What Could Have Been....

[Fru]

6 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

See Bobby Bowden

 

And Joe Paterno 

[Isle of View]

Just now, brophog said:

 

I remember not wanting to go to that Rose Bowl because it didn't feel earned. I honestly thought it would curse us. Obviously I couldn't see the future.

I hear that a lot and I've never understoood that attitude.  I watched the BCS selection show and I was hooting and hollering like it was the '95 Orange Bowl.  No one else deserved that spot any more than we did.

[ColoradoHusk]

4 minutes ago, Fru said:

 

And Joe Paterno 

Joe Pa's exit had it's own extremely weird and sick circumstances, but it was definitely an example of a guy hanging on too long.

Edited October 20, 2017 by ColoradoHusk

[Mavric]

36 minutes ago, Isle of View said:

Solich was a great head coach.  Who wouldn't be happy with top ten finishes half the time, NC game appearance, Heisman winner, and a conference championship now?  Solich and TO both took over NC dynasties, and Solich accomplished more in his first 6 years than TO did in his first 6.  

 

Solich is not a great head coach.  A great head coach would have been able to win the MAC at least once in 12 years.

 

He may have been a decent head coach.  But his problem was he was a terrible offensive coordinator.  He tried to be Tom but he wasn't.

[brophog]

5 minutes ago, Isle of View said:

 No one else deserved that spot any more than we did.

 

Florida did, but too often people think two very small losses is more indicative of a team's strength than one big loss. 

 

Florida's losses to Auburn and Tennessee were by a combined 5 points. I don't need to list ours.

 

 

[Isle of View]

3 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

Solich is not a great head coach.  A great head coach would have been able to win the MAC at least once in 12 years.

 

He may have been a decent head coach.  But his problem was he was a terrible offensive coordinator.  He tried to be Tom but he wasn't.

Different definitions of great.

 

Similar to how Wisconsin plugs guys into their system, Solich was a great Husker-system coach.  That same system doesn't work in the MAC.  He doesn't have a state full of HS kids chomping at the bit to be a Bobcat. 

 

He's still by far the best coach Ohio has ever had.

[Isle of View]

2 minutes ago, brophog said:

 

Florida did, but too often people think two very small losses is more indicative of a team's strength than one big loss. 

 

Florida's losses to Auburn and Tennessee were by a combined 5 points. I don't need to list ours.

 

 

Not within the system at the time.  It was practically impossible for a 2 loss team to move ahead of a 1 loss team.  Maybe in the current system, Florida may have had a chance.

[Dansker]

We probably would have went undefeated in 1999 and 2000 our only loss might've been to OU and then a rematch with them in the conference championship game. I think we could've won NC's in 99 and 01 and then he retires in 2002, becomes AD ala Devaney, and who knows what could have been with Solich at that point 

[NUinID]

TO retired for about 3 reasons.  

 

1. He felt he owed it to his wife.  

2. He promised Frank the job and he was a man of his word.  

3. He thought his health was failing.  I don't think he thought he could keep up the rigors too much longer.  

 

I think he regretted retiring and I think he regretted it very soon after he retired.  He is a type A can't sit still type of a personality.  Why do think he ran for congress? He was board.  

 

I think he would have liked to have stayed at least 5 more years or so.  

[ColoradoHusk]

10 minutes ago, NUinID said:

TO retired for about 3 reasons.  

 

1. He felt he owed it to his wife.  

2. He promised Frank the job and he was a man of his word.  

3. He thought his health was failing.  I don't think he thought he could keep up the rigors too much longer.  

 

I think he regretted retiring and I think he regretted it very soon after he retired.  He is a type A can't sit still type of a personality.  Why do think he ran for congress? He was board.  

 

I think he would have liked to have stayed at least 5 more years or so.  

Yep

[brophog]

10 minutes ago, Isle of View said:

Not within the system at the time.  It was practically impossible for a 2 loss team to move ahead of a 1 loss team.  Maybe in the current system, Florida may have had a chance.

 

Politics played too big of a part in those decisions. Oh well, it is what it is.

[TGHusker]

35 minutes ago, ladyhawke said:

I remember hearing Tom say in an interview that he really didn't want to leave coaching and wished he would've stayed at least one more year.  But I think his family (Nancy especially) had had enough.  Coach Solich got shafted by Steve Pederson.  Frankie did everything they asked him to do and he still got fired!  Oh the road not taken!

I just watched the 97 CCG against A&M on the other thread.   Tom wanted A. Green to come back the next year, Newcome was showing brilliance as a true freshman and Davidson was beginning to shine.  There were 9 true freshmen on the 97 team who were contributing already.  Now the 98 team ended up wt a lot of unfortunate injuries that played a role in their 4 loss season but I wonder if that would have changed under Tom- don't know.  I believe Tom would have won at least 2 more NC as recruiting and coaching would remained at a high level.  It was a fluke that the 99 team didn't but due to that fumble at texas....     I wonder if Tom lived with regrets afterwards or if he was clear in his conviction and never looked back.

[JJ Husker]

Can't blame TO at all for what happened. It's just like gambling, if you don't quit when you're winning, you'll quit a loser. He'd done all he needed to do in the game and thought he was leaving the program in capable hands. Pederson f'd that up. Not even necessarily for firing Solich but for turning the whole works in a different direction by going with Callahan. We've been suffering with that, and failing to remedy it, for almost 20 years. Unfortunately the system that only needed minor tweaking is now nothing but a memory. Hopefully Moos gets it back on the right track. I have to believe that vision is even more important, while also highly dependent upon, than the impending HC hire.

[Dansker]

9 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

I just watched the 97 CCG against A&M on the other thread.   Tom wanted A. Green to come back the next year, Newcome was showing brilliance as a true freshman and Davidson was beginning to shine.  There were 9 true freshmen on the 97 team who were contributing already.  Now the 98 team ended up wt a lot of unfortunate injuries that played a role in their 4 loss season but I wonder if that would have changed under Tom- don't know.  I believe Tom would have won at least 2 more NC as recruiting and coaching would remained at a high level.  It was a fluke that the 99 team didn't but due to that fumble at texas....     I wonder if Tom lived with regrets afterwards or if he was clear in his conviction and never looked back.

 

Didn't we have like 40+ fumbles in 1999? I believe we set an NCAA record too at the time or maybe we still hold it, lol. We got back a majority of them, I think but that one in Texas got away from us. That 99 team was awesome. A lot of people thought they would have beaten Florida State that year.

[Hayseed]

What could have been if they had stunned McBride and told everybody ,"Okay, when he comes to ,everybody act like he's the head coach!"