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Unnecessary Roughness: Coaches' kids also targets of frustrated NU fans' ire
BY MITCH SHERMAN
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan and six of his nine full-time assistants have a total of 12 children enrolled in Lincoln's public and parochial schools.
Some of the more public behavior has involved Lincoln Southwest, where sons of beleaguered Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove and cornerbacks coach Phil Elmassian played this fall as juniors on the football team.
On Oct. 12, as Southwest played Lincoln East at Seacrest Field, East students reacted to the announcement of Connor Cosgrove's name by launching a "Fire Cosgrove" chant.
The students were quickly reined in. Lincoln East's athletic director and coach later apologized to Southwest officials.
School administrators have sought to short-circuit problems, but it's impossible to eliminate them entirely, said Rob Slauson, Southwest's principal.
"We want to have an environment that is emotionally safe and physically safe," said Slauson, whose son Matt starts on the offensive line for NU.
Even at home, the children of coaches are not safe from criticism.
"Never in my life have I experienced this," said Kevin Cosgrove, who started coaching in 1980 and spent 13 years at Wisconsin before coming to Nebraska. "I don't think it should come with the territory. I don't think kids should be getting phone calls and text messages and things like that. I don't think that's right.
"These are supposed to be true fans? Really?"
Southwest football coach Mark King said he has not witnessed an incident at school.
"But I've seen the hurt," King said. "Words sometimes do hurt more than you think. It can be hard when your father's a public figure."
Callahan, whose two daughters attend Pius X High in Lincoln, said he wants to emphasize that most people have acted respectfully.
When situations turn ugly, the fourth-year head coach said, the experience serves as a "learning process" for the coaches and their families.
"Unless you've walked in someone else's shoes, you really don't know what they're going through," Callahan said. "It's easy to criticize, but when you're in the arena and you're trying the best you can and you're battling, it hurts. It hurts everybody in your family."
Most troubling, said Tim Cassidy, Nebraska's chief football administrator, is the criticism voiced at home by parents and then repeated at school by their children.
Cassidy, whose daughter attends Southwest and whose son, Austin, started at quarterback as a senior for the Silver Hawks last year, said the criticism isn't indicative of the state. He said poor treatment from a few gets a lot of notice.
"But I can also tell you that we've got a lot of people who write us to say they're thinking of us," he said.
All of this is nothing new. Former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said that until he retired in 1997, his wife, Nancy, had kept from him the details of the abuse directed at their children during rough periods of his 25-year tenure.
None of that makes it any more acceptable, said Slauson, the Southwest principal.
Slauson said he checks occasionally with the children of NU coaches to ensure that they feel comfortable.
Southwest, in fact, offers something of a comfort zone, with the children of Cosgrove, Elmassian, Cassidy, Nebraska baseball coach Mike Anderson and athletic administrator Dennis Leblanc.
"They hang together," Cassidy said. "They support each other. Kids are resilient. They'll bounce back. They're going to move on, grow from this, and hopefully learn how not to sometimes act."
<_< :angry:
Unnecessary Roughness: Coaches' kids also targets of frustrated NU fans' ire
BY MITCH SHERMAN
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan and six of his nine full-time assistants have a total of 12 children enrolled in Lincoln's public and parochial schools.
Some of the more public behavior has involved Lincoln Southwest, where sons of beleaguered Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove and cornerbacks coach Phil Elmassian played this fall as juniors on the football team.
On Oct. 12, as Southwest played Lincoln East at Seacrest Field, East students reacted to the announcement of Connor Cosgrove's name by launching a "Fire Cosgrove" chant.
The students were quickly reined in. Lincoln East's athletic director and coach later apologized to Southwest officials.
School administrators have sought to short-circuit problems, but it's impossible to eliminate them entirely, said Rob Slauson, Southwest's principal.
"We want to have an environment that is emotionally safe and physically safe," said Slauson, whose son Matt starts on the offensive line for NU.
Even at home, the children of coaches are not safe from criticism.
"Never in my life have I experienced this," said Kevin Cosgrove, who started coaching in 1980 and spent 13 years at Wisconsin before coming to Nebraska. "I don't think it should come with the territory. I don't think kids should be getting phone calls and text messages and things like that. I don't think that's right.
"These are supposed to be true fans? Really?"
Southwest football coach Mark King said he has not witnessed an incident at school.
"But I've seen the hurt," King said. "Words sometimes do hurt more than you think. It can be hard when your father's a public figure."
Callahan, whose two daughters attend Pius X High in Lincoln, said he wants to emphasize that most people have acted respectfully.
When situations turn ugly, the fourth-year head coach said, the experience serves as a "learning process" for the coaches and their families.
"Unless you've walked in someone else's shoes, you really don't know what they're going through," Callahan said. "It's easy to criticize, but when you're in the arena and you're trying the best you can and you're battling, it hurts. It hurts everybody in your family."
Most troubling, said Tim Cassidy, Nebraska's chief football administrator, is the criticism voiced at home by parents and then repeated at school by their children.
Cassidy, whose daughter attends Southwest and whose son, Austin, started at quarterback as a senior for the Silver Hawks last year, said the criticism isn't indicative of the state. He said poor treatment from a few gets a lot of notice.
"But I can also tell you that we've got a lot of people who write us to say they're thinking of us," he said.
All of this is nothing new. Former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said that until he retired in 1997, his wife, Nancy, had kept from him the details of the abuse directed at their children during rough periods of his 25-year tenure.
None of that makes it any more acceptable, said Slauson, the Southwest principal.
Slauson said he checks occasionally with the children of NU coaches to ensure that they feel comfortable.
Southwest, in fact, offers something of a comfort zone, with the children of Cosgrove, Elmassian, Cassidy, Nebraska baseball coach Mike Anderson and athletic administrator Dennis Leblanc.
"They hang together," Cassidy said. "They support each other. Kids are resilient. They'll bounce back. They're going to move on, grow from this, and hopefully learn how not to sometimes act."
<_< :angry:
