Did We Fire (pick favorite coach) too soon?

[BigRedBuster]

No. 

[Landlord]

3 hours ago, JJ Husker said:

Solich his the only one of the 4 where that would even be a feasible question, and truth be told, he probably should’ve been given some ultimatums a year earlier. 

 

What ultimatums can you give a coach who just had an 11 win season with a top 10 finish and a national championship appearance? 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Hedley Lamarr said:

Or we could have just hired Bob Stoops instead of TO taking it into his own hands and announcing publicly that Solich was his replacement....

 

Who was Bob Stoops in 1997? 

[roadrat]

I think you have to look at the AD's that did the hiring. Petersen hired Callahan and Eichorst hired Riley, two incredibly laughable hirings. They replaced coaches only so they could make their mark on the program and what a mark they made. Byrne wanted Mack Brown and the godfather wanted Solich, so we know how that went. So really 3 out of 4 and maybe all of them should have never been here.

 

If you think about all the coaches, they all had great ideas when hired, but never followed up. Bo said we are going to run the ball and we're stuck with Watson as the OC. Riley said running the ball 50% of the time would be great and then lets a stupid OC throw the ball all over the stadium. Callahan-Not sure what he was trying to do cause his west coast offense never did amount to much and I remember his QB's being killed all game long.

[JJ Husker]

15 minutes ago, Landlord said:

 

What ultimatums can you give a coach who just had an 11 win season with a top 10 finish and a national championship appearance? 

 

 

Well, if you're of the mind to fire him a year later, surely there are things you could demand he change. My point was, there were a hundred different things Pederson could've done that didn't have to result in the dismantling of Husker football. Frank was struggling with certain aspects of the game because he was nowhere near the coach Osborne was. Suggest he shore up some of those deficiencies, shift responsibilities, etc., anything but burn it to the ground by bringing in Callahan. 

 

Unbelievably, in those days, 11 wins and a national championship appearance weren't quite enough. The debacle in Boulder and the trouncing at the hands of the Trojans pretty much sealed his fate. But like I said prior, things were way out of perspective at the time due to the run we had through the 90's. Maybe it was inevitable.

[Landlord]

6 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

 

Well, if you're of the mind to fire him a year later, surely there are things you could demand he change. My point was, there were a hundred different things Pederson could've done that didn't have to result in the dismantling of Husker football. Frank was struggling with certain aspects of the game because he was nowhere near the coach Osborne was. Suggest he shore up some of those deficiencies, shift responsibilities, etc., anything but burn it to the ground by bringing in Callahan. 

 

Unbelievably, in those days, 11 wins and a national championship appearance weren't quite enough. The debacle in Boulder and the trouncing at the hands of the Trojans pretty much sealed his fate. But like I said prior, things were way out of perspective at the time due to the run we had through the 90's. Maybe it was inevitable.

 

 

Sorry I think I'm misunderstanding you. Solich went 7-7 in '02, our first non 9 win season in like a billion years, and I don't know if there were 'ultimatums' actually given, but that was what made him response with firing his defensive staff, bringing in a bunch of new coaches and seeing improvement. I was assuming that was when you were talking about, with a year before being after the Rose Bowl against Miami. 

 

He DID do the things you're suggesting after the '02 season and the next season was better if still not up to expectations. 

[runningblind]

1 hour ago, lo country said:

I should have been specific.  I think he will have adapt his scheme to a degree.  I do not think it will be a whole scale change.  I'd like to just see more elements of traditional power ie traps, counters etc...Heavy sets with 22/23 personnel on goal line.  Maybe even QB under center on short yardage.  BUT, he might have those and our OL is incapable of getting the push and or pulling to make it happen.  Or TE's not ready yet.  Might not even want to EVER use those, but I think he will have to (adapt to the B1G)  Or QB not comfortable like Milton (duh right. 2 years vs 3 games).  I'm sure as the season progresses (or years) we will see more.  He certainly showed a lot more at UCF than we have seen to date. 

Gotcha,  we are on the same page.  I am sure we will see lots of new wrinkles eventually,  when the kids are capable of it.  From my perspective, any play called can look terrible if it's executed poorly, and leads to cries about horrible play calling.  I am sure he wants to open the playbook but simply can't yet. 

[Nebhawk]

If you don't hire the right coaches to replace the ones you fire, sure there all bad firings!

[BoSolich]

only thing i wish would have been different is if we had just hired frost instead of riley.

 

riley was the worst hire by far.

 

callahan and bo were actually good hires at the time. just didn't work out, but definitely weren't bad hires.

 

but riley just flat out didn't deserve this job.

[JJ Husker]

2 hours ago, Landlord said:

 

 

Sorry I think I'm misunderstanding you. Solich went 7-7 in '02, our first non 9 win season in like a billion years, and I don't know if there were 'ultimatums' actually given, but that was what made him response with firing his defensive staff, bringing in a bunch of new coaches and seeing improvement. I was assuming that was when you were talking about, with a year before being after the Rose Bowl against Miami. 

 

He DID do the things you're suggesting after the '02 season and the next season was better if still not up to expectations. 

 

I am referring to the 7-7 season as being the one that would've been the correct time to fire him. They waited another year when  things were better and then pulled the trigger which made us look bad nationally IMO. However, I feel the writing was on the wall from 2001 when we got woodshedded by CU and then backed into the Natty game (which we shouldn't have been in) and laid an egg against USC. I guess I don't know what was going through Pederson's pea brain at the time but, if I'm honest, I thought something needed to change after the 7-7 season. As fans we were just that spoiled at the time. But I have no doubts the program would've done better and survived pretty much intact if Solich would've been given more opportunity to correct the deficiencies. Water way under the bridge now.

 

[Jeremy]

Instead of making a new thread, it's probably better to pile on in here. 

 

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Callahan (I rejoiced at the news he was canned) , he left some good kids for pelini to work with. Suh, Prince, Lucky, Swift, (Hagg?), etc. Joey Ganz wasn't too bad, even savvy on his good days. Even Cody Glenn, who turned out to be an athletic linebacker. 

 

So, in hindsight, thanks, Bill, for not leaving the program in historic disarray like has been done recently. 

[Hayseed]

7 hours ago, Jeepy said:

For twenty years we've heard 4 coaches say the same thing:  We need to be patient and let our new system get in place.  

 

We've been very patient for each coach.. generally.  Was the mistake in firing coaches too soon?  Should we have stuck with (Solich/Callahan/Pelini/Riley)?

No, but we should've fired administrators a long time ago. Some people would say the administration has sabotaged each coach. 

[Hayseed]

Fun fact-

42 players were drafted by the NFL in 2002-2006 from the 2001 Miami championship team that kicked our ass and made the game look like men against the boys. 17 were 1st rounders.

[brophog]

6 hours ago, runningblind said:

I think if Frost is trying to adapt wholsale to the B1G in 3-4 years it will mean big trouble.  He may have to make modifications, all coaches do, but he and his staff run what they run. 

 

He needs time to establish culture and get the right kids in place sure, but I expect his scheme will do just fine in the league once established.  We need a full year and another offseason in the scheme and for conditioning. 

 

The best rushing team in the Big Ten year on year, and it's not even remotely close, is Ohio St since Meyer arrived. They don't exactly run with 3 tight ends and 2 fullbacks.

 

Its not what you run, it's what you can teach and what you can execute. I'm not happy with a lot of coaching decisions right now, either, but trying to change scheme for the sake of it is folly. Most of what we see are growing pains, by players and coaches, but these offensive principles work. I strongly suspect once they get a win or two under their belts and get some confidence that things will improve sharply.

[TheSker]

1 hour ago, Hayseed said:

No, but we should've fired administrators a long time ago. Some people would say the administration has sabotaged each coach. 

Frost himself has said how important the change in administration was in the decision making process.

[dvdcrr]

9 hours ago, Jeepy said:

For twenty years we've heard 4 coaches say the same thing:  We need to be patient and let our new system get in place.  

 

We've been very patient for each coach.. generally.  Was the mistake in firing coaches too soon?  Should we have stuck with (Solich/Callahan/Pelini/Riley)?

Yes, NO, No, Oh Hell No.