Adam Carriker's Take

[Ric Flair]

From his Facebook page:

 

 

Adam Carriker

Once again I have pondered the Nebraska football head coaching position for a good portion of the day. Again my response to what has taken place with the Nebraska football program is not short, but if Husker football matters to you then you understand how big of a deal today is. Hiring ‪#‎MikeRiley‬ does not appear to be a splash hire. Most ‪#‎Huskers‬ fans I know/see aren't thrilled right now. A good portion of people I know outside of ‪#‎HuskerNation‬ think it's a good hire.

 

Before I continue you need a brief history on me. I was born in Hastings, Nebraska. I lived there till I was 3, that’s when my dad's job took him up to Washington State. I grew up being raised by a small town, blue collar hard working farm boy in the middle of a city & grunge filled Washington state for the next 15 years. All 4 years in high school my football team went to Oregon State's football camp. They were my very first division 1 scholarship offer (as a quarterback). I’d seen there stadium, facilities & experienced their football culture while I was there. I thought Oregon St. was nice. Combine that with not being a highly recruited kid & I almost committed to be a Beaver. ‪#‎Nebraska‬ called very late & offered me to walk on. I couldn't afford out of state tuition and/or pass up my scholarships elsewhere. So I thought I was headed to Corvallis & was good with that decision. The very next night, Frank Solich called and offered me a scholarship. I was a little mad at the shenanigans & almost said no. But being a ‪#‎blackshirt‬ had always been my dream so I went on my recruiting visit to Lincoln. While I was here I was blown away by the facilities such as the weight room (biggest in the country then), training table (which Oregon St. didn't have at the time), training room, academic facilities (the best I’ve ever seen), indoor practice facility (Oregon St. put one in a year after I left for Nebraska) & the over all football culture. Everything I just spoke about was fine at Oregon St, but everything at Nebraska was on a whole different level. There's a reason Nebraska has won 5 national titles, 43 conference titles, has an all time winning percentage of .702 & 3 Heisman trophy winners. Oregon St. is a fine football team. But, to compare the two programs they have no national titles, 5 conference titles, a winning percentage of .484 & 1 Heisman winner. In my opinion comparing Nebraska football vs Oregon St. football is comparing apples to oranges. Again, Oregon St. is a good football program, but Nebraska is a great football program. There's most likely some things Oregon St. is traditionally better at than Nebraska (probably). It's unimportant & irrelevant, but as you know I committed to the Huskers. I recognized the shenanigans (maybe a little dirty pool) as a business move & decided to come back to the place I was born & wanted to return to my whole life, where people have similar beliefs/ethics as myself, work like I do & where 90% of my family (and now 99% of my wife's family) is located. In my mind I was & did...come home.

Sorry to bore you with those details about myself, but in order to understand why I feel the way I do about Mike Riley, you need to know some things people generally don't know about me that explain how I arrived at my opinion.

 

To compare what Riley did at Oregon St. vs what Pelini did at Nebraska is not the same thing. Lincoln may be challenging to recruit out of state kids to, but Corvallis is just as challenging, trust me. I’ve already stated the several other advantages Husker football has over Beaver football. I'm sure Oregon St. has upgraded since then, but so has Nebraska. Winning 9 games at Nebraska is never easy, but winning 9 games at Oregon St. is much more difficult. The argument could be made other coaches have better results than Riley with similar recruiting and/or facility challenges at programs that historically have struggled as well. That's a great point. I'm not here to have Riley's back. I'm here to give my opinion & insight from my unique personal experiences. That being said let's talk about what Riley has & hasn't done.

 

Riley has won 93 games & lost 80 games, a career winning percentage of .538, not extremely impressive. But, in his second season of his first coaching stint at Oregon St. (1998) he went 5-6, again not impressive right? But people need to realize that's the best record the Beavers had in 27 years going all the way back to 1971. What?! Think about that, that's what he was working with. He also did that trying to run a pro style offense with a bunch guys recruited to run the previous coach's (Jerry Pettibone) wishbone offense. Then he was hired by the Chargers. In 2000 the beavers went 12-1, finished 3rd in the final rankings & soundly beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, with mostly players (like Chad Ochocinco & TJ Houshmandzadeh) that Riley recruited before he left. I have been told he is a very good recruiter with long term ties to California & that his players love him. He is also the only coach Oregon St. has ever had to ever win more than 1 NCAA sanctioned bowl game in their history.

 

Over the past 7 years, the same amount of time Bo coached Nebraska Riley has more wins vs ranked teams than Bo does. In his coaching career Riley also has 4 wins over top 10 team & 3 victories over teams ranked in the top 5 including wins vs teams ranked #3, #2 & #1. Mike Riley's teams tend to show up in the big games & beat teams they shouldn't beat. His teams conversely at times lose to teams they shouldn't lose to. He has the ability to win big games, but struggled to maintain consistency at Oregon St. The opposite problem that Bo had. In many ways Riley & Pelini are opposites. Riley is very calm & mild mannered, as we all know that's the opposite of Pelini. I'm no saying that's good or bad. Every coach is different & they need to stay true to who they are as long as they represent their university in a proper manner. Riley has been highly sought after in the past & has turned down job offers from both USC & Alabama (when the Tide was on probation). Riley is currently ranked as the 14th best coach in college football. I know he's a better coach than people realize but that did surprise me. Nationally Mike Riley is considered a good football coach. Most people in Nebraska just haven’t heard of him.

At times while writing this I feel like I've convinced myself he's a good hire. At times I feel like I'm trying to convince myself he's not a bad hire. I've tried to provide insight that I'm aware of that most people in Nebraska aren't aware of about our new coach.

I've taken a while to get to my final take, but here it is. Mike Riley has helped take one of the traditionally worst power conference teams in the nation & made them a good team. So much so that people forget how bad Oregon St. used to be. Until today I forgot the Beavers used to use the triple option wishbone offense until Riley was hired. He has beaten top 5 teams & he's also lost to teams who weren't good at the time. He has shown the potential to have a high ceiling with those victory's, but also a low floor with the let downs. I'm not saying I think he's an extremely risky hire, because with Nebraska behind him he can produce even better results. He is however not what I would call a safe hire because he has yet to win a conference title or take Oregon St. to the next level since he turned them around. It seems as if he's plateaued with his team there. Maybe that's all he can do with that team & that's why he finally accepted an outside job. Or maybe what he's done with the Beavers is Coach Riley's ceiling for himself. He will have more opportunities in Nebraska to do things as a coach he's never done before. Here's what I do know about him. He will conduct himself in a classy respectful manner & as long as the players give him a chance, they will like him on personal level as well. Several people have told me he’s a classy individual & his players love him.

 

In conclusion, am I excited about Mike Riley as our head football coach? Not a giant amount. But definitely a medium amount, because I know there's potential beyond what a lot of people I have talked to realize as of right now. He has the potential to help Nebraska break through the 9-10 win ceiling & start winning big games. He could also very well fall flat on his face. He could be a step back from Pelini. He could continue on & do exactly what Pelini did. Or maybe, just maybe there's a reason USC & Alabama wanted him. Maybe there's a reason he's rated the 14th best college coach in the country even though he has just over a 500 winning percentage in his college career. Maybe there’s a reason Keyshawn Johnson (college football & NFL great) who had Riley as his offensive coordinator at USC said “I love this move.” “He’s going to do great because he can coach.” Maybe what he did turning Oregon St. is more impressive than we realize & now that he's at a place like Nebraska, he can take himself & Nebraska to the next level. Am I guaranteeing any of this? Absolutely not, but I know more about this guy than most Husker fans because I watched what he did growing up the northwest. He is a better coach than people realize who is now taking advantage of his opportunities & Nebraska could be the team that benefits. We may have completely flopped on this hire, we may have sentenced ourselves to more years of being just above mediocre, or maybe, just maybe we might have found a diamond on the rough. Was I initially extremely excited when I heard Mike Riley was going to be the next Nebraska football coach? Not particularly. But after thinking about it for a while, I am optimistic. Cautiously optimistic. ‪#‎GBR‬

[drmathprog]

Very interesting.

[RunMickeyRun02]

Yep, that sums up all the good, the bad, the concerning, the excitement, the worry.

[jimk]

Cliffsnotes?

[SouthAfricanHusker]

Sums up my thoughts with personal experiences I don't have. I am up for waiting this out with cautious optimism.

[Drive1010]

He is saying what most people are saying - From CNNSI -

 

Oregon State, to put it nicely, lacks resources. The Beavers have a half-finished stadium, an outdated operations building and one of the smallest towns in the Pac-12. It’s a tough sell to prospects, especially given the bulk of Riley’s recruiting was done in California. At Nebraska he will finally have a brand-name program to pitch.

 

But...

 

In his most recent stint at Oregon State, Riley went 85-66, including posting a disappointing 5-7 mark this fall. In Lincoln 8-4 won’t be good enough. The man who had plenty of job security in Corvallis -- he had a lifetime contract, with a clause that extended one year each season the Beavers qualified for a bowl game -- will be expected to succeed right away.

Hiring Riley is a perfect example of a school pursuing the complete opposite of the coach it just fired. Pelini had a reputation for being prickly; Riley is as warm and fuzzy as they come.

 

Maybe Riley viewed this as his last opportunity to take a brand-name job. It’s possible he got fed up with many fans in Corvallis who, despite the odds, believed he should have contended for Pac-12 titles year in and year out. Don’t be fooled by the smile on Riley’s face or his gentle sideline demeanor: He’s competitive to his core. If he took this job as a way to say, I’ll show you, I wouldn’t be stunned.

 

[Joe_5700]

Cliffsnotes?

Adam nearly committed to Oregon State even though their facilities lacked compared to schools Like Nebraska. He also said Riley can do a lot with a little and he is cautiously optimistic.

[NUance]

Cliffsnotes?

 

This, I'd say, is the gist:

Mike Riley's teams tend to show up in the big games & beat teams they shouldn't beat. His teams conversely at times lose to teams they shouldn't lose to. He has the ability to win big games, but struggled to maintain consistency at Oregon St. The opposite problem that Bo had. In many ways Riley & Pelini are opposites. Riley is very calm & mild mannered, as we all know that's the opposite of Pelini. I'm no saying that's good or bad.

 

<snip>

 

But after thinking about it for a while, I am optimistic. Cautiously optimistic. ‪#‎GBR‬

[The Dude]

Cliffsnotes?

He thinks Riley will either be better than Pelini, or worse, or about the same.