Jump to content


Devaney Changed Culture, Instilled Belief


Mavric

Recommended Posts

Quote

Nebraska’s new football coach inherited players who were downtrodden by losing, and he couldn’t pinpoint why, because he detected plenty of talent.

 

To change the culture and mindset, he began emphasizing better training, and focused specifically on weight training.

 

He instilled confidence. He brought belief. He changed attitudes.

 

Of course, he’d done all of that at his previous coaching stop, too, but at a program that wasn’t going to consistently garner national attention. At Nebraska, which boasted outstanding fan support, despite the recent losing, the new coach and his staff felt strongly about the opportunity to win a national championship.

 

Yeah, Mike Devaney sees many similarities between his father, legendary coach Bob Devaney, and today’s coach, Scott Frost, and the initial circumstances they faced when becoming Nebraska's head coach.

 

“What he did down in Florida was an amazing achievement,” Mike Devaney said of Frost’s two-year run at UCF, where he produced records of 6-6 and 13-0 after inheriting a team that had gone winless the prior season. “In the two years it took him to turn that around, I don’t know that I’ve seen a better performance than that.”

 

What Bob Devaney did from 1962-1972, the beginning of the Big Red Renaissance, is certainly, at the very least, on par.

 

It’s why the late Devaney joins a group of familiar names for induction into the University of Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame, which honors its 2018 class during a dinner on Sept. 7 at 6:15 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

 

Huskers.com

  • Plus1 1
Link to comment

Quote

To change the culture and mindset, he began emphasizing better training, and focused specifically on weight training.

 

As I recall weight training at Nebraska started despite the Bobfather rather than because.  Epley was helping one of the players rehab from an injury and other players noticed the difference and wanted in on it.  Osborne got him space and a salary and Devany told Epley, "...but if anyone gets slower, you're fired."  But of course they didn't. Never-the-less, I hope it is an apt comparison.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Visit the Sports Illustrated Husker site



×
×
  • Create New...