Why Mike Riley Didn't Succeed @ Nebraska

commando said:
i think the biggest problem is that he seem enamored with the high star wr and qb recruits rather than the line recruits.      without protection the most talented players at qb/rb/wr won't be able to do their stuff.  make your line a priority and things will get better even if the star ranking at the skill positions drops.
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It wasnt MR who is enamored the the skill position recruits it was us the fans.  He did sign 4 stars Barnett, Rairdon, and Farniok.  And he reccruited many batter lineman pretty hard.

It is like he listened to too many voices, and tried to manage everything instead of coaching.  He brought in too many coaches he wasnt familiar with and I wonder if they all got along real well, did they all share the same concepts?  Diaco was a disaster that was ultimately the back breaker.

 
dvdcrr said:
Here is one reason he got fired:  If Nebraska had missed one kick at Purdue, we would be winless since September.  Just wow.  
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With those wins being Illinois and Rutgers.  And the Rutgers game was a fight.  Really when you look at it Illinois was the only real solid win.

 
Big Red 40 said:
Everything went well for Riley except the games.
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Personally, I think the opposite is true. I believe your culture, work ethic, approach and practice sets the tone for what's going to happen on Saturday. If things go badly wrong on Saturdays then there are problems Monday through Friday.

Just as an example, S&B took an interesting call this morning from a former Nebraska high school referee. He said they could walk into a school, look at the locker room and know within a few minutes what kind of team they were going to see that night. If lockers were dented and left open, if trash was on the floor and if things were in a general sense of disarray, they knew they were going to have to get on top of officiating early and often. If the locker room was clean and well-taken care of then that would normally be a sign of something positive.

And then you hear talk about jerseys and lockers not being treated respectfully or charter planes not being left clean. They're little things but they can often say a lot about a team and culture.

 
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I was making a joke about a quote Riley had made, but i totally agree with what you said. I hope the new coach will fix that.. Those changes alone would make the product on the field much better.

 
This isn't the only reason Mike Riley didn't succeed, but it sure as hell contributed to his downfall. 

 
He lost at the line of scrimmage

Put it another way: Riley’s teams had almost the same number of total carries as their opponents — 908 vs. 915. Yet opponents rushed for 884 more yards.

Here’s a ranking of Big Ten teams (2015-17) by yards per carry and yards per carry allowed. Pay attention to the difference.

Ohio State: 5.63/3.23 (2.40 difference)

Wisconsin: 4.20/3.08 (1.12)

Michigan: 4.5 .58 (0.94)

Penn State: 4.53/3.67 (0.86)

Northwestern: 3.87/3.30 (0.57)

Iowa: 4.29/3.97 (0.32)

Maryland: 4.6 .51 (0.10)

Michigan State: 3.96/3.87 (0.09)

Minnesota: 4.27/4.30 (minus-0.03)

Indiana: 3.74/4.17 (minus-0.43)

Illinois: 3.95/4.78 (minus-0.83)

Nebraska: 3.95/4.89 (minus-0.94)

Purdue: 3.37/4.92 (minus-1.55)

Rutgers: 3.40/5.74 (minus-2.34)

Statistics are through Friday’s games.

The top six teams in this ranking are the top six teams in winning percentage from 2015-17. The bottom three, aside from Nebraska, are the three worst in winning percentage. It’s no coincidence.

Run the ball. Stop the run. Riley broke the Big Ten laws over and over again.
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Awesome stats, @Mavric. Brutally depressing. But really interesting data. 

As the emotions subside and are hopefully very soon drowned out with the positives of almost undoubtedly bringing in Frost, I can say that it stands to reason that it's hard to judge Diaco's efforts on just one season. But I still say that a passive 3-4 will never work all that well in a run-heavy conference. Your defensive line will constantly be a weak link.

I'm so glad to not have to watch another year of a passive 3-4 combined with a secondary that's lined up way too far off the line of scrimmage. 

 
Great stats line of scrimage both sides of the ball.  The trenches have and always will be where football games are won and lost.

 
Redux said:
Yeah I'm still just sold on the idea that SE was so out of touch with our program that he didn't realize how pissed our fanbase would have been if his top target Bielma would have happened.  His backup was Riley IMO and it was a backup like having a donut in your trunk is a backup, it'll get ya home but don't schedule a road trip.
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the real issue here is, who hired SE and SP????  Pearlman, that's who!!  we bash MR (correctly) for being sub-par coach and yet the man behind the curtain (HP) should be the one tared and feathered!!  his poor leadership and even worse stewardship of the Husker brand is unbelievable.  He, rode NU football like someone rides their cash cow product (all the way to the dirt).  HP short of hiring (or should I say begging) Tom to bail his butt out after the BC fiasco is the only good thing HP did.  even then he pushed Tom aside for SE, Pearlman just never got it when it came to NU football.  Rant Off...

 
Man this thread has potential to be as long as the SF epic novel.  To keep it short, the old adage about leopards and their spots comes to mind.  Whether it is PAC10/12, NFL or the B1G, some coaches are poor at adaptation and execution.  Defense, his team's play on both side on the line of scrimmage, and whatever metrics, it all seems to equal that he will always be a nice, well respected, .500 winning/losing percentage coach. 

 
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