I just hope the search for a new coach and long and drawn out, hopefully we'll know by Monday or tuesday!!
Here's an idea my wife, a Lincoln native, NU alum, and life-long NU fan came up with. As a former football coach, it makes sense to me. So, before anyone laughs, give my following comments some serious thought...My wife suggested that NU go after Bill Cowher, the former Pittsburgh Steeler coach. BUT, and hang with me here, NU also lures Turner Gill away from Buffalo and the two combine to, first, bring back the winning record to NU, and, secondly, they also bring back that unexplainable yet ever so prevalent entity known as the Husker tradition. Cowher could be hired for a maximum of three - four years with the understanding that after that time, Turner Gill takes over as the new head coach. Think about it: Would Cowher let Kansas or anyone else off the hook? No, I doubt he would. Would Cowher have allowed Colorado to come back from an 11 point deficit? Nope. But at the same time, Cowher could also be the one person who gets the Blackshirt defense where it once was because we all know Cowher takes crap off no one. He'd fire up the new Blackshirts, the REVAMPED Blackshirts, and anyone who faces the NU defense will have to hear war stories from their friends, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, etc. about how the NEW Blackshirts sure look like those of old. Cowher could bring in someone such as Tom Rathman to help out with the BS Defense in the role of Defensive Coach. At the same time, Turner Gill would work with the offense and while he might bring back the option offense, he could also install newer and more contemporary plays that are specifically designed to counter the various forms of offenses in use by any number of schools around the nation. That way, when other big time schools such as USC returns to Lincoln (and after NU becomes again the power it once was, then big-time schools would HAVE to come to Lincoln or schedule NU for a home game) then they do so facing a defense and an offense that will put it to them in any number of ways. Gill could possibly bring in Scott Frost or Eric Crouch to help with the offense. By doing so, you've got a return to Nebraska tradtion which the fan base so desperately seeks. After Cowher leaves, and Gill assumes the head position, then what's left but a return to national prominence as well as a return to post-season games which are BCS games rather than the watered-down bowl games we see now that are really more of a consolation prize than they are true, meaningful bowl games? Additionally, after Cowher's departure, almost the entire staff would be former NU players who surely WOULD NOT allow anyone to wear the NU jersey who doesn't understand and apprecciate what it means to play in Memorial Stadium. New recruits would be amazed to see Bill Cowher, Turner Gill, Eric Crouch, and any number of former Husker greats in their living rooms, as would their fathers if they know anything at all about NU football. I know all this sounds far fetched, but think back: so was the hiring of Bill Callahan far-fethced for that matter. I'll anxiously look for replies to this message...
