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Honeymoon over

Pennsyhusker

Athletic Director
Aug 6, 2009
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Harveys Lake, PA
I supported the firing of Pelini. And I was initially disappointed in the new hire, but grew to like it as the positive statements poured in about our new coach. I did not expect a huge turn around right away and was willing to be patient. And I have avoided posting on this board for the most part and decided to just sit back and see what happens. I wanted and want the new staff to succeed. No need to get hyper critical from the get-go.

But yesterday's loss was the most frustrating and infuriating loss I have ever experienced as a Husker fan going back to 1965. This was the most poorly coached game I can ever remember at Nebraska. And I think the vast majority of Husker fans agree. This should not have happened with a veteran coach. It was disgusting to watch it unfold. One can only wonder what the players now think of their new staff. And one can hope the staff does not lose this team. Players know when a game is being horrendously coached. And they take it to heart.

In short, the honeymoon for the new staff is over. They threw all good will and patience Husker fans have out the window on one cold, windy and wet night in Illinois. And if they continue to lose games in this fashion things are going to turn ugly fast. I mean that. This could get really ugly. This is not 2004 or 2008 where fans were still hoping the new coach could turn things around. This is our fourth post-Osborne coach and fans are getting impatient. We are going to be patient but not if we lose like we did yesterday. The sell out streak will be in jeopardy and you will see empty seats and a decrease in enthusiasm/donations. We are a critical point in the history of our program. I am not trying to be overly dramatic here or to peddle needless doomsday scenarios. But yesterday was just flat-out inexcusable.

And I hate to say this but I will: Pelini would not have lost yesterday.
 
You had me with thumbs up until the P..... reference. He might've gotten us blown out with this group.
 
And now onto the awesome marriage! Laughing

Ha. That is truly funny. Because the fact is you are correct: there is no way the new staff will or should be fired. No way. That would be crazy. So we are stuck with this marriage for a while so we better hope they get it turned around.
 
Penny - it already is really ugly.

I can think of a couple losses that were more frustrating and infuriating. The loss to Missouri in 1978 was a killer. Why? Because we finally beat OU, then got abused at home, and had to play OU again and lost. The 1990 Fiesta Bowl against FSU (17-41) could have been much worse if Bobby hadn't taken his foot off the gas. That included Peter Tom Willis completing a fourth and 45 to our 5 yard line. There were others that stung worse for me. Not that yesterday wasn't bad with a capital "B", but in my Cornhusker fan career it is not in my top 5 and probably not in my top 10 if I thought about it.
 
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Callahan 2.0. Eerily similar.

So it wasn't just me flashing back to Callahan losing at Ames yesterday? He could have lined-up, pounded the rock, and won easily. But no, he had to do his west nile offense. If I remeber correctly, Joe Dailey threw it 40 times that day.
 
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I supported the firing of Pelini. And I was initially disappointed in the new hire, but grew to like it as the positive statements poured in about our new coach. I did not expect a huge turn around right away and was willing to be patient. And I have avoided posting on this board for the most part and decided to just sit back and see what happens. I wanted and want the new staff to succeed. No need to get hyper critical from the get-go.

But yesterday's loss was the most frustrating and infuriating loss I have ever experienced as a Husker fan going back to 1965. This was the most poorly coached game I can ever remember at Nebraska. And I think the vast majority of Husker fans agree. This should not have happened with a veteran coach. It was disgusting to watch it unfold. One can only wonder what the players now think of their new staff. And one can hope the staff does not lose this team. Players know when a game is being horrendously coached. And they take it to heart.

In short, the honeymoon for the new staff is over. They threw all good will and patience Husker fans have out the window on one cold, windy and wet night in Illinois. And if they continue to lose games in this fashion things are going to turn ugly fast. I mean that. This could get really ugly. This is not 2004 or 2008 where fans were still hoping the new coach could turn things around. This is our fourth post-Osborne coach and fans are getting impatient. We are going to be patient but not if we lose like we did yesterday. The sell out streak will be in jeopardy and you will see empty seats and a decrease in enthusiasm/donations. We are a critical point in the history of our program. I am not trying to be overly dramatic here or to peddle needless doomsday scenarios. But yesterday was just flat-out inexcusable.

And I hate to say this but I will: Pelini would not have lost yesterday.
I pretty much agree with this. And maybe its time fans started voicing their opinions with their wallets. As much as I want the streak to keep going I want to see the program get fixed more.
 
You can count me as one who feels the honeymoon is now over for this staff, too. The game yesterday was a mirror image of the 2004 ISU game. Both games would have been won had the coaches not tried to be cute with the play calling. It's very telling to me when the average fan can see what the high-payed coaches can't - JUST RUN THE BALL!!!
 
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nice guy and knows everything that he needs to know but now we see if he can command and demand it get righted and quickly.
The ship is going down and next year is his last (and we wasted more years) if it doesn't happen.
 
The old games. Those losses hurt because we were so close to being at the top.

The games this season. These losses hurt because not only are we irrelevant, but now we're bad.
 
Illinois is a bad team and their program a dumpster fire. And they beat us. It was no fluke. They outyarded us and had more big plays when it mattered. Their coach also knew how to use his time outs at the end. THEIR staff looked like the veteran staff and ours looked like rookies. You hate to extrapolate from one game but this loss was the culmination of trends seen all season. This is not a well coached team which is shocking. And this staff's game management skills are incompetent. Count me among the utterly demoralized fan base. I have NEVER felt this dispirited about Husker football in my life. As someone said above: we are now not just irrelevant, we are bad. We are a lower tier football team
 
.....Pennsy, I think the most depressing thing here is, we are just stuck in this situation now. There is nothing we can do about it but get behind this. I have very little faith that this staff can accomplish anything that would remotely resemble the fielding and coaching of a team that would be championship caliber....or at least competitive on that level. But he is not going anywhere anytime soon. As depressing as this may sound, this is our coach for at least the next few years. Maybe they can prove me (and the majority of us) wrong. Lord I hope so.
 
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.....Pennsy, I think the most depressing thing here is, we are just stuck in this situation now. There is nothing we can do about it but get behind this. I have very little faith that this staff can accomplish anything that would remotely resemble the fielding and coaching of a team that would be championship caliber....or at least competitive on that level. But he is not going anywhere anytime soon. As depressing as this may sound, this is our coach for at least the next few years. Maybe they can prove me (and the majority of us) wrong. Lord I hope so.

I agree. And as 4.6.3 pointed out above we are now past the honeymoon and into the marriage. We have to give this staff time to do their thing. I am not calling for them to be fired. But damn almighty this is depressing
 
My only point is not that we should fire this staff. My one and only point is that, based on what I have seen so far, we are in for a very rough and ugly couple of years.
 
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nice guy and knows everything that he needs to know but now we see if he can command and demand it get righted and quickly.
The ship is going down and next year is his last (and we wasted more years) if it doesn't happen.
Nothing has been wasted. The Husker's of old are a bygone era that will not return in our lifetime. I've finally resigned myself to that.
 
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Nothing has been wasted. The Husker's of old are a bygone era that will not return in our lifetime. I've finally resigned myself to that.

When TO won his final NC and announced his retirement, a friend and longtime fan told me to enjoy the moment and that Nebraska football will never be like this again. He told me that the program would slowly fall off the map into a so-so team that would win its fair share of games, but never return to the glory days. Now I see his wisdom. I still (hopefully) have many years left to watch, but I just don't see us becoming a football powerhouse again.
 
Nothing has been wasted. The Husker's of old are a bygone era that will not return in our lifetime. I've finally resigned myself to that.

I think that is why so many Husker fans are taking this loss so hard. It really does drive home the point that we are a once great program that continues to slide further and further into irrelevance and has-been status. And when you have the recruiting disadvantages we have, once we slide into a 3-8 season it will be a hole that will be really hard to dig out of.
 
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Nothing has been wasted. The Husker's of old are a bygone era that will not return in our lifetime. I've finally resigned myself to that.


What, winning 9 or 10 games a year and competing for division titles for a chance to win the conference.

We decided that's not good enough.
 
What, winning 9 or 10 games a year and competing for division titles for a chance to win the conference.

We decided that's not good enough.

I may have been reading this last post of yours wrong, but I hope you weren't saying that we were "competing" for conference titles under the last regime. The last time we "competed" for one was in the Big 12. SE may have made the wrong decision on this hire, but he sure as hell didn't make the wrong decision on the last fire.
 
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I supported the firing of Pelini. And I was initially disappointed in the new hire, but grew to like it as the positive statements poured in about our new coach. I did not expect a huge turn around right away and was willing to be patient. And I have avoided posting on this board for the most part and decided to just sit back and see what happens. I wanted and want the new staff to succeed. No need to get hyper critical from the get-go.

But yesterday's loss was the most frustrating and infuriating loss I have ever experienced as a Husker fan going back to 1965. This was the most poorly coached game I can ever remember at Nebraska. And I think the vast majority of Husker fans agree. This should not have happened with a veteran coach. It was disgusting to watch it unfold. One can only wonder what the players now think of their new staff. And one can hope the staff does not lose this team. Players know when a game is being horrendously coached. And they take it to heart.

In short, the honeymoon for the new staff is over. They threw all good will and patience Husker fans have out the window on one cold, windy and wet night in Illinois. And if they continue to lose games in this fashion things are going to turn ugly fast. I mean that. This could get really ugly. This is not 2004 or 2008 where fans were still hoping the new coach could turn things around. This is our fourth post-Osborne coach and fans are getting impatient. We are going to be patient but not if we lose like we did yesterday. The sell out streak will be in jeopardy and you will see empty seats and a decrease in enthusiasm/donations. We are a critical point in the history of our program. I am not trying to be overly dramatic here or to peddle needless doomsday scenarios. But yesterday was just flat-out inexcusable.

And I hate to say this but I will: Pelini would not have lost yesterday.
I know many have said there is no chance Riley will be fired this year or even next. I strongly disagree. As you stated this isn't 04 or 08 where husker fans were still living in la la land and believed things would turn around just by wishing they would. It has been almost 2 decades of irrelevant football. The patience has ran out. Nobody is willing to wait another 3-5 years to see if things can be turned around. You are right the seats will start to empty and the donations will start to slow. If Riley losses out (very possible) he will be canned. I honestly think if he goes much below 5-7 he will be fired as well and the AD will be out with him. The football program is to big for the university and the flow of money it brings, to let it die.
 
I know many have said there is no chance Riley will be fired this year or even next. I strongly disagree. As you stated this isn't 04 or 08 where husker fans were still living in la la land and believed things would turn around just by wishing they would. It has been almost 2 decades of irrelevant football. The patience has ran out. Nobody is willing to wait another 3-5 years to see if things can be turned around. You are right the seats will start to empty and the donations will start to slow. If Riley losses out (very possible) he will be canned. I honestly think if he goes much below 5-7 he will be fired as well and the AD will be out with him. The football program is to big for the university and the flow of money it brings, to let it die.

This really makes no sense. You believe that in 2004, 3 years removed from a title shot, in the midst of breaking a 30+ bowl streak, transitioning from the beloved option, getting the living shucks beat out of us by Texas fricken Tech, fielding a defense that makes this one look salty, that Husker fans were more patient and willing to see where that experiment would take us?

We've lowered our standards. We are less passionate. Riley will get more rope.
 
This really makes no sense. You believe that in 2004, 3 years removed from a title shot, in the midst of breaking a 30+ bowl streak, transitioning from the beloved option, getting the living shucks beat out of us by Texas fricken Tech, fielding a defense that makes this one look salty, that Husker fans were more patient and willing to see where that experiment would take us?

We've lowered our standards. We are less passionate. Riley will get more rope.

I do not agree with this at all. It is precisely because we were just three years removed from a title shot, and still very much relevant in college football as an elite team that fans in 2004 were willing to be patient with Callahan to see if he could be successful once he got his kind of players. I think Husker2612 has it right. There is ZERO patience left for another 3-5 year round of futility.
 
This really makes no sense. You believe that in 2004, 3 years removed from a title shot, in the midst of breaking a 30+ bowl streak, transitioning from the beloved option, getting the living shucks beat out of us by Texas fricken Tech, fielding a defense that makes this one look salty, that Husker fans were more patient and willing to see where that experiment would take us?

We've lowered our standards. We are less passionate. Riley will get more rope.
I guess I do see that side as well now that you bring it up. We have gone numb to an extent.
 
Good OP. Sums up my feelings well. Happy to see Pelini go. Had serious doubts about MR. Have seen nothing to change that initial feeling. I also agree that I've never been more dispirited about Husker football than right now. Really hope we get over the hump and have something to look forward to in the off season. I'm willing to put up with some pain if the eventual payout is worth it. But as one poster said, we've gone from a team that lost to good teams to a team that loses to every team.
 
Good OP. Sums up my feelings well. Happy to see Pelini go. Had serious doubts about MR. Have seen nothing to change that initial feeling. I also agree that I've never been more dispirited about Husker football than right now. Really hope we get over the hump and have something to look forward to in the off season. I'm willing to put up with some pain if the eventual payout is worth it. But as one poster said, we've gone from a team that lost to good teams to a team that loses to every team.

We have two wins..... Just saying Winking. And 3 losses by a combined 9 pts with injury galore. Cool the jets husker fans.
 
I do not agree with this at all. It is precisely because we were just three years removed from a title shot, and still very much relevant in college football as an elite team that fans in 2004 were willing to be patient with Callahan to see if he could be successful once he got his kind of players. I think Husker2612 has it right. There is ZERO patience left for another 3-5 year round of futility.

I sure hope you guys are right. Patience is about gone. Lather, rinse, repeat.
 
When TO won his final NC and announced his retirement, a friend and longtime fan told me to enjoy the moment and that Nebraska football will never be like this again. He told me that the program would slowly fall off the map into a so-so team that would win its fair share of games, but never return to the glory days. Now I see his wisdom. I still (hopefully) have many years left to watch, but I just don't see us becoming a football powerhouse again.

And all of that can change with the RIGHT COACH. The problem isn't a lack of support, a lack of money or a lack of facilities. The problem is a lack of coaching. Look at what Alabama went through after Bryant. They hire Perkins and he bails, they hire Curry and he bails. They bring in Stallings, win a national championship & contend for another. Stallings retires after the NCAA docks them 30 schollies for cheating. DuBose tanks and goes 24-23 with a 3-8 final year while getting docked 21 more schollies. Franchione comes in, turns it around but then bails after a couple years for A&M. They hire Mike Price and promptly fire him before he coaches a single game. Then hire Shula who goes 26-23 while there and he tanks their recruiting by pulling in classes ranked 30th, 49th, & 24th at a school that historically has been one of the top recruiting programs in the country. They fire him and hire Saban and we all know happens after that.

Bama had it rough and was a circus side show at times with what DuBose and Price did. They had losing seasons and NCAA violations that docked a lot of scholarships and included several bowl bans. Go ask some of their fans what their attitude was like the final year Shula was there. They sounded like a lot of Nebraska fans, saying things like, "we'll never be great again, we were spoiled, we should just be happy with 9 wins, no good coach wants to come here because it isn't a good job, etc.". All that changes with the right coach.

Nebraska is 5th in all time wins, has elite facilites, and tons of support. The problem is they made some bad hires. Every elite school isn't elite every year, or even every decade. USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, etc. all have had their fair share of crappy periods. You know what makes those elite schools stay elite? They keep firing those coaches that brought about those crappy periods. An elite program should NEVER settle for a coach that isn't going to compete for championships.
Nebraska hired Solich and it was a bad hire. They then hired a NFL coach whose own players hated him before getting fired with the Raiders, Callahan was a terrible hire. They then hired Pelini who had zero head coaching experience and was a megalomaniac, it too was a bad hire. Then they hired a coach who has a lengthy and proven track record for being barely above .500, with a bad defense and a lot of penalties. So far, not a good hire.
Everything changes if you hire a great coach and that means going through bad coaches and even somesemi-decent coaches, till you find that great one. Alabama didn't go from Bryant to Saban. USC didn't go from McKay to Carroll. Texas didn't go from Royal to that one year they had Vince Young and beat USC. Oklahoma didn't go from Switzer to Stoops.
 
And all of that can change with the RIGHT COACH. The problem isn't a lack of support, a lack of money or a lack of facilities. The problem is a lack of coaching. Look at what Alabama went through after Bryant. They hire Perkins and he bails, they hire Curry and he bails. They bring in Stallings, win a national championship & contend for another. Stallings retires after the NCAA docks them 30 schollies for cheating. DuBose tanks and goes 24-23 with a 3-8 final year while getting docked 21 more schollies. Franchione comes in, turns it around but then bails after a couple years for A&M. They hire Mike Price and promptly fire him before he coaches a single game. Then hire Shula who goes 26-23 while there and he tanks their recruiting by pulling in classes ranked 30th, 49th, & 24th at a school that historically has been one of the top recruiting programs in the country. They fire him and hire Saban and we all know happens after that.

Bama had it rough and was a circus side show at times with what DuBose and Price did. They had losing seasons and NCAA violations that docked a lot of scholarships and included several bowl bans. Go ask some of their fans what their attitude was like the final year Shula was there. They sounded like a lot of Nebraska fans, saying things like, "we'll never be great again, we were spoiled, we should just be happy with 9 wins, no good coach wants to come here because it isn't a good job, etc.". All that changes with the right coach.

Nebraska is 5th in all time wins, has elite facilites, and tons of support. The problem is they made some bad hires. Every elite school isn't elite every year, or even every decade. USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, etc. all have had their fair share of crappy periods. You know what makes those elite schools stay elite? They keep firing those coaches that brought about those crappy periods. An elite program should NEVER settle for a coach that isn't going to compete for championships.
Nebraska hired Solich and it was a bad hire. They then hired a NFL coach whose own players hated him before getting fired with the Raiders, Callahan was a terrible hire. They then hired Pelini who had zero head coaching experience and was a megalomaniac, it too was a bad hire. Then they hired a coach who has a lengthy and proven track record for being barely above .500, with a bad defense and a lot of penalties. So far, not a good hire.
Everything changes if you hire a great coach and that means going through bad coaches and even somesemi-decent coaches, till you find that great one. Alabama didn't go from Bryant to Saban. USC didn't go from McKay to Carroll. Texas didn't go from Royal to that one year they had Vince Young and beat USC. Oklahoma didn't go from Switzer to Stoops.


I like your analysis. There is one key difference however between Nebraska and all those other schools. They all exist in fertile recruiting areas and once you bring in the right coach, the recruiting takes off. After almost 20 years now of complete irrelevance, there is not a recruit out there who even knows who the hell we are. We do not have a natural recruiting foundation and Lincoln, in the eyes of most recruits from the key states, is just a cold, boring, landlocked shit hole. I don't agree with that of course, but that is the perception. So whoever our next coach might be he must be one hell of a recruiter as well as a coach. Riley seems to be neither.
 
You know what makes those elite schools stay elite? They keep firing those coaches that brought about those crappy periods. An elite program should NEVER settle for a coach that isn't going to compete for championships.

100% correctamundo... thank you lordy... someone who gets it !!!!!

I have been screaming this exact thing, at the top of my lungs, ever since I've been here.

Ever since the exit of our great coach Tom Osborne, Nebraska has hired middling-mediocre coaches under the stupid notion that "WE (Nebraska)" are somehow able to turn middling coaches into winners by using our secret "Nebraska Fairy Dust". Under this asinine way of thinking Nebraska turns middling coaches into winners... not the other way around. What utter nonsense. What false ego. What empty bravado.

NO! what we really need to do and have always needed to do is hire great coaches at Nebraska. We should have had a TOTAL commitment to hiring great coaches.

Instead we've had middling, mediocre coaches hired again and again... kept them way too long and allowed them to destroy the program.

This can't go on any longer. We must claim... and fight for... a place at the top in college football.
 
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