So you want to get rid of Riley

[VectorVictor]

Throw cash and even a guy like Briles or Patterson would come. IIRC, Peterson would never leave Boise........These guys (and their agents) are smart enough to know the big cash comes win, lose or draw. just look at Bo's buyout as proof. Riley was nothing more than the unit-Bo hire. Safe, controllable and "good", but not great.

Kids come to winning players and winning coaches. Not sure if I was a kid would I look at NU as a "winning program", having a winning coach or looking like they are trending up. We don't get to go bowling, my prediction is the class tanks (I don't follow recruiting so I have no idea where we are at), but some of the higher talked about pros[ects don't stay.

Money gets a coach and winning gets the recruits.

And therein lies the rub...people want to give Riley time and keep pointing towards recruiting as a reason to see his tenure through. But if we don't go bowling, the class is going to go to seed in a hurry.

Folks are smart enough to know that there's talent at this program already--more talent than all but one of the teams we've played to date, and the current staff failed to get the job done. Why would a bigger infusion of talent lead to different results? And why would you let this staff coach your kids when it's obvious they're not getting the job done now?

Sorry, but any article that puts our school in the same tier as Virginia, NC State and Iowa loses all credibility.

Not only that but it uses being in the SEC as a trump card. Like Florida trumps FSU in terms of desireability because SEC.

That is what you would call ESPN bias. Fortunately, the B1G will get their big contract in right before cord-cutting helps destroy ESPN's cache via their large contracts and inability to grab carrier fees from every cable/satellite subscriber in the nation.

I fully expect that when cord-cutting hits ESPN hard, specialized channels like the SEC Network will be jettisoned in a hurry. That, or ESPN will double down on the SEC love so much that it will destroy what little credibility they have left, and SEC love will become nothing more than a reoccurring joke, and the era of SEC championships viewed in a similar disdain to the steroid-era in Baseball.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Throw cash and even a guy like Briles or Patterson would come. IIRC, Peterson would never leave Boise........These guys (and their agents) are smart enough to know the big cash comes win, lose or draw. just look at Bo's buyout as proof. Riley was nothing more than the unit-Bo hire. Safe, controllable and "good", but not great.

Kids come to winning players and winning coaches. Not sure if I was a kid would I look at NU as a "winning program", having a winning coach or looking like they are trending up. We don't get to go bowling, my prediction is the class tanks (I don't follow recruiting so I have no idea where we are at), but some of the higher talked about pros[ects don't stay.

Money gets a coach and winning gets the recruits.

I agree that there is a certain amount of truth in these remarks but I would suggest that Money and a 'name' school gets a great coach and a great coach at a 'name' school gets great recruits and the result is winning football. Obviously, a school like Baylor, which was literally everybody's 'homecoming' game about 15 or 20 years ago, made the turn around. About the time that Baylor hired former Husker coach Kevin Steele and Tommy Frazier is when the turn around began. They did not start winning but they began the process of recruiting better and being competitive. Devaney did it differently. He came to a good footbally school and was a good but relatively unknown coach. But recruiting was much different at that time. School was cheap so kids went to play football mostly just for the fun of it. Devaney was a fun guy and no doubt knew how to talk to the kid and the parents and convince them to come for fun of it. Tom Osborne was a NOT a 'name' coach but he was an excellent X and Os coach with a good manner and intelligent way who became HC of a big name school with lots of money to back him up and every advantage immaginable for recruiting. It was a different era then and Nebraska took football to a whole new level of seriousness. It became a business and Nebraska went 'pro'. Many schools did not come close to the level and Nebraska was one of a handful that created the 'program' mentality - an entire system, not just a sports team and so on. We had new and innovative ideas on training and development of football players - some used the word 'football factory' to describe Nebraska and about a dozen other places. This kept us as an "A List" program where any and all great players would give careful consideration when a Husker coach called upon them in recruiting.

Then Nebraska became 'THE" program and THE school of first choice to almost every recruit across the country by the late '90s. We could literally recruiting almost ANY player we wanted. At one point, I remeber Osborne introducing a recruiting class on signing day by saying "We idenitified the top 100 players in the Nation and listed them and drew a line there and said we weren't taking anyone who was not on that list - taking 23 of the top 100 players in the entire country. Unheard of I would suggest in recruiting - nobody does that! Now, unfortunately Frank failed to keep up the good work and blew it. By the time Frank was fired, we were not recruiting any of the top 100 let alone all from that pool. Now, the ravages of time have taken the toll. Nebraska is NO LONGER a top 20 school in the minds of most recruits. Now, we are lucky if we can sign a class of 22 from the top 900 players and the nation likely only has about 3000 true D-1 caliber kids a year. Those are divided among a couple hundred schools so you do the math. There are not enough players nationwide to fill up all the scholarships available. .

 

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

I call shenanigans!

 

[Ric Flair]

I think we also underestimate how much demand Riley would be in on the open market. He's been courted by numerous top programs over the years, including Alabama and USC. I just read a column yesterday that indicated he would have been the top contender for the USC job if he were available. Husker fans need to relax, quit being a bunch of hyperdramatic idiots, and be patient. Riley will get the job done. He just needs some time.

 

[HuskerMav11]

Sorry, but any article that puts our school in the same tier as Virginia, NC State and Iowa loses all credibility.

Except for the fact that NC State is 4-2 and Iowa is 6-0. Fun fact: we are a worse team than both those schools this year, and we haven't been relevent since you were old enough to know better (assuming you were born in 92 and not graduation date)...

 

[Red Five]

I do t buy any excuse for lack of recruiti g whatsoever anymore. I do t care where were at. All it takes is a vision and good fit. Utah is a power now. Baylor. TCU. Michigan st.

And dont give me the regional and in state card. The game is so much more global now. Social media. TV coverage. Communication.

I think recruiting it is a huge reason why the Nebraska job isn't "top tier". With that said, its up the coaches to use it as an excuse or not.

If you asked 100 coaches "where would you rather coach, Nebraska or Georgia?" I would guess it would be >75% for UGA.

 

[NUinID]

Throw cash and even a guy like Briles or Patterson would come. IIRC, Peterson would never leave Boise........These guys (and their agents) are smart enough to know the big cash comes win, lose or draw. just look at Bo's buyout as proof. Riley was nothing more than the unit-Bo hire. Safe, controllable and "good", but not great.

Kids come to winning players and winning coaches. Not sure if I was a kid would I look at NU as a "winning program", having a winning coach or looking like they are trending up. We don't get to go bowling, my prediction is the class tanks (I don't follow recruiting so I have no idea where we are at), but some of the higher talked about pros[ects don't stay.

Money gets a coach and winning gets the recruits.

Whoever said Peterson wasn't leaving BSU? I live up here he has listened to a lot of job offers before he took the Washington job.

First of all he was only going to take a job that was the right fit. The talk radio up here was discussing this yesterday with the stuff going on at USC. Peterson was basically USC's first choice. I guess he met Haden in the Boise airport for a meeting 2 years ago listened to what he had to say and the way things go at USC and he told him basically that he didn't coach football that way and turned him down.

Secondly he has had a son that has had some heath issues through his younger years. They really liked the doctors in the Boise area. These issues have since become rectified.

Third and least important, he is a West Coast, Great Northwest Guy. Has lived here his whole life.

The Washington job was a no brainier for him to take.

If the Nebraska job would have been open before he took the Washington job, I think he would have seriously listened. If Washington and Nebraska are open at the same time and he has his choice 9x out of ten he goes to Washington. Because of the third reason I gave.

Art Briles is not coming to Nebraska. He has never lived out of the state of Texas, he has never coached out of the state of Texas he is not going anywhere. He has all that he wants at Baylor and he has 100 recruits within 200 miles of campus to pick from. Money doesn't always talk.

 

[Red Five]

If the Nebraska job would have been open before he took the Washington job, I think he would have seriously listened. If Washington and Nebraska are open at the same time and he has his choice 9x out of ten he goes to Washington. Because of the third reason I gave.

If we had canned Bo a season earlier, I think that we would have had a real shot at Petersen. But as you said, it would have been a tough pull with both our job and UW open at the same time.

 

[NUinID]

I do t buy any excuse for lack of recruiti g whatsoever anymore. I do t care where were at. All it takes is a vision and good fit. Utah is a power now. Baylor. TCU. Michigan st.

And dont give me the regional and in state card. The game is so much more global now. Social media. TV coverage. Communication.

I think recruiting it is a huge reason why the Nebraska job isn't "top tier". With that said, its up the coaches to use it as an excuse or not.

If you asked 100 coaches "where would you rather coach, Nebraska or Georgia?" I would guess it would be >75% for UGA.

Recruiting is the only reason Nebraska isn't top tier. The University of Nebraska has all the intangibles to be a top tier program. Money, facilitates, fan base, history and tradition, all of them except a good local recruiting base. I am not talking about being in a great recruiting area, we aren't even in a good recruiting area. I am talking like a Minnesota or Wisconsin. Imagine how much better and easier it would be to compete if NU could count on there being 8-9 really decent football players they could pick up out of the state every year. Right now Nebraska is ecstatic if they can get 5 out of the stat in a year.

How long has it been since Nebraska took 5 in state recruits in a year? I have no idea, but it has been a long time.

 

[gratefullred]

I do t buy any excuse for lack of recruiti g whatsoever anymore. I do t care where were at. All it takes is a vision and good fit. Utah is a power now. Baylor. TCU. Michigan st.

And dont give me the regional and in state card. The game is so much more global now. Social media. TV coverage. Communication.

I think recruiting it is a huge reason why the Nebraska job isn't "top tier". With that said, its up the coaches to use it as an excuse or not.

If you asked 100 coaches "where would you rather coach, Nebraska or Georgia?" I would guess it would be >75% for UGA.

I dont quite know exactly the point I was trying to make posting this, but that is part of it.

What should we expect? Certinialy more than what we are getting and I am tired of giving coaches more time.

How much more $$$ do we need than Georgia, USC, or even Maryland? What is a more desireable job regardless of $$$?

Where does Nebraska fit as a desireable job?

 

[Joe_5700]

I never thought the solution was to pay top dollar to the top tier coach in demand. My preferred course for the program would have been to pick a young coach at a smaller program who was demonstrated he can be successful. There was mention of such a coach before Riley was announced as our head coach. My guess is he was not the AD's first pick and would have came here for similar pay as Riley did.

http://www.mwcconnection.com/mountain-west-football/2014/12/1/7316441/nebraska-coaching-search-matt-wells-craig-bohl-jim-mcelwain

 

[Mad Dog]

Sorry, but any article that puts our school in the same tier as Virginia, NC State and Iowa loses all credibility.

Our football team would likely lose to all three of those schools you mentioned, and academically, all three of those schools are a tier ABOVE Nebraska...just a dose of reality for ya' although I'm sure you'll ignore it.

 

[Mad Dog]

Pull out some big $ to hire a new coach and our clout increases exponentially. We have not shown the willingness to do that.

Personally, I no longer believe the money is there...not for a big-name coach anyway.

 

[Mad Dog]

It's weird, because for 40 solid years of Devaney, Osborne and Solich, we had no idea how desirable the head coaching job at Nebraska was to the college football world.

I suppose we could pony up the money and test the waters of the big name, can't miss coaches, of which there are maybe what? Five or six? How will we feel and what is our leverage if they reject the offer?

Back when this first happened, in 2003, we were spurned by Houston Nutt. Apparently our first choice and considered a hot property at the time. Things didn't work out so well for us, but it didn't work out well for Houston Nutt, either. Demanding a "top tier" coach is no guarantee of a top tier program. If there are other attractive openings at the time, a hot coach may not want to come to cold Nebraska, where you have six full games to prove yourself.

Still, we can absolutely get a great coach. We just don't know who is is. It will involve a risk. He will be an innovative offensive or defensive coordinator, but we will have to trust his transition to HC. He will be a head coach with a short but excellent track record in a conference considered less competitive than the Big 10. He will be a coach with a longer but rockier cumulative record, but who might thrive in the right setting with the right resources. He could turn things around overnight, like Bob Devaney, or he might take a four straight years of mediocrity, like Nick Saban at Michigan State. But the Nick Saban who becomes a hot property at Michigan State is going to go to the SEC, not to Nebraska. We may not have wanted Bret Bielema, but he also didn't want us, and that is an issue.

I don't think anyone is content with mediocrity at Nebraska. Nobody. But the notion that Nebraska had a chance at greatness and went for Riley instead makes no sense.

Unless you know something I don't. Who did we pass up? Any indication they would have taken the job? Because public rejection during a coaching search is a killer. See 2003.

We should be grateful for Riley because he wanted to be here. That's not nothing. And a mere 12 months ago, Mike Riley was voted the second most underrated coach by his college football coaching peers. That's not nothing either. I know TheSker will be quick to point out it was aeons ago, but Mike Riley was approached by Alabama, USC and UCLA for their HC jobs. There were actually professional and objective college football analysts who considered the Riley hire a bit of a coup. The national recruiting director at Rivals.com tweeted that the Riley hire was a "home run" and "I don't think Husker fans realize what a well-respected game coach Riley is and how hard it is to win in Corvallis."

Considering that recruiting was considered Riley's strong suit, we may want to let him give it a go before burying him.

Riley may still surprise you. He may not. But I don't think we "settled" for mediocrity. We took one of the many calculated risks Nebraska has to make to hire a new head coach.

A shiny turd is still a turd.

 

[NUinID]

Pull out some big $ to hire a new coach and our clout increases exponentially. We have not shown the willingness to do that.

Personally, I no longer believe the money is there...not for a big-name coach anyway.

It is not always about money. These guys wives have more money than they can spend anyway. If it was only about money Nick Sabin would be coaching at Texas right now and Les Miles would have taken the job at Michigan, the school he played football at, before Brady Hoke got the job. Do you really think that if Urban Meyer had his choice between OSU and Nebraska and NU offered him 2 million more he would jump at it and come to Nebraska?