I didn't see a single poster on this board mention Mike Riley. That means he wasn't even in the top five choices of many knowledgeable fans. I also think rebuilding a top program is stressful and time consuming; something that is better suited for a younger coach. This was one of my major complaints about sweater vest.
i think after his record at Oregon St. his attraction fell off, if he is such a great recruiter, he should have had some real success at OS......i doubt he will ever get 9 wins here.
I just said he was an out of the box hire. I said he I knew who he was, I didn't say he was in my top 5 coaches to hire. I figured he was a lifer at OSU after being there so long. Again just because he was on your top 5 you scribbled on a cocktail napkin doesn't mean he wasn't at the top of SE board.
This statement is not true if it is regarding Riley at OSU. Riley started at OSU in 1997 and went 3-8. In 1998 he went 5-6. In comes Erickson who went 7-5, 11-1, 5-6 and 8-5. Erickson won the PAC and the Fiesta bowl finishing 5th in the coaches poll. Riley came back, and proceeded to go 8-5, 7-5, 5-6,etc. for a 93-80 record at OSU. What makes an AD say "I've got to hire that fireball!"
I gave Coach Bo seven years of my support. I rooted for him, pulled for him ... and I stood up for him when he was being as a$$ on the sideline and when he talked bad about the fans and the university ... I hoped the best for him and the situation.
That is my point. Most of us didn't want an out of the box hire. Getting rid of Bo brought us Christmas morning. We were anxiously unwrapping our big present hoping it was a top tier, proven winner. Knowing this was unlikely, we were hoping for the next best option; a proven mid-major winner, or an up and comer with a history of ferocious defenses or powerful running games. Instead, we open the big present, and it was a box of socks and underwear (an out-of-the box hire). So we all sigh, and go onto the smaller boxes - the assistant coaches. Now we are certain we can lure great assistants here, and at least one expressed interested in the DC job. But when we open the smaller boxes we get pajamas, shirts, pants, and a couple lumps of coal. We were completely stoned this Christmas.
I don't think any of us are capable of coaching a Power 5 team. There is a reason these men are paid several million dollars per year. The point is we just gave a substantial raise to a coach we did not believe was capable of bring Nebraska back to national prominence, and the first six games he has underachieved those weak expectations.I gave Coach Bo seven years of my support. I rooted for him, pulled for him ... and I stood up for him when he was being as a$$ on the sideline and when he talked bad about the fans and the university ... I hoped the best for him and the situation.
I think our new coach (whom didn't even graze my Top 20 list) deserves support ... especially after these past six games. He's on my team. I'm not going to shoot him. He is not my enemy. From what I've seen in his press conferences and all his interviews he has the character of a man whom embodies Husker football. I'll let everyone figure out who that is. I'm gonna choose to believe the best in this man and in this team. I'm going to trust that folks in the football world, both pro and college, who think highly of this coach ... just might know a bit more about how to run a football program and make changes to improve her performance.
Coach Riley just might fail. He might even fail this year. I trust that at the end of the season there is gonna be a few posts and threads where I and others can chime in on changes that we think need to be made. Personally, I think it's insane to call for Riley's head. Who would we get in his place for this season? What sort of O and D would we run? What kind of torture would that put these kids though who already had Coach Bo twisting their minds against the fans and university? I really don't get the maturity of these kinds of actions. I think a few too many of these "greatest fans" have won a fantasy football league and now somehow think they can put together some amazing program that would be 6-0. I've got some news for you "wannabees" ... well, you aren't a "Jim Harbaugh" or a "Jim McElwain". I might suggest that you think too highly of yourself.
These thoughts come from a fan who has his own frustrations with the season ... like not being committed to the run, undisciplined football that leads to turnovers and penalties (Bo was terrible with penalties and this coach is no different). Other posts have stated our problems far better then I will care to address in this post ... but for the love of everything behind GO BIG Red and theI will my favorite team far above my own thoughts or own personal wishes because this is HOW I CAN CONTRIBUTE AND SUPPORT MY TEAM.
I have not shared my view to hurt, harm or throw stones at any of my fellow Husker fans. I will continue to lock arms with each of you make Huskerboard a friendly football place. I respect the heck out of many of you and find myself at home with our moderators. Sometimes I wish more new posters would take a chill pill and take some time to read and decide when you feel you have something to say or contribute. You don't have to get in 4000 posts in your first year. You don't have to start a thread to contribute. Just love the... be a fan ... and think about the impact of your words ... both for the good ... or the bad.
That one huge year at Oregon State wasn't his best year in coaching. He won the MNC at Miami. But after Erickson got fired Miami was a basement dweller for a half decade or so due to the pile of ncaa sanctions that Dennis Erickson amassed. Is that the kind of thing we want here at Nebraska?
I am not advocating for Erickson, I am just refuting the incorrect statements that OSU had a losing record for 28 years until MR saved them. DE produced the 1st winning season there in many years, not MR. When MR took over, OSU's record took a downward trend, and they were back to a losing record by MR's 3rd year.
i would quite agree, a program like ours sure deserved a high quality coach with some real credentials to go along with him......that pretty new girl you were dreaming about, well you got the chubby little b!^@h next door, who picks her damn nose at dinner!
I get you didn't want him, but aside from Sabin, Meyer, and maybe a couple of other guys there are very few proven winners over time that are going to come to Nebraska. There are lots of mid-major guys that have failed terribly when they have got their chance at a big time program.
You are absolutely correct, but I think the odds are better with a mid-major winner. I liked the Bo hire because we hired a DC that won a MNC. He didn't do terrible, but the occasional beatdowns coupled with a bad attitude cost him his job. I just wanted the AD to take a good swing instead of laying down a sacrifice bunt.
I think it's fair to say that *both* Riley and Erickson fared considerably better than any other OSU coach in the preceding, well, forever. Before Erickson and Riley you have to go all the way back to 1962 for a nine-win season. Erickson and Riley had five nine-win seasons between them. Erickson had one and Riley had four. (But Riley was there three times longer.) Dennis Erickson had the best year ever for the Beavers, going 11-1 in 2000. The other three years Erickson was at OSU were just so so, going 20-16. Riley won nine games during four different years out of his fourteen seasons at OSU. Riley's win % was lower than Erickson. Riley won 52% over 14 years. Erickson won 62.5% over four years. To be fair though the program was much worse when Riley took over than when Erickson took over. The two years before Riley, OSU won a total of three games. In the two year prior to Erickson taking over, OSU won eight games. LINK
Well that is your opinion, it was obviously not SE's. You want a sexy hire, let's say he went after a guy like Jerry Kill, say before he went to Minnesota, what would you have thought of that? Goofy looking guy got a 350 pound guy as his DC? Nothing too dynamic about. Think about the PC to announce him. What do you think of that. You would love to have Kill right now, but would you have liked the hire then?