MSU Fan:
Our collective take was that firing Bo and hiring Riley set in motion the dominoes that led to us losing our ace defensive coordinator (the musical chairs between Riley, Andersen, Chryst and ultimately Narduzzi to Pitt). Furthermore, as this season has progressed, perhaps an even bigger damage to our program was that when we promoted the linebackers/special teams coach to co-DC, his replacement has proven to be an absolutely terrible special teams coach. If Nebraska prevails tomorrow, it is highly likely that special teams turns out to be a key factor. And, quite frankly, what makes this so frustrating is that we knew Nardog was going to leave eventually, but not for this season until NU hired Riley, who right away struck all us us as absolutely not the kind of guy you fire a 9 win coach to get. Even if Bo had to go, what was your AD thinking when deciding to hire a 60+ year old with no real track record? There's gotta be some young up and comers out there (PJ Fleck?) that you could have taken a chance on.
Although I don't follow your program that closely, I get that there was more to it than W-L. Still, you would think an assessment would be done which would encompass a study of how other schools have fared in similar situations. It sort of reminds me of Minnesota firing Glen Mason, who was their most successful coach since Murray Warmath back in the early 60s. Or Indiana firing Bill Mallory, their most successful coach since well, ever. Their replacements did not raise the bar. Nebraska's a little different but one would think that part of the equation would be the projected on-field success, regardless of whether the guy is hard to get along with. (If there were more serious off the field indiscretions, I haven't heard about them).
I suppose the 9 win plateau and lack of conference championships could have been hard to swallow for the portion of your fan base that is old enough to have enjoyed the 70's, 80's & 90's, but even they have to be realistic enough to understand that the variables in play today make it much more difficult to enjoy that kind of sustained success no matter what conference you're in. I suppose the fact that Pelini's defense was so obviously helpless against Wisconsin must have been a consideration. The flip side of that was that his cover 2 scheme gave us fits and shut MSU's O down better than anyone else, bar none. So I'm grateful for that aspect. Hopefully Riley's D will be a lot more accommodating.
Anyway, good luck. I've been to every BIG venue except Rutgers and Maryland (and TFC in Minny) and have been treated well everywhere, but never met friendlier fans than I did in Lincoln.