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All-American
Nebraska National Championship Team Members
Provided Lessons in Leadership
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
I don’t know if Tom Osborne and Dwight Eisenhower ever met, but I think Nebraska’s legendary football coach and our nation’s 34th president would have liked and respected each other.
They were both Republicans, and they both understood the essence of leadership.
Since the Huskers are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their last national football championship this weekend, we asked Coach Osborne to sit down with us on Thursday and recall what laid the groundwork for that 13-0 season, which ended with a 42-17 pasting of Tennessee and quarterback Peyton Manning in the Orange Bowl.
Osborne took about two seconds to get to the heart of the accomplishment.
“I had two players, (juniors) Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter, come into see me. They were probably going to be first-round draft picks,” Osborne recalls. “That was the general rumor that they were at that level. I thought they were going to tell me that they were going to do what was best for them and their families . . . the usual speech (when players leave school early and declare for the draft).”
But Osborne’s instincts were wrong. “They said they wanted to let me know that we were going to stick around because we were disappointed that we lost two games (in ’96), and we are going to finish it up right, and we are going to win them all next year.”
Osborne knew then – nine months before the season started – that his top two players were more motivated about ‘97 than anyone. Before Wistrom and Peter ever walked out his door, he knew he was seeing the very essence of leadership. He didn’t have to create a vision. Two accomplished, driven players were doing something that needed to be done because they wanted to do it.
“They had been on two national championship teams (in ’94 and ’95), so they knew what that was all about,” Osborne said, adding that without Wistrom’s and Peter's leadership and talent, 1997 would not have unfolded like it did.
"They really set the tone for that 1997 team,” he said. “It was a very, very good team.” Later, Osborne said the talent level was “obviously pretty good, but the dedication and commitment was exceptional.”
The ’97 championship team wasn’t created in the weight room or on the field. It was made from something that Wistrom and Peter had deep inside them, and their desire and their dream became the vision for everyone else.
Take a few minutes and listen to Osborne’s comments and the snapshot of his career through the years. Check out the 10 players from that ’97 team who are still playing in the NFL.
Then tell us why you think leadership is so important in sports and what you consider to be the best examples of leadership in Nebraska’s storied athletic history.
Editor’s note: Randy York is the Chief Communications Officer for the Nebraska Athletic Department.
Provided Lessons in Leadership
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
I don’t know if Tom Osborne and Dwight Eisenhower ever met, but I think Nebraska’s legendary football coach and our nation’s 34th president would have liked and respected each other.
They were both Republicans, and they both understood the essence of leadership.
Since the Huskers are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their last national football championship this weekend, we asked Coach Osborne to sit down with us on Thursday and recall what laid the groundwork for that 13-0 season, which ended with a 42-17 pasting of Tennessee and quarterback Peyton Manning in the Orange Bowl.
Osborne took about two seconds to get to the heart of the accomplishment.
“I had two players, (juniors) Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter, come into see me. They were probably going to be first-round draft picks,” Osborne recalls. “That was the general rumor that they were at that level. I thought they were going to tell me that they were going to do what was best for them and their families . . . the usual speech (when players leave school early and declare for the draft).”
But Osborne’s instincts were wrong. “They said they wanted to let me know that we were going to stick around because we were disappointed that we lost two games (in ’96), and we are going to finish it up right, and we are going to win them all next year.”
Osborne knew then – nine months before the season started – that his top two players were more motivated about ‘97 than anyone. Before Wistrom and Peter ever walked out his door, he knew he was seeing the very essence of leadership. He didn’t have to create a vision. Two accomplished, driven players were doing something that needed to be done because they wanted to do it.
“They had been on two national championship teams (in ’94 and ’95), so they knew what that was all about,” Osborne said, adding that without Wistrom’s and Peter's leadership and talent, 1997 would not have unfolded like it did.
"They really set the tone for that 1997 team,” he said. “It was a very, very good team.” Later, Osborne said the talent level was “obviously pretty good, but the dedication and commitment was exceptional.”
The ’97 championship team wasn’t created in the weight room or on the field. It was made from something that Wistrom and Peter had deep inside them, and their desire and their dream became the vision for everyone else.
Take a few minutes and listen to Osborne’s comments and the snapshot of his career through the years. Check out the 10 players from that ’97 team who are still playing in the NFL.
Then tell us why you think leadership is so important in sports and what you consider to be the best examples of leadership in Nebraska’s storied athletic history.
Editor’s note: Randy York is the Chief Communications Officer for the Nebraska Athletic Department.