Is Nebraska Still a Top 25 job?

[bearcats667]

I believe it is. When Frost was hired 4 years ago he was a top 10 nationally salaried head coach (I think he is still top 15 now).
The facilities are Top 25 worthy (especially with the new TO facility coming in)
Easiest Division in P5 football
If you win you will become a God

Disadvantages:
Geography
Recruiting

 

[oldjar07]

I believe it is. When Frost was hired 4 years ago he was a top 10 nationally salaried head coach (I think he is still top 15 now).
The facilities are Top 25 worthy (especially with the new TO facility coming in)
Easiest Division in P5 football
If you win you will become a God

Disadvantages:
Geography
Recruiting

I still think it's a top 10 job. The fanbase is incredible. We're in an easy division to be able to make the CCG more times than not. If you make it to the CCG, you always have a chance at winning and potentially making it to the CFP. You have more resources and support than just about anywhere else to help make your team successful. We are in the process of building top notch facilities. I think Lincoln is a much more attractive destination than people give credit in terms of recruiting, and there are certainly worse college towns out there. Also the fanbase and administration doesn't have as crazy and unrealistic expectations as some other schools have.

 

[BugsAreQualityProtein]

The other nine voters must be Iowa fans.

 

[maplesyrup95]

I voted yes. It used to be a Top 10 job in all of football because Tom Osborne and Barry Switzer elevated the NU and OU jobs together against one another.

The NU job has taken a hit since the mid 2000s, but it is still a Top 25 job thanks to its resources, fan support and most importantly, money we can still shell out.

 

[scarletred]

Absolutely!

I do not need to vote..

 

[PCastro]

Access to talent is a big consideration.

 

[Husker Hambone]

Huge brand and blue blood
If Nebraska is winning/top 10 = big time $$$
Big time $$$$
Top facilities
Omaha and Lincoln produce good talent. 3 hrs away KC has talent.
It’s a top gig no doubt.

 

[SickOfPractice]

It would be interesting to see the results of a similar poll:
--Post Solich
--Post Callahan
--Post Pelini
--Post Riley

 

[ivan brunetti]

I still think it's a top 10 job. The fanbase is incredible. We're in an easy division to be able to make the CCG more times than not. If you make it to the CCG, you always have a chance at winning and potentially making it to the CFP. You have more resources and support than just about anywhere else to help make your team successful. We are in the process of building top notch facilities. I think Lincoln is a much more attractive destination than people give credit in terms of recruiting, and there are certainly worse college towns out there. Also the fanbase and administration doesn't have as crazy and unrealistic expectations as some other schools have.

There must be 30 school fanbases that believe they are a top ten football coaching job. I don't know if Nebraska is top ten or top twenty, but it is up there. Nebraska has a ton of fans and plenty of money. The program has deep roots that schools like Florida and Clemson can only enviously view. Recruiting is a challenge but that is true at Oklahoma and ND as well.

Get the right coach, give him the support he needs to recruit, and the good old days can return.

 

[jteten]

Yes, but it is not currently a top 25 program.

 

[Mystery Big Red Man]

It is easily a top 25 job. It is a top 15 job. It's just lost some luster.

No longer can prospective coaches shun us because we fired a guy after 3 years but had some decent seasons or fired coaches who were putting up 9 win seasons.

We can look at a coach and say "We have elite facilities, huge fan support, huge support for athletes, and we just gave a guy 4 seasons to figure it out...4 losing seasons. You will have time."

These were our biggest draw backs. We didn't give people enough time and we canned 2 coaches after 9 win seasons.

We have learned our lesson. Don't buy into the location bullshit either. We've seen coaches here that can show recruits where to find Lincoln on a map and bring them in.

We are in an easy division. All the stars are aligned. We just need the right coach and we will rocket to the top. Get the trophy cases dusted and ready.

 

[glaciersx]

top 25? yes

top 15? no

top 10? lol

 

[jflores]

Top 25 for sure. Even though we have an easy division, division titles aren't going to cure the itch. We'd still have to beat OSU on a regular basis for a conference title and that's not something we're probably come out on top most of the time.

The money is sort of irrelevant. According to FanBuzz, Frost is #17 in the country in compensation, but the spread isn't huge, the #25 guy makes $600K less. If you figure that there's all sorts of discrepancies between tax regimes, cost of living, various pros/cons of the talent and existing school success/historical success, winning expectations and give the average coach a million bucks worth of play in a reasonable compensation offer because of those factors, basically any coach in the Top 40 makes similar money to what we're shelling out.

If Nebraska stops paying money that any coach in the Top 40 would expect, we're not in this to win it to begin with.

 

[BuckysBoys1]

IMO, no it’s not. Frost was a top 10 coach who took this job because of his history here. If Frost didn’t accept the job we would have gotten another nobody coach. Was Mike Reilly a top 25 coach or Bo Pellini? Top 40 maybe.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Top 25? Absolutely....top 20? No. That's our range right now I believe.

 

[jflores]

IMO, no it’s not. Frost was a top 10 coach who took this job because of his history here. If Frost didn’t accept the job we would have gotten another nobody coach. Was Mike Reilly a top 25 coach or Bo Pellini? Top 40 maybe.

Nebraska sits in a weird spot. We're not anyone's current hot commodity. Its been awhile since we were a hot commodity. But we are still pretty damn shiny.

We're like that Corvette Z06 that a doctor drove once and turned in for the next model year, and you picked up on a steep discount. So you get all the experience of the elite doc's salary but at an every man's cost.

We have basically everything a Bama would have, except the athletes. But as the coach its your job to get them here. If you are willing to take that challenge, there's literally a check to pay for anything else you might need. Sure you could go to a school with lesser history or expectations and last longer, but you might have more of the Toyota Camry experience in terms of budget, fan support or facilities.

 

[BuckysBoys1]

Nebraska sits in a weird spot. We're not anyone's current hot commodity. Its been awhile since we were a hot commodity. But we are still pretty damn shiny.

We're like that Corvette Z06 that a doctor drove once and turned in for the next model year, and you picked up on a steep discount. So you get all the experience of the elite doc's salary but at an every man's cost.

We have basically everything a Bama would have, except the athletes. But as the coach its your job to get them here. If you are willing to take that challenge, there's literally a check to pay for anything else you might need. Sure you could go to a school with lesser history or expectations and last longer, but you might have more of the Toyota Camry experience in terms of budget, fan support or facilities.

If you were a 4 or 5 star recruit from Texas what draws you to NU? Maybe it’s the game day experience? I don’t think facilities really matter to recruits every top 40 school has great facilities. Not the weather! The night life? This is why we don’t have a suitable backup QB.

 

[jflores]

If you were a 4 or 5 star recruit from Texas what draws you to NU? Maybe it’s the game day experience? I don’t think facilities really matter to recruits every top 40 school has great facilities. Not the weather! The night life? This is why we don’t have a suitable backup QB.

I have my own opinions but the board generally seems to think if we were in the B12 again the recruits from TX would flow like wine again.

I don't agree with that opinion, but the simple conference affiliation put forward in those arguments also have nothing to do with night life, women, facilities, or the like.

 

[psu00]

If you don’t mind an outsiders view, I think Nebraska is still a top 25 job. These subjective rankings are always debatable and depend a lot on whether your thinking top 25 all time or top 25 recently. Depending on how much weight you put to those 2 sides of the coin, individual programs can rise and fall significantly.

I won’t presume to understand Nebraska recruiting issues with regard to Texas and changing conferences. I do find it humbling, (as a fan over age 50), that the kids playing college football today were pretty much born from 2000-2003. College football pre 2010 (or so) is ancient history to them.

That said, most college football reporters and fans remember Nebraska’s great success pre 2010. If Nebraska puts together a run over a few years the ‘hype’ from Nebraska’s tradition will return in the media which will translate into greater recruiting results (kind of like what Georgia is seeing now).

It’s a long way of saying that despite your recent frustrations, Nebraska is still set up to quickly return to national contention if it can just put the pieces together to go on a bit of a run.

 

[redwine65]

I suppose it's what a coach is looking for
like if your a coach who don't want libs, teaching your kids how to live in sodom, or not thrilled about home invasions..it would have to beat san francisco or chicago. plus 5 million a year here might be like 10 million there.

and it's kinda the middle of the road as far as having to win..alot of pac team are not dependant on football as much as the sec..like stanford has donations that make texas look like coffeyville kansas. but the sec depends on football money alot more, so you get them aspiring to be a disney owned mini nfl.
and so the sec tend to boot coaches faster.

if you want to boat I suppose washington or miami would be good places.

most head coaches make around 3 million a year now, so I'm not sure any of them could be considered a bad job.....
so I guess it's about who you are and the culture

 

[Redinwashington]

I don’t think so. Maybe? Tough to name 25 schools that would be better jobs. But I’ll stick with no.

 

[Boiler_B]

IMO, no it’s not. Frost was a top 10 coach who took this job because of his history here. If Frost didn’t accept the job we would have gotten another nobody coach. Was Mike Reilly a top 25 coach or Bo Pellini? Top 40 maybe.

Frost was the first coach that NU spent the going rate for a coach...hence we got a top 10 coach at the time.

Those other hires you mentioned NU was CHEAP, and didnt want to pay a good salary, hence we hired bargain bin coaches...and you get what you pay for usually when you go cheap..

So yeah, now that NU is willing to pay top 15 HC money, they are going to get more interest from coaches that are more in demand then they would before.

 

[Boiler_B]

I have my own opinions but the board generally seems to think if we were in the B12 again the recruits from TX would flow like wine again.

I don't agree with that opinion, but the simple conference affiliation put forward in those arguments also have nothing to do with night life, women, facilities, or the like.

We still get kids from TX, I think that the TX kids can be a little overrated.
But we have had no problem getting kids from FLA and GA and the South..so I really dont give a rats azz about Texas as much...I mean we are still getting kids here and there from TX..but FLA and GA have opened up and other southern states..which I am 100% fine with..

So I dont really see an issue..I would PREFER kids from FLA and GA over TX anyway...

 

[pgainey]

The decision about whether to retain Frost after a 4th consecutive losing conference record in one of the easier divisions in college football will tell us if Trev thinks this is a top 25 job or a fringe power 5 program whose goals are to simply become bowl eligible each year.

not sure any other top 25 - 20 etc program would even entertain bringing a coach back for year 5 with Frosts record. Programs like Illinois, Washington st, Oregon state, Kansas probably would. It will be interesting to see who Trev considers to be our peer programs.

 

[B1G RED RULES]

If you were a 4 or 5 star recruit from Texas what draws you to NU? Maybe it’s the game day experience? I don’t think facilities really matter to recruits every top 40 school has great facilities. Not the weather! The night life? This is why we don’t have a suitable backup QB.

Work/life balance. You get to stop practicing in December and can go home over the holidays to see family.

 

[Boiler_B]

The decision about whether to retain Frost after a 4th consecutive losing conference record in one of the easier divisions in college football will tell us if Trev thinks this is a top 25 job or a fringe power 5 program whose goals are to simply become bowl eligible each year.

not sure any other top 25 - 20 etc program would even entertain bringing a coach back for year 5 with Frosts record. Programs like Illinois, Washington st, Oregon state, Kansas probably would. It will be interesting to see who Trev considers to be our peer programs.

Those dumpster fire programs you mentioned Illinois only once kept a coach more than 4 with losing record and that was Lovie...that one may need an asterisk though.
Oregon State gave 3 coaches more than 4
Kstate gave 3 coaches more than 4
Vandy gave 4 coaches more than 4..

But those are the dumpster fire of the dumpster fire of CFB P5 programs, well Kstate before Snyder got there...

So if Trev thinks NU peers are dumpster fire programs like those..then by all means he should keep Frost another year..

lol

 

[JaySker402]

This is why we don’t have a suitable backup QB.

No, it’s probably that most decent HS The QBs aren’t fans of Harry Potter. JK failed us.

 

[RedCap]

It's in the top echelon for pay.

And actually it's also a perfect job to come into right now. Fan expectations are at the lowest point in modern history, as stated the pay is toward the top of the scale, the AD and administrative support is great, the fans still fill the stadium, the local media is tame (compared to other media markets) and the potential is there for a major turnaround.

 

[antirowboat]

Top 25? I can respect arguments for and against. It's a pretty damaged program at the moment and doesn't have the luster on a national scale. It will be viewed as a rebuilding job by other coaches. Current state I'd have to say not top 25.

Potential through? Clearly a top 15 program. It's not a hard division to win if Nebraska ever gets a decent coach again. You have an entire state willing to support and you don't have to compete against pro sports from media to tickets. New facilities. You can be the premier regional football program for high school recruits and that will always be the case once Nebraska is back to competing for conference titles.

The Nebraska job is viewed as a tough job by outsiders.

 

[antirowboat]

If you don’t mind an outsiders view, I think Nebraska is still a top 25 job. These subjective rankings are always debatable and depend a lot on whether your thinking top 25 all time or top 25 recently. Depending on how much weight you put to those 2 sides of the coin, individual programs can rise and fall significantly.

I won’t presume to understand Nebraska recruiting issues with regard to Texas and changing conferences. I do find it humbling, (as a fan over age 50), that the kids playing college football today were pretty much born from 2000-2003. College football pre 2010 (or so) is ancient history to them.

That said, most college football reporters and fans remember Nebraska’s great success pre 2010. If Nebraska puts together a run over a few years the ‘hype’ from Nebraska’s tradition will return in the media which will translate into greater recruiting results (kind of like what Georgia is seeing now).

It’s a long way of saying that despite your recent frustrations, Nebraska is still set up to quickly return to national contention if it can just put the pieces together to go on a bit of a run.

The media is just sitting there waiting for us to be good again. You could see it from how the media was acting during the stretch of MSU, Oklahoma and going into the Michigan game. The national folks were saying things like - can Nebraska break through against MI? I think they can beat MI. etc, etc, etc.

Once Nebraska is good again there will be plenty of attention and plenty of eyeballs on TV watching. Just that Frost isn't the coach to us there.

 

[SuperBigFan]

I think so, in the conference alone it is probably top 3 at worst.
It is better than all the SEC schools except Bama and LSU.
It is better than all the ACC schools except maybe Clemson.
It is better than all the PAC 12 schools except USC
It is better than all the Big 12 schools except OU and maybe Texas

Weak division, great fan base, tons of money, recruiting is not as hard as people want to pretend it is, always top 25 classes and if they get a coach here that doesn't apologize for recruiting to lincoln, those classes will get even better.

 

[Lincoln100]

I'd day it is a top 15 job. Right person would kill it here.

 

[scarletred]

I'd day it is a top 15 job. Right person would kill it here.

I’m praying TA finds that right person..

 

[WestCoastCornhusker2]

I believe it is. When Frost was hired 4 years ago he was a top 10 nationally salaried head coach (I think he is still top 15 now).
The facilities are Top 25 worthy (especially with the new TO facility coming in)
Easiest Division in P5 football
If you win you will become a God

Disadvantages:
Geography
Recruiting

Wow, almost half the posters and fans here don't think so, I sure hope Trev isn't listening to them. Don't think small, think big. Very few programs have the fan support and resources Nebraska has, I'd say Nebraska is a top 10 job.

Nebraska fans must have some type of complex. If Kansas can recruit basketball players all around the country Nebraska can with football, it's been proven before, we just need the right coaches.

 

[redfanusa]

Based on recruiting, budget, success, fan support, media coverage, and cache, I'd put Nebraska just outside of the top 30 right now. Recruiting is the toughest of any Power Five team, hands down. The lack of success the last 20 years is also a major problem.

Recruits for the 2022 class think Liberty has a great program and Nebraska does not. That's not good.

 

[oldjar07]

Frost was the first coach that NU spent the going rate for a coach...hence we got a top 10 coach at the time.

Those other hires you mentioned NU was CHEAP, and didnt want to pay a good salary, hence we hired bargain bin coaches...and you get what you pay for usually when you go cheap..

So yeah, now that NU is willing to pay top 15 HC money, they are going to get more interest from coaches that are more in demand then they would before.

Fiscal conservatism is really stupid, especially in this business.

 

[GoGophers_NoBigRed]

If you win you will become a God

A little too vague I'd say. If you win a national championship then you'll be revered, but that's true of almost every job out there outside of 'bama and a few others. Almost every team in the B1G would build a statue of their coach outside the stadium if they won it all. But just "winning"? No, not at Nebraska. Pelini got you 9 wins each year and look how he is viewed.

 

[GoGophers_NoBigRed]

If you make it to the CCG, you always have a chance at winning...

You guys stood no chance against Wisconsin, but I get what you're saying : - )

 

[Ohio_husker]

Based on success, recruiting, and current national perception no. When you factor in $ and support it gets in but not by far. Voted them at #22 in the UPI poll.