A roundtable discussion from Corn Nation:
https://www.cornnation.com/2018/6/2...lls-coaching-carousel-a-cornnation-roundtable
The overall consensus seems to be that:
Solich probably shouldn't have been fired, though this is debatable, and definitely not in the way he was (he had a 7-7 season but then made changes and went 9-3, so he should have either been fired at 7-7 or been allowed more time to let his changes sink in, but then he also didn't recruit as well as Osborne had). The following crazy, incompetent coaching search by Stevie P was an embarrassment, and that led us to...
Callahan. Apparently he was a decent offensive mind, but really didn't give a flying F about defense. And he relied on some jabroni named Cosgrove who was, apparently, the worst D-coordinator to ever even think about coaching football at any level. Pop Warner included. The thinking was, lets get the biggest splash hire we can, an NFL coach who will come in and revolutionize the program! Yeah, that didn't happen, and soon Stevie P and this guy were shown the door. The one thing he COULD do though was recruit, which means the next coach, chosen by Dr. Tom, actually had some talent to work with. That guy was...
BO PELINI! Ahhh, bobbity boopy! He was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty decent coach. He just never learned how to truly BE a head coach from Dr. Tom, he had a pretty hilariously bad temper, and boy, did he get us beat down by good teams that figured out that if you confused either Bo or the players, his whole scheme broke down. He also was not great at recruiting, and eventually, when Dr. Tom was forced out of being AD (or decided to step away, whatever), a new AD that was hired decided that Bo's meltdowns and televised, once-a-year blowouts had to stop. So, they hired...
Smilin' Mike! Now, I myself carried a lot of water for Riley when he was hired, because I wanted to see us succeed. That was wrong. Riley hired some decent assistants, was a very nice guy, and managed to land some decent recruits, but he had Oregon State in a tailspin (their fans used to post on this board and warn us about his .500 record and the state of their program), and he just never rose above the level of .500, even with "more resources." That, and the changes Riley made last year just did not work. We had a defense that...didn't really defend? and an offense that loved to hand the other team the ball. Or pass it to them.
If you look at all of the above, it really is a miracle the program even still exists, much less hired the hottest young coach in the country. I think we lucked out, given that Scott Frost is a Nebraskan, an alum, and has shown that he can coach a football team. Without that, I think the goofy tailspin continues until Nebraska football being dominant becomes a thing for the history books.
Here's hoping for a great season, and I'm interested in everyone else's take on the last 18 years of the program!
https://www.cornnation.com/2018/6/2...lls-coaching-carousel-a-cornnation-roundtable
The overall consensus seems to be that:
Solich probably shouldn't have been fired, though this is debatable, and definitely not in the way he was (he had a 7-7 season but then made changes and went 9-3, so he should have either been fired at 7-7 or been allowed more time to let his changes sink in, but then he also didn't recruit as well as Osborne had). The following crazy, incompetent coaching search by Stevie P was an embarrassment, and that led us to...
Callahan. Apparently he was a decent offensive mind, but really didn't give a flying F about defense. And he relied on some jabroni named Cosgrove who was, apparently, the worst D-coordinator to ever even think about coaching football at any level. Pop Warner included. The thinking was, lets get the biggest splash hire we can, an NFL coach who will come in and revolutionize the program! Yeah, that didn't happen, and soon Stevie P and this guy were shown the door. The one thing he COULD do though was recruit, which means the next coach, chosen by Dr. Tom, actually had some talent to work with. That guy was...
BO PELINI! Ahhh, bobbity boopy! He was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty decent coach. He just never learned how to truly BE a head coach from Dr. Tom, he had a pretty hilariously bad temper, and boy, did he get us beat down by good teams that figured out that if you confused either Bo or the players, his whole scheme broke down. He also was not great at recruiting, and eventually, when Dr. Tom was forced out of being AD (or decided to step away, whatever), a new AD that was hired decided that Bo's meltdowns and televised, once-a-year blowouts had to stop. So, they hired...
Smilin' Mike! Now, I myself carried a lot of water for Riley when he was hired, because I wanted to see us succeed. That was wrong. Riley hired some decent assistants, was a very nice guy, and managed to land some decent recruits, but he had Oregon State in a tailspin (their fans used to post on this board and warn us about his .500 record and the state of their program), and he just never rose above the level of .500, even with "more resources." That, and the changes Riley made last year just did not work. We had a defense that...didn't really defend? and an offense that loved to hand the other team the ball. Or pass it to them.
If you look at all of the above, it really is a miracle the program even still exists, much less hired the hottest young coach in the country. I think we lucked out, given that Scott Frost is a Nebraskan, an alum, and has shown that he can coach a football team. Without that, I think the goofy tailspin continues until Nebraska football being dominant becomes a thing for the history books.
Here's hoping for a great season, and I'm interested in everyone else's take on the last 18 years of the program!