Mike Ditka on Nebraska(Callahan)

In 1985, the Chicago Bears had the most dominating defense in the NFL holding 11 of the 16 teams they played in the regular season to less than 10 points. They had the all time rushing leader with Walter Payton. They had 3 people who are already in the Hall of Fame plus Richard Dent and Willie Gault. Basically, they had one great season because of defense. I don't know how this even correlates to Nebraska because our defense is far from great.

After 1985 with a star studded team, the Bears never reached the Super Bowl again. It would be one thing if Bill Walsh was saying great things, but I don't hold much stock in a one hit wonder. Back in the 80's NFL teams weren't decimated by free agency like in today's NFL. They had the same team and couldn't ever get back to the big game.

In 1992 Mike Ditka was FIRED after a 5-11 record. Then he moved onto television before reentering coaching with the Saints. I don't even think we need to go there with what he accomplished. It's amazing that Big Tuna gets a call from Jerry Jones to revive the Cowboys, but Ditka's name wasn't even mentioned. In fact, you don't even hear his name mentioned about many/any coaching vacancies in the NFL.

Ditka's philosophy and Callahan's philosophy are a complete 180 degrees from one another. Ditka tries to win with defense, Callahan tries to win with offense. My point was that Ditka is not what I would consider one of the greats to coach the game of football. I highly doubt many in the industry consider him one of the greats as far as coaching goes in football.

 
In 1985, the Chicago Bears had the most dominating defense in the NFL holding 11 of the 16 teams they played in the regular season to less than 10 points. They had the all time rushing leader with Walter Payton. They had 3 people who are already in the Hall of Fame plus Richard Dent and Willie Gault. Basically, they had one great season because of defense.
After 1985 with a star studded team, the Bears never reached the Super Bowl again. It would be one thing if Bill Walsh was saying great things, but I don't hold much stock in a one hit wonder. Back in the 80's NFL teams weren't decimated by free agency like in today's NFL. They had the same team and couldn't ever get back to the big game.
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I still can't believe you call him a one hit wonder. So do you have to win the Super Bowl every year to be a good coach? From 85-88 the Bears had the most wins EVER in a 4 year span. They had the best record in the NFC in 88 despite losing Payton, Wilbur Marshall, and Willie Gault. The last two the lost to Free Agency. Crap their starting QB half the time was freakin Tomzak.(sp) Is Ditka freakin Bill Walsh? No. But come on dude he is more then a one hit wonder. Oh and the 3 people from the 85 team that are in the Hall of Fame will probably be the ONLY people off that team that get in.

 
Is Brian Billick of the Ravens a great coach? He won one Super Bowl with a star studded defense, and he hasn't made the big dance again. I say no. Is Mack Brown of Texas a great coach? I say no because he can't win the big one. Is Mike Ditka a great coach because he won ONE Super Bowl and could never get back there? I say no. Here's one for you, was Howard Schnellenberger of Miami a great coach when they won the NC over NU in 1983? I say no.

Other than Mack Brown, the others have all won the championship in their respective leagues. However, none of them have had a lot of success after that. Remember Schnellenberger's stint at OU? He was terrible. All I'm saying is that with the fire power Ditka had and the defense that they had, they should have been able to get back to the big show. He couldn't do that. He went to the Saints, and he STUNK up the place. If you consider him a great coach, fine. However, I don't think he's a great coach and I don't think many in the industry find him as a great coach either. If they did, you'd hear his name brought up when there were coaching vacancies.

 
So with that theory what do you think of ole Frankie? Llyod Carr? Nick Saban? Frank Beamer? (only played for a NC once) Kirk Ferentz? He hasn't even played for a NC but he is a pretty freakin good coach. I just don't agree that to be considered great you have to win it all. (I'm NOT saying Solich was great)

I never once said Ditka was a great coach. I just said he was more then a one hit wonder.

 
For those of you looking for better defense, you had better check out these stats.

+--------------+----------+

| Reg. Season | Playoffs |

+----------+--------------+----------+

| Year TM | W L T | W L |

+----------+--------------+----------+

| 2002 oak | 11 5 0 | 2 1 |

| 2003 oak | 4 12 0 | 0 0 |

+----------+--------------+----------+

| TOTALS | 15 17 0 | 2 1 |

+----------+--------------+----------+

Team rankings

PT = points, Y = yards, A = attempts, YA = yards per attempt

+----------+--------- Offense --------------+-------- Defense --------------+----+

| |- TOT --|--- Rush --|--- Pass --|- TOT--|--- Rush --|--- Pass --| OUT|

| Year TM | PT Y A Y YA TD A Y YA TD | PT Y A Y YA TD A Y YA TD | OF|

+----------+--------------------------------+-------------------------------+----+

| 2002 oak | 2 2 25 18 13 5 2 1 2 8 | 6 12 4 3 4 13 25 25 15 16 | 32 |

| 2003 oak | 27 25 21 16 13 13 14 28 29 32 | 25 30 32 32 25 30 3 19 30 20 | 32 |

+----------+--------------------------------+-------------------------------+----+

Here lies the question. If you were the best running back coming out of high school, why would you go play for a coach who in his only two years of head coaching experience ranked in the bottom 1/3 of the league? The passing defense sucked even the year they made the Super Bowl. Could this be the reason they got spanked?

That may be a bit harsh, but it does illustrate that Callahan and Ditka have extremely different views on what style of offense and defense they run. With two coaches being this much different, how in the hell does Ditka know that Callahan is the right man?

 
To answer your questions, I think it is pretty obvious Frank Solich will not be remembered as a great coach. In the 70's and 80's TO wasn't even recognized as a great coach. Given more time, Solich may very well have been as well regarded at TO, but now we will never know. Lloyd Carr is not a great coach. He couldn't even hold Bo Schembeckler's jock strap. Nick Saban is interesting. He goes to a team, rebuilds that team, and then moves on. He reminds me of Larry Brown of the Pistons, 76ers, Kansas basketball teams. If Saban flops in the NFL, I don't think he'll be regarded as a great coach. If he has a lot of success, he'll probably get the same kind of accolades as Jimmy Johnson and some of the other great program builders. In my opinion, the jury is still out on Saban. The same could potentially be said about Frank Beemer. He's a good coach, and he has rebuilt a program. However, he just can't get over the hump. No, I don't consider him a great coach yet either.

For college coaches, you have to put Bill Snyder (I know you all hate KState) as a great coach just because he took the worst team in D1 and made them contenders. Stoops for rebuilding a shattered OU program. Butch Davis for rebuilding a shattered program. Bo Schembeckler, TO, Switzer, Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden, Bear Bryant, Eddie Robinson, when/if USC 3peats Pete Carroll. I'm sure I'm missing some/a lot, but you get my point.

I'm not going to go too much into the Pro coaches; but Walsh, Parcells, Belichick, Johnson, etc. fit the mold.

In my opinion, a great coach is someone who starts with potentially very little and then makes the program respectable at first and then contenders. A lot of the 85 Bears team was handed to Ditka. Why don't you think he didn't have any success at the Saints? Because he wasn't bright enough to assemble the talent he needed to win. Going back through the records, it appears as though NU should have been looking at Art Shell. He had a lot better record at the Raiders than Callahan.

Take Phil Jackson for example. He's a very good coach, and he has a great scheme. But I don't necessarily consider him a great coach because he's never had to assemble any talent. When he's won all of his championships, he's stepped into a program loaded with talent. Everyone thinks he will go back to the Lakers to coach again, but I'm not so sure. I think even Jackson knows he can't win with just Kobe.

We could also look at Mike Shannahan at the Broncos. He stepped into a franchise that had already been to 2 or 3 Super Bowls, but they got blown out. He added one little piece to the puzzle, and made them winners. Is he a great coach? I don't know. I know a lot of people are calling for his job now. Elway may have made him look better than he is. His success at the Raiders was anything but stellar.

 
I can't believe you said Phil Jackson isn't a great coach. I don't care if he had the 12 greatest players ever, he still has 9 freakin rings. If he wasn't great why didn't the Bulls or the Lakers win titles before he got there? As far as Larry Brown, he rebuilt KU and the 76ers but don't include the Pistons in there. He walked into a team that had back to back 50 win seasons. They made it to the Eastern Conference finals the year before. Maybe he took them the next step but they were already knocking on the door.

Back to Ditka. So you have to run the WCO and a 4-3 defense to be able to comment on Callahan? That makes sense.

 
Do you seriously think with Jordan and Pippen, the Bulls wouldn't have won without Phil Jackson? The Pistons were the only team in their way and Isiah Thomas and Dumars were over the hill. They would have won without Jackson. You do have a point at the Lakers. It wasn't that there wasn't enough talent, but Jackson was able to get Kobe and Shaq to sort of play like teammates instead of enemies.

In terms of the WCO and 4-3 defense, no I don't think that is relevant to make a comment on NU's situation. However, I would like to hear a coach with a similar approach to the game as Callahan make comments. It would be like TO giving praise to Spurrier. It really doesn't mean much especially when they are on totally different ends of the spectrum. Why don't we hear Gruden or some of the old staff that moved to Tampa Bay giving accolades to Callahan?

The one good thing about this discussion was the fact that it made me do a lot of research on how the Raiders performed under Callahan. Also, I did a lot of reading about analysts analyzing Callahan. The one basic thing I took from the articles was the fact that Callahan is too soft and too nice. The players at the Raiders all wanted him as the head coach, but after he became the head coach they never listened to him. Last year may have been a fluke, but it appeared if his schemes are good that the players simply didn't listen to them or execute them. With all this being said, I'm scared to death of what fall practice will be like when Beck gets here. He seems like he wants to run the show, just like Frazier did when he came to NU. I see a storm brewing come fall.

 
However, I would like to hear a coach with a similar approach to the game as Callahan make comments. It really doesn't mean much especially when they are on totally different ends of the spectrum. Why don't we hear Gruden or some of the old staff that moved to Tampa Bay giving accolades to Callahan?
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Ask him what he thinks. "I think Nebraska is one of the great responsibilities in coaching. They need a guy who can come in there and handle that job. Bill is that guy." That was in Lincoln Journal Star over a year ago.

Ditka played football for successful Cowboy teams, he coached successful teams(no matter how hard you try to refute it) and he has respect for Callahan and thinks that he will be successful. One guy's opinion. No more, no less.

It would be like TO giving praise to Spurrier.
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So just because one coach doesn't do the exact same thing as the other, he can't appreciate that the other coach does a good job. What a laugher that is :rollin :rollin
 
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