How would things have gone if we had retained Solich as coach?

[drfish]

I agree. No way to know how he would have done. At his only other D1 coaching (Ohio) he has the highest winning percentage of any coach since 1947 (57%). He has lead the Ohio Bobcats to 7 of its 9 bowl appearances (admittedly not as tough a task as it once was).

 

[flfmrredfan]

The difference is that Miles knew the importance of recruiting and is good at it. It can be argued that he just continued the Saban way of SEC $$$$ recruiting, but either way he still got the athletes there.

So, where are all of Miles' National Championships? I mean, he does have all that talent. At least, according to you.

Also, Elf's point still stands, the players in 2003 didn't look anything like any team during the TO era.

You are either too young to remember, willfully ignorant of Osborne's career (outside of the mid to late '90s), a BRBer, or a troll, because your posts are chock full of Solich hate.

The players of the 1990 team, didn't look like anything resembling the '93 through '97 teams. And that 1990 team was preseason #1 in at least one of the polls. They ended the year with two consecutive blowouts, albeit, to at least one who won a share of the MNC. And, if it wasn't for Bienemy's gifts in the form of 4 fumbles, CU would have blown them out in Lincoln.

Solich's 2003 team would have defeated that 1990 team pretty easily.

For those who still think Solich couldn't recruit, does the name Mike Rozier mean anything to you?

 

[flfmrredfan]

The amount of ignorance, and revisionism in some of the posts is just astounding. That is what Solich hate will do.

Solich got NU on the brink of a MNC in 1999 after winning the Big 12 conference.

He brought his team to the MNC in 2001.

Yes, those teams had talent, some of which Solich inherited. Yet, I read one post about Les Miles, and all of the talent he gets. In comparison, Miles won one MNC, lost one, and has two conference championships.

Yet, we can't know how things would have worked out had Solich stayed as head coach?!

 

[dvdcrr]

If they were going to fire him the time was after the 2002 season. During the 03 season he was correcting some of the errors he made as coach in '02 and had hired a great DC (although not great head coach) in Bo Pelini. I'm sure Solich would have done better than Callahan did over the next 4 years. From 08-14 I have no idea if he would have done better than Pelini did in real life.

just curious.........do you guys EVER get tired of living in the past?

NO

 

[lo country]

Probably FS biggest deficiency was his inability to recruit a great QB. Actually Jamal Lord deserves a ton of thanks for carrying the team on his shoulders for a couple of years and sacrificing his career as a safety.

Had Carl Crawford come we would see Frank in a completely different light IMO.

 

[NUance]

Just a FYI, every skill player on the '97 championship team was from Nebraska.

Heh, I guess I've never thought much about that before. Frost, Green and Makovicka. And Matt Davison started some games too. Not sure if that's ever happened any other year in the modern era (Devaney and after).

Anyway, I have the feeling that Frank's instate recruiting was pretty decent.

 

[Blackshirt96]

Here is a better question, what would have happened had Solich's '01 team not lost to a Miami team full of future NFL players & a couple NFL All-stars? A team almost everyone ranks top 5 all-time. The last 2 games of 2001 were bad for Solich & Co. I really think Solich could have putted along with 9 win seasons had he been retained nothing great, but nothing as bad as Callahan/Cosgrove.

 

[NUance]

Here is a better question, what would have happened had Solich's '01 team not lost to a Miami team full of future NFL players & a couple NFL All-stars? A team almost everyone ranks top 5 all-time. The last 2 games of 2001 were bad for Solich & Co. I really think Solich could have putted along with 9 win seasons had he been retained nothing great, but nothing as bad as Callahan/Cosgrove.

Or what if the timing of our games would have been different? What if our week 3 and week 9 games had been switched around?

In 2001 we didn't make it to the B12 CCG. Nonetheless, we got into the Rose Bowl with Miami because we were ranked so highly. But if our week 12 game (Colorado blowout) and week 3 game (Notre Dame win) had been switched around, we would have had an early loss and probably wouldn't have been ranked higher than 7th or 8th by the end of the year. We would not have gotten into the Rose Bowl, and would not have gotten creamed by Miami. And the blowout loss to Colorado would have been a distant memory followed by nine regular season wins. In that scenario there's almost no way Solich gets fired after the season. And as an added bonus, it would have been Colorado who got annihilated on national TV by the Hurricanes.

 

[cm husker]

With regard to people arguing that he couldn't recruit QBs, I think that's somewhat true, though Lord catches more flak than is deserved and I thought Dailey had a lot of potential but was lost in the transition.

That said, NU seems to be on a 10-12 year cycle when it comes to finding "special" QBs.... though "special" designation tends to follow NC wins, rather than pure standalone talent. Think - Tagge '71 --> Gill '83 --> Frazier '95.

The exception to that rule was when a local NE kid was available (Frost and Crouch).

All that to say, we need to be realistic about what it means to be a "great recruiter" in Lincoln.

 

[junior4949]

Frank was a crappy head coach. The players didn't respect him. He should never have been promoted to head coach in the first place. He belongs somewhere like Ohio.

Is this revisionist history or what? Do you even know anyone who was coached by both TO and Solich? I know players that were coached by both. When TO was still here and Solich was an assistant, it wasn't uncommon for scrimmages where TO coached one side and Solich coached the other. Almost all of the players I know thought Solich was the better coach during the scrimmages.

Ohio was a dumpster fire when Solich was hired. One would have to go back before WWII to find a coach at Ohio who posted a higher winning percentage than what he's posted there. It is rather mind numbing reading all of this revisionist history.

 

[kchusker_chris]

Here is a better question, what would have happened had Solich's '01 team not lost to a Miami team full of future NFL players & a couple NFL All-stars? A team almost everyone ranks top 5 all-time. The last 2 games of 2001 were bad for Solich & Co. I really think Solich could have putted along with 9 win seasons had he been retained nothing great, but nothing as bad as Callahan/Cosgrove.

Or what if the timing of our games would have been different? What if our week 3 and week 9 games had been switched around?

In 2001 we didn't make it to the B12 CCG. Nonetheless, we got into the Rose Bowl with Miami because we were ranked so highly. But if our week 12 game (Colorado blowout) and week 3 game (Notre Dame win) had been switched around, we would have had an early loss and probably wouldn't have been ranked higher than 7th or 8th by the end of the year. We would not have gotten into the Rose Bowl, and would not have gotten creamed by Miami. And the blowout loss to Colorado would have been a distant memory followed by nine regular season wins. In that scenario there's almost no way Solich gets fired after the season. And as an added bonus, it would have been Colorado who got annihilated on national TV by the Hurricanes.

hasn't it been proven that losing early is better than losing late?

 

[Redux]

Here is a better question, what would have happened had Solich's '01 team not lost to a Miami team full of future NFL players & a couple NFL All-stars? A team almost everyone ranks top 5 all-time. The last 2 games of 2001 were bad for Solich & Co. I really think Solich could have putted along with 9 win seasons had he been retained nothing great, but nothing as bad as Callahan/Cosgrove.

Or what if the timing of our games would have been different? What if our week 3 and week 9 games had been switched around? In 2001 we didn't make it to the B12 CCG. Nonetheless, we got into the Rose Bowl with Miami because we were ranked so highly. But if our week 12 game (Colorado blowout) and week 3 game (Notre Dame win) had been switched around, we would have had an early loss and probably wouldn't have been ranked higher than 7th or 8th by the end of the year. We would not have gotten into the Rose Bowl, and would not have gotten creamed by Miami. And the blowout loss to Colorado would have been a distant memory followed by nine regular season wins. In that scenario there's almost no way Solich gets fired after the season. And as an added bonus, it would have been Colorado who got annihilated on national TV by the Hurricanes.

hasn't it been proven that losing early is better than losing late?

The ultimate point is things probably pan out much differently had Nebraska not gone to the Rose Bowl to get smeared. Pesronally I don't think we deserved to be there and our performance backs that thought up. Had we gone to a different bowl and camr away with a nice win, maybe things go very differently.

Then again it wasn't just the embarassing Rose Bowl that got Frank in hot water so maybe nothing changes.

 

[AFhusker]

Here is a better question, what would have happened had Solich's '01 team not lost to a Miami team full of future NFL players & a couple NFL All-stars? A team almost everyone ranks top 5 all-time. The last 2 games of 2001 were bad for Solich & Co. I really think Solich could have putted along with 9 win seasons had he been retained nothing great, but nothing as bad as Callahan/Cosgrove.

Or what if the timing of our games would have been different? What if our week 3 and week 9 games had been switched around?

In 2001 we didn't make it to the B12 CCG. Nonetheless, we got into the Rose Bowl with Miami because we were ranked so highly. But if our week 12 game (Colorado blowout) and week 3 game (Notre Dame win) had been switched around, we would have had an early loss and probably wouldn't have been ranked higher than 7th or 8th by the end of the year. We would not have gotten into the Rose Bowl, and would not have gotten creamed by Miami. And the blowout loss to Colorado would have been a distant memory followed by nine regular season wins. In that scenario there's almost no way Solich gets fired after the season. And as an added bonus, it would have been Colorado who got annihilated on national TV by the Hurricanes.

It wouldn't have mattered because of how horrible the blowouts in 2002 and 2003 were. Unless you think losing to State Penn 40-7, Iowa State 36-14, KSU 49-13, and Colorado 28-13. That's four more a$$ kickings not to mention in 2003 they lost three more games by double digits, 41-24 to Missouri/31-7 to Texass/ and 38-9 to KSU in the famous game in Lincoln where people started to leave early for the first time in decades. So lowering the total number of a$$ kickings from 9 to 8 wouldn't have made a difference at all. The program was already in the shitter thanks to Frank "the tank" and it wasn't going to get any better under his watch. Think about that for a second, that is 9 embarrassing losses in a 28 game span. I have no idea how anyone with a clear and logical mind would think that it was going to get better when all he had was Joe Daily at QB and three DL on scholarships heading into the next season. The lack of talent and the expectations that SP put on the next coach to bring them back fast is why he couldn't get anyone to take the job. If he was smart (we all know he wasn't) he would have said the same thing that Tom said when Bo took over, that it is a total rebuild and it will take a few years. But at least Bill left Bo some first and second round players to work with. Frank, not so much for Bill.

http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=3&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&Q_SEASON=2002

http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=3&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&Q_SEASON=2003

 

[Elf]

Frank was a crappy head coach. The players didn't respect him. He should never have been promoted to head coach in the first place. He belongs somewhere like Ohio.

Is this revisionist history or what? Do you even know anyone who was coached by both TO and Solich? I know players that were coached by both. When TO was still here and Solich was an assistant, it wasn't uncommon for scrimmages where TO coached one side and Solich coached the other. Almost all of the players I know thought Solich was the better coach during the scrimmages.

Ohio was a dumpster fire when Solich was hired. One would have to go back before WWII to find a coach at Ohio who posted a higher winning percentage than what he's posted there. It is rather mind numbing reading all of this revisionist history.

If Frank is such a fantastic coach then why isn't he at a Power 5 school? For that matter, why did he end up at a MAC school instead of a Power 5 school in the beginning?

 

[Gobigred44]

It would have gone very similiar to the 17-12 span with 7 losses by 22 or more points (with 2 more losses by at least 15 points) he had to end his career. We might have gotten outscored by our opponents in that 29 game span. Lol at people saying he's great because he's gone slightly over .500 in the MAC.