So you want to get rid of Riley

[BigRedBuster]

I think if you are a confident coach, the Nebraska job would be a great choice. Yes, it is tough and fans are relentless and expect outstanding performance. The coach needs to adjust their mindset as the Head Coach is the most famous person in the State and cities of Lincoln and Omaha. You will certainly be much more familiar to people than the governorn or Mayor. In many places, the Head Coach would not readily be recognized if he walked down the street. In fact, I live in Minneapolis, I doubt the U of M head coach would be recognized by one in ten if asked specifically.

 

In Nebraska, 50% of the public would likely recognize the Coach. There might be 10% of the folks who would know some of the asistant coaches. This is different and for many it is not a comfortable thing.

 

Nebraska fans care more than almost any other school's fans - the interest is more intense and focused. Fans are more knowledgeable and those who aren't think they are so it will always be a coach that has to answer the hard questions. This makes the job tougher. But also, in my view, more desirable. Nebraska has not been a place to go if you want to move up to the NFL level - it is a long term deal. In my opinion, Bo NEVER intended to stay in Lincoln and was really NEVER a Husker at heart. Had his luck been better, he would have jumped at the chance to go to the NFL or back to his home turf of Ohio or vacinity. He would have wanted a big city team.

Sometimes one little phrase in a post hits the bulls eye.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Auburn, Oklahoma, Texas....pretty much every college football powerhouse has had stretches of multiple losing seasons and NCAA sanctions before dusting themselves off and returning to power. When it came time to recruit, they could always recruit. Even when sanctions blacked out television coverage and bowl eligibility, they could recruit. Even when they were visibly sucking, a coach could come in and tell a high school hotshot that he was the player who was going to help Alabama, etc. return to greatness.

 

In the last 50 years Nebraska hasn't had as long or as deep of a trough as its fellow college football powerhouses. I hope we don't ever suffer that, but nothing that is happening now suggests the sun is about to set on Nebraska football.

 

We are exactly one reliable quarterback away from being 6-0.

[Mad Dog]

Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Auburn, Oklahoma, Texas....pretty much every college football powerhouse has had stretches of multiple losing seasons and NCAA sanctions before dusting themselves off and returning to power. When it came time to recruit, they could always recruit. Even when sanctions blacked out television coverage and bowl eligibility, they could recruit. Even when they were visibly sucking, a coach could come in and tell a high school hotshot that he was the player who was going to help Alabama, etc. return to greatness.

 

In the last 50 years Nebraska hasn't had as long or as deep of a trough as its fellow college football powerhouses. I hope we don't ever suffer that, but nothing that is happening now suggests the sun is about to set on Nebraska football.

 

We are exactly one reliable quarterback away from being 6-0.

 

Either that, or we're one reliable Head Coach away from being 6-0...hmm...maybe the university shouldn't have fired Pelini?

[Redux]

South Carolina is going to hire Bo Pelini. That will drop the amount we owe him. With the extra cash flow we are going to hire Ed Orgeron and Scott Frost to be DC and OC respectively.

 

While we are making up fantasies, I would like the ability to turn invisible.

[Michiganball]

This reads like some dude wrote it while clipping he's toenails, hardly deserves to be taken seriously, never mind worthy of discussion.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Auburn, Oklahoma, Texas....pretty much every college football powerhouse has had stretches of multiple losing seasons and NCAA sanctions before dusting themselves off and returning to power. When it came time to recruit, they could always recruit. Even when sanctions blacked out television coverage and bowl eligibility, they could recruit. Even when they were visibly sucking, a coach could come in and tell a high school hotshot that he was the player who was going to help Alabama, etc. return to greatness.

 

In the last 50 years Nebraska hasn't had as long or as deep of a trough as its fellow college football powerhouses. I hope we don't ever suffer that, but nothing that is happening now suggests the sun is about to set on Nebraska football.

 

We are exactly one reliable quarterback away from being 6-0.

 

Either that, or we're one reliable Head Coach away from being 6-0...hmm...maybe the university shouldn't have fired Pelini?

 

 

You gotta be schitting me.

[Bowfin]

No, I don't. I want Riley here seven more years, the same amount of time Pelini was allocated. Fair is fair, let this play out to its conclusion, whatever that may be.

[GOAT]

No, I don't. I want Riley here seven more years, the same amount of time Pelini was allocated. Fair is fair, let this play out to its conclusion, whatever that may be.

 

That's just plain dumb. No major program is going to keep a coach for 7 years if he's losing, especially a traditional power school such as Nebraska which is accustomed to 9 wins or more per season.

[74Hunter]

No, I don't. I want Riley here seven more years, the same amount of time Pelini was allocated. Fair is fair, let this play out to its conclusion, whatever that may be.

Quit trolling, people think that you are serious.

[lincoln84]

 

Pull out some big $ to hire a new coach and our clout increases exponentially. We have not shown the willingness to do that.

 

Personally, I no longer believe the money is there...not for a big-name coach anyway.

 

Nope. Not when we are essentially paying 5 million for the Bo/MR combo. I guess we are still paying Cally too.

[AFhusker]

 

 

I'm not sure Nebraska was even a very desirable job 20 years ago. When TO retired, the search was basically Frank Solich or Bob Stoops. Nothing against Stoops, but he wasn't some proven head coach with an outstanding resume then.

I've never seen this mentioned before. Interesting.

 

The rumor was Bill Byrne was interested in Stoops. TO was allowed veto power to select his successor.

 

Yep, that is true. Stoops would have been the HC at NU if it was up to Byrne. This is why Pearlman hasn't spent money on a top coach. He didn't want the HC to have that kind of leverage anymore. It has never been about the availability of the $$$$.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Not overpaying to get some big hotshot the national media is drooling over isn't necessarily a Pearlman thing. It's a Nebraska thing.

 

We're humble. And cheap.

[HuskerMerc44]

 

 

 

Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Auburn, Oklahoma, Texas....pretty much every college football powerhouse has had stretches of multiple losing seasons and NCAA sanctions before dusting themselves off and returning to power. When it came time to recruit, they could always recruit. Even when sanctions blacked out television coverage and bowl eligibility, they could recruit. Even when they were visibly sucking, a coach could come in and tell a high school hotshot that he was the player who was going to help Alabama, etc. return to greatness.

 

In the last 50 years Nebraska hasn't had as long or as deep of a trough as its fellow college football powerhouses. I hope we don't ever suffer that, but nothing that is happening now suggests the sun is about to set on Nebraska football.

 

We are exactly one reliable quarterback away from being 6-0.

 

Either that, or we're one reliable Head Coach away from being 6-0...hmm...maybe the university shouldn't have fired Pelini?

[Whs from cb]

It's weird, because for 40 solid years of Devaney, Osborne and Solich, we had no idea how desirable the head coaching job at Nebraska was to the college football world.

 

I suppose we could pony up the money and test the waters of the big name, can't miss coaches, of which there are maybe what? Five or six? How will we feel and what is our leverage if they reject the offer?

 

Back when this first happened, in 2003, we were spurned by Houston Nutt. Apparently our first choice and considered a hot property at the time. Things didn't work out so well for us, but it didn't work out well for Houston Nutt, either. Demanding a "top tier" coach is no guarantee of a top tier program. If there are other attractive openings at the time, a hot coach may not want to come to cold Nebraska, where you have six full games to prove yourself.

 

Still, we can absolutely get a great coach. We just don't know who it is. It will involve a risk. He will be an innovative offensive or defensive coordinator, but we will have to trust his transition to HC. He will be a head coach with a short but excellent track record in a conference considered less competitive than the Big 10. He will be a coach with a longer but rockier cumulative record, but who might thrive in the right setting with the right resources. He could turn things around overnight, like Bob Devaney, or he might take a four straight years of mediocrity, like Nick Saban at Michigan State. But the Nick Saban who becomes a hot property at Michigan State is going to go to the SEC, not to Nebraska. We may not have wanted Bret Bielema, but he also didn't want us, and that is an issue.

 

I don't think anyone is content with mediocrity at Nebraska. Nobody. But the notion that Nebraska had a chance at greatness and went for Riley instead makes no sense.

 

Unless you know something I don't. Who did we pass up? Any indication they would have taken the job? Because public rejection during a coaching search is a killer. See 2003.

 

We should be grateful for Riley because he wanted to be here. That's not nothing. And a mere 12 months ago, Mike Riley was voted the second most underrated coach by his college football coaching peers. That's not nothing either. I know TheSker will be quick to point out it was aeons ago, but Mike Riley was approached by Alabama, USC and UCLA for their HC jobs. There were actually professional and objective college football analysts who considered the Riley hire a bit of a coup. The national recruiting director at Rivals.com tweeted that the Riley hire was a "home run" and "I don't think Husker fans realize what a well-respected game coach Riley is and how hard it is to win in Corvallis."

 

Considering that recruiting was considered Riley's strong suit, we may want to let him give it a go before burying him.

 

Riley may still surprise you. He may not. But I don't think we "settled" for mediocrity. We took one of the many calculated risks Nebraska has to make to hire a new head coach.

Its the way we have lost that have so many people upset.

[lincoln84]

 

It's weird, because for 40 solid years of Devaney, Osborne and Solich, we had no idea how desirable the head coaching job at Nebraska was to the college football world.

 

I suppose we could pony up the money and test the waters of the big name, can't miss coaches, of which there are maybe what? Five or six? How will we feel and what is our leverage if they reject the offer?

 

Back when this first happened, in 2003, we were spurned by Houston Nutt. Apparently our first choice and considered a hot property at the time. Things didn't work out so well for us, but it didn't work out well for Houston Nutt, either. Demanding a "top tier" coach is no guarantee of a top tier program. If there are other attractive openings at the time, a hot coach may not want to come to cold Nebraska, where you have six full games to prove yourself.

 

Still, we can absolutely get a great coach. We just don't know who it is. It will involve a risk. He will be an innovative offensive or defensive coordinator, but we will have to trust his transition to HC. He will be a head coach with a short but excellent track record in a conference considered less competitive than the Big 10. He will be a coach with a longer but rockier cumulative record, but who might thrive in the right setting with the right resources. He could turn things around overnight, like Bob Devaney, or he might take a four straight years of mediocrity, like Nick Saban at Michigan State. But the Nick Saban who becomes a hot property at Michigan State is going to go to the SEC, not to Nebraska. We may not have wanted Bret Bielema, but he also didn't want us, and that is an issue.

 

I don't think anyone is content with mediocrity at Nebraska. Nobody. But the notion that Nebraska had a chance at greatness and went for Riley instead makes no sense.

 

Unless you know something I don't. Who did we pass up? Any indication they would have taken the job? Because public rejection during a coaching search is a killer. See 2003.

 

We should be grateful for Riley because he wanted to be here. That's not nothing. And a mere 12 months ago, Mike Riley was voted the second most underrated coach by his college football coaching peers. That's not nothing either. I know TheSker will be quick to point out it was aeons ago, but Mike Riley was approached by Alabama, USC and UCLA for their HC jobs. There were actually professional and objective college football analysts who considered the Riley hire a bit of a coup. The national recruiting director at Rivals.com tweeted that the Riley hire was a "home run" and "I don't think Husker fans realize what a well-respected game coach Riley is and how hard it is to win in Corvallis."

 

Considering that recruiting was considered Riley's strong suit, we may want to let him give it a go before burying him.

 

Riley may still surprise you. He may not. But I don't think we "settled" for mediocrity. We took one of the many calculated risks Nebraska has to make to hire a new head coach.

 

Its the way we have lost that have so many people upset.

That's what everyone said last year too.