Worst CFB Hires of the Past Decade

huskerfan333157 said:
This is why I think Callahan gets too much heat.  Nebraska would have been successful if Callahan  fired Cosgrove.  Callahan had decent offenses and could recruit.  He's 5x better than Mr 500.
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I agree. And Bo was hired specifically to fix the D after BC allowed it to go down hill.    So, what happens wt Bo - he has great defenses though 2010 or so and then we start loosing games in the Big 10 by huge margins and can't end the jet sweep - I think the Wisc running back is still gaining yards against us.  He could never get the O and the D to fully click at the right time. - seems like timing was against us - if we had SUH's D with either Ganz or TM as QB we well could have won a NC - esp TM's freshman year. 

 
Toe said:
@huskerfan333157 In the end, though, Callahan was Mr. 551. Yeah, there's a case to be made that he might've been OK if not for Cosgrove, but of course, he gets graded on what he did and not on what he could've done.
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Our offense wasn't bad under Callahan.  Taylor, lucky, swift, purify, Peterson, herian, slauson etc.  Our defense had talent but Cosgrove was a crappy defensive coordinator.  I still think we would have been a top 25 team if he made that change.

 
TGHusker said:
I agree. And Bo was hired specifically to fix the D after BC allowed it to go down hill.    So, what happens wt Bo - he has great defenses though 2010 or so and then we start loosing games in the Big 10 by huge margins and can't end the jet sweep - I think the Wisc running back is still gaining yards against us.  He could never get the O and the D to fully click at the right time. - seems like timing was against us - if we had SUH's D with either Ganz or TM as QB we well could have won a NC - esp TM's freshman year. 
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That 09 defense was the best defense ever at Nebraska.  What they accomplished with such an inept offense is purely amazing.  In fact, I think they had just as good of stats as Alabama's vaunted defense that year (and they had a good offense).

 
huskerfan333157 said:
That 09 defense was the best defense ever at Nebraska.  What they accomplished with such an inept offense is purely amazing.  In fact, I think they had just as good of stats as Alabama's vaunted defense that year (and they had a good offense).
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Yes, any kind of Offense and we would have/should have/could have trounced texass in the the CCG.  We lost to WV by 1 15-16, Texas by 1 12-13, Iowa State by 2 7-9  :facepalm: , and TT 10-31 (not sure where the D was at that game - out for lunch I guess) which was a real fluke compared to the rest of the season.   We destroy a good Ariz team in the bowl game - so the O had a couple of games were we scored well but those times it just didn't show up was a killer.  Missiouri and Ariz were probably the 2 games were both the O and the D played on a high level that year.  We got barely enough O to defeat OU but primary due to the D making huge plays and SUH's bull rushes that OU could not stop. 

 
TGHusker said:
Yes, any kind of Offense and we would have/should have/could have trounced texass in the the CCG.  We lost to WV by 1 15-16, Texas by 1 12-13, Iowa State by 2 7-9  :facepalm: , and TT 10-31 (not sure where the D was at that game - out for lunch I guess) which was a real fluke compared to the rest of the season.   We destroy a good Ariz team in the bowl game - so the O had a couple of games were we scored well but those times it just didn't show up was a killer.  Missiouri and Ariz were probably the 2 games were both the O and the D played on a high level that year.  We got barely enough O to defeat OU but primary due to the D making huge plays and SUH's bull rushes that OU could not stop. 
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Texas tech was just bad matchup but even with one loss (and beating Texas in the championship game) we still would have been in the championship.

 
huskerfan333157 said:
Texas tech was just bad matchup but even with one loss (and beating Texas in the championship game) we still would have been in the championship.
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We held them to 259 yards, I have a hard time even putting that one on the defense. One TD was a fumble return, and while giving up 24 wasn't up to our defense's normal standard that should've been good enough to beat TT. Agreed though, you could keep that loss and if we don't blow a coverage against VT, maybe have 7 turnovers instead of 8 (8!) against Iowa State, and any number of breaks against Texas and we would be in the mix to get crushed by Bama in the title game. Probably wouldn't have given up a lot of points, but we might have gotten shut out.

 
My opinion of Riley before, during, and after his hiring is well known, and to put it kindly, not favorable.

I still wouldnt put him on this list.

For starters, they must have a 1 school rule or Gill and Weis would both be on it. Beatty made the list, but it was Weis that dug that hole. 

The biggest miss (though outside the P5) is Ellis Johnson at Southern Miss. Finished 0-12 and was fired.

 
huskerfan333157 said:
Our offense wasn't bad under Callahan.  Taylor, lucky, swift, purify, Peterson, herian, slauson etc.  Our defense had talent but Cosgrove was a crappy defensive coordinator.  I still think we would have been a top 25 team if he made that change.
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It usually was in big games. At least in the only year it actually mattered.

2006 we had a defense good enough to win us a championship. Held USC to 28, Texas to 22, Oklahoma to 21, and Auburn to 17. And our offense s#!t the bed in all four of the biggest games, scoring 10, 20, 7, and 14 points respectively. 

 
IMO this list does too much Monday morning quarterbacking. There is a difference between a hire turning-out bad and looking bad from the start. Riley was a WTH hire right out of the gate. Bo was nothing special but if you can a 9-3 coach you better be bringing-in a winner. Riley was respected in coaching circles but he was still an old .500 guy that was on the downward slide at Oregon State. 

 
huskerfan333157 said:
This is why I think Callahan gets too much heat.  Nebraska would have been successful if Callahan  fired Cosgrove.
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I don't think we can say that. As @Landlord pointed out, the offense had a tendency to underperform when it mattered most. That's not really exclusive to Callahan, though. We also saw it happen under Pelini. 

Second, we should remember Callahan played a fairly integral role in alienating former players and the fan base. He did not do the things he needed to do to make this is a championship program. I don't think we can concretely say that a different DC would've made him more successful.

 
Callahan also torched the walk on program because he wasn't capable of managing that many players.

 
TGHusker said:
MR should be in top 5 based on the trajectory alone.  No Bill Callahan on the list - probably too long ago.   He set us on the downward spiral.  Without Zac Taylor - we'd had 4 losing season's if he lasted that long.   But I will say this, I think MR would have done worse damage if left here another year or 2.  BC big problem was he was too loyal to his DC  MR was failing across the board.
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I am sure Callahan would be in the previous 10 year span top 10. Any other team on this top 10 list that would also be on the 98-08 list? Or is it just NU

 
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