Stewart Mandel on the Huskers downfall

robsker said:
I would firstly say that destroyed is too strong because the term itself has the notion of permanance associated with it. NU may come back. I would say that the fall of NU football, like the fall of most things is the result of many contributors, all working in consort. In the case of the NU fall, I'd say the contributors are (in semi-chronological order):

1) the Big 8 becoming the Big 12, the schools from Texas had an impact that did no favors to NU

2) the mistake of hiring Solich rather than going with a nationally known certifiably excellent coach when NU was at its height of coach marketability --- this was a huge mistake This was Byrne's huge mistake

3) hiring Peterson (an easy mistake to make at the time for he seemed to be a solid candidate at the time) --- but, that said, he was a disaster

4) the handling of the Solich situation of firing the staff but not the HC --- and the the perceptions generated in firing Solich when the record was good

5) hiring Callahan --- many of us recognized that huge mistake the second he was announced as coach --- his interaction with players on the Raiders should have been a red flag of epic proportions, but was not seen by Peterson

These five all interacted together (or at least with implications that are interrelated) and led to the fall of NU --- and, at the same time, Missouri, Texas tech, and now Kansas have all improved dramatically (and Colorado seems headed in that direction too --- at least KState is going down).

No individual or single event caused the fall --- but all contributed
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Good post..

I was thinking along the same lines, anyway :wacko:

I also think there were other forces at work..The cyclical thing with winning teams..

Although Tom Osborn was a freak of nature..No way any other coach has all 9+ wins EVERY year for 25 years straight at a place with our weather and population base.

But I also have my doubts he could have carried that streak on more than 3 more years in the Big-12.

We as a fan base were getting spoiled and were becoming almost as hated as Miami or Notre Dame.

The two or three unmentionable coaches and AD may have done us a favor in getting us "down" as fast as they did so we can start on the great recovery all that much quicker...And definitely reset most of our barometers..some even saying they don't care if we win many games..just that we don't quit.

(Can you imagine any Husker fan even thinking that a decade ago?)

OK..Enough of the psychic friends talk about fan karma and such..

Today's version of Bo with his extra experience defending the SEC is a lot more likely to win it all than if we'd gotten him earlier..

I'd hate to be another Ohio State

(Or live through the mid '70s/'80s Nebraska teams usually only losing their last 1 or 2 games each season).

 
well... my thoughts on NU,S downfall came down to the great coach.....osborn,,,no doubt , he was a great coach.....but i blame mr osborn for nu,s downfall... the recommendation for solich as head coach.... maybe mr osborn can redeam himself with penili...time will tell,,,though i do like penili better than solich.

 
ronsss said:
well... my thoughts on NU,S downfall came down to the great coach.....osborn,,,no doubt , he was a great coach.....but i blame mr osborn for nu,s downfall... the recommendation for solich as head coach.... maybe mr osborn can redeam himself with penili...time will tell,,,though i do like penili better than solich.
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NU,S ?

osborn?

redeam?

penili?

Are you texting while driving?

MCAT800 said:
What destroyed NU football?? who cares that's in the past. ...
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Just want to make sure we don't ever do THAT again.

 
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robsker said:
junior4949 said:
I think saying BC destroyed Husker football is naive at best. SP destroyed Husker football. He didn't give the coaches the tools they needed for recruiting until after he got rid of one. BC didn't work out, and he's not a very good headcoach. However, he isn't the one that destroyed the dynasty.
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I would firstly say that destroyed is too strong because the term itself has the notion of permanance associated with it. NU may come back. I would say that the fall of NU football, like the fall of most things is the result of many contributors, all working in consort. In the case of the NU fall, I'd say the contributors are (in semi-chronological order):

1) the Big 8 becoming the Big 12, the schools from Texas had an impact that did no favors to NU

2) the mistake of hiring Solich rather than going with a nationally known certifiably excellent coach when NU was at its height of coach marketability --- this was a huge mistake This was Byrne's huge mistake

3) hiring Peterson (an easy mistake to make at the time for he seemed to be a solid candidate at the time) --- but, that said, he was a disaster

4) the handling of the Solich situation of firing the staff but not the HC --- and the the perceptions generated in firing Solich when the record was good

5) hiring Callahan --- many of us recognized that huge mistake the second he was announced as coach --- his interaction with players on the Raiders should have been a red flag of epic proportions, but was not seen by Peterson

These five all interacted together (or at least with implications that are interrelated) and led to the fall of NU --- and, at the same time, Missouri, Texas tech, and now Kansas have all improved dramatically (and Colorado seems headed in that direction too --- at least KState is going down).

No individual or single event caused the fall --- but all contributed
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number one is the key for me. I don't really like much of anything about the big 12. I guess I do like playing Texas, although we have been on the short end of that one, they are usually good games. I just think all these conferences with semi interleague play and a championship game are stupid. You either have two full halves and a champ game or one entity and no champ game. Obviously its best to not be like the big 10, so they opted for a champ game. So what they need to do is add a couple more teams like tcu or boise state or minnesota or whatever.

 
robsker said:
junior4949 said:
I think your #2 has some problems. I think it's extremely naive to believe hiring Solich was Byrne's mistake. He wanted to hire Bob Stoops. It was TO's decision, not Byrne's. Bob Stoops isn't exactly what I'd call a certifiably excellent coach at the time either as he had about the same credentials as Pelini has now (a great DC). A&M tried the certifiably excellent coach with Franchione, and we all know how it panned out.
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can't speak to whose choice it was (nor can you) --- but Byrne was in the position of responsibility --- he made the offer --- which proved to be a mistake. TO could suggest only --- if Byrne conceded in his position of authority to do that which was against his better judgment --- well then Byrne made two mistakes (conceding against his judgment to an underling, TO, and in hiring Solich).

Stoops was not proven. And it is possible that a proven coach could fail. None of that changes the reality that Solich was a mistake and Byrne was, eminently, responsible.
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What was Solich's winning percentage while at Nebraska? How many D1 schools would take this winning percentage? Probably to the tune of 98+ percent. I'm still not convinced Solich was a mistake. I'm sure when TO was hired to replace the Bobfather that he wasn't the then AD's first choice, but it worked out. Solich did play for a NC in his 6 year tenure. Strictly speaking of X's and O's and on the field, Solich did a good job and was slowly making changes to the spread. If coaches were fired for one bad season then Fulmer at Tennesse would be gone, Joe Pa gone, Bowden gone, Weiss gone, etc. etc.

This year, there are 5 conference teams in the top 25. When in any year under TO did we have 5 teams in our conference ranked in the top 25? The competition is a lot stronger now than it ever was. I think we have to wrap our minds around the playing rather than the wins and losses now. Under BC last year, we were not even competitive for the most part. The goals of any program now are to be competitive with at least a chance at victory. Last year, who would have thought that CU and TT beat OU. Stoops in OU is now coming under fire for going 1-4 in his last 5 bowl games. There aren't nearly as many gimmees as there used to be, and you'll never convince me that Solich was a mistake. Even the great TO had some blemishes including his losing record in bowl games. We had a 7 bowl game losing streak in which some/a lot of those games were not even close.

I think we all took for granted that after Solich handed the reigns of the program over that our new eventual coach would be Turner Gill. IMO, it's hard to argue with success and this logic. I would have preferred this be the time line than how it has now been altered. Unfortunately, the program is definitely at a crossroads. If Pelini can't get it done, then we're in for a long drought. We didn't have really any coaches standing in line back in 2004, and we had very few in 2007. These seem to be the mistakes I think happened.

 
Frank Solich's service academy recruting brought NU down, but Calahan destroyed the Big Red aura and now Bo has to build from scratch.

 
Yeah, that Colorado loss was ugly.

But you know what? That 2001 squad was not one of Nebraska's greats. They got to 11 - 0 on fumes. That Frank Solich managed to coach an average Husker team to the national championship game was a testament to Solich, the program and the computers.

I still don't think firing Solich was the wrong decision. Sometimes in my bad dreams I see a tape loop of Jamaal Lord getting 4.8 yards on a busted play.

 
As I was digging through some old Husker news today, I stumbled across an article that shows just how tough it can be to the the head coach. In 1999, Solich had to deal with Evans leaving the team. He had to deal with Crouch going home nearly quitting. Then, he had to deal with Buckhalter not showing up for 3 practices because he was upset over playing time. It's easy to say he should have just parted with all 3, but then again he would have been giving up his #1 and #2 running backs and future Heisman winning QB. IMO, not only was it hard on the fans not winning NC every season it was also hard on the players and their expectations as well. A lot of balls to juggle for a coach. I still say he did a more than respectable job while coaching at Nebraska.

 
To say that Nebraska football died on a given day in November against Colorado is ridiculous. Simply because two events occur in succession (like, say, NU losing to the Buffs in a blowout and Nebraska football going down the tubes) doesn't mean one event caused the other. It's stupid. A lot of things brought Nebraska where it was last season. A slow decline in recruiting with Solich, a steady depletion of the Osborne talent reserves, a botched firing/hiring process of Bill Callahan, the successive pro-minded coaching system which didn't use the talent at hand but instead focussed on system, system, system, a loss of connection with Nebraska's past, employing the worst defensive coordinator in the nation, and the ultimate snowball effect of the USC game last season.

One game in November, no matter how bad, cannot be cited as "the moment" or "the reason" a program decays. Blowouts happen all the time to just about everyone. Every team at some point will get smacked around. It's just the law of the game. But since our spanking happened to coincide with a 7 year slide (minus 03, debatably), people with simplistic views of history can point to a stunning coincidence and assume it all started at that moment.

Nah, I don't think so. Because there is no "it" and "it" didn't ever start. A lot of "its" started at a lot of different times. What we have now is the result.

But more important that our bleak recent past is our promising future. Our guys seem to be getting what Nebraska football is about. Pelini is inspiring them to not just play a certain way, but be a certain way. Relationships are being forged, proven systems are being adopted, and things seem to be on the right track with Tom Osborne conducting the train.

GBR

 
HUSKER 37 said:
ronsss said:
well... my thoughts on NU,S downfall came down to the great coach.....osborn,,,no doubt , he was a great coach.....but i blame mr osborn for nu,s downfall... the recommendation for solich as head coach.... maybe mr osborn can redeam himself with penili...time will tell,,,though i do like penili better than solich.
Click to expand...
NU,S ?

osborn?

redeam?

penili?

Are you texting while driving?
Click to expand...
The texting while driving part, damn near killed me....

Either that or he thought he was posting on the 50 cent message board...

 
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walksalone said:
HUSKER 37 said:
ronsss said:
well... my thoughts on NU,S downfall came down to the great coach.....osborn,,,no doubt , he was a great coach.....but i blame mr osborn for nu,s downfall... the recommendation for solich as head coach.... maybe mr osborn can redeam himself with penili...time will tell,,,though i do like penili better than solich.
Click to expand...
NU,S ?

osborn?

redeam?

penili?

Are you texting while driving?
Click to expand...
The texting while driving part, damn near killed me....

Either that or he thought he was posting on the 50 cent message board...
Click to expand...
You mean fitty cent?

(I've heard of him, but not sure what he's almost famous for).

You can always tell the texter/drivers out here..they're the only ones driving slower than the Snowbirds and cellphone/drivers. :angry:

The "Penili" almost made me blow a snot bubble through my left tear duct.

 
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