In this post, I'm trying to point out the obvious. How toxic of an environment Riley took over back in December 2014.
November 2014: Bo Pelini canned after defeating Iowa
November 2014: Almost all current players go with an online assault via twitter bashing the administration for firing Bo, for not having face to face meetings.
November 2014: Coach Kaz goes psycho in public over hearing the news
November 2014: Pelini audio tape comes out, bashing the Administration with slander.
December 2014: Mike Riley hired
December 2014: Mixed support felt around Husker Nation
January 2015: In Bowl Game, Coaching staff gets into it on the sideline (former staff)
March 2015: Spring Camp goes well under first year coach Mike Riley
March 2015: First Boliever casualty, LeRoy Alexander leaves NU and slanders the University on his way out via twitter.
March 2015: Randy Gregory joins in to continue to support former HC Bo Pelini
July 2015: Riley "accidentally" announces suspension of 5 Husker players for start of the season.
July 2015: Mike Rose Ivey tweets out something along the lines of adding fuel to the fire.
September 2015: Nebraska loses to BYU, Miami
September 2015: Alex Lewis drops bomb on NU fans on Facebook
October 2015: Nebraska loses to Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Purdue
October 2015: Alex Lewis mocks fans after loss against Illinois
October 2015: Matt Finnin tweets back to radio host that it's not the talent at N that's causing losses.
November 2015: Mike Riley is on the hot seat.
I know I'm missing a few things, probably major things, but this is such a toxic environment. I think we absolutely need to allow Mike Riley another year to continue to weed through the issues. Most of our issues reside in our players ability to handle adversity. Something Bo obviously never covered. When things go poorly, it's give up, blame everyone else and make sure everyone knows it.
It's so obvious that we could not have hired a coach this year that was going to lead us to the promised land. These players have been brain washed by Bo, that no matter who was hired, they weren't going to play for them the way you would see appropriate. Now, I'm NOT saying players aren't giving 100%. I am however saying, once things go wrong, they are quick to say amongst eachother, "what the heck are these coaches doing." Which is 100% NOT WHAT YOU WANT. Things went wrong under Bo as well, what happened do you recall? Players would question them, and Bo would just lose his sh#t on them. Do you recall the incident with a DB last year or the year before? Riley isn't going to do that.
Things will get better. It's a time issue. We need time to pass. It's going to be an extremely tough time for us, yes I get that. You have to buy-in. We can't continue to point the fingers when issues arise. Sure, do whatever you want in the privacy of your own home. But, if you want things to turn around within the program, just firing MR isn't going to get that done. You are going to have to change the way you handle yourself. Hopefully whoever our coach is, eventually in time, gets our players to do the same.
GBR.
