Two years in....no growth

[Swiv3D]

I asked this question one time and couldn't get a real answer.

 

If you were the top coaching prospect in the country and the following schools all were looking for coaches:

 

USC

Texas

Alabama

OSU

FSU

Florida

LSU

Nebraska

 

....and every single one of those schools offered you $10,000,000 per year....why would you choose Nebraska?

 

What would draw you here instead of one of the other schools?

Personally, I have a tough time choosing between Texas, USC, and Nebraska. I wouldn't want to live in Alabama, Northern Florida, Ohio, or Louisiana.

[ColoradoHusk]

 

I asked this question one time and couldn't get a real answer.

 

If you were the top coaching prospect in the country and the following schools all were looking for coaches:

 

USC

Texas

Alabama

OSU

FSU

Florida

LSU

Nebraska

 

....and every single one of those schools offered you $10,000,000 per year....why would you choose Nebraska?

 

What would draw you here instead of one of the other schools?

Personally, I have a tough time choosing between Texas, USC, and Nebraska. I wouldn't want to live in Alabama, Northern Florida, Ohio, or Louisiana.

 

But those college towns/campuses are like their own little world, so it's not really like living in the rest of those states.

[84HuskerLaw]

I think I asked this in another forum, sorry if I missed the response but has NU EVER "opened up the checkbook" for anyone? Not just football,....any coach.

 

And even if we do, what makes you think one of the few elite coaches would come here even with the promise of a dump truck of cash? We are an afterthought to the rest of the country.

I believe we are paying elite money for John Cook (certainly one of the top 5 in the country). Of course he is delivering and took over one of the very best programs in the country. I believe we are the winningest or close! He has kept us near the tip top throughout his tenure. Still doing very well. He recruits very hard I might add. Admittedly its Volleyball not football but NU has hired the best it could get in that case. We don't in men's BB. I think hiring an elite coach in BB would make a huge difference almost immediatley if we spent 'whatever it takes' to get the best coach in the country.

In football, we need to hire one of the 5 best in the country. Identify the top 5 and hire one - even if it takes 7 or 8 million. That would do it. Give him a 7 year no cut contract and let him spend whatever it takes to get the best staff in the country and then buy him a leer jet to fly everywhere to recruit. It would make a HUGE difference in just two years. IMO

 

I suspect if we gave Riley 'whatever it takes' money to load up the nation's best staff he could do extremely well.

[Moiraine]

I asked this question one time and couldn't get a real answer.

 

If you were the top coaching prospect in the country and the following schools all were looking for coaches:

 

USC

Texas

Alabama

OSU

FSU

Florida

LSU

Nebraska

 

....and every single one of those schools offered you $10,000,000 per year....why would you choose Nebraska?

 

What would draw you here instead of one of the other schools?

 

If I wanted the highest probability of winning a national championship I'd go to Texas or Alabama or USC.

 

If I wanted a challenge I'd go to Nebraska

[Making Chimichangas]

We are 2 years into the Riley era and are right back where we were with Pelini...piling up wins against lesser teams and losing 3 or 4 against the teams we need to beat to get to the next level. On top of that we have looked clueless in 2 of our 3 losses just as we did with Pelini. When Minnesota is your best win of the season, you know the Husker program is no longer relevant.

 

I dunno, the Nebraska program is pretty relevant to me.

 

Part of me thinks that Mike Riley has been hamstrung the first two years. Let's face it, our depth across the roster was not where it needed to be. Mike Riley and these coaches then opted to redshirt as many freshman as possible these last 2 seasons.

 

For example, when Mike Riley got here, Nebraska literally had (if memory serves correctly) three scholarship LBs. So, through recruiting, we had to fill those holes at the LB spot, but also not recruit too many which would cause a class imbalance and prevent the staff from addressing the lack of depth at many other positions.

 

So while I am not happy with the way we got rolled by Ohio State and Iowa, things aren't that bad. And if we close the deal on some of these upper tier, elite players we're currently after, this recruiting class should be very, very good.

[Swiv3D]

 

 

 

I asked this question one time and couldn't get a real answer.

 

If you were the top coaching prospect in the country and the following schools all were looking for coaches:

 

USC

Texas

Alabama

OSU

FSU

Florida

LSU

Nebraska

 

....and every single one of those schools offered you $10,000,000 per year....why would you choose Nebraska?

 

What would draw you here instead of one of the other schools?

Personally, I have a tough time choosing between Texas, USC, and Nebraska. I wouldn't want to live in Alabama, Northern Florida, Ohio, or Louisiana.

But those college towns/campuses are like their own little world, so it's not really like living in the rest of those states.

I understand that and everyone will have different opinions, which is why I used the word personally. I'm not trying to sway anyone, I'm just giving my own answer to his question based off my own experiences.

[Melby]

a few people here seem to think money is everything.

 

I have been offered a position paying much more at another company, and turned it down. The company that offered didn't have near the benefits, the VP was known to be an a-hole, the clients had a reputation of being difficult to work with, and the company had a high employee turnover rate. It didnt want to pay the staff under me what was needed to be competitive, and the location didn't have a wealth of qualified people to fill the positions in the area. On top of that, they wanted me to relocate to a small town that had nothing worth writing home about. It was clear that the position was not setup to succeed.

 

I am not in any way saying that this is the current state of the coaching position at NU, but to think that throwing money at someone is going to fix everything is just ignorant.

[Making Chimichangas]

Riley gets two more years, period.

 

This is still, for the most part, Bo's players. Next year will be the first year that begins to change.

 

If after two years Riley hasn't righted the ship, we need to bring in Bohl (don't hate, he is a good coach) or Frost to coach.

 

Would Bohl even want to come back here to coach? Me thinks not...

[84HuskerLaw]

a few people here seem to think money is everything.

 

I have been offered a position paying much more at another company, and turned it down. The company that offered didn't have near the benefits, the VP was known to be an a-hole, the clients had a reputation of being difficult to work with, and the company had a high employee turnover rate. It didnt want to pay the staff under me what was needed to be competitive, and the location didn't have a wealth of qualified people to fill the positions in the area. On top of that, they wanted me to relocate to a small town that had nothing worth writing home about. It was clear that the position was not setup to succeed.

 

I am not in any way saying that this is the current state of the coaching position at NU, but to think that throwing money at someone is going to fix everything is just ignorant.

There is also the factor of family - never underestimate the sway a coach's wife and kids, staff and others around him have on the choice of where he works. If a given family is well established in a given community (church, school, other jobs and careers, etc etc), to pull up stakes and simply move to an entirely new place can be quite life changing and may be difficult. Yes, the families of big time athleticis (or other high profile professions of most any kind) can have a life similar to a TV or radio personality or a military family. They may move many times (everyday people do as well) and the decisions on who, what, where, why and so on all come into consideration. It is not just money, although when one gets to the many millions of dollars you are talking about 'life changing' money like winning the lottery in a way. But, never underestimate the 'other factors' besides the features of the job itself.

Nebraska has to sell not only the football program, facilities, fans, stadium, Big Ten, tradition, pressure to win, recruiting challenges, current status of the team, etc, etc etc but also must sell the entire package (living in Lincoln, Nebraska, the local schools, social aspects, weather, amenities, and so on). Many people prefer sunny warm climates but many others don't. You have to find a great 'fit' all around.

[RunMickeyRun02]

 

Riley gets two more years, period.

 

This is still, for the most part, Bo's players. Next year will be the first year that begins to change.

 

If after two years Riley hasn't righted the ship, we need to bring in Bohl (don't hate, he is a good coach) or Frost to coach.

 

Would Bohl even want to come back here to coach? Me thinks not...

 

I said the same in another thread. He was the scapegoat for the Colorado loss.

 

Never say never, but it's a lot like Frost where everyone just assumes he'd hop right back here the first chance he gets. I don't think that's the case.

[junior4949]

 

How can Penn St be compared to Nebraska when it comes to coaching searches. Penn St is way closer to recruiting hot beds then we are. Any coach in their right mind would look at that as part of their decision.

OK how about OU or Colorado I suppose they are too close to then, we have to get this apples to apples thing juuuust right

 

It's funny you mention these two programs. Earlier this year when OU was taken behind the shed by Ohio State, their fans asked just how their three star recruits were supposed to keep up with all the four and five star recruits at Ohio State. OU is close enough to a recruiting hotbed that years ago put them in a desirable location. However, most if not all of the Texas schools have gotten much better which has really cut into the players OU can poach from the state of Texas. Big Game Bob hasn't had the success in recruiting he did a few years ago. It's starting to show up.

 

Colorado was a pretty decent destination a couple of decades ago. Today, I see it as nothing more than a leapfrog program. If they continue to have the success they did this year for a couple more years, I'd bet their coach jumps to a bigger more desirable program. This is the future I envision for CU. This is not at all what I want Nebraska to become!