Anybody that took over this dumpster fire and went 9-0 in this situation would have to be the leader in the clubhouse. I don’t think it will happen, I doubt we even get bowl eligible but you seem to be discounting him because of his race which isn’t cool. 9-0…..you just said he shouldn’t be considered for going 9-0. SMH
Quite the contrary. You say he should be GIVEN the job. That’s wrong. Period. I want the very best we can get. Period. MJ may well be that. We don’t know nearly enough to say one way or the other. Frost was GIVEN the job because of one very successful season, primarily. MJ would look a lot like him if he pulled off a miracle run. The candidate I believe should be hired needs a number of years (10 +) of P5 proven success. We’ve tried the alternative (Bo, Riley, Callahan, Frost) and even Solich had no P5 HC experience. It ultimately failed.
Had a real HC ‘nationwide’ search been done for any of the prior hires, we may have avoided a great deal of the issues over the decades. Tom Osborne was likewise a similar case but the key difference was Devaney was AD to steer Tom until he felt he could make it on his own. Tom needed to stay around to help Frank learn recruiting and push him in that regard. He opted to step way back, out of the picture entirely. I believe he didn’t want to overbear or over shadow Frank. Unfortunately, Frank didn’t have the recruiting gravitas and the program collapsed. And recruiting was and remains the primary fail of Neb FB ever since.
I know some or even many may disagree but the the key to TO’s great run 1981 - 1997 was his offensive and defensive systems changes to a run based attack / and overall speed defensively. The player types he recruited were easier to recruit and less sought after. He developed ‘above average’ and rarely chased the 5 star players. And his systems were unconventional / different than most of his conference foes. He used a great scout team system to prepare defensively while complex / multiple blocking schemes made life hell for opponents. As his program got better nationally, recruiting nationally became a bit easier and the program became a machine.
The last twenty years of mix and match, shuffle and reshuffle, pass and re-pass, coach and re-coach, etc etc has not worked, and in my view will not work going forward. The luster is gone and DONU’s brand legacy is almost worthless to recruiting. In fact, after Riley / Frost, it may be a negative factor to recruiting.
That has to be fixed by either the slam dunk ‘legend’ type HC hire or a radical turn away from the conventional schemes. May need both if the HC is a less than stellar.
We are not yet back to pre Devaney level but we are close. Facilities and fan base are much better. It took Devaney 6 years or so and that was with TO as OC, the two built the foundation for nearly four decades of top 15 FB.
This hire is the most critical in 60 years. I’m glad Trev has time, the money and hopefully the help of some very smart, insightful minds to get it right. Who knows? It may be impossible. The damage is deep. Times have changed. Money and connections, etc are even more important. The best coaches and players and facilities money can buy is the game. But ‘fit’ and long term planning has to be a part of it. It’s an entire system and process to build a program. It can’t happen with a HC contract signature. But it all starts there. I put the odds of Trev and Co succeeding at 50-50 at best.
