Be Careful What You Ask For

[freemason9]

Tom Osborne appointed Frank Solich as head coach, effectively negating any input from the athletic director and bypassing search committees. How did that pan out? The program began a long slide that has continued to this day.

How many years as head coach did it take for Tom Osborne to win the national championship? More than fifteen years. Will any other head coach be given that kind of opportunity to succeed at NU ever again? Not likely. NU's days as a football power may well be over, given the sort of chaos that governs the program now.

Be careful what you ask for.

I'm just saying . . . be careful what you hope for. When administrative officials begin basing their decisions on mob pressure, you often get mob answers.

I was, like most, calling for a change. I was honestly hoping, though, that those more intimately involved in Husker athletics (like, for example, folks that actually work there) might use reasoned approaches.

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff. The results on the recruiting class are already being felt.

Be careful what you ask for.

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

The likely scenario is that Callahan is looking for a buyout offer at this point. There is no way that he can possibly be enjoying this job any longer, and I am sure that 90% of his staff is ready to depart to more pleasant environs as well. They are waiting for the best offer, and then they are gone. And then, once again, NU must start from scratch. Will NU again have to start from scratch five years from now? Could well be.

NU looks to be another post-millennial victim. Things have changed, folks.

Be careful what you ask for.

 

[EbylHusker]

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff.

Quite frankly, this statement is wrong. Perlman said so himself and explained why. If you don't want to take his word for it, then go back and look at all the problems Pederson had while here. They continued to grow as his time here went on and he drove more and more valuable people away from NU athletics AS A WHOLE.

At this point, if we lose recruits then we lose recruits. An AD change was absolutely needed even if you disregard the football program. But when you add the football program into it, you see big money starting to shy away from the program. And NU athletics lives and dies by football money...it's as simple as that. When you lose big money from football bosters, you lose big money for the entire NU athletics department and EVERY sport at the university.

 

[mjmartin1970]

Tom Osborne appointed Frank Solich as head coach, effectively negating any input from the athletic director and bypassing search committees. How did that pan out? The program began a long slide that has continued to this day.

How many years as head coach did it take for Tom Osborne to win the national championship? More than fifteen years. Will any other head coach be given that kind of opportunity to succeed at NU ever again? Not likely. NU's days as a football power may well be over, given the sort of chaos that governs the program now.

Be careful what you ask for.

I'm just saying . . . be careful what you hope for. When administrative officials begin basing their decisions on mob pressure, you often get mob answers.

I was, like most, calling for a change. I was honestly hoping, though, that those more intimately involved in Husker athletics (like, for example, folks that actually work there) might use reasoned approaches.

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff. The results on the recruiting class are already being felt.

Be careful what you ask for.

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

The likely scenario is that Callahan is looking for a buyout offer at this point. There is no way that he can possibly be enjoying this job any longer, and I am sure that 90% of his staff is ready to depart to more pleasant environs as well. They are waiting for the best offer, and then they are gone. And then, once again, NU must start from scratch. Will NU again have to start from scratch five years from now? Could well be.

NU looks to be another post-millennial victim. Things have changed, folks.

Be careful what you ask for.

Love the optism freemason9, it wasn't just pre-OSU that you were all about the Huskers, they were going to turn it around.

I think what TO will do is what SP would not do in this situation; a fare evaluation of the football staff. I KNOW TO would not have taken this job if it came with the ultimatum of firing Callahan at the end of the season. If Callahan wants to leave, so be it. I think that was a risk we always had with him as coach.

As for the Solich hire - these guys had been loyal to him for years, and now that he is going to retire he isn't going to stick up for them/him as coach(es). Come on, he had to do what he did at the time. However, THIS is a totally different situation - he has no such ties that he has to respect. TO is a very smart man and I trust him to not let his ego get in the way in searching for new coaches if that is what it comes to.

What is really the problem is after the firing of Solich, the Husker Nation divided in the Pro-Pederson (and by default Callahan) and Anti-Pederson camps. And it is obvious that we still have this divide. We have too few fans for us to be divided like this, and that was the hope with bringing TO in - to re-unite Husker Nation. It obviously isn't as easy as bringing in the guy who made all possible by averaging over 10 wins over 25 seasons I guess. I thought eveyone would be able to get behind and support him.

 

[SkerMin8r]

Tom Osborne appointed Frank Solich as head coach, effectively negating any input from the athletic director and bypassing search committees. How did that pan out? The program began a long slide that has continued to this day.

How many years as head coach did it take for Tom Osborne to win the national championship? More than fifteen years. Will any other head coach be given that kind of opportunity to succeed at NU ever again? Not likely. NU's days as a football power may well be over, given the sort of chaos that governs the program now.

Be careful what you ask for.

I'm just saying . . . be careful what you hope for. When administrative officials begin basing their decisions on mob pressure, you often get mob answers.

I was, like most, calling for a change. I was honestly hoping, though, that those more intimately involved in Husker athletics (like, for example, folks that actually work there) might use reasoned approaches.

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff. The results on the recruiting class are already being felt.

Be careful what you ask for.

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

The likely scenario is that Callahan is looking for a buyout offer at this point. There is no way that he can possibly be enjoying this job any longer, and I am sure that 90% of his staff is ready to depart to more pleasant environs as well. They are waiting for the best offer, and then they are gone. And then, once again, NU must start from scratch. Will NU again have to start from scratch five years from now? Could well be.

NU looks to be another post-millennial victim. Things have changed, folks.

Be careful what you ask for.

What most people fail to realize or remember was that Frank really left TO no options. He was ready to become a head coach and was prepared to leave if it came to that. To Tom the "family" culture that he had built was paramount. He wanted to maintain that continuity and felt the only way to do that was to promote from within. He saw Frank as the logical successor. Was he wrong? I don't know. What I do know is that after TO left recruiting became an issue. Could be the staff didn't concentrate on it enough. Could be that kids didn't want to play for the guy that followed TO. Could be that those first couple of years after Tom left Nebraska began to look beatable. Could be that Nebraska had enjoyed so much success that everyone wanted to knock them from the top of the mountain. Again...I don't really know...nor does anyone for that matter.

I believe TO will give Bill a fair opportunity to keep his job. That said, Bill's got A LOT of work to do. I believe he's going to have to...at the very least...go 3-2 over these last 5 games. While showing the ability to bring these kids together as a team. I do think there will be tremendous pressure to release Cozgrove and that may be more than BC is willing to do. We shall see...that's for certain...

 

[Fan]

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

Well, that is the only defense they have played.

 

[huskersfan75]

Tom Osborne appointed Frank Solich as head coach, effectively negating any input from the athletic director and bypassing search committees. How did that pan out? The program began a long slide that has continued to this day.

How many years as head coach did it take for Tom Osborne to win the national championship? More than fifteen years. Will any other head coach be given that kind of opportunity to succeed at NU ever again? Not likely. NU's days as a football power may well be over, given the sort of chaos that governs the program now.

Be careful what you ask for.

I'm just saying . . . be careful what you hope for. When administrative officials begin basing their decisions on mob pressure, you often get mob answers.

I was, like most, calling for a change. I was honestly hoping, though, that those more intimately involved in Husker athletics (like, for example, folks that actually work there) might use reasoned approaches.

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff. The results on the recruiting class are already being felt.

Be careful what you ask for.

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

The likely scenario is that Callahan is looking for a buyout offer at this point. There is no way that he can possibly be enjoying this job any longer, and I am sure that 90% of his staff is ready to depart to more pleasant environs as well. They are waiting for the best offer, and then they are gone. And then, once again, NU must start from scratch. Will NU again have to start from scratch five years from now? Could well be.

NU looks to be another post-millennial victim. Things have changed, folks.

Be careful what you ask for.

Never in my life have I ever seen this program go into the toilet so fast in four years. Steve Pederson divided Husker Nation, chased away the boosters, former husker players as well as ran off athletic fundraising staff. The fans weren't the only ones to ask for him to be fired and HP didn't have to listen to us.

I also don't believe Callahan could be that stupid not to know he needs TO more than ever. BC doesn't want to get fired again it would not help him get another coaching job or at least one that matters or could pay him as much as he is being paid now. BC is thinking "I can't be remembered as the one coach who ruined the Nebraska Cornhuskers." BC will ask for TO's advice and learn from him.

 

[MOD_CHAMPION]

Well all the people who try and say it took TO 15 years to win a championship, it was actually 21 years was it not? But, I'd also like to point out that during his entire 25 year career he only played 3 games where he wasn't rated in the top 25 in the country, that's 3 GAMES where he wasn't rated. He was rated at the beginning and ending of every single season and 17 of the 25 years he was rated in the top 10. And as far as hiring Solich goes, you can't honestly tell me that Callahan is better, had Solich been given a chance who knows what could have happened, we went 10-3 in his last season and maybe would have progressed even further with the next season.

Oh and one last thing I'd like to throw in, Bill Callahan and Staff aren't just playing for the Husker Career anymore (as that is most likely over) they are playing for future careers. What I mean is, if Bill Callahan can turn this program around and win out through all this adversity, even if we fire him, he should be able to get a job next year because of this turnaround mid-season. But if they continue to play the way they have and this team goes 4-8 he's going to be hard pressed to find a decent job, maybe even any job next year and years to come.

 

[Dan_F_30]

Tom Osborne appointed Frank Solich as head coach, effectively negating any input from the athletic director and bypassing search committees. How did that pan out? The program began a long slide that has continued to this day.

How many years as head coach did it take for Tom Osborne to win the national championship? More than fifteen years. Will any other head coach be given that kind of opportunity to succeed at NU ever again? Not likely. NU's days as a football power may well be over, given the sort of chaos that governs the program now.

Be careful what you ask for.

I'm just saying . . . be careful what you hope for. When administrative officials begin basing their decisions on mob pressure, you often get mob answers.

I was, like most, calling for a change. I was honestly hoping, though, that those more intimately involved in Husker athletics (like, for example, folks that actually work there) might use reasoned approaches.

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff. The results on the recruiting class are already being felt.

Be careful what you ask for.

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

The likely scenario is that Callahan is looking for a buyout offer at this point. There is no way that he can possibly be enjoying this job any longer, and I am sure that 90% of his staff is ready to depart to more pleasant environs as well. They are waiting for the best offer, and then they are gone. And then, once again, NU must start from scratch. Will NU again have to start from scratch five years from now? Could well be.

NU looks to be another post-millennial victim. Things have changed, folks.

Be careful what you ask for.

As for the Solich hire - these guys had been loyal to him for years, and now that he is going to retire he isn't going to stick up for them/him as coach(es). Come on, he had to do what he did at the time. However, THIS is a totally different situation - he has no such ties that he has to respect. TO is a very smart man and I trust him to not let his ego get in the way in searching for new coaches if that is what it comes to.

Don't be so sure, I hope Gill doesn't come out to TO hoping for a chance at the job and TO has loyalty to him too and makes the same mistake he did with Solich. And Solich was a mistake. The first post is correct in that TO had more power than Byrne at the AD position and handcuffed him into hiring Solich without going through a formal search for the right person.

Why do you think Byrne left Nebraska in late 2002? Solich gone the next year, coincidence? I don't think so. Because HE KNEW that Solich was going to have to go, he also KNEW that the God TO had appointed Solich to the position and all hell was going to break loose when the AD did get rid of TO's prized appointment. Byrne made a very smart move in that regard! I hope TO is smarter this time around and goes through the search and does NOT narrow candidates down to those with "husker" ties because that severely limits the pool and that pool does not have the capablilities for a program of this magnitude quite yet, maybe in the future, but not now.

 

[Glendower]

Tom Osborne appointed Frank Solich as head coach, effectively negating any input from the athletic director and bypassing search committees. How did that pan out? The program began a long slide that has continued to this day.

How many years as head coach did it take for Tom Osborne to win the national championship? More than fifteen years. Will any other head coach be given that kind of opportunity to succeed at NU ever again? Not likely. NU's days as a football power may well be over, given the sort of chaos that governs the program now.

Be careful what you ask for.

I'm just saying . . . be careful what you hope for. When administrative officials begin basing their decisions on mob pressure, you often get mob answers.

I was, like most, calling for a change. I was honestly hoping, though, that those more intimately involved in Husker athletics (like, for example, folks that actually work there) might use reasoned approaches.

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff. The results on the recruiting class are already being felt.

Be careful what you ask for.

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

The likely scenario is that Callahan is looking for a buyout offer at this point. There is no way that he can possibly be enjoying this job any longer, and I am sure that 90% of his staff is ready to depart to more pleasant environs as well. They are waiting for the best offer, and then they are gone. And then, once again, NU must start from scratch. Will NU again have to start from scratch five years from now? Could well be.

NU looks to be another post-millennial victim. Things have changed, folks.

Be careful what you ask for.

Love the optism freemason9, it wasn't just pre-OSU that you were all about the Huskers, they were going to turn it around.

I think what TO will do is what SP would not do in this situation; a fare evaluation of the football staff. I KNOW TO would not have taken this job if it came with the ultimatum of firing Callahan at the end of the season. If Callahan wants to leave, so be it. I think that was a risk we always had with him as coach.

As for the Solich hire - these guys had been loyal to him for years, and now that he is going to retire he isn't going to stick up for them/him as coach(es). Come on, he had to do what he did at the time. However, THIS is a totally different situation - he has no such ties that he has to respect. TO is a very smart man and I trust him to not let his ego get in the way in searching for new coaches if that is what it comes to.

What is really the problem is after the firing of Solich, the Husker Nation divided in the Pro-Pederson (and by default Callahan) and Anti-Pederson camps. And it is obvious that we still have this divide. We have too few fans for us to be divided like this, and that was the hope with bringing TO in - to re-unite Husker Nation. It obviously isn't as easy as bringing in the guy who made all possible by averaging over 10 wins over 25 seasons I guess. I thought eveyone would be able to get behind and support him.

He didn't want them to have to DO anything to turn things around; it was supposed to be magic. Making changes, though, he's not for that.

 

[Glendower]

Tom Osborne appointed Frank Solich as head coach, effectively negating any input from the athletic director and bypassing search committees. How did that pan out? The program began a long slide that has continued to this day.

How many years as head coach did it take for Tom Osborne to win the national championship? More than fifteen years. Will any other head coach be given that kind of opportunity to succeed at NU ever again? Not likely. NU's days as a football power may well be over, given the sort of chaos that governs the program now.

Be careful what you ask for.

I'm just saying . . . be careful what you hope for. When administrative officials begin basing their decisions on mob pressure, you often get mob answers.

I was, like most, calling for a change. I was honestly hoping, though, that those more intimately involved in Husker athletics (like, for example, folks that actually work there) might use reasoned approaches.

Changing AD's in the middle of the season is lunacy--especially when it appears that it is done to ultimately fire a coaching staff. The results on the recruiting class are already being felt.

Be careful what you ask for.

Callahan is in a no-win situation here; his entire staff is under fire, and all they can do is circle the wagons. His players have sounded as if they stand in defense of the coaching staff, by and large, and this makes the entire team feel under seige.

The likely scenario is that Callahan is looking for a buyout offer at this point. There is no way that he can possibly be enjoying this job any longer, and I am sure that 90% of his staff is ready to depart to more pleasant environs as well. They are waiting for the best offer, and then they are gone. And then, once again, NU must start from scratch. Will NU again have to start from scratch five years from now? Could well be.

NU looks to be another post-millennial victim. Things have changed, folks.

Be careful what you ask for.

As for the Solich hire - these guys had been loyal to him for years, and now that he is going to retire he isn't going to stick up for them/him as coach(es). Come on, he had to do what he did at the time. However, THIS is a totally different situation - he has no such ties that he has to respect. TO is a very smart man and I trust him to not let his ego get in the way in searching for new coaches if that is what it comes to.

Don't be so sure, I hope Gill doesn't come out to TO hoping for a chance at the job and TO has loyalty to him too and makes the same mistake he did with Solich. And Solich was a mistake. The first post is correct in that TO had more power than Byrne at the AD position and handcuffed him into hiring Solich without going through a formal search for the right person.

Why do you think Byrne left Nebraska in late 2002? Solich gone the next year, coincidence? I don't think so. Because HE KNEW that Solich was going to have to go, he also KNEW that the God TO had appointed Solich to the position and all hell was going to break loose when the AD did get rid of TO's prized appointment. Byrne made a very smart move in that regard! I hope TO is smarter this time around and goes through the search and does NOT narrow candidates down to those with "husker" ties because that severely limits the pool and that pool does not have the capablilities for a program of this magnitude quite yet, maybe in the future, but not now.

From what I remember TO saying when he made the choice of putting Solich in as HC-- he said that Solich was calling the plays through the 90s; I think that there was a lot of evidence that Franky was going to do a good job.

 

[Vuren]

and you know the back up choice in case frank didn't want the job only has a national championship ring now, but at the time was coaching a D 1AA school in ohio. Tressel if that name rings a bell for anyone.

 

[Dan_F_30]

From what I remember TO saying when he made the choice of putting Solich in as HC-- he said that Solich was calling the plays through the 90s; I think that there was a lot of evidence that Franky was going to do a good job.

His play calling really showed that it was awesome when he was head coach...Could TO just say that to ease the thoughts of the fans when Solich was getting the job??? perhaps.

 

[HUSKER 37]

From what I remember TO saying when he made the choice of putting Solich in as HC-- he said that Solich was calling the plays through the 90s; I think that there was a lot of evidence that Franky was going to do a good job.

His play calling really showed that it was awesome when he was head coach...Could TO just say that to ease the thoughts of the fans when Solich was getting the job??? perhaps.

I dunno..Seemed kind of sudden..Prior to 1990, my brother and I could predict the play called ~80% of the time depending on down/distance..Then, POW!, I remember asking my brother, "What gives? Is someone other than Ozzy calling the plays?"

 

[Dan_F_30]

From what I remember TO saying when he made the choice of putting Solich in as HC-- he said that Solich was calling the plays through the 90s; I think that there was a lot of evidence that Franky was going to do a good job.

His play calling really showed that it was awesome when he was head coach...Could TO just say that to ease the thoughts of the fans when Solich was getting the job??? perhaps.

I dunno..Seemed kind of sudden..Prior to 1990, my brother and I could predict the play called ~80% of the time depending on down/distance..Then, POW!, I remember asking my brother, "What gives? Is someone else calling the plays?"

Maybe he did call the plays, but he had the players that could enforce their will on anyone even if they told them the play probably.

 

[HUSKER 37]

and you know the back up choice in case frank didn't want the job only has a national championship ring now, but at the time was coaching a D 1AA school in ohio. Tressel if that name rings a bell for anyone.

I seriously doubt Tressel could've won a MNC in a conference that has a Conference Championship Game.

Plus I've read more than once about character issues. (Well hidden, and unsubstantiated, of course). But I remember one account from a player he talked into taking pud classes, then dropped from the program after season ending injury.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/foo...legations_x.htm

According to Clarett:
• Tressel arranged loaner cars for him.

• Tressel's brother, d!(k, an OSU assistant coach, found him lucrative landscaping jobs that he did not have to show up for.

• Members of Tressel's staff introduced him to boosters who gave him thousands of dollars. The better he played, the more money he got.

• He likely would have been ineligible for the 2002 season if the football staff had not set him up with an academic adviser who enrolled him in independent study courses and put him with teachers who would pass him whether he attended their classes or not

.Normally, I wouldn't believe Clarrett, but similar stories circulated about Tress at Youngstown State.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/sports/n.../03tressel.html

...Tressel also has detractors who dispute the authenticity of his image, mock him on Internet message boards as CheatyPants SweaterVest and note that he has been touched by scandal both at Ohio State and Youngstown State, where he previously won four Division I-AA national championships.
At both colleges, his top quarterback took money from boosters in violation of N.C.A.A. rules. Maurice Clarett, the running back who played a vital role in Ohio State’s national championship in 2002, sits in prison after a sad descent. A number of other Ohio State players has encountered legal or disciplinary problems since Tressel became head coach in 2001, and his academic record, while improving, remains mixed.

“However you want to look at Jim Tressel, as all that is right with college football, or what is wrong, you can probably find evidence to support your case,” said Bruce Hooley, a radio talk-show host who formerly covered Ohio State football for The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Even a staunch ally, the former Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger, concedes that Tressel can be so guarded in public as to appear calculating and less than candid.