Ran into an old boss at work this morning who played football at Oregon State....

[Highway6]

First of all the guy never played for Mike Riley so his opinion is not a first hand account of his coaching ability. I don't know if Riley was a good hire or not, but it happened and we will live with what ever transpires for at least 3 years IMO.

FWIW I was sitting in the Boise airport bar in July and struck up a conversation with a guy in his 50's with a OSU polo on. He said he was acquainted with MR as they had some mutual friends. Said he was a great guy and great coach. But, that he was getting a little heat lately about his teams. Was actually surprised he took the Nebraska Job.

ok... would you be willing to say that a broad spectrum analysis of his coaching sucsess provided in a numerical figure would suffice? I've got some bad news..

 

[commando]

I had a friend was a big baseball player

back in high school

He could throw that speedball by you

Make you look like a fool boy

Saw him the other night at this roadside bar

I was walking in, he was walking out

We went back inside sat down had a few drinks

but all he kept talking about was

Mike Riley

wut?

 

[ndobney]

in the 1980's. I was going to say something about Riley, but I thought better against it, because he's got bigger things on his mind. Unsolicited by me, he said to me "Hey, I am sorry that Riley isn't doing well for Nebraska. I didn't think it was a good hire at the time, and I don't understand why a program like Nebraska would hire him in the first place. Don't get me wrong, Riley is a nice guy, but he's not a great coach."

We chatted for a couple minutes in the hallway, and then he ended it with "Banker is not a good defensive coordinator. We had been trying to get ride of him for a long time." I just replied "Yeah, I don't know what Banker is trying to do out there."

I just thought this was an interesting perspective. I know this isn't the first time we have heard this chatter from Oregon State fans/alums. This was a guy who played football at Oregon State, so he knows his stuff. It's almost like he felt sorry for me, in that I (as a Husker fan) have to deal with Riley now. The most telling part to me was the way he interjected "He's a nice guy". When we keep on hearing that about Riley, it tells me that they struggle to find other positives about Riley, so they always fall back on "well, he's a nice guy".

I get the feeling that you made this conversation up in your head.

 

[The Dude]

Oregon State had a .205 winning percentage in the 80s. I wonder what your imaginary old boss thought about his coach(es).

 

[Stumpy1]

I had a pet rock once. Laziest pet I ever owned, just laid around doing nothing.

 

[huskered17]

I bid a job Last Tuesday, the guy walked me out to my truck, and the first thing he said as he saw the Husker stickers was, what do you think of your new coach. I could tell by the way he asked, it is not just Husker fans, that are surprised by this hire.

GBR!!!