What is Going On at NU?

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Patrick Casser

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Hi. I am a UCLA alum from the Cal. Bay Area that always sort of looked up to the Husker program. You guys have great fans and a great tradition.

I just read today that the Dallas Cowboy D Coordinator Mike Zimmer reportedly turned down the Nebraska job. That makes 3 candidates turning down the job in the last week. I know that they may not "officially" have been offered the job but it seems clear to me who is rebuffing whom.

I just want to ask the Husker fans out there . . . are you guys getting annoyed or disgruntled with the coaching search? Possibly even embarassed? It seems to this outsider that the new AD fired a capable coach with no plan as to hire someone new? I would have thought that guys like Mike Zimmer would jump at this presitigious job and challenge. Am I misreading things? Am I wrong to criticize the firing and subsequent coaching search? Any feedback would be appreciated.

 
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Hey Patrick-

I’ll step in for bigredmachine tonight to give my thoughts on this mess for you.

 

First of all I appreciate your interest and respect for the Nebraska program. We’re usually faced with the unintelligible banter from KSU wildkitten fans, so it’s nice to see other non-huskers around here that can recognize tradition, and pose intelligent questions.

 

First the firing.

We didn’t agree with firing a 9-3 coach, but by far the biggest problem the majority of us had was the manner in which it was carried out. Completely unprofessional. We had a bad feeling that this was a harbinger for bad things to come. Hence the current coaching roulette.

 

Personally I am embarrassed by this situation. But not as a Husker fan. Im embarassed for Steve Pederson and the program, and the fact he claims to be a “Nebraskan”. Steve Pederson does not seem in tune at all with Nebraskans, or the University. Which is hard to believe, b/c he allegedly hails from North Platte. Not sure where along the way he lost his head in his a$$, but at this point in time he seems completely ignorant and naïve as to what he’s up against.

 

I realize it appears as if the job has been “turned down” more times than Tonya Harding has stiffed Eric the Red, but I truly don’t believe any of the aforementioned candidates were ever really “offered” the job. They were exactly that, candidates. And candidates are typically led to believe they are the “top” candidate, to string them along until the other interviews are complete. This is normal during most negotiations. Remember those high school girlfriends? Didn’t want to ditch that one with the lazy eye until you could be sure one with 2 good eyes was interested. ;) With that said, it doesn’t make the negative press any less staunch, as the media spins it into “Nebraska is denied AGAIN”.

 

So people are left w/ visions of SP flying around the country with red suitcases full of money, trying to GIVE them away to anyone with a pulse. And I recognize the power of these impressions, and know that they are strong dissuaders to potential coaches who don’t want to be labeled as our “4th” choice.

 

Which is why the longer this continues, the less likely SP is to land his top choice. Not to say that I think his “top” choice is still available, b/c my theory is that Steve had someone in mind from jump that he thought was a sure thing (Spurrier, Mooch etc) – hence his brazen comments that we would be blown away, his desperado one-man-show mentality, and him seemingly “sitting on his hands” during December. I think this top choice fell through, and left Steve scrambling and desperate.

 

This put him in an awkward position, and the result was him reaching for anyone of substance. Enter the Nutt. Maybe Nutt wasn’t even interested in the job, and vice versa, but that was already discussed at length elsewhere and is moot now.

 

This also left SP grasping for the support of Husker Nation, which he didn’t think he needed, until he realized that the media perception - which dictates other coach’s perceptions - go hand in hand. The result of this was his lame press conference from last Saturday (see this thread), which was an attempt to resurrect HN’s support, and his image w/the media, which he hopes will have a ripple effect and restore the luster of the job. One month too late jackoff. :blink:

 

If he wouldn’t have employed his arrogant policy of a “gag order” on himself over the past month, the media’s thirst would’ve been quenched, and wouldn’t have been left to daydream up stories during the Holidays. If he would have outlined his “process” earlier, there wouldn’t have been such a sh#tstorm when his fascination with Nutts was revealed. :o

 

Was Nutt Saunders or Zimmer that 2nd best option? Maybe. All I hope at this point is that our image isnt tarnished so bad that other coaches don’t even give us a consideration, due to our current trainwreck of a media image.

 

Alright, I feel better. I think. Well if you got to this point, you must have nothing better to do, so let's hear what the rest of you jerkoffs think! I’d also be interested to hear more perceptions from others outside of the Husker fold.

 

If UCLA guy is still around, what's your opinion of Tedford? He seems to be pretty popular around these parts, and is rumored as a potential candidate himself. And don’t tell me he sucks a-holes just b/c you want to keep him.. :)

 

Blackshirt

 
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Im a Madison Wisconsin native, and also agree with Patrick about your program. I too have always kinda admired NU for your tradition and consistency over the last 30 years. Plus thanks a bunch for Barry Alvarez!! I bet right about now you are wishing he would still be in program eh?! But dont go getting any ideas either!! He's not available!

But those were some interesting points above. I guess I dont necessarily think it looks like the job is a hot potato, just rather maybe people are a bit hesitant because of the expectations your Athletic Director set. But youre right once something starts rolling in the wrong direction as your coaching search seems to be, its hard to get it back on track. Oh well just wanted to let you guys know that at least this Badger still thinks highly of NU football and am pullin for ya. ;)

badgerboy

 
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Would you take a job from somebody that fired a coach that went 9-3 and won their bowl game? Sure a salary of $2MM a year looks great, but if you had a job making $1MM a year, but a contract that is 5 years long that equals $5MM where if you don't make it at Nebraska you may be gone after the first year leaving you $3MM down. Most colleges think 9-3 is fantastic. Pederson needs to realize that NO school is going to go 12-0 every year.

 
yep good points. some might just be comfortable with their current position. see Nutt.

Barry Alvarez huh? Thanks for the idea Badgerboy!! I'll have Steve send a jetful of cash ASAP!!!

 
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Would you take a job from somebody that fired a coach that went 9-3 and won their bowl game?  Sure a salary of $2MM a year looks great, but if you had a job making $1MM a year, but a contract that is 5 years long that equals $5MM where if you don't make it at Nebraska you may be gone after the first year leaving you $3MM down.  Most colleges think 9-3 is fantastic.  Pederson needs to realize that NO school is going to go 12-0 every year.
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1. Nebraska is not most colleges.

2. You're sure that he has that exact expectation? 12-0 every year? I'll tell you this,

over the last 3-5 years or so, I haven't had the same feeling about NU football as I had

before Every time I would sit down to watch a game, I thought for sure we would

win. Sure, we lost games but I didn't sit down thinking, "OK, is the offense going to

show up today? Is the defense going to fall on itself again?" I don't know about the

rest of you, but that's kinda how it has been for me lately.

 
I'm the UCLA guy and I live in the Bay Area now so I follow Cal Coach Jeff Tedford quite closely. And I think he is a very good coach. And let me say, I have a lot of Cal alumni friends and they are starting to get rather nervous that Big Red is going to come calling.

Hey Nebraska, do us a favor and interview Karl Dorrell would ya!! Haha.

Speaking of the Bay Area, I read today that Bill Callahan is being interviewed by you guys. I think Callahan is a decent coach but his image is probably more tarnished by the media and his former players than anyone right now. His name surfacing really surprises me. Won't recruits be scared off by all the vitriol spouted his way by former players like Charles Woodson? Recruits look up to those players.

Originally, when I heard that Solich was fired I thought NU would make a big splash, hire a top coach, and we'd all say "okay that is why they fired Solich." I still think that NU might surprise us all and find that home run candidate, but I have to admit to us outsiders the Huskers appear to have lost a little bit of their luster the last month. But you will be back because you have great people out there.

I heard NU lost a QB prospect yesterday to Kansas State. I do not follow your recruiting all that much. Was it a big loss?

 
Interesting. Yes Ive heard nothin but goodness bout Tedford.

maybe its b/c Im left coast deficient, but who's Karl Dorrell? thats probably exactly why you want us to interview him! :)

Yes callahan is my current favorite. check out some discussion here & feel free to add patrick if you want http://www.huskerboard.com/forums/index.ph...p?showtopic=306

I dont lend much of anything to the friction b/t callahan and players of woodson's nature. i think that reeks of "overpaid spolied brat" than anything else. but yes youre right it does exist, at least in the publics eyes, so it is something that could be problematic. and im not saying that callahan wasnt to blame and is something to overlook, b/c its not, we need to do just that, LOOk farther into it before we make flip judgements like it appears al davis did.

I really think Callahan could be one of the biggest steals ever, and could pay huge dividends for us in the short and long term. you know how easy it is to go from first to worst and vice versa in the nfl these days, so I wouldnt count Cally out.

i also think this could be one of those reassuring hires for HN. makes a lot more sense than THE NUTT.

and yes it always hurts to lose a quality qb, let alone quality IN STATE QB, let alone to KState. if you want to read more reaction check this thread out: http://www.huskerboard.com/forums/index.ph...p?showtopic=298

later-

rc

 
***SNIP***  

I realize it appears as if the job has been “turned down” more times than Tonya Harding has stiffed Eric the Red, but I truly don’t believe any of the aforementioned candidates were ever really “offered” the job. They were exactly that, candidates. And candidates are typically led to believe they are the “top” candidate, to string them along until the other interviews are complete. This is normal during most negotiations. Remember those high school girlfriends? Didn’t want to ditch that one with the lazy eye until you could be sure one with 2 good eyes was interested. ;) With that said, it doesn’t make the negative press any less staunch, as the media spins it into “Nebraska is denied AGAIN”.

 

***SNIP***
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I believe this point is precisely correct. From reports here in Arkansas, including from Nutt himself, Nutt was not actually offered the job. He was told of the amount of money and other aspects of the job, but the plane waiting to take him to Nebraska was - again, according to Nutt - to conduct an interview; not to announce Nutt as the new coach.

I can't, of course, say that's correct for all candidates, but it fits.

More interesting to me is the possibility that there was a high profile coach that was targeted, showed no interest, and left the AD scrambling. For some reason, I don't think this was the case. Can't prove it, but it seems to me that if that were so, some hint of it would have leaked.

Beleive it or not, I think Nutt was the "first" choice, sort of. Meaning, he was top of the list, but not the sole candidate. I think the AD wanted to wait until the Razorbacks' bowl game to see how that turned out before going further. If Arkansas won - which they did - he could then say he was selecting a coach that had done something - with less resources - that Frank could not...beat Texas and Mizzou.

I think the AD looked at the program, and felt that although Frank could handle the X's and O's aspect of it, and was a good administrator, the one difference between Nebraska and either Oklahoma or Kansas State recently was recruiting. I mean, think about it...does either OU or KSU have more to offer recruits than Nebraska? If so, what? No major urban areas, no "hot spots", no beaches, etc.

So what was needed, in the AD's evaluation, was a good coach who could recruit. While Nutt is not well known outside the SEC, within it he is recognized as a guy that has managed to recruit a little better than would be expected given the NCAA sanctions and the negatives of Arkansas.

Regardless, I think that's the direction the AD wanted to go - someone who was a whiz-bang recruiter. I imagine he thinks that this is all that's been lacking...and it may well be.

But the way he fired Frank leaves a bad taste, regardless.

 
But the way he fired Frank leaves a bad taste, regardless.
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How should have have fired him? I think there is only one way to fire someone.

You have a meeting, tell him he's fired, then move on. You don't need to have a damn

parade about it :)

 
Let him finish out the year, for one thing. Putting aside whether Frank represented the program correctly - I personally think he did - the one overriding negative of the way he was fired is that it raised the hackles of a lot of coaches. In their mind, bad enough that a 9-win coach is fired, but to not even let him finish the season...

This could be one of the impediments to getting serious consideration from coaches...

 
Let him finish out the year, for one thing. Putting aside whether Frank represented the program correctly - I personally think he did - the one overriding negative of the way he was fired is that it raised the hackles of a lot of coaches. In their mind, bad enough that a 9-win coach is fired, but to not even let him finish the season...
This could be one of the impediments to getting serious consideration from coaches...
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Right, but the last seasons record was not even close to the prime reason that

he was fired and I don't know why people keep going to back to that.

I was thinking about this the other day. For the past 4+ years, every time I sit down

to watch an NU game I have thought, "OK, is the offense going to show up today?",

"Is the defense give up the run?" etc etc. These thoughts were much less this year.

However in the years before, I never had a doubt that we would win the game.

Sure, we lost the game, but there was no swagger of "we are unbeatable" which,

in my opinion is critical. If as a fan, I felt this way the players had to just feel

invincible. I don't know if this feeling has run through the veins of the Huskers in a

while.

I think this feeling ran through the defense this year. They played 150 percent

better this year.

Anyone else agree?

 
I agree. What I saw from the defense reminded me of the best Nebraska has offered in that regard. I think they were, as a unit, a bit undersized in the line, but finding those 300+ pound studs is tough.

Where I see a decline was not in the formations, or the QB (Lord is not necessarily a worse passer than some others with whom Nebraska has won). I see less talent in two places. Primarily, the offensive line, and secondarily, at tailback (although I thought Davis did a pretty damn good job, actually - fought for every yard he could).

In years past, no one could touch Nebraska in the offensive line. Starters were fifth-year seniors or the absolute best of bred juniors. That's changed, from my distant vantage point. When the most talented lineman is a soph, well, that spells trouble for an offense like Nebraska's. That's where the swagger was lacking. I honestly feel that the o-line was not sure it could dominate, nor did the rest of the offense.

To me, that comes from a realization that they were not more talented than the players across from them - and that's unheard of in Nebraska. That's one reason I think SP is looking for a master recruiter - to bring in "best of breed" talent.

I know that living as far from Nebraska as I am, I don't have the insights other members of this board have. It just seems to me that when you look at everything, there is only one area lacking - recruiting. Nebraska's facilities? Top-notch. Fan base? Unrivaled. Tradition? Among the best in the nation. Resources? Whatever is needed the fans will give. Coaching? I don't see any obvious flaws in the game plan. What does that leave? The talent level.

 
I don't see any obvious flaws in the game plan.  What does that leave?  The talent level.
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Right, but the talent level is directly related to recruiting which is directly related to

the staff.

I agree with what you are saying about the O-Line. NU could blow anyone off the

line. This year there have been tiny glimpses of an improved line, but there is still

a way to go before getting back to opening holes I could run through :)

Speaking of running, I think the days of run, run, pass are all but over. Although,

establishing the running game is essential in any game. If you can run, there is no

need to pass ;)

 
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