Sobering Look - how far out of relevance NU has fallen

[NUpolo8]

Damn you, I wanted to be the one to do this.

i really debated whether or not i should because it is so annoying and obnoxious. but i could not resist.

Never let that get in the way.

 

[Bowfin]

Does anybody think that the injury riddled offensive line lost the game with Michigan State? I thought that they more than held there own out there.

I don't know if injuries explains why fielding a punt has become an unrealistic expectation with this team, let alone flipping the field with a good punt return. How does that just go away?

We have really cut down on the penalties, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how one team can be so plagued by turnovers year in and year out. It's like we have Chuck Muncie teaching ball security.

Putting Taylor Martinez in for the Minnesota game will always be one of those bizarre mysteries that we will probably never figure out. I'd like to get a straight answer on this one some day, but like the JFK assassaination, I don't think we'll ever know for sure.

When Oklahoma beat us year in and year out with their speed, it was heartbreaking, but it wasn't so frustrating. A guy can only run as fast as he can run, and if someone's faster, there's nothing to be done. Ditto last year when Will Compton got double teamed into the cheap seats by Wisconsin. Physics say two 300+ pound guys will move a much smaller guy every time. Getting beat by a great passer, a well oiled offense, a future Hall of Fame coaching genius or a defense full of NFL draft choices sucks, but at the end of the day, I can accept that. But it's the time when we have to say, "We have met the enemy, and they is us." (to steal a quote from the Pogo comic strip) that lights up the forum with threads like these. Yes, this team had to wade through a lot of adversity, but the injuries and inexperience were only knee deep. The self inflicted stuff (coaching and playing) made for chin deep slogging.

 

[Fuzzy]

Hire an NFL coach to bring the Huskers back to the glory days!

Oh wait, we tried that....

 

[walksalone]

Hire an douchebag NFL coach that completely destroyed a franchise, wants to change the culture of the program, to bring the Huskers back to the glory days!

Oh wait, we tried that....

FIFY

 

[Blood Eagle]

Or we can hire Tressel and cheat, but we will win and receive free tattoo's.

 

[jsneb83]

You could name dozens of new-hires that turned a program around in 3-4 years and had them competing for BCS wins. But you can only find a handful that stuck with a coach for years to find that success.

That's funny, the Huskers have five national championships, and ALL of them came after we stuck with a coach for 9 or more years.

And none of them came from a coach who hadn't won a conference championship in their first 6 years.

2 Big 8 co-championships for TO versus 3 division championships for Bo.

Isn't a tie for 1st in the Big 8 about the same as a division championship in a 12 team conference?

Do we have a banner that reads conference champions for 2009, 2010 or 2012? Then no.

Who do you think we are? Texas A&M?

 

[robsker]

I have kept out of this conversation till now, and I only enter it to ask a couple of questions that have probably been asked 100 times prior, but anyway........I am truly on the fence with this (things went south for me with the tape-recording earlier in the season, sorry, but it did). So when is Bo's time up? Obviously many people feel he deserves more time and has accomplished an adequate amount to keep his position. So if he wins 9-10 games in each of his next 5 seasons, but has no conference titles, has played in no BCS bowls, continues to be outside of the top 15, etc.,etc, etc., will you still support him? How long does he have? Or. again for those people who feel he deserves more time, is it out of fear that the next coach will have similar results that you wish to keep him on? Is staying status quo better than taking a chance on getting better and possibly failing? I just want to know what is the breaking point for the pro-Bo individuals.

You're treating the hiring and firing of head coaches like it is some one variable decision. It's not just about wins and losses and it's not just about how we win and how we lose. So if I were the person in charge of making the decision to hire or fire Bo Pelini, here's what I would consider:

Record--Bo Pelini has won at least 9 games every season he's been a head coach. He's also lost 4 games every season. We've been in conference championship games, and we've been close to winning said conference championship games. We've also been embarrassed on national TV multiple times. We've been ranked as high as #5 in the nation and have been in the Top 10 on a few occasions. It's year six of Bo's time here, and he hasn't shown that he can get over the 10 win mark, but he also hasn't shown that he can fail to reach the 9 win mark. Overall, this decision is a wash; Bo Pelini can not be let go on record alone.

Image--Bo has been shown on national TV yelling at his coaches, yelling at the refs, and yelling at his players. He's an emotional, fiery guy. While some people do not like that, other people are okay with that. Any person outside of the program (the program includes the fans) can't make a reasonable judgment as to the character of Bo Pelini because all they read about and see on TV are his outbursts. That's misleading information. Overall, this decision is a wash; Bo Pelini can not be let go on image alone. Combined with record, the scale should be tipped a little towards firing--we could always get a coach who doesn't yell a lot; that way, people outside the program can't form that perception about the new coach and Nebraska.

His Players--It's been said numerous times that the players would run through walls for their coach. That's something that can't be ignored, and something that wouldn't be true for a new coach. Bo came here in 2008 and, with players that were recruited and played under a different person, Bo commanded and earned their respect. A player-coach relationship like that is something that not a lot of programs have, and it's something we'd give up if we let Bo go. Overall, Bo should not be fired for this reason.Combined with record and image, the scale should be tipped towards keeping Bo Pelini.

The Program--We have not been in an controversy since Bo Pelini has been here. Keeping the program out of trouble is good; especially in a time where scandals and investigations are the norm. Staying clean and winning football games is good. Overall, Bo should not be fired for this reason. Combined with record, image, and players, Bo Pelini should be retained as the head coach at Nebraska.

If the decision has already been made to let Bo go, then we better have a damn good replacement already in waiting. If we don't we risk scrambling for a hire, again.

To me there is only one question to assess regarding firing a coach --- and none of what you wrote is connected (at least directly) to the main question. The question is this --- what gives the program a greater probability of future success both short term and long term --- retaining the current HC or hiring a different HC? It is as simple as that..

To answer that question one needs to know who is out there that is available, interested and attainable.

I do not know who is out there as alternatives... but the Bo regime is unlikely to make NU much (if any) different than they are now (which is not good enough). The only reason not to go elsewhere is if you are not confidant that you can get someone good. If that is the case, you suck it up live with the mediocre coaching another year and keep looking in hopes that you can recruit a good coach..

So... removing Bo is only 1/2 the picture... NU needs to know who will be the replacement --- or, at least have confidence that a good coach will take the job and give NU a greater probability of future success than we have at present.

 

[Redux]

Realistic Bo Replacements:

Craig Bohl - Has a good thing going at NDSU/May not want to come back here

Chris Peterson - HAD good tbing going at Boise, may want to stick it out

Scott Frost - Still learning the ropes, and Oregon is in a better place right now

Art Briles - Just signed a ten year extension, gonna be a Baylor lifer it looks like

Kevin Sumlin - Would rather stay at aTm or take the USC gig, not an option

Nick Saban - baaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Urban Meyer - see above

Lane Kiffin - shoot me now

So what about promoting within? Even less experienced and more pronlematic. Tom isnt coming out of retirement and Frank will likely retire at Ohio so they are out. What doss that leave us? Bo. Im sure Ive left out several peoples favorite suggestion to replace Bo but lets face it, at this time there is not a perfect replacement. If we were really gonna roll the dice again we would needa home run.

 

[TGHusker]

Realistic Bo Replacements:

Craig Bohl - Has a good thing going at NDSU/May not want to come back here

Chris Peterson - HAD good tbing going at Boise, may want to stick it out

Scott Frost - Still learning the ropes, and Oregon is in a better place right now

Art Briles - Just signed a ten year extension, gonna be a Baylor lifer it looks like

Kevin Sumlin - Would rather stay at aTm or take the USC gig, not an option

Nick Saban - baaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Urban Meyer - see above

Lane Kiffin - shoot me now

So what about promoting within? Even less experienced and more pronlematic. Tom isnt coming out of retirement and Frank will likely retire at Ohio so they are out. What doss that leave us? Bo. Im sure Ive left out several peoples favorite suggestion to replace Bo but lets face it, at this time there is not a perfect replacement. If we were really gonna roll the dice again we would needa home run.

I think one could find many other mid major HCs that may have an interest.

 

[Redux]

Thats just it, mid major. If were gonna do this I want a slam dunk "Were taking back college football" hire. I just dont see it out there. Im sure there is a mid major coach out there who could do it but who?

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Thats just it, mid major. If were gonna do this I want a slam dunk "Were taking back college football" hire. I just dont see it out there. Im sure there is a mid major coach out there who could do it but who?

That's the problem, no one knows and no one can know until they are doing the job and doing it well and we're on the track back to greatness. No way to predict it..............

 

[ADS]

Thats just it, mid major. If were gonna do this I want a slam dunk "Were taking back college football" hire. I just dont see it out there. Im sure there is a mid major coach out there who could do it but who?

The "slam dunk" hire you want isn't probably going to happen. Mainly because guys like that are either at their dream job, or Nebraska isn't even on their radar. We will probably have to hire someone like a Gary Anderson, which I'm totally fine with. There are plenty of guys at smaller schools that would do a great job here, it's a matter of finding the right one.

 

[carlfense]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVf5Cr4M-F8

 

[carlfense]

Firing Solich was a bad decision. A bad decision made by a dumb dude. Problem is, the guy we got afterward absolutely blew it and dragged this program into the depths of hell for a bit. We thought we had our Saviour, myself included in that thought, yet six years later we have not improved on those first couple seasons with him. Actually, the blowouts and mind boggling mistakes have grown worse. Including being one of the worst teams in the country in turnovers multiple years now.

The problem is, Nebraska is not a place that has been through coaching changes like this. The one time most of us were around for it ended up being a huge failure. That failure created a fear that is hard to erase. Most people believe that is how this works. Most think if we do it again, we will go through hell again. Let me tell you folks, that is not how it is supposed to work. Stevey should not have been flying around in a plane begging guys to come here. There should have been a plan. There should have been some reasonable people in mind, with ideas of who their staff would be. There should be an idea of what this team needs so that way you can specify what a coach brings to the table. Right now, IMO, experience is key.....across the board.

Yep.

I do think that we'll see one parallel to the Callahan era. The percentage of fans who believed that Callahan was the right coach for Nebraska seemed to decline over time despite an impassioned defense by certain writers/posters/fans who were so invested in "believing" in Callahan that they were unable to even entertain the idea that we could do better. I suspect that we'll be seeing a similar situation. It's possible that we already are.

 

[knapplc]

I do think that we'll see one parallel to the Callahan era. The percentage of fans who believed that Callahan was the right coach for Nebraska seemed to decline over time despite an impassioned defense by certain writers/posters/fans who were so invested in "believing" in Callahan that they were unable to even entertain the idea that we could do better. I suspect that we'll be seeing a similar situation. It's possible that we already are.

I was part of the "fire Callahan" crowd. Six years after Callahan's termination, are we in a better place? Or are we in the same place?

Six years after firing Pelini, are we going to be in a better place?

The decision can't only be: It's not getting done under Pelini. Let's fire Pelini.

And the people who think that aren't the only ones using sound reasoning in this situation. There are legitimate concerns with firing a coach. It's not simply that people don't think we can do better firing Pelini.

The fact that we might do worse after firing Pelini is a legitimate reason to keep Pelini.