Eric the Red
Team HuskerBoard
From OWH:
Bill Busch was in college when he took his first sales job.
"I made it two weeks and got fired."
He hasn't had one since. Check that. He hasn't been fired from one since.
Busch has become a fixture in the southern California recruiting battles essential to reconstructing Nebraska's football dynasty. Wednesday, NU officially lured four blue-chippers - three speedy defensive backs and a rangy wide receiver - from the SoCal beaches to the Nebraska prairie.
According to their high school coaches, those athletes probably wouldn't be leaving the sunshine if Busch had left them alone. They'd probably be staying closer to home if the 40-year-old rural Nebraskan hadn't entered the meanest housing projects in San Diego and Los Angeles in search of 4.5-second 40s.
College friends envisioned Busch working in a car lot before South Stadium, but he has opened doors with a shrewd blend of straight shooting and pigskin passion.
"Bill Busch is as professional a recruiter I've had in my school as anybody in the country," said Jerry Ralph, who coached Husker signee Menelik Holt at San Diego's St. Augustine High School; that list of recruiters includes USC coach Pete Carroll.
Down the street, similar quote, different coach.
"I've met hundreds of recruiters. He's at the top of his class in what he does," said Mike Hastings, who coached another future Husker, Anthony West, at Point Loma.
Busch has known that first coach for nine years. He calls Ralph regularly, whether or not St. Augustine has Division I prospects. He knows the names of Ralph's wife and son. He knows the names of Ralph's best sophomores.
"He's thinking two years down the road," Ralph said.
The second coach says he chuckles every time he talks to Busch. Hastings thinks of a San Diego quarterback named Alex Smith who caught Busch's eye when only one other Division I school, coached by Smith's uncle, gave him a look. Smith went on to lead Utah to an undefeated 2004 season and became the first pick in last spring's NFL draft.
"He has a sharp eye for projecting where kids will be at 20 instead of 18," Hastings said.
Elijah Asante, head coach at Jordan High School in Los Angeles, coached the multi-skilled Ricky Thenarse. Busch comfortably came into Watts, Asante said, and pursued Thenarse relentlessly, "in a good way." He spelled out what Nebraska can provide. Where Thenarse will be if he works hard.
"The guys that are really good at it are the no-nonsense guys," said Tim Cassidy, NU associate athletic director for football operations. "Some guys can be a flash in the pan, but when it comes down to it, kids see right through that. They're looking for guys with substance. Bill has that substance."
Busch grew up in Pender, Neb., the son of a football coach. He played at Nebraska Wesleyan for a few years, his speed more water boy than wide receiver.
About the time he was failing at his sales job, friends knew him as a dry-witted jokester with the gift of gab. He liked to tease kids in the cafeteria. He liked to go to parties. He feared talking to nobody.
He had a serious side, too. A friend's father died in 1993, while Busch was a graduate assistant at NU. Busch was the first one to stop by the house that first afternoon to check on the family. He broke the ice, started a conversation.
He learned the intricacies of living-room sales from former Husker assistant George Darlington, who helped teach Busch that pretension gets one nowhere.
"If you're in South Central (L.A.), you can't try to act like that's what you understand," Busch said. "I really don't. You try to be yourself."
He carried those lessons to Wisconsin, Northern Arizona, New Mexico State and Utah before finding his way back home in 2004.
A day in the South Stadium office never passes without Busch talking about recruits, Cassidy said.
He talks recruiting every day. When he's not on the phone, he's researching. He's writing letters. He talks fast, confidently. An interview question about his attention to detail can lead to a four-minute answer.
He sells Nebraska, but he's a buyer, too. How does a kid treat his parents? Can he trust the kid to stay out of trouble? If a recruit doesn't have the right character, if he can't hack it academically, Busch is only wasting time.
Every once in a while, a kid frets about the cold Nebraska winters. "What are you going to do if you're drafted by Buffalo: not play?" he asks. He moves on to the next kid.
Busch "does as thorough a job as any recruiter I've been around," head coach Bill Callahan said.
"He could sell darn well anything he wanted," said Anthony West's coach in San Diego.
Busch would dispute that.
"If I'm going into someone's house to try to sell them a vacuum, I wouldn't be able to do it. I really don't care."
When you believe in the product, Busch said, the mind-set changes. The hours change. Busch, who's single, used to play golf. Used to fish. Even had a few hunting dogs. About the only thing in his garage these days is a bike.
"Never been ridden," he said.
You only get one chance to coach at Nebraska, Busch said. You don't screw it up.
So he sells. Sells Nebraska graduation rates and Academic All-Americans. Tom Osborne and national championship trophies. Callahan and the West Coast offense. The program he grew up cheering.
"Some consider it a job," Cassidy said. "This is Bill's life."
Bill Busch was in college when he took his first sales job.
"I made it two weeks and got fired."
He hasn't had one since. Check that. He hasn't been fired from one since.
Busch has become a fixture in the southern California recruiting battles essential to reconstructing Nebraska's football dynasty. Wednesday, NU officially lured four blue-chippers - three speedy defensive backs and a rangy wide receiver - from the SoCal beaches to the Nebraska prairie.
According to their high school coaches, those athletes probably wouldn't be leaving the sunshine if Busch had left them alone. They'd probably be staying closer to home if the 40-year-old rural Nebraskan hadn't entered the meanest housing projects in San Diego and Los Angeles in search of 4.5-second 40s.
College friends envisioned Busch working in a car lot before South Stadium, but he has opened doors with a shrewd blend of straight shooting and pigskin passion.
"Bill Busch is as professional a recruiter I've had in my school as anybody in the country," said Jerry Ralph, who coached Husker signee Menelik Holt at San Diego's St. Augustine High School; that list of recruiters includes USC coach Pete Carroll.
Down the street, similar quote, different coach.
"I've met hundreds of recruiters. He's at the top of his class in what he does," said Mike Hastings, who coached another future Husker, Anthony West, at Point Loma.
Busch has known that first coach for nine years. He calls Ralph regularly, whether or not St. Augustine has Division I prospects. He knows the names of Ralph's wife and son. He knows the names of Ralph's best sophomores.
"He's thinking two years down the road," Ralph said.
The second coach says he chuckles every time he talks to Busch. Hastings thinks of a San Diego quarterback named Alex Smith who caught Busch's eye when only one other Division I school, coached by Smith's uncle, gave him a look. Smith went on to lead Utah to an undefeated 2004 season and became the first pick in last spring's NFL draft.
"He has a sharp eye for projecting where kids will be at 20 instead of 18," Hastings said.
Elijah Asante, head coach at Jordan High School in Los Angeles, coached the multi-skilled Ricky Thenarse. Busch comfortably came into Watts, Asante said, and pursued Thenarse relentlessly, "in a good way." He spelled out what Nebraska can provide. Where Thenarse will be if he works hard.
"The guys that are really good at it are the no-nonsense guys," said Tim Cassidy, NU associate athletic director for football operations. "Some guys can be a flash in the pan, but when it comes down to it, kids see right through that. They're looking for guys with substance. Bill has that substance."
Busch grew up in Pender, Neb., the son of a football coach. He played at Nebraska Wesleyan for a few years, his speed more water boy than wide receiver.
About the time he was failing at his sales job, friends knew him as a dry-witted jokester with the gift of gab. He liked to tease kids in the cafeteria. He liked to go to parties. He feared talking to nobody.
He had a serious side, too. A friend's father died in 1993, while Busch was a graduate assistant at NU. Busch was the first one to stop by the house that first afternoon to check on the family. He broke the ice, started a conversation.
He learned the intricacies of living-room sales from former Husker assistant George Darlington, who helped teach Busch that pretension gets one nowhere.
"If you're in South Central (L.A.), you can't try to act like that's what you understand," Busch said. "I really don't. You try to be yourself."
He carried those lessons to Wisconsin, Northern Arizona, New Mexico State and Utah before finding his way back home in 2004.
A day in the South Stadium office never passes without Busch talking about recruits, Cassidy said.
He talks recruiting every day. When he's not on the phone, he's researching. He's writing letters. He talks fast, confidently. An interview question about his attention to detail can lead to a four-minute answer.
He sells Nebraska, but he's a buyer, too. How does a kid treat his parents? Can he trust the kid to stay out of trouble? If a recruit doesn't have the right character, if he can't hack it academically, Busch is only wasting time.
Every once in a while, a kid frets about the cold Nebraska winters. "What are you going to do if you're drafted by Buffalo: not play?" he asks. He moves on to the next kid.
Busch "does as thorough a job as any recruiter I've been around," head coach Bill Callahan said.
"He could sell darn well anything he wanted," said Anthony West's coach in San Diego.
Busch would dispute that.
"If I'm going into someone's house to try to sell them a vacuum, I wouldn't be able to do it. I really don't care."
When you believe in the product, Busch said, the mind-set changes. The hours change. Busch, who's single, used to play golf. Used to fish. Even had a few hunting dogs. About the only thing in his garage these days is a bike.
"Never been ridden," he said.
You only get one chance to coach at Nebraska, Busch said. You don't screw it up.
So he sells. Sells Nebraska graduation rates and Academic All-Americans. Tom Osborne and national championship trophies. Callahan and the West Coast offense. The program he grew up cheering.
"Some consider it a job," Cassidy said. "This is Bill's life."
