I think what bugs non Nebraskans so much about this is that they consider TO a win at all costs coach. He didn’t need to start LP. He did it to try and help him. Hindsight shows It was misguided, but he didn’t start LP because he wanted to win.
Timnsun, I agree.
This was my take on it as I remember it at the time.
There were two hypotheses on why Osborne played LP in the Fiesta Bowl, vs immediately expelling him from the team for girlfriend abuse. I’ll call them H1 and H2.
H1: Nebraska could never have beaten Florida in the Fiesta Bowl for the title without playing LP, and winning a title at any cost was Osborne’s interest.
H2: Osborne was interested in helping LP, and showing him on a large stage with NFL scouts watching would help show that his skill was worthy of being in the NFL, giving him a career path (and after a 6-game suspension with therapy he was able to successfully rejoin and play with a team). Separately, speaking of the NFL, LP’s backup during his half season of suspension was another star running back, Ahman Green, a Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame inductee running back.
Given how the media covered it most folks and other teams across the country espoused H1, and there were even some Nebraska fans supporting expelling LP.
But most of those who had at some point at least met Dr. Osborne supported H2, and the fact that Osborne had a PhD degree in phycology (educational phycology) and believed he could help kids be successful in life, this played a role in his decision. Unfortunately, in the long-term, therapy could not help LP.
And I suggest that if winning a title at any cost drove Osborne, years earlier he would have simply kicked an extra point to conclude the 1984 Orange Bowl.