So all of the above posts bring up one of the big time "Nebraska '
What ifs". What if Tom didn't have his way and the AD hired the new coach to replace him in 97? Could it have been Bob Stoops? Good chance. Good chance our whole coaching 25 year coach carousal doesn't happen. As
@BigRedBuster notes above, Tom required Frank to keep the old staff. The recruiting dropped off. A younger Bob Stoops might have kept the recruiting pipeline full. Tom should have stepped away and let the AD be the AD.
The other big "
What If" that I wonder about - If Tom had won the 3 NC that were in the bag for him that he lost (2 stolen by refs: PSU 1982, FSU 2003, and 1 if he had just kicked the d*$M extra point in '83) would he be considered GOAT with Saben chasing him? If he had won NC in 82 and 83, I suspect he would have won more in the 1980s because of the exposure to better recruiting a NC gives a school. Nebraska won the 1990s and we could have won the 1980s and an argument could be made that we won the 1970s wt 2 NC and with the 71 team being top 3 or 4th all time per some analysts.