Athlon: Open letter to the concerned Nebraska fan

[Sargon]

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/open-letter-concerned-nebraska-football-fan

 

 

Riley isn't the problem. It's timing and he's going to need your patience. Now, what you ultimately think of him, call him, all that is up to you. However, I think if you take the time to ride the roller coaster and cheer along the way, you'll be pleased with the end result.

 

This isn't about who's a real fan or who isn't. Three games into a fresh start simply isn't a time to damn the new guy.

Hear, hear

 

 

[GBRedneck]

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing frustrates me more than when people say Riley is "Callahan 2.0". About the only thing the two have in common is they run a pro style offense. Riley is embracing the tradition at Nebraska. He's allowing former players to help in practice, he gave out the blackshirts before the season started so we could avoid the "when will Bo give out the blackshirts talk?" throughout the season, and heck he's allowing Boyd Epley to help in the training room! I believe Sipple wrote an article before the season about Dantonio and Michigan State, and how just a couple years ago they were a 6-6 team, that we need to be patient.

 

And to anyone who says "You hire a .500 coach, you're going to be .500", you're being completely naive. It's been said time and time again Oregon State and Nebraska are two completely different programs, but apparently that doesn't mean anything to some people so let's use other examples. Can you imagine if a coach was consistently .500 or better at schools like Purdue, Iowa State, and Kentucky? They would be celebrated as the next up and coming coach. That's what Mike Riley did at Oregon State.

 

Being a Chargers fan, me as much as anyone should be pessimistic about Riley, this is the 2nd time he's coached one of my teams. But I'm not because I'm able to see that this guy can coach as good as anyone. He's not Bill Callahan, not even close. I truly believe that Mike Riley and his staff are going to do great things here at Nebraska, and when his time here is done, we're going to be on a better path than we were before he came here.

I think it is a combination of WCO and an historically bad DC who is a buddy that causes the Callahan 2.0 comments.

 

And:

- Replaces a 9-3 coach winning over 70% of his games with no losing seasons at the only school that ever fired a 9-3 coach

- Breaks multiple long time record winning streaks

- Starts a dual threat QB built to run the previous system

- Has fans vocally blaming woes on a bare cupboard

- Has lifetime winning percentage between .480 and .520

- Winless when trailing at halftime

There's probably more. And there will almost certainly be more in the future. Loss to Southern Miss first season?

 

 

 

Hey, now. In the interest of balance, Bo was the only coach in modern times at NU to repeatedly make a fool of himself on national television. Make ya a bet......tv cameras will be less absorbed with Riley's behavior on the field than they were with ol' lickspittle. Take me up on that?

 

Why are you bringing Bo into it? We were talking about the similarities between Callahan 1.0 and Callahan 2.0.

 

 

 

No, you were--true to form--setting up your straw man for another wedgie on Riley. Are you seriously going to pretend virtually all of your posts are not critical of Riley? All I did was make it easy for yo to segue into it.....

 

 

Broken record, dude.

 

This doesn't even make sense. How was I pretending I wasn't being critical of Riley? I referred to him as Callahan 2.0 in my post! I assume you think that is "critical" of him, even though the similarities are uncanny and true. I only responded because another idiotic "but, but, but, BO!" response was injected into my enlightening Callahan/Riley comparison.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

 

 

 

 

Nothing frustrates me more than when people say Riley is "Callahan 2.0". About the only thing the two have in common is they run a pro style offense. Riley is embracing the tradition at Nebraska. He's allowing former players to help in practice, he gave out the blackshirts before the season started so we could avoid the "when will Bo give out the blackshirts talk?" throughout the season, and heck he's allowing Boyd Epley to help in the training room! I believe Sipple wrote an article before the season about Dantonio and Michigan State, and how just a couple years ago they were a 6-6 team, that we need to be patient.

 

And to anyone who says "You hire a .500 coach, you're going to be .500", you're being completely naive. It's been said time and time again Oregon State and Nebraska are two completely different programs, but apparently that doesn't mean anything to some people so let's use other examples. Can you imagine if a coach was consistently .500 or better at schools like Purdue, Iowa State, and Kentucky? They would be celebrated as the next up and coming coach. That's what Mike Riley did at Oregon State.

 

Being a Chargers fan, me as much as anyone should be pessimistic about Riley, this is the 2nd time he's coached one of my teams. But I'm not because I'm able to see that this guy can coach as good as anyone. He's not Bill Callahan, not even close. I truly believe that Mike Riley and his staff are going to do great things here at Nebraska, and when his time here is done, we're going to be on a better path than we were before he came here.

 

I think it is a combination of WCO and an historically bad DC who is a buddy that causes the Callahan 2.0 comments.

[snip]

- Replaces a 9-3 coach winning over 70% of his games with no losing seasons at the only school that ever fired a 9-3 coach Stop.

 

- Breaks multiple long time record winning streaks Stop. Since the turn of the century, BYU is probably the toughest team we've faced to start the season. Riley keeps the "vaunted" winning streak going if we play South Alabama (much like Bo, Bill, and Frank did) first and BYU second. We also don't schedule 2 teams who could clearly beat us early in the year. It's always been: crap school, crap school, tough game, crap school, conference play. You come off as a fool if you don't acknowledge that pretty important bit of information.

 

- Starts a dual threat QB built to run the previous system Stop. What the hell else is Mike Riley supposed to do? Not start a guy who has started the last two years for the team in favor of someone who has never started? Really?!

 

- Has fans vocally blaming woes on a bare cupboard Stop. The team has talent, but it doesn't have depth, which once again can't be put pinned to Mike Riley. You need depth to win a lot of games, just look at Alabama, Michigan State, Ohio State; all those schools has depth. Nebraska doesn't. What's nice though, is that Nebraska will essentially return everyone next year, which means that we have a tremendous opportunity to build depth this year. That's exciting, most schools going through a coaching change don't have that luxury.

 

- Has lifetime winning percentage between .480 and .520 Stop. Anyone who continues to purport this fact as an argument must be the same people who think building a wall is going to stop our drug problem. Rarely is anything the cause of a single factor (i.e., coaching ability in this case). Here are the past records of the last 50 years of OSU coaches: Dee Andros 44-64 (.407), Craig Fertig 8-36 (.182), Joe Avezzano, 6-47 (.113), Dave Kragthorpe 16-48 (.250), Jerry Pettibone, 13-52 (.200), Mike Riley I 8-14 (.363) Dennis Erickson 31-17 (.646), Mike Riley II 75-66 (.532). Yes, even the great Dennis Erickson--who won national championships at Miami, couldn't replicate the same thing at Oregon State. Why do you think that is? He's obviously a national championship winning coach, so why didn't he win a national title at Oregon State?

 

--Winless when trailing at halftime Stop. Obviously, Mike Riley has won games when trailing at halftime. He hasn't done it while he's been here yet, but the guy has coached 3 games. It's dense to think that, it must be set in stone that we'll never win when trailing at the half just because it's happened after 3 games. For the longest time under Bo, Nebraska was undefeated when rushing for over x yards, and if that stat would've held--like you must think it does--we would've won a lot more games than we actually did.

You didn't really dispute any of the facts I posted. They ARE similarities.

They are as similar as someone signing up on a Husker message board is to a Husker fan.

[GBRedneck]

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing frustrates me more than when people say Riley is "Callahan 2.0". About the only thing the two have in common is they run a pro style offense. Riley is embracing the tradition at Nebraska. He's allowing former players to help in practice, he gave out the blackshirts before the season started so we could avoid the "when will Bo give out the blackshirts talk?" throughout the season, and heck he's allowing Boyd Epley to help in the training room! I believe Sipple wrote an article before the season about Dantonio and Michigan State, and how just a couple years ago they were a 6-6 team, that we need to be patient.

 

And to anyone who says "You hire a .500 coach, you're going to be .500", you're being completely naive. It's been said time and time again Oregon State and Nebraska are two completely different programs, but apparently that doesn't mean anything to some people so let's use other examples. Can you imagine if a coach was consistently .500 or better at schools like Purdue, Iowa State, and Kentucky? They would be celebrated as the next up and coming coach. That's what Mike Riley did at Oregon State.

 

Being a Chargers fan, me as much as anyone should be pessimistic about Riley, this is the 2nd time he's coached one of my teams. But I'm not because I'm able to see that this guy can coach as good as anyone. He's not Bill Callahan, not even close. I truly believe that Mike Riley and his staff are going to do great things here at Nebraska, and when his time here is done, we're going to be on a better path than we were before he came here.

I think it is a combination of WCO and an historically bad DC who is a buddy that causes the Callahan 2.0 comments.

[snip]

- Replaces a 9-3 coach winning over 70% of his games with no losing seasons at the only school that ever fired a 9-3 coach Stop.

 

- Breaks multiple long time record winning streaks Stop. Since the turn of the century, BYU is probably the toughest team we've faced to start the season. Riley keeps the "vaunted" winning streak going if we play South Alabama (much like Bo, Bill, and Frank did) first and BYU second. We also don't schedule 2 teams who could clearly beat us early in the year. It's always been: crap school, crap school, tough game, crap school, conference play. You come off as a fool if you don't acknowledge that pretty important bit of information.

 

- Starts a dual threat QB built to run the previous system Stop. What the hell else is Mike Riley supposed to do? Not start a guy who has started the last two years for the team in favor of someone who has never started? Really?!

 

- Has fans vocally blaming woes on a bare cupboard Stop. The team has talent, but it doesn't have depth, which once again can't be put pinned to Mike Riley. You need depth to win a lot of games, just look at Alabama, Michigan State, Ohio State; all those schools has depth. Nebraska doesn't. What's nice though, is that Nebraska will essentially return everyone next year, which means that we have a tremendous opportunity to build depth this year. That's exciting, most schools going through a coaching change don't have that luxury.

 

- Has lifetime winning percentage between .480 and .520 Stop. Anyone who continues to purport this fact as an argument must be the same people who think building a wall is going to stop our drug problem. Rarely is anything the cause of a single factor (i.e., coaching ability in this case). Here are the past records of the last 50 years of OSU coaches: Dee Andros 44-64 (.407), Craig Fertig 8-36 (.182), Joe Avezzano, 6-47 (.113), Dave Kragthorpe 16-48 (.250), Jerry Pettibone, 13-52 (.200), Mike Riley I 8-14 (.363) Dennis Erickson 31-17 (.646), Mike Riley II 75-66 (.532). Yes, even the great Dennis Erickson--who won national championships at Miami, couldn't replicate the same thing at Oregon State. Why do you think that is? He's obviously a national championship winning coach, so why didn't he win a national title at Oregon State?

 

--Winless when trailing at halftime Stop. Obviously, Mike Riley has won games when trailing at halftime. He hasn't done it while he's been here yet, but the guy has coached 3 games. It's dense to think that, it must be set in stone that we'll never win when trailing at the half just because it's happened after 3 games. For the longest time under Bo, Nebraska was undefeated when rushing for over x yards, and if that stat would've held--like you must think it does--we would've won a lot more games than we actually did.

You didn't really dispute any of the facts I posted. They ARE similarities.

They are as similar as someone signing up on a Husker message board is to a Husker fan.

 

They are eerily similar, but not identical. We could talk about their differences if you want? For one, Riley is taller and doesn't have Callahan's Napoleon complex.

[Bowfin]

Cuz I bet you know exactly what I think about Husker football, amirite?

 

Well, there are a lot of people here who know how Pelini would have fared in hypothetical Nebraska games that weren't and never will be played, so there is a lot of clairvoyance running through the forum.

 

However, we won't have to guess or conjecture on Riley, because none of his games will be of this hypothetical variety. The first three games are in the books, more to follow.

 

Next meaningful game for sorting out who's hot and who's not is October 10th in Lincoln.

[junior4949]

Brady Hoke and ex Boise HCs say hello to their fellow "won everywhere they've been" club members.

 

Which ex Boise HC? There's a few to choose from. Dirk Koetter put them on the map after two dismal seasons especially after joining D1 ball. Then, there's the awesome Dan Hawkins. Or, were you referring to Chris Petersen?

[tmfr15]

Frustrated by this piece? I am and for the following reasons.

 

1. Riley isn't the problem. It's timing and he/s going to need your patience. I don't understand why Husker fans' patience is called into question now or ever. Don't we have, by far, the nation's longest winning streak. Nebraska fans are hopeful on the level of Cub fans these days. We all believe that the next season, next quarterback, next ..... fill in the blank.... will be exactly what we need to get over the top. I too hope that Riley will win and be successful. He seems like a great guy. The trick is that no one had to tell me. And no one has to tell the majority of the board that. We are all here for the long haul. Quit preaching please, especially when those directives are coming from a non-Husker fan.

 

2. Bo's team doesn't get to overtime. Really. Like you know or something. Michigan State, down multiple touchdowns in the fourth quarter, rallies and loses on an Amrstrong interception.... Wisconsin, in Lincoln, rallies to win; Iowa last year, rallies to win.... Northwestern, winner-winner Hail Mary dinner... Do I need to go on here? The comeback from last Saturday proves we have fighters on this team. They were here last year and they were here in years previous to that as well. So don't site the "They didn't quit" as evidence that Riley is doing well here.

 

3. Needs time to instill a culture and mold the team. We were told he would mold his style to what we have. That's not true? We were told there was not a culture problem on this team. Is that not true? Can't say things in the preseason like the culture is good and the coaches will adapt and then change that story when the wins don't come.

 

4. Recruiting is on the up and up. I find it very hard to believe this. And, before you say, that this is only MRs second class and first full class, remember that Cally had a 33-member class in 2005 including 11 4-star guys and a pair of 5-star guys. That class included Zac Taylor. It included Suh and Bowman and Lucky. Is this in any way like what we have right now? No. Is it a start toward that? I would say no. Also, we are told that MR is in the conversation with big time guys. Until those guys bite and come into the fold, it doesn't matter. The Bo talk was the same. OK, so we aren't getting some of the top flight guys yet. But we are in the conversation. We are close. Seven years later, we were pulling the same classes we pulled in years two and three.

 

5. As fragile as Nebraska is... it could win the West. This is just bunk. Complete and total bunk. It's like the guy jumping off the building and at each floor telling everyone that he's doing fine so far. We have two losses, both out of conference. The following teams stand in our way... Wisconsin, a team that killed us last year at an NCAA record pace; Michigan State, No. 2 in the country and also handled us last year before nearly giving it away .... Minnesota, a team that beat us late in the game last year and that appears beatable but we have to go to their place; Northwestern, a team that's ranked and has beaten a Stanford team that in turn beat USC... and, finally, Iowa, and, before you laugh, they kicked our tail in 2013 and were on their way to doing it again in 2014 until we rallied and clipped them in OT. Iowa has won its games so far, which is somethings the Hawks just haven't been doing. Purdue, Rutgers, Illinois... WIN WIN WIN. After that, it gets a lot dicier and, quite frankly, the best we can do, 6-2 in league play. Maybe 5-3. To get to Indy, we would almost have to to 7-1 in league play. I would love it if that happened. I just don't see it.

 

I have hopes too. And every time I listen to Mike.... that's right, EVERY TIME, I want to be on his side. I want to believe for the best. He seems like a great guy, he handles everything so well, and he seems prepared and schooled up on stats and game situations.

 

But when I read this article. It gets me all matter of ticked off because it appears to be based on total B.S.

 

I would be more inclined to get behind the simple statements that... Nebraska fans are believing Mike kind find the diamonds in the rough recruiting wise ...and ...the resources at Nebraska combined with Mike's knowledge make a winning combo.

 

Even then I am concerned because of Mike's age. If in five years time, Mike makes us a winner, just how long is it until he decides that he's going to ride off into the sunset? Then what do we do? Promote Danny? Will he even be here then? And even if he is.... promoting an assistant doesn't mean that we have continuity. You have to start over to some degree because Danny would want his own guys and plan... not Mike's. We would have to let him pick his guys and have his own ideas for a plan. Those are things we didn't do for Solich and because of that we had to wait until the 2002 season before Frank got his guys and his plan.... which lasted all of one year thanks to S.P.

 

These are trying times to be a Husker fan. The present isn't full of wins and smiles and the future is uncertain.

 

But there is no chance...NONE, that fans like myself are going to quit watching Husker football. I'll be here. Count on it.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

 

 

i find the Riley hate extremely ironic. they all knew the minute he was hired that they hated Riley. Just like Bo knew he hated Eichorst the minute he was hired.

Since Eichorst replaced TO, whom Pelini had an excellent relationship with......yeah, I'd say the Eichorst hire wasn't his favorite thing.

 

and since you had a excellent relationship with Bo you knew you would instantly hate his replacement.

 

Well, I didn't have to "Google" him, like a certain percentage of Husker nation did.....but I read his accomplishments, or lack thereof.

 

 

I had to Google Riley. The fact that I didn't even recognize the name was a bit disappointing in those early hours.

 

So I turned to the people who follow the entire world of college football - not just Nebraska - who were watching this particular coaching hire with plenty of interest but no axe to grind.

 

Unlike you, no one considered it a disastrous or indefensible choice.

 

Some shrugged. Some considered it an odd, sideways hire.

 

Most considered it a good hire by Nebraska, surprising only because Riley had turned down other major coaching offers in the past.

 

Some pointed to a recent poll of fellow coaches listing Riley as the #2 most underrated coach in college football.

 

A few actually considered it a major coup by Eichorst.

 

And virtually everyone who understands the college football landscape told Nebraska fans not to judge Riley strictly by his W/L record in Corvallis, but by his ability to do more with less, his outstanding reputation among fellow coaches and his ability to attract top notch staff and sought-after recruits.

 

You may have missed that part.

 

Tell you what, if we can get RADAR to retire his tiresome "408!" epithet, will you get off your whole .500 jag?

[Hooked on Huskers]

Erase TWO plays ....... 3W and 0L. So near and yet so far

[cornographic]

 

 

Reading the comments there and seeing some of the flaming here has me convinced that there are way too many idiots that call themselves Husker fans.

Same ol' same ol'. The patient, sane fans don't tend to post alot.

 

'

 

I have the most posts on this site. What are you saying?

 

According to what I said, it could mean you are an excessive whiner or excessively impatient or both. OR, it could mean you have no life!

[Joe_5700]

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/open-letter-concerned-nebraska-football-fan

 

 

Riley isn't the problem. It's timing and he's going to need your patience. Now, what you ultimately think of him, call him, all that is up to you. However, I think if you take the time to ride the roller coaster and cheer along the way, you'll be pleased with the end result.

 

This isn't about who's a real fan or who isn't. Three games into a fresh start simply isn't a time to damn the new guy.

Hear, hear

 

We are riding the roller coaster...which means we can scream at the scary parts right? 1-2 is kind of a scary start... I think very few people want Riley to fail. Those who are being openly critical of him at this point are just reacting to where we are at this point which is completely natural. I am hoping for the best and a complete turnaround, but a loss to Southern Miss is a distinct possibility...

[Joe_5700]

Frustrated by this piece? I am and for the following reasons.

 

1. Riley isn't the problem. It's timing and he/s going to need your patience. I don't understand why Husker fans' patience is called into question now or ever. Don't we have, by far, the nation's longest winning streak. Nebraska fans are hopeful on the level of Cub fans these days. We all believe that the next season, next quarterback, next ..... fill in the blank.... will be exactly what we need to get over the top. I too hope that Riley will win and be successful. He seems like a great guy. The trick is that no one had to tell me. And no one has to tell the majority of the board that. We are all here for the long haul. Quit preaching please, especially when those directives are coming from a non-Husker fan.

 

2. Bo's team doesn't get to overtime. Really. Like you know or something. Michigan State, down multiple touchdowns in the fourth quarter, rallies and loses on an Amrstrong interception.... Wisconsin, in Lincoln, rallies to win; Iowa last year, rallies to win.... Northwestern, winner-winner Hail Mary dinner... Do I need to go on here? The comeback from last Saturday proves we have fighters on this team. They were here last year and they were here in years previous to that as well. So don't site the "They didn't quit" as evidence that Riley is doing well here.

 

3. Needs time to instill a culture and mold the team. We were told he would mold his style to what we have. That's not true? We were told there was not a culture problem on this team. Is that not true? Can't say things in the preseason like the culture is good and the coaches will adapt and then change that story when the wins don't come.

 

4. Recruiting is on the up and up. I find it very hard to believe this. And, before you say, that this is only MRs second class and first full class, remember that Cally had a 33-member class in 2005 including 11 4-star guys and a pair of 5-star guys. That class included Zac Taylor. It included Suh and Bowman and Lucky. Is this in any way like what we have right now? No. Is it a start toward that? I would say no. Also, we are told that MR is in the conversation with big time guys. Until those guys bite and come into the fold, it doesn't matter. The Bo talk was the same. OK, so we aren't getting some of the top flight guys yet. But we are in the conversation. We are close. Seven years later, we were pulling the same classes we pulled in years two and three.

 

5. As fragile as Nebraska is... it could win the West. This is just bunk. Complete and total bunk. It's like the guy jumping off the building and at each floor telling everyone that he's doing fine so far. We have two losses, both out of conference. The following teams stand in our way... Wisconsin, a team that killed us last year at an NCAA record pace; Michigan State, No. 2 in the country and also handled us last year before nearly giving it away .... Minnesota, a team that beat us late in the game last year and that appears beatable but we have to go to their place; Northwestern, a team that's ranked and has beaten a Stanford team that in turn beat USC... and, finally, Iowa, and, before you laugh, they kicked our tail in 2013 and were on their way to doing it again in 2014 until we rallied and clipped them in OT. Iowa has won its games so far, which is somethings the Hawks just haven't been doing. Purdue, Rutgers, Illinois... WIN WIN WIN. After that, it gets a lot dicier and, quite frankly, the best we can do, 6-2 in league play. Maybe 5-3. To get to Indy, we would almost have to to 7-1 in league play. I would love it if that happened. I just don't see it.

 

I have hopes too. And every time I listen to Mike.... that's right, EVERY TIME, I want to be on his side. I want to believe for the best. He seems like a great guy, he handles everything so well, and he seems prepared and schooled up on stats and game situations.

 

But when I read this article. It gets me all matter of ticked off because it appears to be based on total B.S.

 

I would be more inclined to get behind the simple statements that... Nebraska fans are believing Mike kind find the diamonds in the rough recruiting wise ...and ...the resources at Nebraska combined with Mike's knowledge make a winning combo.

 

Even then I am concerned because of Mike's age. If in five years time, Mike makes us a winner, just how long is it until he decides that he's going to ride off into the sunset? Then what do we do? Promote Danny? Will he even be here then? And even if he is.... promoting an assistant doesn't mean that we have continuity. You have to start over to some degree because Danny would want his own guys and plan... not Mike's. We would have to let him pick his guys and have his own ideas for a plan. Those are things we didn't do for Solich and because of that we had to wait until the 2002 season before Frank got his guys and his plan.... which lasted all of one year thanks to S.P.

 

These are trying times to be a Husker fan. The present isn't full of wins and smiles and the future is uncertain.

 

But there is no chance...NONE, that fans like myself are going to quit watching Husker football. I'll be here. Count on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KgAilTTZnQ

[GBRedneck]

Erase TWO plays ....... 3W and 0L. So near and yet so far

I know one of the plays that would make it 2-1. Which is the other play that make it 3-0???

[knapplc]

 

 

 

Reading the comments there and seeing some of the flaming here has me convinced that there are way too many idiots that call themselves Husker fans.

Same ol' same ol'. The patient, sane fans don't tend to post alot.

 

'

 

I have the most posts on this site. What are you saying?

 

According to what I said, it could mean you are an excessive whiner or excessively impatient or both. OR, it could mean you have no life!

 

Probably all of the above.

[cornographic]

 

 

 

 

Reading the comments there and seeing some of the flaming here has me convinced that there are way too many idiots that call themselves Husker fans.

Same ol' same ol'. The patient, sane fans don't tend to post alot.

 

'

 

I have the most posts on this site. What are you saying?

 

According to what I said, it could mean you are an excessive whiner or excessively impatient or both. OR, it could mean you have no life!

 

Probably all of the above.

 

So so sad, brah...