Josh Pate on Can Nebraska football still be fixed

[Houston_Husker]

Good video and dead on with the points.

IMO, Bo should have never been fired just like Solich should have never been fired.

We've progressively gotten worse over time to the point that just having a winning season now seems like a success.

I'll take going 9-3 every year with a coach who yells and makes mean faces over what we have now.

At this point, I'll be happy just being competitive with the Iowas and Minnesotas of the world.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Firing Bo wasn't the wrong decision  - hiring Mike Riley was. 

Sure. But then we made the right hire, the one coach everyone could agree on. Not only a Husker, but the hottest coach in college football.

And then it got even worse.

I don't believe in curses, but it makes more sense than blaming any single person. 

 

[captain_sasquatch]

Sure. But then we made the right hire, the one coach everyone could agree on. Not only a Husker, but the hottest coach in college football.

And then it got even worse.

I don't believe in curses, but it makes more sense than blaming any single person. 

Very much agreed - I think the hiring of Mike Riley was more of a symptom of our systemic woes than the cause. What we saw last week has absolutely nothing to do with Riley. 

 

[Mudhen]

My name is Bob, and I’m a Kool-Aid drinker.
I just joined Kool-Aid Anonymous.
It’s a 12 step program, and I want to get my first chip.
The 1-800 number is disconnected.
I need a sponsor. Teach? Hedley? Guy? anyone?

 

[GamingGlen]

My name is Bob, and I’m a Kool-Aid drinker.
I just joined Kool-Aid Anonymous.
It’s a 12 step program, and I want to get my first chip.
The 1-800 number is disconnected.
I need a sponsor. Teach? Hedley? Guy? anyone?

Hello Bob. Welcome to KAA.

We never say KAA KAA, except after a NU game, once.

 

[nupowr]

I think some folks who care about NU football, outside the football organization, but who have power need to conduct exit interview with Frost and ask, what impediments exist here in the athletic organization that didnt exist at Oregon or UCF.  In other words, how can we disengage/eliminate unnecessary actors, beurocracies, etc here in the program so that a coach can be successful?  

 

[Savage Husker]

I think some folks who care about NU football, outside the football organization, but who have power need to conduct exit interview with Frost and ask, what impediments exist here in the athletic organization that didnt exist at Oregon or UCF.  In other words, how can we disengage/eliminate unnecessary actors, beurocracies, etc here in the program so that a coach can be successful?  

I would hope that’s happening with Trev and Frost right now and let Trev witness first hand. 

 

[funhusker]

I think some folks who care about NU football, outside the football organization, but who have power need to conduct exit interview with Frost and ask, what impediments exist here in the athletic organization that didnt exist at Oregon or UCF.  In other words, how can we disengage/eliminate unnecessary actors, beurocracies, etc here in the program so that a coach can be successful?  

What good would that do?

If they aren’t involved in the “organization”, they don’t matter.  It would just be fuel for fans.

Like @Savage Husker said, those conversations likely are, and should be, happening inside the department. 

 

[gorp512]

I think some folks who care about NU football, outside the football organization, but who have power need to conduct exit interview with Frost and ask, what impediments exist here in the athletic organization that didnt exist at Oregon or UCF.  In other words, how can we disengage/eliminate unnecessary actors, beurocracies, etc here in the program so that a coach can be successful?  

Oregon is Nike U and UCF is in the most fertile recruiting ground in the country. It's not a secret

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Oregon is Nike U and UCF is in the most fertile recruiting ground in the country. It's not a secret

And we have an architectural masterpiece for a State Capitol and the International Quilt Museum - quite possibly the largest public collection of quilts in the world.

Oh yeah, and a little thing called "Runzas"

Game on. 

 

[Alabama Husker Watcher]

I think Frost's problems are indicative of a larger problem in college football. Everyone is looking to hire the next big time head coach, so schools jump on coaches the instant they do anything impressive and become the next big name. Texas hired Tom Herman after he had one excellent season with Houston. Herman had only been head coach for two seasons and was given the reigns of the Texas football program. Sound familiar? Frost had been head coach for all of two seasons before he was hired at Nebraska. He had one excellent season and one average season. He had not proven himself yet and he was not ready to take on such a challenge on such a level. He's like a boxer who was put in the championship bout too soon.

 

[junior4949]

I think Frost's problems are indicative of a larger problem in college football. Everyone is looking to hire the next big time head coach, so schools jump on coaches the instant they do anything impressive and become the next big name. Texas hired Tom Herman after he had one excellent season with Houston. Herman had only been head coach for two seasons and was given the reigns of the Texas football program. Sound familiar? Frost had been head coach for all of two seasons before he was hired at Nebraska. He had one excellent season and one average season. He had not proven himself yet and he was not ready to take on such a challenge on such a level. He's like a boxer who was put in the championship bout too soon.

It's interesting that you compare our situation to Texas.  I agree that we're very similar.  Both schools have systemic issues.  We know Texas has them.  How does a coach like Mack Brown who rarely lost more than a couple of games a season eventually struggle to the point of making a bowl?  Something changed within that program after 09'.  I don't follow them enough to know what it was, but something changed.  I believe both Herman and Frost are good coaches.  I also have no doubt that Sarkisian is going to completely flame out.  Until either school figures out what their systemic issues are, neither will have the success that they expect.    

 

[Nebraska55fan]

It's interesting that you compare our situation to Texas.  I agree that we're very similar.  Both schools have systemic issues.  We know Texas has them.  How does a coach like Mack Brown who rarely lost more than a couple of games a season eventually struggle to the point of making a bowl?  Something changed within that program after 09'.  I don't follow them enough to know what it was, but something changed.  I believe both Herman and Frost are good coaches.  I also have no doubt that Sarkisian is going to completely flame out.  Until either school figures out what their systemic issues are, neither will have the success that they expect.    

 Quite telling that Coach Brown has done a pretty nice job at North Carolina after being showed the door in Austin. 

 

[Undone]

But the places where NU and Texas are unbelievably divergent is that:

1. They sit on just about the biggest recruiting hot bed in the country.

2. It's warm there. 

3. The conference they play in sucks.

They had practically no excuse in the world to have gone 6-6, 5-7, 5-7, 6-6 from 2014 - 2017.

 

[TGHusker]

One reason I think Frost survives this year regardless of record is reflected in this article below.  Our OL inexperience/young age.  As the article points out, it normally takes 3 years for OL players to develop into the type of player that is needed to be successful.  We aren't there - not even close.  One could argue, that as the OL goes so does the team as a whole.  The OL creates sustained drives, which keeps the D off the field (as well as the other team's Offense) and hopefully therefore a productive offense that outscores the opponent.    The argument for staying the course for one more year is to allow time for the pipeline to develop.  So one has to consider the turnover of MR players, the covid year and the development issues at key spots  - OL, RB and WR.  My gut tells me that Frost will be our coach in 2022 for these reasons. That is my hunch now but if we have many blow out losses or a 2-4 win season, the development of the OL might become the job of a new coach. 

https://www.si.com/college/nebraska/football/ode-to-offensive-linemen

Sometime around the middle of the season our offensive line will gel enough to be as good as it was at the end of last year. By the end of this year, they have the potential to be better than they were last year, despite losing two NFL players. Because the current players are all underclassmen, they have the potential in 2022 to be the best offensive line that we've had since Bo Pelini was patrolling the sidelines.

If all of those who are eligible return for 2023, they have the potential to be the best offensive line since the Solich era. Nothing is guaranteed, but even if they do not reach those levels, by simply staying together for this season and the next two, they would be able to provide something that has been lacking since before they were born: a foundation of veteran, senior-led offensive linemen upon which the Pipeline can be re-established. It takes quality depth and senior leadership to allow new recruits to take a few years to grow (literally)into the program.

It takes about three years to develop a quality offensive lineman. In the glory days of Milt Tenopir’s Pipeline, the guys who started before their redshirt junior years tended to be all-conference, even all-American caliber of linemen. We haven’t had many of those in this millennium. Instead, we have had a succession of top prospects who have often been asked to start before they were ready due to a lack of experienced older linemen ahead of them. Of those asked to play early, most did okay as underclassmen, but it is an exceptionally rare teenager who can more than hold his own going up against 22-year-old Big Ten defensive linemen. Most off those who were thrown to the wolves early either plateaued, or else they were off to the NFL before their fourth year rolled around, let alone their fifth. Having senior leadership and depth in the offensive line makes it harder for the youngsters to start, and that’s a very, very good thing.

In the same way that it takes about three years to develop individual offensive linemen, it takes about a full season for a group of offensive linemen to come together well enough to know intuitively not only what their responsibilities are, but to know and trust what their teammates beside them will be doing. In the same way they are able to predict in practice what their teammates across from them are going to do, they start to build enough experience to know what the opposing team across from them is going to do as each opponent will have its own tricks and tendencies.