Like him or not, Steve Pederson's vision...

[Utah_Husker]

1998: 9-4 Losses to OK St., home streak snapped, and a first time loss in over 20 years (Maybe? a long time for sure) to K st. And a Holiday Bowl loss to a Arizona team that was grossly exposed the following year

 

1999: 11-1 Pretty damn good, I guess you could quibble that Solich threw the Texas game away with his clock management, but again he didn;t fumble the ball all those times. Awesome defense, and McBride retires

 

2000: 10-2 Impressive bowl game beat down but Stoops fed Solich his clipboard in thier first meeting and yet another loss to Kst.

 

2001: 10-2 a great season completely erased by the last two abortions of a game. Sorry but that's the truth

 

2002: 7-7 Ack. Horrible. Looked lost the whole year. Lost to K St. and Colorado IN THE SAME YEAR

 

2003: 9-3 He was fired before the bowl and this year was pretty hollow. Loss to Mizzou for first time in over two decades, overmatched against Texas and a disgusting, awful, horrid, job costing loss to K St (4th in his career)

 

I'll give you 1999 but that was the only "very good" season under Solich. Granted that's one more "very good" season Callahan has had, but you preached patience with SOlich.... Callahan may not be the answer, but if he beats Michigan I'll eat my words I screamed after the KU loss

I'm not jumping on you, so don't take this personally. But to me this post and my answer to it proves that we're all going to see things how we want to see them to justify our current opinion.

 

1998: Am I the only one who remembers all the injuries we had that year? Weren't we on our 4th string QB ala 1994 at one point? Yes, we lost to KSU for the first time in 25 years or so. But that was the best team Snyder ever had vs a relatively young Husker squad. KSU would have been playing for the NC in the Fiesta had they closed the deal against A&M. And we barely lost to them in Manhattan. Anyone remember the facefask? The extremely close Holiday bowl loss to a 1 loss Arizona team was not an embarassment. They were exposed the following year? I don't think that means very much. Didn't they have an all-american running back that they lost plus a bunch of other key guys? That's like saying that Cal was exposed as overrated last year because they had a crappy season this year. Doesn't work.

 

1999: All I remember about the Texas game was we fumbled at the goal line twice and lose by 4 was it? Maybe that's on the coaches but you can only do so much to keep your kids from dropping the ball. It happens sometimes. We win the rematch handily. IMO, if we don't fumble, we beat FSU or VT handily in the Sugar for the NC.

 

2000: Loss to national champion Oklahoma (in Norman) who had a killer defense. Loss to KSU in Manhattan (by 2?, can't remember). But I do remember that we controlled the second half of the game only to see KSU go ahead with about 3 minutes left. That left us enough time to win, but right after they scored, it started snowing really hard and all we could do was fall down on that rug they had. I know, it's an excuse, but it was frustrating.

 

2001: Great year. One of Solich's best jobs coaching against OU. Great gameplan. Colorado, I don't know what the heck happened. Where were our linebackers? But again, was that Solich's fault? We had 500 yards of offense and 36 points. Miami had one of the greatest, fastest defenses ever. They destroyed everyone.

 

2002 and 2003 were frustrating years, yes. FS made the necessary changes after the '02 disaster and things looked a lot better in '03 though we weren't where we needed to be yet. Jamal Lord just wasn't the guy to alter the offense with. I think '04 would have been a great year had everyone had patience. Again, not ripping on you, just showing how differently we interpret how things went down. Wow that was long.

[NamelessHusker]

He would not have any ammo had NU not gone 10-3 that year.

Incorrect, NU had 4 other very good years under FS prior to that.

 

I personally wish NU had gone 1-10 that year just to shut him up, but it didn't happen..so just ignore him and move on.

Wow, I guess thats what REAL fans do

 

That would be as ignorant as me wishing that NU would go 1-10 just to prove how bad of a coach billy c is

Nice try but try to bait someone else

[NUpolo8]

OK....cool a real debate:

 

1998: You win on the injuries, and the facemask. However, the minute you start saying "we should have won but (insert facemask, etc) here), then you admit we beat TT this year and that would throw this whole year into question.... so thats pretty much a tossup.

 

Yes Arizona lost Candidate as a RB, but they were still highly ranked on thier past performance and got blown up by PSU. Cal was overrated, proven by TT in 04 and this year, anyways...

 

1999: never argued that was not a great year, I agree no fumbles, we're natl. champs, Solich burning 3 TO's in the 3rd or no.

 

2000: Yes OU was the champ, but, NU struck hard, and was up 14-0 Stoops exposed what was eventually Solich's unraveling, inability to adjust/adapt. KSU was a snow bowl, but who can you say that NU dominated the 2nd half when we lost? Frustrating, whatever, agree to disagree.

 

2001 will never be anything but an embarssing year to me. Where were our LB's you ask? I don;t know, ask the coach. Clueless as to how it could have happened? Me too, but the coach should have been better prepared. Miami barely got by a couple of games that year and no excuses when you are down 27-0 before the crowd even gets settled.

 

2002-03 no doubt there are questions. Lord wasn't the answer/ Try Dailey a little earlier maybe he doesn;t ahve to struggle with BC. Give Cotton more freedom? The list could go on forever, but the results are what they are. Solich had his own rope to hang himself

[StuckinChicago]

Im sorry, but that Colorado game was the most poorly coached game i have ever seen. At least when we couldnt stop Brad Smith or Alan Everidge this year is was partially due to misdirection. In that Colorado game, they ran the exact same play, which is the simplist play in the book, that every pee wee football team in the country knows how to run, over and over again, and even after 40 minutes of being embarrassed, we still couldnt stop it.

[Utah_Husker]

OK....cool a real debate:

 

1998: You win on the injuries, and the facemask. However, the minute you start saying "we should have won but (insert facemask, etc) here), then you admit we beat TT this year and that would throw this whole year into question.... so thats pretty much a tossup.

 

Yes Arizona lost Candidate as a RB, but they were still highly ranked on thier past performance and got blown up by PSU. Cal was overrated, proven by TT in 04 and this year, anyways...

 

1999: never argued that was not a great year, I agree no fumbles, we're natl. champs, Solich burning 3 TO's in the 3rd or no.

 

2000: Yes OU was the champ, but, NU struck hard, and was up 14-0 Stoops exposed what was eventually Solich's unraveling, inability to adjust/adapt. KSU was a snow bowl, but who can you say that NU dominated the 2nd half when we lost? Frustrating, whatever, agree to disagree.

 

2001 will never be anything but an embarssing year to me. Where were our LB's you ask? I don;t know, ask the coach. Clueless as to how it could have happened? Me too, but the coach should have been better prepared. Miami barely got by a couple of games that year and no excuses when you are down 27-0 before the crowd even gets settled.

 

2002-03 no doubt there are questions. Lord wasn't the answer/ Try Dailey a little earlier maybe he doesn;t ahve to struggle with BC. Give Cotton more freedom? The list could go on forever, but the results are what they are. Solich had his own rope to hang himself

I agree with you on the '98 points. I can't say 'we should have won'. I guess my point was that the losses weren't as bad as everyone tries to make them. Same with what people say about the losses this year, I guess.

With 2001, again I fail to see how the Colorado game was Solich's fault. Yes he's the head man and the buck stops with the head man, but is it really his responsibility to game plan for the defense and tell the LB to stop overrunning and taking themselves out of every single play? Again, 500 yards, 36 points. Should be enough to win. Certainly shouldn't have been a blowout. And with Miami, yes they had some close games. But their defense gave up less than 10 points per game. That's insane. They got up quick and again, is that all Solich's fault? It think the end of 2001 was the indication that Bohl was not going to get it done for us and we saw that solidified in 2002.

You make great points about what could have been done. I wanted to try Dailey after the Texas game. Yes, maybe Solich should have loosened the reigns a bit. But I can't blame him, he knew his job was on the line...I'd want control too. Anyway, I know this is all water under the bridge. I wasn't the hugest Solich fan...he could be very frustrating. I just thought one more year would have been the way to go. I honestly think last year would have been big. If it's a disappointment, then let him go. You don't have near the controversey, and I don't think he would have lost 6 games last year. But I guess as the title of this thread alludes to...if BC works out, Pud will be a genius.

[StuckinChicago]

Is it Callahan's fault that receivers drop the ball, or that Teidtke cant tackle.... partially yes, because he brought some of those guys into the program. Solich recruited those linebackers, hired the coaches that coached them, and ran the practices in which they were supposed to get better, so yes, that is his fault.

[formerfan]

Is it Callahan's fault that receivers drop the ball, or that Teidtke cant tackle.... partially yes, because he brought some of those guys into the program.

That is the part of player development that is now lacking.

 

Solich recruited those linebackers, hired the coaches that coached them, and ran the practices in which they were supposed to get better, so yes, that is his fault.

Yes it was. And he made Bohl pay for it, and eventually he paid the price for it.

[Eric the Red]

so in '03 when we lost to kansas state frank didnt get outcoached outmanned etc?  by UT?  by Mizzou?

I guess its better than getting beat 40-15 by KU, or getting beat by S Miss.

 

It happened 3 times in 03, 6 times last year by some not so good teams.

 

Besides, it was just the NEW assistants first year. They hadnt even been there ONE year, they needed time.........

I think one of the things I always gather from your viewpoint is that you are ultimately upset because of the record, 5-6 and 7-4. Not up to the standards you see fit for Huksers football. Correct? Is this number 1 on your list?

In all honesty, I dont like the record, thats no secret. I also dont like it that NU IMO doesnt play particularly well. For instance, the 94 OB vs FSU, I wasnt happy that NU lost, but I could not have been more proud of the team for the way they played against FSU, a team that had much more talent than NU did.

 

I want to see improvement in the caliber of play on the field, when that happens, the wins will come. Yes, there have been some slight improvements in some areas this year, but as I have said, the team isnt that much better overall than they were at game one last year. Yes the CU game was a complete game, but I would have hoped for more of that, especially this year.

 

There are other things that are important: academics, traditions, doing things "the right way (ie not having thugs on team-which is one thing that I think billy c has done well, at first glance-Incognito, etc.).

 

Its not just one thing, there are so many variables that go into it. If one or two of the variables are gone or changed, thats understandable, and I could live with that. But it seems like there is nothing that resembles NU of just a few short years ago, with the exception of TO Field, and the N on the helmet.

Okay, I respect that. I've just felt there have been more improvement than you feel there has been. I agree to disagree.

[formerfan]

so in '03 when we lost to kansas state frank didnt get outcoached outmanned etc?  by UT?  by Mizzou?

I guess its better than getting beat 40-15 by KU, or getting beat by S Miss.

 

It happened 3 times in 03, 6 times last year by some not so good teams.

 

Besides, it was just the NEW assistants first year. They hadnt even been there ONE year, they needed time.........

I think one of the things I always gather from your viewpoint is that you are ultimately upset because of the record, 5-6 and 7-4. Not up to the standards you see fit for Huksers football. Correct? Is this number 1 on your list?

In all honesty, I dont like the record, thats no secret. I also dont like it that NU IMO doesnt play particularly well. For instance, the 94 OB vs FSU, I wasnt happy that NU lost, but I could not have been more proud of the team for the way they played against FSU, a team that had much more talent than NU did.

 

I want to see improvement in the caliber of play on the field, when that happens, the wins will come. Yes, there have been some slight improvements in some areas this year, but as I have said, the team isnt that much better overall than they were at game one last year. Yes the CU game was a complete game, but I would have hoped for more of that, especially this year.

 

There are other things that are important: academics, traditions, doing things "the right way (ie not having thugs on team-which is one thing that I think billy c has done well, at first glance-Incognito, etc.).

 

Its not just one thing, there are so many variables that go into it. If one or two of the variables are gone or changed, thats understandable, and I could live with that. But it seems like there is nothing that resembles NU of just a few short years ago, with the exception of TO Field, and the N on the helmet.

Okay, I respect that. I've just felt there have been more improvement than you feel there has been. I agree to disagree.

Cool

[Roy CO HSKR]

Does anyone have firsthand knowledge of institutions that will have better or equal facilities than the Huskers next fall?

[chuckd]

I know right now, the University of Oregon has some of the best facilities in the country.

[Weasel]

will likely be proven to be correct.  Firing Solich, hiring Callahan, the new building project, etc.  Granted he has this Julius Caesar complex thing going on and he's an easy target for abuse, but if you take his personality out of it and judge him on what he's done (not how he's done it) I think time will show him to be correct in making these moves.  I applaud the guy.  He's got a tough job.  Similar to the president of the United States, you either like him or you don't.

I agree to a point. But part of being a Nebraskan is "how" you go about doing things....not just about getting it done.

 

However that point of view falls on deaf ears when it comes to Pedey and that is my biggest complaint against him. He divided NU Fans down the center when there was really no reason to do so. He botched the handling of many things and for that healing is going to take time. Sadly, he can never admit though when he was wrong etc......and in his own logic feels that he will bring everyone back by simply winning. That imo is where Pedey is clueless / classless......winning isn't everything, nor the only thing.

 

That is one thing I most respected about TO.....he understood this and even in defeat and disappointing seasons he represented imo Nebraska values / pride.

 

It made winning only that much more special imo,

 

 

Weasel

[formerfan]

will likely be proven to be correct.  Firing Solich, hiring Callahan, the new building project, etc.  Granted he has this Julius Caesar complex thing going on and he's an easy target for abuse, but if you take his personality out of it and judge him on what he's done (not how he's done it) I think time will show him to be correct in making these moves.  I applaud the guy.  He's got a tough job.  Similar to the president of the United States, you either like him or you don't.

I agree to a point. But part of being a Nebraskan is "how" you go about doing things....not just about getting it done.

 

However that point of view falls on deaf ears when it comes to Pedey and that is my biggest complaint against him. He divided NU Fans down the center when there was really no reason to do so. He botched the handling of many things and for that healing is going to take time. Sadly, he can never admit though when he was wrong etc......and in his own logic feels that he will bring everyone back by simply winning. That imo is where Pedey is clueless / classless......winning isn't everything, nor the only thing.

 

That is one thing I most respected about TO.....he understood this and even in defeat and disappointing seasons he represented imo Nebraska values / pride.

 

It made winning only that much more special imo,

 

 

Weasel

Great points

[Roy CO HSKR]

No one yet in a year has explained satisfactorily to me how Pederson would have gone about firing Solich and also at the same time tried to hire his successor, that would be acceptable to those anti-Peterson "fans." His options:

 

1) Fire Solich earlier before the season ended. To what advantage and to whom? Pelini would have still finished the season and the bowl game. The search for a new coach couldn't be finished until either the college season or the NFL season were completed. Some fans wouldn't be less angry! The firing had to be done at least before the bowl game for recruiting and the coaching search.

 

2) Keep Solich another year. This would have set us back more than a year, because the former staff couldn't recruit much quality.

 

3) Keep Solich indefinitely. This would have resulted in no Big 12 North title ever, let alone other championships. But, our record for the last 2 years may have been 8-9 wins/yr-so what?

 

Solich apparently made the adminitration very upset by unilaterally extending the contract period for his coaches beyond what was already determined (from Jan to June). (I read this on one of the sites.) Also, who knows outside of the inner circle if Solich had an alcohol abuse problem. Even if that were true (I simply do not know), this or any other private information wouldn't be revealed to the public.

 

TO was very upset early on, but seems to have buried the hatchet with Perlman/Peterson. Why? Maybe just time to move on and try to respect the program. Shouldn't we?

[Weasel]

No one yet in a year has explained satisfactorily to me how Pederson would have gone about firing Solich and also at the same time tried to hire his successor, that would be acceptable to those anti-Peterson "fans." His options:

 

1) Fire Solich earlier before the season ended.  To what advantage and to whom?  Pelini would have still finished the season and the bowl game. The search for a new coach couldn't be finished until either the college season or the NFL season were completed.  Some fans wouldn't be less angry! The firing had to be done at least before the bowl game for recruiting and the coaching search.

 

2)  Keep Solich another year.  This would have set us back more than a year, because the former staff couldn't recruit much quality.

 

3)  Keep Solich indefinitely.  This would have resulted in no Big 12 North title ever, let alone other championships.  But, our record for the last 2 years may have been 8-9 wins/yr-so what?

 

Solich apparently made the adminitration very upset by unilaterally extending the contract period for his coaches beyond what was already determined (from Jan to June).  (I read this on one of the sites.) Also, who knows outside of the inner circle if Solich had an alcohol abuse problem.  Even if that were true (I simply do not know), this or any other private information wouldn't be revealed to the public.

 

TO was very upset early on, but seems to have buried the hatchet with Perlman/Peterson.  Why?  Maybe just time to move on and try to respect the program.  Shouldn't we?

First let me allow to state where my point of view is coming from:

 

1) Yes, I believe Solich needed to be let go.

2) Yes, I like Pedey's vision.

3) I wasn't in favor of BP taking over as coach (I personally wanted Brown and Gill to stay in some form though)

4) I was not happy with the way Pedey handled the firing, hiring process....simple.

 

 

Pedey put himself in the situation and our fan base as well when he waited one year to long to fire Solich. He imo obviously knew and had valid reasons to fire Solich from the first day he was hired as the AD and imo should've done what his gut feeling was from day one. Fire Solich and start from scratch like he is now.

 

His reasoning, his handling of it and outside views of it couldn't have been "any worse" than what they ended up being...let me assure you of that (heck, we were 7-7 and off one of the WORST coached bowl games in NU history.......!).

 

No, instead he allows Solich to re-vamp his staff, they see in one year a marked improvement but then at the end of the season just before a bowl game Pedey fires him?

 

Honestly, as you are stating, NO ONE has yet to explain just how DUMB of move that was and as for timing....could it of been any worse?

 

IMO, it is not the ANT-Pedey folks anymore than the PRO folks that need to do explaining. It in most opinions is just the FACT of "HOW" it all went down and then the roller-coaster we all road on trying to get a new coach.

 

It appears to many from the outside that Pedey / NU was just to chicken to just part ways with a man that had dedicated his life to NU. Furthermore we allow him to stick around a year longer, improve and then fire him.......why not just drag him through the mud while we are at it (this is how it appeared, right or wrong)? In other words, it wouldn't of been pretty anyway it would've been done. It is just the fact that Pedey picked the worst option of several that would do the most damage to NU and the fan base imo.

 

It was un-Nebraskan because it appeared to be a "win" at all cost move and puts NU in a category that we haven't been in, in a long time. Classless, unloyal, heartless, etc.etc...

 

This is why we have a divide, this is why we have bitterness and again Pedey is banking on "nothing" more than winning taking care of all the resentment / anger among long time fans.

 

I've yet to see anything Pedey has done to re-unite NU fans to this date. In fact it would be safe to say he has been a divider. He is simply clueless imo of the type of family NU fans were. Fact is we are still family, but feuding about details of a messy situation that left many scared even though they were in total agreement with a change being needed.

 

Fact is, Pedey probably doesn't care and many of the NU family don't either......because there are some that are with him in the "win at all costs" and that is all that matters (however we are all fans and for those that can't deal with other opinions....sorry, I nor you have the right to determine who and who isn't a "real" fan).

 

Personally, I'll be an NU fan until I am gone....but I am not willing to agree with his actions in regards to how he chose to do what I agreed needed to be done. Also, winning doesn't get rid of the sour taste his choices have put in my mouth. Maybe time will, but Pedey himself could do that with simply handling things correctly, instead of proving he is the worst politician out there period. Also us fans could do that, but again the split seems to run deep and lets face it. We've in many ways turned on each other........check out many of the boards out there. The family is split and it is a simple fact and Pedey should imo do something to address the problem instead of making it worse. It could be done, but I doubt it.............until proven wrong, he is a man banking on "winning will fix everything".

 

That is something I do not associate with and it is something that wasn't present in the program over the last 20 plus years. Maybe Pedey was away from Nebraska to long or:

 

What I have noticed is that many of the self proclaimed "real" NU fans are the ones that do not see values, morals, and ethics as important to NU football. They see the bottom line in recruiting stars, winning differently (in all phases), and the handling of the Solich situation as unimportant. Many of those imo were the same that voiced displeasure with TO for many years and still don't agree with "how" he ran the program for years or his appointment of Solich. So, imo many of those minority opinions back then are now the majority......it appears.

 

Certainly everyone is entitled to their opinion and this again is "only" mine. But what would help imo bring back everyone would to just admit the situation could've been handled better and that from here on we move forward together.........!

 

 

Weasel