Mike Reilly , Scott Frost, Fred Hoiberg…

[spartanhusker]

… which hire is/ was the worst?

2 of the 3 were praised to the heavens as “ can’t miss”…. and i was one of the praisers….

I think it is Fred

I’m not including Rhule…. too early

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

Riley.

At the same time though, if it wasn’t him Eichorst would have just brought in some other turd. Eichorst was pure loser.

 

[Charlie Marlow]

Sitting in a tree?

 

[WHCSC]

Frost and Fred were great hires without the benefit of hindsight
MR was kind of a head scratcher

 

[goldencohusker]

Clearly all were/have been disappointing hires so I'll focus on how NU handled them after their hire. I would put Frost as the worst because he was given an extension without any kind of success to justify it. Fred at least had one successful season to support being extended, although that appears to have been an aberration. I'll rate Riley as the least worst primarily because Eichorst was fired before he could extend Riley.

 

[HUSKERBILL]

… which hire is/ was the worst?

2 of the 3 were praised to the heavens as “ can’t miss”…. and i was one of the praisers….

I think it is Fred

I’m not including Rhule…. too early

Why would you even bring up a guy that actually took us to a bowl game and won it? The guy whose team beat up Colorado and Wisconsin this season and has shown clear progress

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Everyone celebrated 2/3....

I might be the only idiot who thought Riley was a solid choice at the time...certainly nobody else did. But alas, i'm an idiot..even argued about it on this very board...those of you who didn't see what I saw were just missing the boat.

 

[ridge222]

If you are asking seriously Frost is the hands down winner for shittiest hire.

 

[Harry Caray]

Mike Reilly was no Tom Osbourne. He couldn't recruit players like Winstrom and Peters.

 

[WHCSC]

Everyone celebrated 2/3....

I might be the only idiot who thought Riley was a solid choice at the time...certainly nobody else did. But alas, i'm an idiot..even argued about it on this very board...those of you who didn't see what I saw were just missing the boat.

I liked Mike

 

[SickOfPractice]

Everyone celebrated 2/3....

I might be the only idiot who thought Riley was a solid choice at the time...certainly nobody else did. But alas, i'm an idiot..even argued about it on this very board...those of you who didn't see what I saw were just missing the boat.

Nice guy Riley was a breath of fresh air after Bo and his pissy attitude towards the media & fans. I was one that bought in that Riley could be good here... 🫤

 

[mkbrkloster]

… which hire is/ was the worst?

2 of the 3 were praised to the heavens as “ can’t miss”…. and i was one of the praisers….

I think it is Fred

I’m not including Rhule…. too early

Seriously? Frost was the worst by miles.

 

[RBigredMax]

Riley was worst at the time of the hire.

Frost was hands- down the worst by the end of his tenure.

 

[V-Doub]

Seriously? Frost was the worst by miles.

Yup, public perception or expectations at the time of hire means nothing to me. Results are what matters and by that measure Frost was by far the worst of the 3.

 

[SLOHusker]

Riley.

At the same time though, if it wasn’t him Eichorst would have just brought in some other turd. Eichorst was pure loser.

The Riley hire was baffling. It was purely Eichorst making a hire based on who he liked personally and not seeking out the best candidate. Had a great hire been made at that point NU football would never have regressed the way it did for the following decade.

 

[SLOHusker]

Yup, public perception or expectations at the time of hire means nothing to me. Results are what matters and by that measure Frost was by far the worst of the 3.

Frost was terrible as a coach, but he was a very sought-after coaching prospect at the time. Florida really wanted him too. Frost seemed like a home run hire. He was retained too long after he was showing signs of being lazy and clueless, but not hiring Frost at the time seemed foolish. Riley never made a bit of sense. He was a subpar coach in the Pac-12 forever.

 

[IM4NUalways]

Frost and Fred were great hires without the benefit of hindsight
MR was kind of a head scratcher

Agree, but Frost was the worst of the 3 looking back now. I don't even think it's close and I have wanted Fred replaced for 3 years.

 

[Big bo fan]

Frost was terrible as a coach, but he was a very sought-after coaching prospect at the time. Florida really wanted him too. Frost seemed like a home run hire. He was retained too long after he was showing signs of being lazy and clueless, but not hiring Frost at the time seemed foolish. Riley never made a bit of sense. He was a subpar coach in the Pac-12 forever.

Florida backed off after they talked and told him no to bringing his entire staff . That was the only red flag he had . But I agree if Bill Moose wouldn’t have got him hired he would have been run out of town. But who knew at the time that He actually liked to work less than Frost did.

 

[huskercabby]

Agree, but Frost was the worst of the 3 looking back now. I don't even think it's close and I have wanted Fred replaced for 3 years.

Frost, at this moment, is the worst, but Fred still has time to do more damage.

 

[cubsker]

Frost could have worked. A better staff would have done wonders there. Riley had no shot.

 

[Sodakred]

If you are asking seriously Frost is the hands down winner for shittiest hire.

And an a-hole to boot. At least the other two are lovable losers.

 

[AVeritas]

frost was everyone's dream hire before the fact. i saw nobody here write that he was a "shittiest hire."

that written, it will be interesting to watch how he does at ucf. i suppose if he's successful there it will be because he's in the "shittiest" conference.

 

[Sodakred]

Frost, at this moment, is the worst, but Fred still has time to do more damage.

When the program has never won an NCAA tournament game, how could any coach do more damage to this pathetic excuse for a basketball program? I guess they could drop from 16th to 18th place some year, if that constitutes more damage.😆

 

[V-Doub]

Frost was terrible as a coach, but he was a very sought-after coaching prospect at the time. Florida really wanted him too. Frost seemed like a home run hire. He was retained too long after he was showing signs of being lazy and clueless, but not hiring Frost at the time seemed foolish. Riley never made a bit of sense. He was a subpar coach in the Pac-12 forever.

Agreed. 👍🏻 I thought Frost was a home run hire as well. But the perception of the hire at the time doesn’t make Frost’s tenure any less of a failure. Just cause we thought someone was going to be successful, doesn’t mean that lessens the degree of their failure. Frost was the worst, by a mile, and it doesn’t matter that everyone (locally and nationally) thought it was a good hire.

 

[AVeritas]

Agreed. 👍🏻 I thought Frost was a home run hire as well. But the perception of the hire at the time doesn’t make Frost’s tenure any less of a failure. Just cause we thought someone was going to be successful, doesn’t mean that lessens the degree of their failure. Frost was the worst, by a mile, and it doesn’t matter that everyone (locally and nationally) thought it was a good hire.

the point remains, he was everyone's first choice. the hire was correct at the time. thus, it wasn't the shittiest hire.

 

[V-Doub]

the point remains, he was everyone's first choice. the hire was correct at the time. thus, it wasn't the shittiest hire.

No, he was the worst hire. People’s false perception of the hire at the time doesn’t make it a good hire. Good results make it a good hire. Reece Davis’s and Kirk Herbstreit’s belief in the hire means nothing.

 

[AVeritas]

No, he was the worst hire. People’s false perception of the hire at the time doesn’t make it a good hire. Good results make it a good hire. Reece Davis’s and Kirk Herbstreit’s belief in the hire means nothing.

was there a poster here at the time saying it was a shittiest hire, you for example?

 

[RBigredMax]

the point remains, he was everyone's first choice. the hire was correct at the time. thus, it wasn't the shittiest hire.

No one is disputing at the time he was the correct hire but looking at his body of work - it ended up being a horrific hire and the worst of the 3.

If there is someone who no one wanted at the time but he wins championships - his body of work would keep him out of the discussion of worst hire.

 

[AVeritas]

No one is disputing at the time he was the correct hire but looking at his body of work - it ended up being a horrific hire and the worst of the 3.

If there is someone who no one wanted at the time but he wins championships - his body of work would keep him out of the discussion of worst hire.

 

[Dude122]

Nice guy Riley was a breath of fresh air after Bo and his pissy attitude towards the media & fans. I was one that bought in that Riley could be good here... 🫤

Bo was Nebraska's Bobby Knight.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

I do kinda miss the days on this board when Riley was the coach though…especially his first year.

The group that were the Callahan lovers basically reinvented themselves as Riley apologists, and holy cow would they go to bat for Riley.

Then there was the Indian fella…can’t remember his exact name…he was positive Riley was gonna win multiple championships, and if you disagreed then he would absolutely lose his sh!t.

 

[AVeritas]

Bo was Nebraska's Bobby Knight.

knight won 11 b10 titles, 3 national championships, and the olympics.

 

[V-Doub]

was there a poster here at the time saying it was a shittiest hire, you for example?

No, not many. I remember a couple guys on the “insiders” board thinking we didn’t shop around enough, but their opinions were overwhelmed by the majority. But none of that matters. Doesn’t matter how many German’s thought Hitler would be a great leader for Germany when he took power. They were wrong and he’s still one of the worst human beings (and/or world leaders) regardless of what the German people thought when he was voted into power.

 

[V-Doub]

No one is disputing at the time he was the correct hire but looking at his body of work - it ended up being a horrific hire and the worst of the 3.

If there is someone who no one wanted at the time but he wins championships - his body of work would keep him out of the discussion of worst hire.

 

[RBigredMax]

Averitas … Do you contend that a positive or negative hiring decision can only be made at the time of hire?

If you made a hire in business and everyone says - this is our guy, absolute stud, great experience. A year later he’s banging half the office, charging escorts to the company card and doing blow in the bathroom. Is anyone going to say he was a home run hire?

 

[V-Doub]

No one is disputing at the time he was the correct hire but looking at his body of work - it ended up being a horrific hire and the worst of the 3.

If there is someone who no one wanted at the time but he wins championships - his body of work would keep him out of the discussion of worst hire.

USC fanbase overwhelmingly hated the Pete Carroll hire. That would make him a poor hire by @AVeritas backwards logic. Which we all know isn’t true.

 

[AVeritas]

Averitas … Do you contend that a positive or negative hiring decision can only be made at the time of hire?

If you made a hire in business and everyone says - this is our guy, absolute stud, great experience. A year later he’s banging half the office, charging escorts to the company card and doing blow in the bathroom. Is anyone going to say he was a home run hire?

yes, that's the point. the hire ends the day the contract signs. what happens after that is about performance. your a.d. at the time made the right choice based on the information at hand. no one should dispute that. i don't believe anyone does. this is actually semantics now. neither of us is quibbling about the results of that hire. they were awful.

 

[RBigredMax]

yes, that's the point. the hire ends the day the contract signs. what happens after that is about performance. your a.d. at the time made the right choice based on the information at hand. no one should dispute that. i don't believe anyone does. this is actually semantics now. neither of us is quibbling about the results of that hire. they were

By that logic we could say, “he drove our program deeper into the dirt than we ever thought possible, but he was the right hire.”?

 

[Mr.Scary13]

Bo was Nebraska's Bobby Knight.

Imagine comparing Bo to one of the greatest college coaches of all time....
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

[Dean Pope]

Nice guy Riley was a breath of fresh air after Bo and his pissy attitude towards the media & fans. I was one that bought in that Riley could be good here... 🫤

It did not work out here, but Mike Riley was a good football coach. The guy took on a variety of tough coaching challenges, never took an easy coaching gig. Nebraska was a fricken hornet's nest. Still is.