Tom Osborne speaks at the Big Red Breakfast

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knapplc

International Man of Mystery
Here's Jon Nyatawa's quick recap of Osborne's address to the Big Red Breakfast:

Osborne wants fans to support Riley

Osborne spent about 30 minutes outlining the reasons why he thought Nebraska's program emerged as a powerhouse and then sustained that status in the the '90s.

Ultimately, Osborne's main point Friday seemed to center around this idea: There's no problem with fans having high standards and expectations for Nebraska, and coaches should be held to that. "But you better be behind the guy that's there. Certainly that's true right now with Mike Riley and the other coaches that come in," Osborne said.

A "unity of purpose" is how Osborne described it.
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I would agree. I don't understand fans who don't support a new hire even if it isn't someone who they would have picked themselves.

 
1) He'd like to see schools cover athletes' cost of attendance

2) He'd like there to be an "escrow fund" of sorts, which could cover medical bills a decade or so after the college career ends.

3) For players who leave school without a degree, their scholarship should be honored if they return later to complete their undergraduate studies, Osborne said. NU's done that. He'd like to see it become a universal practice.

+1 to Mr. Osborne.

 
Benning and Sharp were also saying he didn't weigh in on the coaching change because he didn't want people to know if he was for/against it. I'm glad for that. I wouldn't want TO to be reduced to a Boliever/Boleaver.

 
Tom was the same age as Mike R is right now when he retired.

Tom gave us 25+ great years, but in reality he should have stayed another 3-5 as the head coach.

We do need to support the new guy, it's weird that people are hating on him he hasn't even installed the family pics in his office let alone an offense.

 
I am I said:
Tom was the same age as Mike R is right now when he retired.

Tom gave us 25+ great years, but in reality he should have stayed another 3-5 as the head coach.

We do need to support the new guy, it's weird that people are hating on him he hasn't even installed the family pics in his office let alone an offense.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he probably shouldve. He obviously got out a few years too early. Remember when he flirted with the Seahawks and Michigan St job? Obviously he still had the itch and got out simply for loyalty to a friend in a promise. But god, could you imagine what transpires if he does remain and keeps the staff intact for another 3-5 years? That train was rollin by '97, and Solich lived off it for 4 years before it finally fell off. Imagine if TO stays and keeps it rollin and even possible improves.

 
Tom didn't say it, but I think we can rightly infer that he wouldn't have fired Coach Pelini. When he made the move to dismiss Callahan, he spelled out that, provided Cally and Co win at least nine games, there would be no change, or even the thought of a change. We know that Bill had blow out losses in each and every year of his tenure. And still, a nine win season saves him. One could argue that Tom said this knowing Cally and Co could never reach that nine win goal, but Tom also said that there wouldn't be much consideration for a change until the record reached break-even since Tom said "we don't have too many break even seasons around here." I think seven wins might have gotten Bill another year. When the record got to 5-6, he stood on shaky ground. When the seventh loss came, Cally knew he was done.

I will also say that this isn't the first time that Tom has given fans a guided tour of Husker history in terms of explaining why we were good and why we might have a hard time replicating our results from the past. I recall Tom saying that the program had defied gravity for 40 years or some such thing.

Bo's situation is unique because the man was a toxic presence to a good percentage of fans, seemed to be out of control on the sidelines and was a liability in terms of game management in hostile situations and in terms of working with the refs, i.e. avoiding penalties and the like. Ultimately, what doomed Bo is not that Bo lost games. It was the manner in which his teams lost and it was the manner in which Bo handled that adversity. I think Eichorst was looking for Bo to improve in those areas from 2013 to 2014 and he did not.

 
Fans dont expect a repeat of the 90's. We expect a consistent degree of respectability on the big stage.

Tom also said when he fired Callahan that "when you lose a considerable amount of games by a considerable margin, and you have some pretty good players, which I think we do,............", well, that right there is also reason enought to make the move.

 
beorach said:
Benning and Sharp were also saying he didn't weigh in on the coaching change because he didn't want people to know if he was for/against it. I'm glad for that. I wouldn't want TO to be reduced to a Boliever/Boleaver.
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Boliever/Boleaver/Beaver...........
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Count 'Bility said:
I am I said:
Tom was the same age as Mike R is right now when he retired.

Tom gave us 25+ great years, but in reality he should have stayed another 3-5 as the head coach.

We do need to support the new guy, it's weird that people are hating on him he hasn't even installed the family pics in his office let alone an offense.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he probably shouldve. He obviously got out a few years too early. Remember when he flirted with the Seahawks and Michigan St job? Obviously he still had the itch and got out simply for loyalty to a friend in a promise. But god, could you imagine what transpires if he does remain and keeps the staff intact for another 3-5 years? That train was rollin by '97, and Solich lived off it for 4 years before it finally fell off. Imagine if TO stays and keeps it rollin and even possible improves.
Click to expand...
I also think Osborne retired when he did realizing there were some huge changes to the NCAA coming down the pipeline that would affect recruiting and such. I also think with the changes that had happened going from the Big 8 to the Big 12 were also a reason why retired.

 
HuskerfaninOkieland said:
Count 'Bility said:
I am I said:
Tom was the same age as Mike R is right now when he retired.

Tom gave us 25+ great years, but in reality he should have stayed another 3-5 as the head coach.

We do need to support the new guy, it's weird that people are hating on him he hasn't even installed the family pics in his office let alone an offense.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he probably shouldve. He obviously got out a few years too early. Remember when he flirted with the Seahawks and Michigan St job? Obviously he still had the itch and got out simply for loyalty to a friend in a promise. But god, could you imagine what transpires if he does remain and keeps the staff intact for another 3-5 years? That train was rollin by '97, and Solich lived off it for 4 years before it finally fell off. Imagine if TO stays and keeps it rollin and even possible improves.
Click to expand...
I also think Osborne retired when he did realizing there were some huge changes to the NCAA coming down the pipeline that would affect recruiting and such. I also think with the changes that had happened going from the Big 8 to the Big 12 were also a reason why retired.
Click to expand...
I completely agree with this. TO even spoke about it many times after he retired. The world was changing and he knew it.

 
Tom retired at the right time, but not by design. His health I think was a big concern. The heart problem that he had that night after the Missouri game was serious and would have scared most people into retirement. That said, Tom's leaving coincided with changes in the NCAA and it also lined up well with the end of the glory years for a lot of his staff. I think those guys were simply running out of the energy that coaches must have in order to continue to coach at that high level. Frank had to readjust his staff in part to get some new blood and energy flowing in the building. The sad part about the way that Solich's term ended was that he wasn't given the chance to recruit and develop a program with the new staff. He got one year and then was shown the door.

Had Tom stayed, I think he would have had to make some adjustments, both in staffing and in strategies in order to be successful. And I think he would have been given that chance because he had won three titles for us in that four-year period in the 90s. Solich didn't get the benefit of the doubt and became the fall guy.

 
I thought there was a story that TO had a gentleman's agreement with FS as to his planned retirement date. Anyone remember the billboard ahead of Frank's first season at the helm? I remember seeing one (or "it" if there was only one) by the 120th Street tunnel under the railroad between Center and "L" streets. Anyway, the thing had a picture of Frank and read:

"Shirt size: Medium

Expectations: Extra-Large"

 
I often think back to the 2009 Big XII title game. We go up 10-9 with around a minute left. We had stopped Colt and the Longhotns all night. Hell, Suh made Colt his rag doll b*^ch.

Then the WORST kickoff ever happens.

Kunalic kicks it OB and Texas has about 30 yards to go for a fg attempt. Made it. 12-10 final. Texas goes to NCgame. We go to the Holiday Bowl instead of a BCS bowl.

I think if Kunalic doesn't kick it OB, we have a different situation right now.

We probably wouldn't be consistent NC game participants, but we would be way more consistent in big games and a lot more relevant.

IMO

 
It wasnt just a kick out of bounds. Also on the first play of the drive, a 15 yard slant to Shiply was literally a double gain on a 15 yard horsecollar penalty by Asante.

That game right there also sums up the Pelini era. You have EVERYTHING in your grasp. There was no hope, no indication, no reason, to think that Texas was going to drive down for the winner in that situation. Yet, we literally gave it to them. We gave them 20 yards cuz all of a sudden our star kickoff guy couldnt hit a target 55 yards wide. And then committed a penalt that gave them another 15. Just a gut wrenching way to go down. Yet, looking back is was such a case of foreshadowing, as "beating ourselves" became quite the norm.

 
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