Controversy goes National

[HuskerFowler]

Does a blog really count as "going national"? Myerberg is an alright blogger, but all he did is read a few OWH articles and then form an opinion. Not exactly the highest caliber of reporting. He mentioned Dirk's article about an upset recruit but didn't follow up with any of the aftermath suggesting that the one article might be misleading. I give this no more weight or consideration than any post on this message board which, quite frankly, are generally better informed opinions.

+1 even thou something was said on college football live i still hardly think its a national deal. If we see it all over sportscenter i'll call it national, if just because it will be on all damn day.

Everyone should prepare for whats about to happen. A major college football program is about to change their OC after signing day. It will then be national and you can bet ur sweet a$$ that we are going to catch a ton of crap. Get ready to see Jacksons quotes over and over agin, and everyone bashing NU for changing staff after signing day. And of course they are going to blow it up to make it look like ALL of our recruits feel the same way, when that is not the case.

Based on Jamal Turners comments over a month ago, he has known about this for ahwile. I think all or most of the recruits affected were told that there might be changes, and the Sanders thing kind of snuck up on Bo. Wilson blowing the hire early made it look really bad. Had he not done that he could have announced it thur or fri after signing day and saved face a little. Now that it happened on signing day it was obviosuly known before signing day which put Bo in a tough spot, he didnt handle it the best, he got blind sided. Its still not a huge issue because he apparently isnt mad about it, just wished someone would have said something. Sounds like it all got explained to him, and we are moving on.

Dont be shocked when we get ripped by everyone when its official Watsons gone. Its going to go way beyond a little blog.

 

[AFhusker]

i'm just glad Watsgrove is getting publicity for crapping the bed offensively...see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya.

the last of the C******n regime is finally gone...i predict a MNC within 2 years

What are you 12? It's really Watson's fault that Bo tied his hands by making him run an offense he knows nothing about and made him use a QB that he didn't want to use and was crippled because of our crappy OL for half the season?

Now it's better for both that he moves on, but look at the facts.

And look at your precious Solich staff, 90% of them are gone too. And Brown is the only one that is worth a dam. Cotton is by far the worst coach on the staff.

I wished I shared your enthusiasm about our future because I don't see it yet.

 

[Hercules]

Wasn't this settled last week when Charles Jackson's dad went on the radio and called people writing articles like this journalistically irresponsible? Why in the world is it still a legitimate issue?

I mean, I understand the media will do what the media does, but this is an issue that never existed in the first place being blown out of proportion. This article is crap.

 

[carlfense]

Where we differ is the conclusions that we draw from those facts.

No, where we differ is that you have already passed judgement.

I am guilty as charged if thinking of the most likely reasoning behind the facts that we know is passing judgment.

 

[carlfense]

But Charles' dad, on the other hand, didn't even take issue with it...

Which seems like a wise PR move considering his lack of other options.

I'm sure some kid's dad cares soooo much about public relations.

The whole point of Charles' dad going on the radio and doing that, was to clear the air. It was a PR move.

And a good one. I will just say that it seems to indicate CJ and his family are in Bo's corner and it's good between them now. That's good news.

+1. Hard to see it as anything BUT a PR move.

I'm glad to hear everything is good between Jackson and Bo. Hopefully Bo apologized to the kid because I sincerely believe that he deserves it.

 

[carlfense]

But Charles' dad, on the other hand, didn't even take issue with it...

Which seems like a wise PR move considering his lack of other options.

I' sure some kid's dad care's soooo much about public relations.

As opposed to pissing off a passionate fan base who will be examining every action of his son? Yeah. I think he cares about public relations. If he doesn't he has some severe mental deficiencies.

You calling him a liar then? Did you even listen to the podcast? He made it perfectly clear his son's words were taken out of context, and this whole thing was blown way out of proportion. Why not just take him at his word?

I'm calling him a concerned parent. Were my kid in a similar situation I'd try to make the situation as good as it could possibly be.

 

[junior4949]

i'm just glad Watsgrove is getting publicity for crapping the bed offensively...see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya.

the last of the C******n regime is finally gone...i predict a MNC within 2 years

What are you 12? It's really Watson's fault that Bo tied his hands by making him run an offense he knows nothing about and made him use a QB that he didn't want to use and was crippled because of our crappy OL for half the season?

Now it's better for both that he moves on, but look at the facts.

And look at your precious Solich staff, 90% of them are gone too. And Brown is the only one that is worth a dam. Cotton is by far the worst coach on the staff.

I wished I shared your enthusiasm about our future because I don't see it yet.

Let's see, Bo was the DC and he's still here. Ron Brown was on Solich's staff, and he's still here. Barney Cotton is still here. How many of the pieces from Solich's staff are we really missing? We have the OC on Solich's staff and the DC on Solich's staff here now. Plus, Bo picked Carl up off of Solich's Ohio staff.

While I agree with you on Watson, I definitely don't see eye to eye with you on Solich.

 

[Hujan]

There’s nothing in the N.C.A.A. rulebook that prohibits a team from doing just this after signing day, of course. The only people hurt in this case are the prospects who felt misled and the coaches who opted to take one for the team — like Watson or Gilmore — while they could have been shopping their resumes for a job at another program. Yes, Nebraska’s behavior was a bit shady, a bit unsettling and a bit out of character, but it was nonetheless within the rules of conduct, if not the rules of etiquette.

This is mostly trash. He makes two critical mistakes, IMO.

First, he seems to be mixing the Sanders and Watson/Gilmore issues together, which is a huge mistake. Watson/Gilmore is about on-the-job performance; Sanders is about extra-curricular stuff. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I haven't heard any offensive recruits come out and say they were mislead about the impending coaching changes on that front. Indeed, did not Jamaal Turner and/or Ameer Abdullah state that they understood coaching changes were underway? As for Sanders, there are many perfectly good reasons to keep things under wraps. For one, if you believe the rumors coming out about this, it appears that Sanders may have transgressed in a way that is embarrassing if not illegal. I think it's not unreasonable that Bo might have wanted to keep quiet about that situation.

Should Bo have advised CJ that Sanders was likely going to resign and that they were bringing in a replacement? Probably. But this was almost a lose-lose scenario. If you tell him that Sanders is resigning, he's going to want to know why. If you don't tell him, it is going to look shady and he will think you aren't being straight with him. If you don't tell him anything and he finds out Sanders has left after he send his LOI, then he thinks you aren't being straight with him. So, again, it was a lose-lose. And, in any event, CJ has already indicated that the loss of Sanders has not impacted his decision to come to Nebraska.

The second mistake this article makes is to suggest that anyone was actually injured in this. We all know Watson has been applying for every coaching position that's been open. And, as said before, no recruits other than CJ have indicated they felt misled, and even he is said that he would have come to Nebraska anyway.

This makes this whole ordeal much ado about nothing. It absolutely could have and should have been handled better and I think Bo takes the secrecy thing too far for his own good, but it is being blown WAY out of proportion.

 

[carlfense]

I don't have a problem with firing coaches. Heck, I've been calling for the firing of Watson for as long as anyone on this board. My problem is that recruits apparently signed with Nebraska without being informed that their position coaches would not be here. I do not think that is fair to them, in fact I think it reeks of dishonesty and a lack of integrity. If my son had signed with Nebraska to be coached specifically by Marvin Sanders, and the coaches hid the fact that he would not be here until after he signed his LOI, I would be disgusted.

Maybe I just expect a higher standard of conduct.

YOU

DON'T

KNOW

WHAT

ACTUALLY

HAPPENED.

Here's what we DO know.

Charles Jackson believed/was led to believe that Marvin Sanders would be his position coach after signing his LOI with Nebraska. That information was absolutely incorrect.

Where we differ is the conclusions that we draw from those facts.

From what I've heard Pelini couldn't talk due to legal reasons. If that was the case I think Pelini made lemon shots out of lemons. If your told by the University lawyers to keep your trap shut I think Pelini did the right thing by focusing on doing his job and and getting his class signed.

Pelini could have easily given the kid a heads up without rising to the level of a legal disclosure.

I'm not seeing a lot of sympathy for a kid that basically signed a contract under false pretenses and has no recourse. But hey . . . he's locked into NU so that's all that matters, right?

 

[knapplc]

What are you 12? It's really Watson's fault that Bo tied his hands by making him run an offense he knows nothing about and made him use a QB that he didn't want to use and was crippled because of our crappy OL for half the season?
Now it's better for both that he moves on, but look at the facts.

Facts? Do you mean facts like the fact that Watson was told the offense we were going to run prior to the bowl game last year, was given a chance to find another job if he couldn't get on board, tried very hard to find said job, could not find said job, and was then allowed to remain on staff while we changed offensive schemes, all the while knowing what was coming down the pike?

You mean those kinds of facts?

Because if we're not talking about those kinds of facts, we may as well not be talking about this. Watson's hands were not tied. Watson knew full well what was going on, and he opted in. The decision was his - find a new gig, step down, or stay at Nebraska in 2010 and run an offense geared more toward a running game than a WCO.

Shawn Watson wanted a paycheck in 2010, and when he couldn't get it anywhere else, he took the one Bo offered him. Watson has nobody to blame for that but himself. If he didn't want to run this offense and he didn't want to use the QB we used, the door was available.

 

[knapplc]

From what I've heard Pelini couldn't talk due to legal reasons. If that was the case I think Pelini made lemon shots out of lemons. If your told by the University lawyers to keep your trap shut I think Pelini did the right thing by focusing on doing his job and and getting his class signed.

It's not clear what Pelini knew and when he knew it. It is EXTREMELY likely he knew Sanders would not be coaching here over a week prior to signing day. Some evidence points to the information being available before Christmas, although it's purely circumstantial.

I believe kchusker_chris was the first to mention here that there may be legal issues keeping Pelini's trap shut, and that's entirely possible. But so far nobody has come out and said it. I believe that's a possibility, but not a probability.

 

[AFhusker]

What are you 12? It's really Watson's fault that Bo tied his hands by making him run an offense he knows nothing about and made him use a QB that he didn't want to use and was crippled because of our crappy OL for half the season?
Now it's better for both that he moves on, but look at the facts.

Facts? Do you mean facts like the fact that Watson was told the offense we were going to run prior to the bowl game last year, was given a chance to find another job if he couldn't get on board, tried very hard to find said job, could not find said job, and was then allowed to remain on staff while we changed offensive schemes, all the while knowing what was coming down the pike?

You mean those kinds of facts?

Because if we're not talking about those kinds of facts, we may as well not be talking about this. Watson's hands were not tied. Watson knew full well what was going on, and he opted in. The decision was his - find a new gig, step down, or stay at Nebraska in 2010 and run an offense geared more toward a running game than a WCO.

Shawn Watson wanted a paycheck in 2010, and when he couldn't get it anywhere else, he took the one Bo offered him. Watson has nobody to blame for that but himself. If he didn't want to run this offense and he didn't want to use the QB we used, the door was available.

The decision was not Watson's, it was Bo's. Bo is the head coach and makes all of the decisions. If Bo wanted to change the offense that drastically in a way we didn't have the talent, nor the experience to run, is on him. He should have found a different OC last year.

 

[AFhusker]

i'm just glad Watsgrove is getting publicity for crapping the bed offensively...see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya.

the last of the C******n regime is finally gone...i predict a MNC within 2 years

What are you 12? It's really Watson's fault that Bo tied his hands by making him run an offense he knows nothing about and made him use a QB that he didn't want to use and was crippled because of our crappy OL for half the season?

Now it's better for both that he moves on, but look at the facts.

And look at your precious Solich staff, 90% of them are gone too. And Brown is the only one that is worth a dam. Cotton is by far the worst coach on the staff.

I wished I shared your enthusiasm about our future because I don't see it yet.

Let's see, Bo was the DC and he's still here. Ron Brown was on Solich's staff, and he's still here. Barney Cotton is still here. How many of the pieces from Solich's staff are we really missing? We have the OC on Solich's staff and the DC on Solich's staff here now. Plus, Bo picked Carl up off of Solich's Ohio staff.

While I agree with you on Watson, I definitely don't see eye to eye with you on Solich.

I'm talking about offense, because Bo's defense carried Frank's crappy offense too. It amazes me how people forget how predictable Franks offense was. It was just as bad as what we had the last two years. Look at the stats, the 2003 offense was worse than the 2002 team.

 

[junior4949]

Ron Brown was on Solich's offensive staff. Barney Cotton was on Solich's offensive staff.

 

[knapplc]

What are you 12? It's really Watson's fault that Bo tied his hands by making him run an offense he knows nothing about and made him use a QB that he didn't want to use and was crippled because of our crappy OL for half the season?
Now it's better for both that he moves on, but look at the facts.

Facts? Do you mean facts like the fact that Watson was told the offense we were going to run prior to the bowl game last year, was given a chance to find another job if he couldn't get on board, tried very hard to find said job, could not find said job, and was then allowed to remain on staff while we changed offensive schemes, all the while knowing what was coming down the pike?

You mean those kinds of facts?

Because if we're not talking about those kinds of facts, we may as well not be talking about this. Watson's hands were not tied. Watson knew full well what was going on, and he opted in. The decision was his - find a new gig, step down, or stay at Nebraska in 2010 and run an offense geared more toward a running game than a WCO.

Shawn Watson wanted a paycheck in 2010, and when he couldn't get it anywhere else, he took the one Bo offered him. Watson has nobody to blame for that but himself. If he didn't want to run this offense and he didn't want to use the QB we used, the door was available.

The decision was not Watson's, it was Bo's. Bo is the head coach and makes all of the decisions. If Bo wanted to change the offense that drastically in a way we didn't have the talent, nor the experience to run, is on him. He should have found a different OC last year.

To quote a famous American, what are you, 12? Welcome to football, where the Head Coach calls the shots. Watson knew full well what kind of offense we were running in 2010 back in January. He had every opportunity to move on, in whatever capacity, and he didn't. If you're going to fault Bo because he trusted Watson when Watson told him, "I want to run your offense," then you have problems with Bo that have nothing to do with this situation.

The decision to stay at Nebraska belonged to one guy, and one guy only. Shawn Watson.