KC Star: UT President Bob Berdahl damaged NU's athletic and academic standing over the years

[Larry Hagman's Liver]

Interesting article in the KC Star. The parts about NU won't surprise too many, but I included them below.

On the academic rule that limited the number of Proposition 48 qualifiers — the SWC didn’t allow them, the Big Eight did and new league settled on one such qualifier for football and men’s basketball: “It was aimed directly at (Nebraska) Cornhusker football. By the late 1990s, this new Big 12 rule has seriously damaged the quality of Nebraska football. In fact, you could say it brought the era of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne to a close.”

Wefald recalled Berdahl harmed Nebraska after leaving Texas. Berdahl was the president of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in 2011 when Nebraska was voted out of the prestigious group. Wefald said Berdahl could have used his influence to sway a close vote.

“The truth is,” Wefald wrote, “no outside academic leader has dented Nebraska’s athletic and academic standing over the years more than Bob Berdahl.

“In another irony, if Nebraska had not been a member of the AAU in 2010 when the Big 10 was adding a new school, the University of Missouri, an AAU school, would likely be a member of the Big 10 today.”

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Prop 48 was going the way of the dodo bird anyway, hardly worth getting excited about. The B1G stabbed us in the back as soon as we walked through their door. What they did with the AAU vote was nothing short of completely screwing us over, but hey, let's keep hating on Texas who BTW, we went 1-8 against and is the major reason so many people still hate them.

 

[Larry Hagman's Liver]

Prop 48 was going the way of the dodo bird anyway, hardly worth getting excited about. The B1G stabbed us in the back as soon as we walked through their door. What they did with the AAU vote was nothing short of completely screwing us over, but hey, let's keep hating on Texas who BTW, we went 1-8 against and is the major reason so many people still hate them.

I didn't post this to rekindle the UT hatred. Just thought it was an interesting read coming from a former university president not associated with NU.

 

[SnohomishRed]

I didn't post this to rekindle the UT hatred, which I agree has grown tiresome. Just thought it was an interesting read coming from a former university president not associated with NU.

no need to rekindle it with me - I still hold resentment against Texas - The SWC was crumbling around them and we let the snake in to our conerence. Now look at the Big12 - It has a very SWC feel to it including all the cheating and scandals

 

[Truehuskerfan]

Prop 48 was going the way of the dodo bird anyway, hardly worth getting excited about. The B1G stabbed us in the back as soon as we walked through their door. What they did with the AAU vote was nothing short of completely screwing us over, but hey, let's keep hating on Texas who BTW, we went 1-8 against and is the major reason so many people still hate them.

It was two schools from the B1G(Michigan and Wisconsin) that screwed us over on the AAU vote. Certainly not the whole conference.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Are you sure Penn State didn't help that situation?

 

[Truehuskerfan]

Perlman said it was Michigan and Wisconsin that opposed us. Graham Spanier was still the president at Penn State when the AAU vote took place-he was not one of them who opposed us. Even Northwestern, who many people suspected at the time was one of the schools that opposed us, actually stood up for us.

 

[Hoosker Du]

It was two schools from the B1G(Michigan and Wisconsin) that screwed us over on the AAU vote. Certainly not the whole conference.

Le Super Dyke from Wisconsin...

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Perlman said it was Michigan and Wisconsin that opposed us. Graham Spanier was still the president at Penn State when the AAU vote took place-he was not one of them who opposed us. Even Northwestern, who many people suspected at the time was one of the schools that opposed us, actually stood up for us.

So a whopping two schools out of the entire conference were able to rip the AAU thing away from us? That's all it took?

 

[Truehuskerfan]

So a whopping two schools out of the entire conference were able to rip the AAU thing away from us? That's all it took?

Why not? Do you not get how this works? The AAU is a national organization. It was a vote of all AAU member schools. Michigan and Wisconsin alone didn't have the power to "rip it away from us". They voted against our continuing membership. Even if every B1G school voted in favor of us, it still may not have been enough. It's not as though B1G schools somehow had extra sway over the vote.

 

[Cornicator]

The premise of Wefald's comments was how Berdahl could've swayed the voting scales one way or another through his influence. Nebraska could've been kicked out of the AAU for years, but its more than a coincidence this event occurred in 2011.

 

[SnohomishRed]

Why not? Do you not get how this works? The AAU is a national organization. It was a vote of all AAU member schools. Michigan and Wisconsin alone didn't have the power to "rip it away from us". They voted against our continuing membership. Even if every B1G school voted in favor of us, it still may not have been enough. It's not as though B1G schools somehow had extra sway over the vote.

actually they did

"According to association rules, it takes a two-thirds majority — 42 votes — to remove a member; 44 voted against Nebraska."

 

[Soda Popinski]

actually they did

"According to association rules, it takes a two-thirds majority — 42 votes — to remove a member; 44 voted against Nebraska."

So what I'm reading is, actually they didn't.

 

[Truehuskerfan]

So what I'm reading is, actually they didn't.

Correct. There still would have been 42 votes against us even if they had supported us.

 

[HBK4life]

Interesting article in the KC Star. The parts about NU won't surprise too many, but I included them below.

On the academic rule that limited the number of Proposition 48 qualifiers — the SWC didn’t allow them, the Big Eight did and new league settled on one such qualifier for football and men’s basketball: “It was aimed directly at (Nebraska) Cornhusker football. By the late 1990s, this new Big 12 rule has seriously damaged the quality of Nebraska football. In fact, you could say it brought the era of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne to a close.”

Wefald recalled Berdahl harmed Nebraska after leaving Texas. Berdahl was the president of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in 2011 when Nebraska was voted out of the prestigious group. Wefald said Berdahl could have used his influence to sway a close vote.

“The truth is,” Wefald wrote, “no outside academic leader has dented Nebraska’s athletic and academic standing over the years more than Bob Berdahl.

“In another irony, if Nebraska had not been a member of the AAU in 2010 when the Big 10 was adding a new school, the University of Missouri, an AAU school, would likely be a member of the Big 10 today.”

So glad to get away from those burnt orange power hungry pukes. Good riddance!!

 

[cecilB]

We're in a new neighborhood with great universities. NU is too, perhaps some 'minor' catch up to do, nothing wrong with aspiring to be like them. I graduated from a B1G and get the elitist attitude of the B1G...and I have no reservation sending my kid to UNL. Lincoln, the U, and people of Nebraska have a ton going for them. UNL will be right at home in its new hood in short order. B1G was a good move

 

[tpmcg]

the whole idea of some mystical bullcrap of high academic integrity of any school or conference is just a load of ...well, bullcrap. my guess is layered in the baylor saga in amongst the charges of sexual misconduct, are some pretty atrocious academic accomodations made for guys who are de facto 'prop 48's'. most definitely there are kids out there who are legit athletes and students, but baylor didnt rise to the top just by nature of hiring kids with the alleged propensity to rape coeds. signed, ken starr.

 

[jflores]

Perhaps some of you more seasoned veterans can tell me how Prop 48 worked scholly wise, but it seems like a strategy that was more in tune with an expanded scholarship roster of yesteryear, not so much the 85 roster limit of today.

In your "prove it" year, you had to pay your way, but assuming you qualified, you could join the team and be put on scholarship. So did TO just use one of his 110 schollies and hold it for guys like Tomich over the qualifying year or did we just essentially convince guys to gray shirt and hope that something came available when they met the academic standard?

It would seem to me that if you had to somewhat reserve scholarships, if you had guys "not pan out", you are effectively self sanctioning under modern scholarship limits. Hence Prop 48 not really being something we could revive to Restore the Order.

 

[jflores]

the whole idea of some mystical bullcrap of high academic integrity of any school or conference is just a load of ...well, bullcrap. my guess is layered in the baylor saga in amongst the charges of sexual misconduct, are some pretty atrocious academic accomodations made for guys who are de facto 'prop 48's'. most definitely there are kids out there who are legit athletes and students, but baylor didnt rise to the top just by nature of hiring kids with the alleged propensity to rape coeds. signed, ken starr.

John Bishop makes reference to NU's world class academic support system. I suppose to anyone outside of the NU bubble, Prop 48 was basically a great hoax to get around qualification in the first place. You can take a kid who won't qualify, put him under your wing, and "make sure" he qualifies with little outside interference all the while selling the vision of NU the life changer.

 

[bomber89]

Prop 48 is still intact for the SEC, they just don't call it such but fix the transcripts of those students. Now they are eligible as freshman.

 

[jlb321]

John Bishop makes reference to NU's world class academic support system. I suppose to anyone outside of the NU bubble, Prop 48 was basically a great hoax to get around qualification in the first place. You can take a kid who won't qualify, put him under your wing, and "make sure" he qualifies with little outside interference all the while selling the vision of NU the life changer.

the academic performance of the athletes has zero to do with the AAU
AAU is about high level research, national grants, ground breaking research etc
the fact that we have by far the most football academic all americans probably hurts the overall perception of us academically with the thinking that if that many football players can excel in the classroom the overall academic standards must not be that high (not saying that is true but it is the perception that Nebraska is at the bottom of the BIG academically)

of course there are individual programs that are very highly regarded but there just aren't enough of them

 

[jflores]

the academic performance of the athletes has zero to do with the AAU
AAU is about high level research, national grants, ground breaking research etc
the fact that we have by far the most football academic all americans probably hurts the overall perception of us academically with the thinking that if that many football players can excel in the classroom the overall academic standards must not be that high (not saying that is true but it is the perception that Nebraska is at the bottom of the BIG academically)

of course there are individual programs that are very highly regarded but there just aren't enough of them

I wasn't trying to link Prop 48 to AAU. I was simply entering the convo about how Prop 48 looked to outsiders in the "old days".

You probably don't bring a top football talent all the way to Lincoln, to have a two bit professor at the 100th ranked university fail him out of a football future. If one wanted to be snarky about NU's intentions.

Edit: To point, when I was in high school during the glory years of NU football, I had several friends older than I did go to Lincoln for a year, come back and tell me they were transferring because it was basically a beer and football school. And it was all over the World Herald that top academic talent was leaving for greener pastures at schools like ISU, Iowa, etc, NU needs to find a way to keep kids coming to in-state schools. I believe around the time I entered college, the Regents instituted several Regents schollies to keep kids at the new PKI institute in UNO, a buddy of mine took one of those.

 

[timnsun]

Prop 48 was going the way of the dodo bird anyway, hardly worth getting excited about. The B1G stabbed us in the back as soon as we walked through their door. What they did with the AAU vote was nothing short of completely screwing us over, but hey, let's keep hating on Texas who BTW, we went 1-8 against and is the major reason so many people still hate them.

Why do you have such a hard on for the record between Nebraska and Texas? Are you really that closed minded not to recognize all of the other factors that came into play regarding nebraska's departure from the Big 12?

Your continued insistence that our record against Texas was the reason we left is so near sighted that I think even Helen Keller would see better than you the reasons Nebraska joined the B1G.

As I have stated in other threads (that you didn't respond to, btw) if Nebraska goes 1-8 against tOSU are we gonna leave the B1G? Do you not see how stupid that argument is?

And don't come back saying it's just one factor, cuz it is the ONLY factor you ever use to support your argument. Dude, we left Texas and the Big 12 for a lot more than 1-8.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Timnsun I don't think our 1-8 record is the reason we left. I say it's the #1 reason we hate them so much. Huge difference. Also, I frequently don't respond to threads that can and usually do turn into pissing matches, or look like they are headed that way. Don't take it personally.

 

[timnsun]

Timnsun I don't think our 1-8 record is the reason we left. I say it's the #1 reason we hate them so much. Huge difference. Also, I frequently don't respond to threads that can and usually do turn into pissing matches, or look like they are headed that way. Don't take it personally.

My apologies then for misinterpreting what you've been saying. There are a lot of reasons to hate Texas, and that list is much more subjective. The record very well could be why we hate Texas. I can't easily argue against that.

I'm not sure if I agree 100% that's why most fans hate Texas, but I definitely can't refute it either. No hard feelings?

 

[NikkiSixx]

People are still pissed off about that 1 second. (#1 reason in my opinion)

 

[Mack In Motion]

People are still pissed off about that 1 second. (#1 reason in my opinion)

The 1 second thing was definitely an issue but was kinda the final straw.

The B12 under Beebe ran things as professionally as a grade school class officer election, right down to that ridiculous double-secret oath everyone had to take when it became apparent that a lot of schools were looking at leaving the conference.

Some people don't like Delaney, but he's a professional and takes care of his conference. You ever hear rumblings that member schools are looking to get out of here?

 

[mwulf]

1996 and the 1 second and the 06 game where they fumbled the ball 20 times and recovered all of them and when we had the game won and fumbled ourselves....those are my reasons...for a program that has so many resources and talent within the borders the fact that they have 3 national titles and would have only 2 if USC didnt give a game away ...the ego....on and on and on

 

[huskerhomie]

The prop 48 thing was something that people have made a bigger deal about then what it actually was. We didnt have a single prop 48 kid starter for us on our 1997 Natty champ team. Did some prop 48's help us a bit in other years? Sure, but none of them were going to make or break what we had accomplished and 1997 proves it out. It is another thing to get pissed at UT about, but ultimately it didnt cost us anything by not having it available to us.

 

[Charlie Marlow]

People in general were mad at the stacked deck, not the 1-8 record. Beebe's philosophy was to take care of texas and that would help the conference and then everybody else would indirectly benefit. Pretty flawed and proved to be near fatal.

As far as the the AAU thing goes, I thought that I had read an article saying that texas actually tried helping us on that. Deciding whether I want to google this or not.

 

[NikkiSixx]

The 1 second thing was definitely an issue but was kinda the final straw.

The B12 under Beebe ran things as professionally as a grade school class officer election, right down to that ridiculous double-secret oath everyone had to take when it became apparent that a lot of schools were looking at leaving the conference.

Some people don't like Delaney, but he's a professional and takes care of his conference. You ever hear rumblings that member schools are looking to get out of here?

Only a small percentage of fans on a message board even remotely care about conference politics. 99% of the fans care about the final score, and what they feel was a rip off with the 1 second put back on the clock.
It may feel like the final straw to you, but to most fans, they don't really care about all that other stuff.

 

[Larry Hagman's Liver]

1996 and the 1 second and the 06 game where they fumbled the ball 20 times and recovered all of them and when we had the game won and fumbled ourselves....those are my reasons...for a program that has so many resources and talent within the borders the fact that they have 3 national titles and would have only 2 if USC didnt give a game away ...the ego....on and on and on

Good list. They actually claim four national titles, and three of them ('63, '69 and '05) are undefeated seasons where they were named by the AP and Coaches. The biggest joke is the one we "split" with them in '70 where the Coaches named them the NC before the Cotton Bowl, which they lost to #6 Notre Dame 24-11.

 

[i8uP]

Interesting article in the KC Star. The parts about NU won't surprise too many, but I included them below.

On the academic rule that limited the number of Proposition 48 qualifiers — the SWC didn’t allow them, the Big Eight did and new league settled on one such qualifier for football and men’s basketball: “It was aimed directly at (Nebraska) Cornhusker football. By the late 1990s, this new Big 12 rule has seriously damaged the quality of Nebraska football. In fact, you could say it brought the era of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne to a close.”

Wefald recalled Berdahl harmed Nebraska after leaving Texas. Berdahl was the president of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in 2011 when Nebraska was voted out of the prestigious group. Wefald said Berdahl could have used his influence to sway a close vote.

“The truth is,” Wefald wrote, “no outside academic leader has dented Nebraska’s athletic and academic standing over the years more than Bob Berdahl.

“In another irony, if Nebraska had not been a member of the AAU in 2010 when the Big 10 was adding a new school, the University of Missouri, an AAU school, would likely be a member of the Big 10 today.”

Berdahl was bad, but Dan Beebe was worse and was out to put an end to any Nebraska dynasty from day one until the time he left.

 

[saluno22]

Berdahl was bad, but Dan Beebe was worse and was out to put an end to any Nebraska dynasty from day one until the time we left.

FIFY

 

[tpmcg]

beebe was just a puppet. he had strings, but now hes free...