Hypothetical Bo Question
- Thread starter walksalone
- Start date
Here is one way of looking at it....
What if the AD wouldn't have been such a complete JACK Wagon?
That's the real issue here.
Who knows how it would have gone if Solich would have been given a year or two before being guided toward retirement like Mack at Texas or guided into an emeritus/ambassador type position. We might have landed a big time coach, like Urban, who would have kept Bo in place as DC but went out and got some knock out recruiters and a hot shot OC that would have made the difference.
The biggest sin that SP committed was not firing Solich. It was a tie between the manner in which he fired Solich and the manner in which he conducted the search. If you are going to fire your coach, you better have a dang good idea of the way forward after that happens. SP didn't have a clue. Nebraska got turned down numerous times. And we settled for BC. We didn't want him, but we settled for him and built a rationale that he would be the guy who would make Nebraska a blue chip destination.
Bill is a good coach. A bit off putting. But a good coach. Problem was he didn't have a clue about how to run a big time college football program. And that's what made it all go seriously bad. He didn't have a list of experienced college assistants at the ready. He built a second rate pro staff. Then tried to change everything believing... as the NFL guys do... that you can burn a season or two in order to get your program kick started. Ummmmmm.... NO
What if the AD wouldn't have been such a complete JACK Wagon?
That's the real issue here.
Who knows how it would have gone if Solich would have been given a year or two before being guided toward retirement like Mack at Texas or guided into an emeritus/ambassador type position. We might have landed a big time coach, like Urban, who would have kept Bo in place as DC but went out and got some knock out recruiters and a hot shot OC that would have made the difference.
The biggest sin that SP committed was not firing Solich. It was a tie between the manner in which he fired Solich and the manner in which he conducted the search. If you are going to fire your coach, you better have a dang good idea of the way forward after that happens. SP didn't have a clue. Nebraska got turned down numerous times. And we settled for BC. We didn't want him, but we settled for him and built a rationale that he would be the guy who would make Nebraska a blue chip destination.
Bill is a good coach. A bit off putting. But a good coach. Problem was he didn't have a clue about how to run a big time college football program. And that's what made it all go seriously bad. He didn't have a list of experienced college assistants at the ready. He built a second rate pro staff. Then tried to change everything believing... as the NFL guys do... that you can burn a season or two in order to get your program kick started. Ummmmmm.... NO
beanman
Banned
zoogs
Assistant Coach
I responded earlier without even realizing what this thread was about.
No, I don't think Bo would have lasted very long. He was far from ready to be the face of a program back then. I also think the two stops in between served him very well in his development as a coordinator, which he needed. With what Frank left in the cupboard, Bo would have struggled - and his reactions wouldn't have been pretty. I do think we would've won more than 5 games in 2004, but I don't think we would have gotten very far after that. Four seasons & Grobe is probably where we'd be. The timing of Bo in 2008 was best for everyone.
I don't actually have a problem with how the search went down, although I am no fan of Pederson. It wasn't successful and he couldn't get his top candidates. However, we did get a guy who 1) represented the program with class, 2) made big recruiting contributions to the program, putting Nebraska back on the recruiting map nationally and restocking the cupboards, 3) continued the academic and character traditions we expect out of Nebraska. He just wasn't a very good head coach. Not too many people are, but at least you keep the seat warm for somebody who can do a better job.
We could have easily ended up with a far more lackluster recruiter than Callahan. I don't want to think of where we'd be now in that scenario -- the next guy (2008 or whenever) would either have to be a home run coach/recruiter combo, or we'd probably be on our 3rd or 4th coach since Solich by now.
No, I don't think Bo would have lasted very long. He was far from ready to be the face of a program back then. I also think the two stops in between served him very well in his development as a coordinator, which he needed. With what Frank left in the cupboard, Bo would have struggled - and his reactions wouldn't have been pretty. I do think we would've won more than 5 games in 2004, but I don't think we would have gotten very far after that. Four seasons & Grobe is probably where we'd be. The timing of Bo in 2008 was best for everyone.
I don't actually have a problem with how the search went down, although I am no fan of Pederson. It wasn't successful and he couldn't get his top candidates. However, we did get a guy who 1) represented the program with class, 2) made big recruiting contributions to the program, putting Nebraska back on the recruiting map nationally and restocking the cupboards, 3) continued the academic and character traditions we expect out of Nebraska. He just wasn't a very good head coach. Not too many people are, but at least you keep the seat warm for somebody who can do a better job.
We could have easily ended up with a far more lackluster recruiter than Callahan. I don't want to think of where we'd be now in that scenario -- the next guy (2008 or whenever) would either have to be a home run coach/recruiter combo, or we'd probably be on our 3rd or 4th coach since Solich by now.
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Redux
Assistant Coach
beanman
Banned
Excel
All-American
beanman
Banned
Count 'Bility
Banned
Just for the record, my stance on this whole mindset that we wouldnt be able to find another great coach-whether he be up and coming or already established-after firing another perennial 9-win guy has changed over the last year or so. I think we could. Now, this is not that I think we should do it. I still feel-even as contradicting as it is-that sticking with Bo is currently the best thing to do long term for the program. But the situation we're in now and what we were in after firing Solich is so polar opposite if you think about it. Then, we were just coming off 3 decades of total awesomeness and dominance. Then we have 1 bad year, a subpar year, start losing to teams we've never lost to, and we appeared to the rest of the nation as the spoiled little brat throwing a tizzy fit cuz we didnt get a new video game that christmas for the first time ever. Now it's different. We've been stuck in this rut, and deeper, for over a decade now. Bo's got us back to this point. I still think we're close and we're this sleeping giant. Now it's just up to Bo the next two seasons. There must be considerable progress shown. Anymore of this stale feeling and I think changes are made.
Jeebus. That wound up as a total derailment. Sorry. One thought just trainwrecked into 13.6 others.
Jeebus. That wound up as a total derailment. Sorry. One thought just trainwrecked into 13.6 others.
NUpolo8
Banned
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