Questioning the coaching search timeline
- Thread starter knapplc
- Start date
zoogs
Assistant Coach
That's an extremely plausible timeline.
I don't get the people who don't want to believe Mike Riley was our first choice. If it wasn't him -- and this search was concluded in record time -- it had to be someone quite similar.
This Riley guy has probably slept with Eichorst's favorite book under his pillow his entire life.
If it blows up terribly, blame Eichorst for a bad call. By any reasonable account I think it's safe to say Eichorst zeroed the hell in on this guy.
And you know what? I'm thinking if only we had managed to get him earlier in his career. If only, when our last coach was fired, we hadn't had this booster-dictated, predestined "Bring Nebraska Back" attempt with a DC who had only been here for one year and, as it would turn out, had disdain for Nebraska fans and their unrealistic expectations.
SouthAfricanHusker
Four-Star Recruit
Bert (intentional misspelling) has to walk a thin line now. If he jumped ship now that would be 3 blue blood schools in 2 years. Not something Nebraska would take interest in. So why would we offer him? It's like marriage. If you are with someone who is cheating why wouldn't they cheat on you. If Bert leaves an SEC team with a rich history why wouldn't he leave a B1G team with rich history.
Add in that he shares an agent with SE why not make the claim to get a raise?
Add in that he shares an agent with SE why not make the claim to get a raise?
What is the difference between those "who don't want to believe" he was the first choice and those that only want to believe he was the first choice? Other than which reports they want to believe.
zoogs
Assistant Coach
I guess I should phrase it this way -- I don't understand looking at Riley and his characteristics and not thinking, "It makes sense that this is exactly what the AD was looking for."
Whether he was literally the first call, or if there was some unknown guy in a similar mold that was reached out to before, and so on.
But, sure -- it does come down to which reports you want to believe.
Paul in WI
Starter
I don't mean to sound flippant, but at this point, who cares? He's our coach, and we're going to have to live with the decision.
NUance
Assistant Coach
Yeah, I've been thinking about the timing also. But really, even with everything lined up ahead of time I don't think SE would've wanted to make an announcement much faster than four days. Remember the initial outbursts on Sunday? The team was in shock, and fans were bewildered and grumbling. It took a couple of days of twisting in the wind to get everyone on board with wanting a name to be announced. The timing of yesterday's announcement was almost perfect. Was it by design, or dumb luck? It's likely that no one will know for sure. I think the NU admin has said about all they're going to say on the search topic.
linchusker
Walk-on
I hate to let facts get in the way of speculation, but you can look at the flight data and see the time line for the movements SE and HP reference. Sure could be any people on a flight from Oakland, CA to Lincoln, NE that then ends up with a flight from Corvallis, OR to Lincoln, NE. But what is missing is any flights to or from Lincoln to where Bielima is. Tough to see an offer made without a face to face happening first. But I guess in a mythical world of footballscoop or highly placed unnamed sources it could.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N102PA/history/20141204/2115Z/KCVO/KLNK
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N102PA/history/20141204/2115Z/KCVO/KLNK
kchusker_chris
All-American
I actually intended to convey that I thought four days was pretty short to end up with a coach who basically no one was expecting to get a job somewhere else. Again, I'm not saying it was a bad choice or that it won't work out. But we were in no danger of him taking a job somewhere else and us losing out. He wasn't high on many people's list. In fact, he wasn't on anyone's list at all. There was no reason to hire him that fast other than to make things look to go smoothly. Unless he was absolutely the only guy we were looking at and I think that would be unfortunate.
Question no more
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/in-san-francisco-meeting-eichorst-and-perlman-find-our-guy/article_d024a272-7cb1-11e4-97d9-7f8f570d3d6e.html
Ten years ago, the Oregon State coach popped up on Riley's radar during South Carolina's coaching search. Eichorst was an assistant athletic director at South Carolina.
South Carolina eventually chose Steve Spurrier, but Eichorst didn't forget what he liked about Riley.
"He's an elite coach," Eichorst said. "He's a teacher."
Monday morning, following the first of five consecutive short nights of sleep, Eichorst determined that Riley was his No. 1 target. He contacted the Oregon State coach to see if he was interested. Riley was.
"At that point, I recruited my tail off like I've never done before," Eichorst said. "I was focused, I was locked in, I knew what I wanted."
He learned that Riley and NU Chancellor Harvey Perlman, by coincidence, were going to be in San Francisco on Tuesday.
"Well," Eichorst told Riley, "this might be meant to be."
Eichorst headed for the Lincoln airport to catch United Flight 5185. It was scheduled for 8:07 p.m. It didn't leave till 9:14. Eichorst nearly missed his connection in Denver. He landed in San Francisco at about midnight and arrived the Hilton Union Square at 12:30 a.m.
The next morning, Eichorst and Riley met in Room 3670 - Eichorst can't remember the number exactly. They spoke for an hour. Then Perlman joined the discussion for another hour. Riley left the room, so Eichorst and Perlman could chat.
"I think this is our guy," Eichorst said.
Perlman agreed.
Eichorst called Riley back to the room, where they went over details. Tuesday afternoon, the A.D. was headed back to Lincoln.
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/in-san-francisco-meeting-eichorst-and-perlman-find-our-guy/article_d024a272-7cb1-11e4-97d9-7f8f570d3d6e.html
Ten years ago, the Oregon State coach popped up on Riley's radar during South Carolina's coaching search. Eichorst was an assistant athletic director at South Carolina.
South Carolina eventually chose Steve Spurrier, but Eichorst didn't forget what he liked about Riley.
"He's an elite coach," Eichorst said. "He's a teacher."
Monday morning, following the first of five consecutive short nights of sleep, Eichorst determined that Riley was his No. 1 target. He contacted the Oregon State coach to see if he was interested. Riley was.
"At that point, I recruited my tail off like I've never done before," Eichorst said. "I was focused, I was locked in, I knew what I wanted."
He learned that Riley and NU Chancellor Harvey Perlman, by coincidence, were going to be in San Francisco on Tuesday.
"Well," Eichorst told Riley, "this might be meant to be."
Eichorst headed for the Lincoln airport to catch United Flight 5185. It was scheduled for 8:07 p.m. It didn't leave till 9:14. Eichorst nearly missed his connection in Denver. He landed in San Francisco at about midnight and arrived the Hilton Union Square at 12:30 a.m.
The next morning, Eichorst and Riley met in Room 3670 - Eichorst can't remember the number exactly. They spoke for an hour. Then Perlman joined the discussion for another hour. Riley left the room, so Eichorst and Perlman could chat.
"I think this is our guy," Eichorst said.
Perlman agreed.
Eichorst called Riley back to the room, where they went over details. Tuesday afternoon, the A.D. was headed back to Lincoln.
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knapplc
International Man of Mystery
zoogies raises an excellent point. If Eichorst had an idea of the "type of guy" he wanted, it would be almost impossible to go from Bielema to Riley. The two couldn't be further apart in demeanor. If we lined everybody up on a graph with Osborne's personality at one end and Pelini's at the other, Bert & Riley would be on completely different ends of the spectrum.