IMO we would be hard pressed to find a better AD then SP. He has done a wonderful job in all phases of his responsibility… football, basketball, volleyball, facility upgrade, and a number of other sports. We seem to be headed in the right direction. Just ask yourself…Who do you think can do the job better?
i reluctantly agree.
i think stevie p.'s greatest knock will be the firing for solich and the subsequent cluster-mangle of solich's replacement. there was no board or discussion: this was the stevie p show. it was just pederson running out into the wilds of the football wilderness with the promise of getting someone big.
steve repeatedly said that he was going to get nebraska a coach with a "WOW" factor. someone who would energize huskernation.
that man...
houston nutt.
say it again, just to get the effect:
HOUSTON NUTT.
and collectively, huskernation said, "wow.... you're kiddin' right?"
but this was stevie's end-all, be-all coach. and stevie thought that if he offered enough money, nutt would bite.
never mind the fact that arkansas was nutt's dream team, the team he followed as a youth. never mind the fact that as a high school quarterback, he turned down freakin' Bear Bryant down so he could play for arkansas. forget the fact that after years of being an assistant and head coach at multiple schools and finally got back to arkansas, his home state and was coaching a program he always worshiped and admired.
forget all that. steve's plan was apparently consisted of rolling a wheel barrel full of cash down to fayetteville right out side of nutt's house and screaming, " AW C'MON..! YOU KNOW YOU WANNA BE MY HEAD COACH!!!!"
what happened? well, nutt played stevie like piano and used him to re-negotiate a sweet deal with arkansas.
well played, mister nutt. well played,
indeed.
for a couple of weeks afterward, steve's backup plan was apparently locking himself alone in his darkened office, curling up in a fetal position by one of the corner walls and rocking himself back and fourth while mumbling, "whatamigonna?!?whatamigonnado?!?whatamigonnado?!?"
as fate would have it, al davis in oakland had a solution for huskernation...
we're gonna debate forever the events that brought coach callahan to nebraska. and until billy c. brings us the big prize, he'll probably never get the full respect that he deserves. personally, i like him and i think coach callahan is a good fit for nebraska.
but steve pederson will never fully be able to live down the events that got us to where we are today.
time will tell, though. time will tell.