Athletic Department under review

[Red Dead Redemption]

 

 

I'm relatively new here... what does the "EM" stand for in SPEM?

 

Ego-Maniac?

Evil Mastermind?

Engineering and Mathematics?

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

 

 

How many other ADs have picked two coaches in a row that posted .700+ records?

I've picked this bone with you, and others, on this board before - particularly in relation to Pelini, he was 8-17 vs. AP ranked teams (3-9 on the road), had no BCS bowl appearances, no conference titles, had at least 3 losses every year and he was 3-4 in this last 7 November games.

 

Supporting Pelini by saying he had a .700+ win record is as ridiculous as damning Pelini because he had really poor sideline behavior. Relying on either/or is equally absurd and does not tell the whole story of Bo Pelini and why he was fired. He had very legitimate, well-document performance failures that supported his release.

What you said is why I laugh every time someone like cm husker brings up Frank and Bo's winning percentages. There are well documented reasons as to why Frank was fired as well.

Well documented? How about you provide one single link to these off the field reasons.

 

 

People who know and like Frank Solich were not surprised when he got a DUI in his first season at Ohio. This part at least is documented and linked, and only half of the scenario the University of Nebraska was concerned about.

 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/news/story?id=2240823

http://espn.go.com/college-football/news/story?id=2240823

The other half? I guess you'll just have to trust me and a lot of peers and young women who were around Frank years before Pedersen entered the picture. Frank was definitely a player. However you felt about infidelity itself, some of the young ladies were getting a little too young, and society was getting less forgiving about unwanted advances. If you believe people who told stories about Carl Pelini banging an alumni's wife, and if you believe stories about Bo Pelini being really nice when you meet him in person, you need to believe that Frank was indeed a party machine.

I do believe he could have banged the entire cheerleading squad if he'd brought home an NC or simply avoided that 7-7 season, but that's another story.

If you honestly search your memory banks: while many people didn't think Solich should have been fired, it was fans and alumni, not the administration, publicly grumbling about Solich breaking Nebraska's historic streak of winning seasons, running an undynamic offense, embarrassing itself in big games and losing recruiting battles to schools Nebraska used to dominate. Hard to believe, but back then a lot of folks already felt Nebraska football was sliding into irrelevance.

If private Solich was increasingly a liability, there was enough public dissatisfaction to give the University cover. Once the deed was done, I think most Nebraskans were genuinely curious and hopeful about the coach they could attract. It was a wake-up call to all of us that good candidates might not come to the University of Nebraska just because we want them. Bill Callahan was the offensive minded NFL head coach one year removed from the Super Bowl. Bo Pelini was the defensive guru on the previous year's NCAA championship team. Both hires were defensible at the time, and don't need any conspiracy theories to explain themselves. It also doesn't work to blame any one person, even if you desperately want to blame the pencil-necked administrator who Nebraskan fans also thought was a good hire at the time.

sh#t happens.

[Saunders]

 

 

 

 

How many other ADs have picked two coaches in a row that posted .700+ records?

I've picked this bone with you, and others, on this board before - particularly in relation to Pelini, he was 8-17 vs. AP ranked teams (3-9 on the road), had no BCS bowl appearances, no conference titles, had at least 3 losses every year and he was 3-4 in this last 7 November games.

 

Supporting Pelini by saying he had a .700+ win record is as ridiculous as damning Pelini because he had really poor sideline behavior. Relying on either/or is equally absurd and does not tell the whole story of Bo Pelini and why he was fired. He had very legitimate, well-document performance failures that supported his release.

What you said is why I laugh every time someone like cm husker brings up Frank and Bo's winning percentages. There are well documented reasons as to why Frank was fired as well.

Well documented? How about you provide one single link to these off the field reasons.

 

 

People who know and like Frank Solich were not surprised when he got a DUI in his first season at Ohio. This part at least is documented and linked, and only half of the scenario the University of Nebraska was concerned about.

 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/news/story?id=2240823

 

http://espn.go.com/college-football/news/story?id=2240823

 

The other half? I guess you'll just have to trust me and a lot of peers and young women who were around Frank years before Pedersen entered the picture. Frank was definitely a player. However you felt about infidelity itself, some of the young ladies were getting a little too young, and society was getting less forgiving about unwanted advances. If you believe people who told stories about Carl Pelini banging an alumni's wife, and if you believe stories about Bo Pelini being really nice when you meet him in person, you need to believe that Frank was indeed a party machine.

 

I do believe he could have banged the entire cheerleading squad if he'd brought home an NC or simply avoided that 7-7 season, but that's another story.

 

If you honestly search your memory banks: while many people didn't think Solich should have been fired, it was fans and alumni, not the administration, publicly grumbling about Solich breaking Nebraska's historic streak of winning seasons, running an undynamic offense, embarrassing itself in big games and losing recruiting battles to schools Nebraska used to dominate. Hard to believe, but back then a lot of folks already felt Nebraska football was sliding into irrelevance.

 

If private Solich was increasingly a liability, there was enough public dissatisfaction to give the University cover. Once the deed was done, I think most Nebraskans were genuinely curious and hopeful about the coach they could attract. It was a wake-up call to all of us that good candidates might not come to the University of Nebraska just because we want them. Bill Callahan was the offensive minded NFL head coach one year removed from the Super Bowl. Bo Pelini was the defensive guru on the previous year's NCAA championship team. Both hires were defensible at the time, and don't need any conspiracy theories to explain themselves. It also doesn't work to blame any one person, even if you desperately want to blame the pencil-necked administrator who Nebraskan fans also thought was a good hire at the time.

 

sh#t happens.

 

+1

[cm husker]

I simply do not believe that Solich was fired because of perceived increasing liability on the drinking or womanizing front. For one, events subsequent to his firing can't justify that firing. For two, his wife and kids have specifically come out and said that he was not involved in that, but I have heard from someone close to the situation that he may have ignored some of that behavior in his assistants (specifically Bohl).

 

In any event, none of these supposed preceding factors were documented prior to the firing and Steve Pederson didn't even remotely allude to them in his infamous press conference. When he was running around talking to boosters at KSU, it had nothing to do with these other "soft" factors. When he started slipping notes under doors and refusing to reup contracts even before the season, it had nothing to do with those factors.

 

If these factors were even an issue at any point, then why did Tom think they were all resolvable by a conversation? Why did the pencil-necks cut Tom out of that decision, including having the decency to just give him a heads up?

 

Final note, and I doubt either of us will ever convince the other, but Bill Callahan was never a defensible hire if you dig just one layer down on his resume. All the warning signs around player treatment and lack of leadership were there to see. He was an NFL head coaching castoff and a desperate hire by a guy who was more worried about reshaping the marquee program in his image (or at least stamping it) than anything else. That was the #1 motivation behind the firing of Frank and that's what got this whole ball of s### rolling.

[cm husker]

I can't believe that people still defend Pederson, even obliquely. He's detonated two programs and alienated people over and over with the same tactics, even while walking away with buyout money that's almost under heard of for an AD. Does everyone just misunderstand his good natured soul? No. He's a snake, and his actions set NU football on tilt. One man (or two, if you include Perlman) can actually be responsible for the lion's share of damage, even if there were some other people involved.

[Red Dead Redemption]

I simply do not believe that Solich was fired because of perceived increasing liability on the drinking or womanizing front. For one, events subsequent to his firing can't justify that firing. For two, his wife and kids have specifically come out and said that he was not involved in that, but I have heard from someone close to the situation that he may have ignored some of that behavior in his assistants (specifically Bohl).

 

In any event, none of these supposed preceding factors were documented prior to the firing and Steve Pederson didn't even remotely allude to them in his infamous press conference. When he was running around talking to boosters at KSU, it had nothing to do with these other "soft" factors. When he started slipping notes under doors and refusing to reup contracts even before the season, it had nothing to do with those factors.

 

If these factors were even an issue at any point, then why did Tom think they were all resolvable by a conversation? Why did the pencil-necks cut Tom out of that decision, including having the decency to just give him a heads up?

 

 

Final note, and I doubt either of us will ever convince the other, but Bill Callahan was never a defensible hire if you dig just one layer down on his resume. All the warning signs around player treatment and lack of leadership were there to see. He was an NFL head coaching castoff and a desperate hire by a guy who was more worried about reshaping the marquee program in his image (or at least stamping it) than anything else. That was the #1 motivation behind the firing of Frank and that's what got this whole ball of s### rolling.

 

The Callahan hire was simply a marriage of convenience. Bill needed a job, and pederchicken needed a coach, as he had already exhausted his list.

 

 

"bwak-bwak?"

[Enhance]

 

 

 

I see we're forty fathoms deep in the Tom-Osborne-is-infallible dogma again.

 

Tom Osborne hand-picked Frank Solich to replace him.

Tom Osborne made several questionable moral decisions while head coach at Nebraska that we know about publicly.

Tom Osborne hired Bo Pelini.

 

Tom Osborne was a good head football coach, and reached legendary status in his final four years. Those four years on top of college football seem to cloud people's understanding of the man. He was not perfect. He was not cut out for every job, and there are differing opinions on his tenure as Athletic Director.

 

Let's not make the man something he wasn't. Tom would be the first to agree with that.

So you're one of those "it's all Osborne's fault" people, huh?

 

Why stop there? Why not blame Bill Byrne or James Moeser for the hiring of Solich as HC?

 

I suppose you're also one of those, "I knew Solich/Pelini was a terrible hire from the day it was announced!", huh?

 

Why not blame Devaney since he's the numbskull who brought that idiot Osborne into the program in the first place to poison it with his delusions of grandeur?

 

You're reading far too much into what was an honest, reasonable statement. Why do you take offense to someone fairly and accurately mentioning the not-so-rosy parts of TO's involvement with the university? There was very little bias or subjectivity in his post.

 

 

Because it's so blatantly inconsistent with the pro-Perlman, Eichorst and previously pro-Pederson comments from those same posters. It's just a bit frustrating to see that level of hypocrisy, especially when it's employed to justify cutting TO out of decisions in deference to Perlman, the scourge of Husker athletics.

 

knapplc is one of the most consistent, reasonable and logical posters on this board and has been for as long as I've been posting here (eight years). knapplc has profound respect and admiration for TO - like all Husker fans do. However, him mentioning some of the bruises in TO's career is by no means reason enough to ostracize him or accuse him of being some kind of administration apologist.

 

He saw people were fluffing up TO and his career and decided to add some perspective to the discussion. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, particularly as it was done without malice.

[Moiraine]

 

 

I think Perlman and Osborne can share a lot of the blame for what is ailing Husker sports right now. Especially in men's sports.

Osborne? But, not SPEM? Or, Ickyhorst?

 

Wow! So much appreciation for Osborne, who got the task of cleaning up Prickman's original mess, Yet got cut out of the process which could have prevented Prickman from making yet another sorry decision.

The nicknames are as obnoxious as hell. Cut it out.

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

I think Perlman and Osborne can share a lot of the blame for what is ailing Husker sports right now. Especially in men's sports.

Osborne? But, not SPEM? Or, Ickyhorst?

 

Wow! So much appreciation for Osborne, who got the task of cleaning up Prickman's original mess, Yet got cut out of the process which could have prevented Prickman from making yet another sorry decision.

The nicknames are as obnoxious as hell. Cut it out.

 

They are typically used when someone isn't articulate enough to express their opinions. So, they think calling someone a name is an insult enough to get their point across.

[Redux]

Woah, this thread really snowballed.

[Red Dead Redemption]

 

 

 

I think Perlman and Osborne can share a lot of the blame for what is ailing Husker sports right now. Especially in men's sports.

 

Osborne? But, not SPEM? Or, Ickyhorst?

 

Wow! So much appreciation for Osborne, who got the task of cleaning up Prickman's original mess, Yet got cut out of the process which could have prevented Prickman from making yet another sorry decision.

The nicknames are as obnoxious as hell. Cut it out.

They are typically used when someone isn't articulate enough to express their opinions. So, they think calling someone a name is an insult enough to get their point across.

Don't be a lepton.

[GSG]

I love all the nicknames! I think it shows a lot of creativity. I would be happy with MORE nicknames. Nicknames for everyone and everything regarding Husker football

[Guy Chamberlin]

I simply do not believe that Solich was fired because of perceived increasing liability on the drinking or womanizing front. For one, events subsequent to his firing can't justify that firing. For two, his wife and kids have specifically come out and said that he was not involved in that, but I have heard from someone close to the situation that he may have ignored some of that behavior in his assistants (specifically Bohl).

 

In any event, none of these supposed preceding factors were documented prior to the firing and Steve Pederson didn't even remotely allude to them in his infamous press conference. When he was running around talking to boosters at KSU, it had nothing to do with these other "soft" factors. When he started slipping notes under doors and refusing to reup contracts even before the season, it had nothing to do with those factors.

 

If these factors were even an issue at any point, then why did Tom think they were all resolvable by a conversation? Why did the pencil-necks cut Tom out of that decision, including having the decency to just give him a heads up?

 

Final note, and I doubt either of us will ever convince the other, but Bill Callahan was never a defensible hire if you dig just one layer down on his resume. All the warning signs around player treatment and lack of leadership were there to see. He was an NFL head coaching castoff and a desperate hire by a guy who was more worried about reshaping the marquee program in his image (or at least stamping it) than anything else. That was the #1 motivation behind the firing of Frank and that's what got this whole ball of s### rolling.

 

You simply do not understand how the world works.

 

Or just prefer not to, when it doesn't fit your narrative.

 

For the moment I'll just leave you to ponder why Frank Solich's wife and kids, along with his athletic director, wouldn't publicly acknowledge issues in his private life.

 

And none of this....absolutely none of this....means Steve Pedersen wasn't a d******d.

 

Forget about Strawmen for a moment and study up on the problem of False Equivalencies.

[Red Five]

I can't believe that people still defend Pederson

 

Who is defending Pederson in this thread?

Saying that Frank needed to be fired is not the same thing as defending Pederson.

[BigRedBuster]

I thought Peterson was a jack ass and wasn't in favor of firing Frank at that point in time.

 

However, I've let it go and moved on. Some other people need to do the same thing.