Just what are we going to need to do to bring the title back the corn state?

[TGHusker]

Continue doing what we have been doing for the past 5 years. Win 9, 10, and 11 games a year until we eventually put a team together that's able to win the big one.

 

The LAST thing we should do at this point, barring catastrophe, is to find a new coach. That would only set us back another 5 years minimum.

 

 

Not calling for a new coach but do you think OSU hiring Urban Myer set them back 5 years or whn Oregon hired Kelly or ND hiring their current coach? Sometimes the right coach at the right time can light a fire under a program.

[jsneb83]

Continue doing what we have been doing for the past 5 years. Win 9, 10, and 11 games a year until we eventually put a team together that's able to win the big one.

 

The LAST thing we should do at this point, barring catastrophe, is to find a new coach. That would only set us back another 5 years minimum.

 

 

Not calling for a new coach but do you think OSU hiring Urban Myer set them back 5 years or whn Oregon hired Kelly or ND hiring their current coach? Sometimes the right coach at the right time can light a fire under a program.

Did any of those other programs fire a coach who has won at least 9 games every year while running a clean program (Tressel)? That is what he is getting at. Nobody will want to go to a school that would do that and we will end up with another Callahan.

[BRV920]

None of those coaches changed conferences after their third season. Chip Kelly was the oc at Oregon. So very little changed. And until this year Brian Kelly had his struggles. Plus both Meyer and Brian Kelly have been head coaches for 10+ years.

[HuskerNationNick]

• We need to learn how to overcome adversity, even on our own mistakes (IE Ameer's fumble late in the game against UGA)
  
• We need to learn how to keep the ball off the turf. Starting with Martinez, to Ameer and to the Special Teams.
  
• We need to establish a PRODUCTIVE and mistake free special teams. I can't express how important special teams really is in college football.
  
• We need to have a VERY physical offensive line who can perform all 4 quarters, rather than just the first half in pass protection.
  
• We need an offensive line who gets PISSED when their QB is touched.
  
• We need a defensive line who is aggressive, who attack on every play and give it their all.
  
• We need to have a "smarter" safety who just knows his position, and doesn't always bite on the play action.
  
• We need to stop the senseless penalties and giving our opponent an easier advantage on stopping us, or moving the ball down the field.
  
• Start converting more 3rd down conversions.
  

We have the right coaches. We have the right players (Some of you don't agree, but lets not piss on the positive people's parade). Bo's 6th year, he has the tools to become a BCS team next year, and the only thing I can see getting in his way, is the maturity of the young defense we will have. Only time will tell how mature and disciplined we can be on the defensive side with such a young group. No excuse, with the schedule we have, that we shouldn't make it to the B1G CCG. I really hope the defense becomes more in Pap's hands and less of Bo's, so he can focus on the game and making sure players are in position.

 

It could be a very good year, or a rocky one due to the inexperience on the field. But there should be no excuses for lack of talent, because we will have that part of the equation.

[Nexus]

Continue doing what we have been doing for the past 5 years. Win 9, 10, and 11 games a year until we eventually put a team together that's able to win the big one.

 

The LAST thing we should do at this point, barring catastrophe, is to find a new coach. That would only set us back another 5 years minimum.

 

 

Not calling for a new coach but do you think OSU hiring Urban Myer set them back 5 years or whn Oregon hired Kelly or ND hiring their current coach? Sometimes the right coach at the right time can light a fire under a program.

Did any of those other programs fire a coach who has won at least 9 games every year while running a clean program (Tressel)? That is what he is getting at. Nobody will want to go to a school that would do that and we will end up with another Callahan.

 

Yeah that.

 

Plus this Urban Meyer quote puts it into perspective.

 

Q: One last Nebraska question — in late 2003, NU fired its coach, Frank Solich. You were coaching at Utah. Was there any part of you that perhaps thought about looking at the job?

 

UM: “We actually were contacted by a third party. Not directly. I remember thinking about it. I had such great respect for Solich — he's an Ohio guy who's a good friend of mine — and I didn't agree with everything that went down. He won 10 games that year, right? That was alarming to me. I'm a coach, and whenever I see that happening to a coach, I think there's got to be something behind Door No. 1 to fire him after he won 10 games. I remember having great respect for the school but being concerned about what happened — and why it happened. If 10 games isn't good enough, I'm not sure what is.”

 

LINK

[HuskerNationNick]

Q: One last Nebraska question — in late 2003, NU fired its coach, Frank Solich. You were coaching at Utah. Was there any part of you that perhaps thought about looking at the job?

 

UM: “We actually were contacted by a third party. Not directly. I remember thinking about it. I had such great respect for Solich — he's an Ohio guy who's a good friend of mine — and I didn't agree with everything that went down. He won 10 games that year, right? That was alarming to me. I'm a coach, and whenever I see that happening to a coach, I think there's got to be something behind Door No. 1 to fire him after he won 10 games. I remember having great respect for the school but being concerned about what happened — and why it happened. If 10 games isn't good enough, I'm not sure what is.”

 

LINK

 

Even Urban Meyer nails it right on the head. If that doesn't tell you how we are viewed, then I don't know what else will. After Solich firing, our program fell. Not just football performance, but the lack of respect nationally. IMO, Pederson is partial to blame for this.

[Huskerfan1985]

Playing devil's advocate here, but the common theme that a lot of posters mention is patience and continuity. What if patience is overrated and outdated? The landscape of college football is much different than it was 15 - 20 years ago. Hear me out, I'm not saying Fire Bo, but the program, now is obviously better than what he took over. I do believe that whoever follows Bo will certainly inherit a better program, when that day comes. He did what he was supposed to do which was basically stabilize the program. It's time to take it to the next level. I'm still on the fence on what needs to be done, but deep down, I just don't think he can do it.

 

But, if you look around the country, coaches that are winning championships / playing for BCS bowls are doing it in their first 5 years with a team. As stated numerous times, you don't fire a coach with the number of wins that he has though. I get it, so basically we are left with 9 - 10 win purgatory until Bo can find a better job or some scandal i.e. Tressel forces us to find a new coach. On the plus side, keeping Bo is the SAFE play and maybe he gets us over the hump, but looking around the country at the way coaches are having success NOW, it looks like you have to hire the hot name and put tons of pressure and expectations on them to succeed.

 

Just for the sake of discussion, (he would NEVER get hired at NU nor do I want him to) what do you think Petrino could do at NU?

[ESPY]

What a fun thread...ugh. Ok, here's my take on things.

 

Somehow, someway we must find a way to break away from the pack of tier 2 and tier 3 teams in the nation. I'm talking about those teams consistently ranked anywhere from 10-30. To me, much of the parity that everyone talks about in college football is in this realm. The sad thing is that we're all fighting that parity to even have a glimpse of reaching the top level with the Bamas, Oregons and Georgias of the world. Until we get over that hump, we won't stand a shot at a national title.

 

Honestly, I would love to see us become the Stanford of the B1G. They have a system in place that is physical, athletic and mistake-free, and by golly they know how to win the big games. Shoot, If you put them in the SEC, they would compete with Bama every year, just like they do with Oregon right now. Obviously that type of system works in college football today (and it always has). We're never going to get the athletes those SEC schools get - that's just life at Nebraska. So we have to make up for that by being a disciplined, mistake-free, opportunistic team from top to bottom. Clearly it's worked for Stanford (and K-State), so why couldn't we take that route and break through? Seems the most logical (and likely) to me.

[TonyStalloni]

I read many good ideas for what we need to get over the hump. To me the key to winning more and bigger football games is the offensive and defensive lines. Until we have the big uglies who can dominate their opponent in the trenches we will stumble in the big games. We have solid Qb's, Rb's and receivers. We seem to have more speed coming on the defensive back 7. What I'm not seeing in our recruiting is those incredible giants that set the tone in a big game.

 

Two examples I give are:

 

1. Nebraska's national championship teams had big guys on both sides of the line who could rip your head off and play error free.

 

2. Alabama a few nights ago dominated what was thought to be a pretty good D line of ND.

 

Control the line of scrimmage .....control the game. Eat up the clock and keep the other teams offense off the field.

[junior4949]

Until Urban Meyer came to Ohio State this year, there were only two automatic qualifying conferences that have current coaches who've won a NC which are the Big 12 and the SEC. They don't just hand those things to anyone. Recruiting could be a bit better, but most people need to be realistic. We're not going to pull recruiting classes like Texas, Florida, USC, etc. do. It's called baby steps. First, we need to win a conference championship before we get overly concerned with winning a NC. The easy answer for me to be more competitive is summed up by one word: speed. We need a lot more speed to be competitive on the defensive side of the ball.

[The Dude]

But you said 'that's not necessarily true'. Did you have someone in mind? (I don't mean to put you on the spot. ) I was just curious because this comes up frequently on the board.

The Dude has made it no secret that he has lost total faith in Bo as a coach, so that's what he's saying.

False. All I'm saying is it's not necessarily true finding a new coach would only set us back a minimum of 5 years.

 

There's a myriad of possible outcomes in that hypothetical scenario.

[irafreak]

I thought that new policy was going to kick in...you know the one that required more time after registering before you could start a new topic....

[husker_99]

Q: One last Nebraska question — in late 2003, NU fired its coach, Frank Solich. You were coaching at Utah. Was there any part of you that perhaps thought about looking at the job?

 

UM: “We actually were contacted by a third party. Not directly. I remember thinking about it. I had such great respect for Solich — he's an Ohio guy who's a good friend of mine — and I didn't agree with everything that went down. He won 10 games that year, right? That was alarming to me. I'm a coach, and whenever I see that happening to a coach, I think there's got to be something behind Door No. 1 to fire him after he won 10 games. I remember having great respect for the school but being concerned about what happened — and why it happened. If 10 games isn't good enough, I'm not sure what is.”

 

LINK

 

Even Urban Meyer nails it right on the head. If that doesn't tell you how we are viewed, then I don't know what else will. After Solich firing, our program fell. Not just football performance, but the lack of respect nationally. IMO, Pederson is partial to blame for this.

Partial? He is solely to blame for letting his ego get in the way. Urban Meyer isn't right. How can you look in the mirror and say to yourself you are doing good when you face the better teams that you are getting waxed? you can't. Solich took the steps necessary to improve the team and basically right now Bo is right where Solich was his last year.

[BRV920]

Excellent take Husker_99. It's completely wrong! But it did make me laugh.

[JJ Husker]

Playing devil's advocate here, but the common theme that a lot of posters mention is patience and continuity. What if patience is overrated and outdated? The landscape of college football is much different than it was 15 - 20 years ago. Hear me out, I'm not saying Fire Bo, but the program, now is obviously better than what he took over. I do believe that whoever follows Bo will certainly inherit a better program, when that day comes. He did what he was supposed to do which was basically stabilize the program. It's time to take it to the next level. I'm still on the fence on what needs to be done, but deep down, I just don't think he can do it. But, if you look around the country, coaches that are winning championships / playing for BCS bowls are doing it in their first 5 years with a team. As stated numerous times, you don't fire a coach with the number of wins that he has though. I get it, so basically we are left with 9 - 10 win purgatory until Bo can find a better job or some scandal i.e. Tressel forces us to find a new coach. On the plus side, keeping Bo is the SAFE play and maybe he gets us over the hump, but looking around the country at the way coaches are having success NOW, it looks like you have to hire the hot name and put tons of pressure and expectations on them to succeed. Just for the sake of discussion, (he would NEVER get hired at NU nor do I want him to) what do you think Petrino could do at NU?

 

Patience is not overrated and building stability will never be outdated. The landscape of college football may be slightly different now (more parity) but you still have to go out there and smash the other team in the face and win on Saturdays. The biggest change for Nebraska has been that we lost the stable, reload every year system that TO built. We still have the same recruiting handicaps we've always had. Those were softened by a winning tradition (which is on the mend under Pelini) and by having an excellent player developement regime and work hard ethic. We have to do more with less, always have and always will. The flavor of the month coach doesn't change those things simply with his name.

 

I agree that the program is in better shape now than when Bo took over. the heights we fell from were staggering and it could not have been much lower by the end of the Pederson/Callahan reign. Bo is one of the main reasons the program has stabilized and sits on the verge of making it over that next hump. That took some work and a lot of effort to accomplish. That is why I believe now is when we should be giving Bo time to make the next step. He did pretty darn well with the first phase so why do so many doubt he's the right person for the next phase? I do not feel it is fair or even reasonable to compare us to some other teams that may have some grand accomplishment within five years of hiring a new coach. Name one of those teams that was as low as Nebraska was at the beginning of that 5 year period. Bo led us to the plateau and now he has to finish getting us to the summit. I see nothing yet that indicates he can't get the job done. Programs don't make that leap in only 5 years with the recruiting handicaps we have.

 

Seriously, what coaches and what programs are having succuss now that can legitimately be compared to what we've had to endure to get back to where we are now?