Turn Around - How long?

[ColoradoHusk]

Their win over Wisconsin was only 5 years ago. 

I understand your concern with the lack of success this season and you're obviously not alone.  We all see the insufficient play at times and suffer the pain of losses.  It's so easy out of anger and frustration to want to place blame on someone and the coaches are the easiest place to point the finger.  In some cases that may even be the right place to point the finger.  But it's lazy to immediately conclude it has to be coaching without knowing a lot more than the vast majority of fans know.  I've given several examples similar to this season where coaches at other programs in their third year did worse.  Fans of those schools were convinced the coaching was the problem.  In those examples the same coaches came back and in year four things clicked, you couldn't tell it was mostly the same players and team and their seasons blasted off  9 wins or more. 

All I'm saying is, while it can appear so crystal clear right now, the difference between 4 wins and 9 wins can be a much smaller margin that what it appears.  Sometimes you're a lot closer to success than you'd ever dare to imagine even though it can feel or seem like you're so far away.

Are you watching the same games as everyone else or is someone playing old NCAA football games on your TV screen and that’s what you are watching.

I understand that you have pointed out 3rd year struggles with coaches in the past, however all of them (except for Leach) showed some type of progress in years 1 and 2 in taking over the program. After Riley loses to Penn State and Iowa, his career record at NU will be 19-19. How is that progress???

 

[Saunders]

Ehh, not buying it.  Cav's put several offensive linemen in the league who were low rated recruits coming into college.  Either Oregon State had more talent yet vastly underrated, or Cav knows what he's doing.

I watched on youtube MR's OSU team beat Wisconsin and do it by being more physical, running the ball better, and playing tougher defense.  If that's the kind of "soft culture" he builds then we need more of it around here. 

I'm resigned to the fact this fan base is too emotionally invested in Husker football to ever allow a coach to come here and build a winner before he's run out of town during the building process.  I've read on this board alone dozens of false rumors, dozens of "mark my words this will happen" only to find out later the rumors weren't true, and the things that were promised to happen by posters claiming to have inside info, didn't happen.   That really leaves only one logical possibility, there are either Husker fans willing to actively attempt to undermine their own team and coaching staff during a season, or people pretending to be Husker fans who are doing it.  Either way, why moderators are willing to let so many unsubstantiated claims, rumors, and false "inside scoops" go unchallenged is beyond me. 

I read the new board rules that were posted recently and think there's room for one more that would make this board a better place.  Require anyone who wants to post alleged "inside info" , or rumors to sign their real and verified name to the post when they do it. 

What Mike Riley's OSU team did in 2012 to beat Wisconsin (which NU did too a few games later) has no bearing on what he's done in three years here. There's tons of alarm bells going off from former players about what's going on. I think it's laughable that you're trying to pin this on the fanbase. In no way has the fanbase prevented the current staff from "building a winner" Outside of the appearance of recruiting better (actual data shows it's the same as before), there's not really a single thing that they've done better over their predecessors. Combine that with the factual data of bad performances, horrible offensive line play, bad offense, and atrocious defense, and the only thing you have to hang your hat on is opinion, and blaming it on the fans.

Riley may have been a good coach a decade ago, but since 2010...

5-7

3-9

9-4

7-6

5-7

6-7

9-4

4-6*

He's 48 - 50, and likely to lose the next two games. Three years is plenty of time to show what you've got. He took over a program that had never won less than 9 games for 7 straight year, and it nosedived.  And even then, I don't think he's 100% to blame. I blame Shawn for alot of this too. But the reality is, he's the head coach, and it's his responsibility. Blaming anyone else (especially the fans) is simply deflecting from reality.

 

[Mavric]

I understand your concern with the lack of success this season and you're obviously not alone.  We all see the insufficient play at times consistently and suffer the pain of losses.  It's so easy out of anger and frustration to want to place blame on someone and the coaches are the easiest place to point the finger.  In some cases It's extremely likely that may even be the right place to point the finger.  But it's lazy obvious to immediately conclude it has to be coaching without knowing a lot more than the vast majority of fans know by watching the games.  I've given cherry-picked several examples similar to this season where coaches at other programs in their third year did worse, according to my self-fulfilling metric.  Fans of those schools were convinced the coaching was the problem.  In those examples the same coaches came back and in year four things clicked and were moderately better, you couldn't tell it was mostly the same players and team and their seasons blasted off  9 wins or more were somewhat better. 

All I'm saying is, while it can appear so crystal clear right now, the difference between 4 wins and 9 wins can be a much smaller margin that what it appears having competent coaches.  Sometimes you're a lot closer to success than you'd ever dare to imagine even though it can feel or seem like you're so far away - all you have to do is have the right guys in charge.

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