solich was fired after six years and Clownahan after four. The problem with sure things are they just don't really exist. Texas thought Mack Brown was a sure thing, but he's really struggled the past few years. Lloyd Carr had his problems at Michigan after winning it all. Phillip Fulmer did as well. Urban Meyer will have a good season with Tressel recruits, but is he going to be able to recruit like Tressel considering the promises and such he's made to his family?

 

I don't think Texas thought Mack Brown was a "sure thing hire". He had done some good things with North Carolina (basketball school) but he was a prospect in that he hadn't won a national championship yet. I think when people talk about "sure thing hires", they mean coaches that already have the skins on the wall.

 

I think when it comes to coaching candidates, there are 4 groups ranked in order of likely to succeed...

 

First group - The one that is a "sure thing" only has 3 people in it. Alabama's got one of them, Ohio State's got another one and the third is currently coaching the Seahawks. Those guys each have multiple NC's, thereby making them as close to a "sure thing" hire as you can get.

 

Second group - A few guys who have one NC. Not really a sure thing, but having the skin on the wall of a NC is a really good resume for being able to do it again. That's what Saban was when Alabama got him. He now has 2 more.

 

Third group - These are the guys with head coaching experience who have done great things at inferior schools and appear to be ready for the next level. That's what Mack was when Texas got him and Urban was when Florida got him and Saban was when LSU got him. Sometimes it translates up to the next level...sometimes it doesn't.

 

Fourth group - The hot coordinators with no head coaching experience who just might be ready to make the jump. Again, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Worked for OU, but statistically speaking, it's probably much more the exception than the rule no doubt. That, of course, is what we have now.

[robsker]

I don't know... if a High School coach cannot get his players to have the basics down for tackling and playing physical football.. his seat should be hot.

 

One asks whether we would ever get a quality coach if we fired Pelini... well, it is certain that we do not have a quality coach now... thus, if in firing him there is any chance at all that we get a quality coach, then that probability is greater than certainly having a non-quality coach retained. In other words... what we have now is certain non-quality... if we go elsewhere, then the probability that we end up with a quality coach goes up.

 

NU is not a top 20 job anymore... but the history, the fan base, the facilities... these things ensure that NU would be viewed as a good job and, if conducted right, the likelihood of some solid candidates is pretty assured.

 

Go with proven experience... proven excellence. With Solich... he was not proven or experienced. With Callahan... he was experienced... and proven already to be a problem with the teams he coached (he was a known commodity... but not a good known commodity). Pelini was not proven or experienced. The hiring of coaches these past years have been the bane of the program... but it can be done well. Hopefully the new AD is good. He is, perhaps, the most important single person for the future of the program... Where will he lead NU? And... who will he have as coach?