Pederson's Plan A: Mike Sherman

[9and4]

Mitch Sherman and Max Olson wrote a co-bylined story in The Athletic, published today, that quotes Harvey Perlman as saying Pederson almost brought Mike Sherman to Lincoln as Solich's replacement.

“Nebraska is one of the elite programs in the country,” Sherman said. “We were into the season, and I didn’t feel like I would be doing either team justice by getting too far involved in that thing. They had some interest and obviously, because it’s Nebraska, it’s a unique situation. But I stuck with the Packers.”

 

[huskerfan66]

Mitch Sherman and Max Olson wrote a co-bylined story in The Athletic, published today, that quotes Harvey Perlman as saying Pederson almost brought Mike Sherman to Lincoln as Solich's replacement.

“Nebraska is one of the elite programs in the country,” Sherman said. “We were into the season, and I didn’t feel like I would be doing either team justice by getting too far involved in that thing. They had some interest and obviously, because it’s Nebraska, it’s a unique situation. But I stuck with the Packers.”

That would have been interesting. As a packers fan I'm not sure how I would have felt.

Not sure how that would have worked but I do believe his system resembled what we could have agreed with

 

[9and4]

Then Al Saunders turned down the job because he thought he would get the head job with the KC Chiefs. They hired Herm Edwards instead.

“If I knew that I had no chance to be the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, then I probably would have taken the opportunity to go to Nebraska,” Saunders said.

 

[9and4]

Then things got a little "Nutty."

“Bottom line, I could not get on that plane,” Nutt said. “I couldn’t do it.”

 

[9and4]

Zimmer?

“I was thinking, ‘God, I hope this guy takes it,’” Boehm said, “because he was one sharp dude, plus he was really nice. Nebraskans could really relate to him.”

 

[9and4]

Finally, the pot was turned up from a Zimmer to a Bill, while Turner-ing the page on Gill and saying "no" to Bo.

“He (Pelini) was obviously a good coach,” Perlman said, “but he’d never had the responsibilities of a head coach. And when you think about the people we talked to and the person we hired, there’s just no comparison.

“And as it turned out, it was evident that he had never been a head coach.”

 

[Charlie Marlow]

What about Wannstedt?

 

[9and4]

Callahan's agent, in retrospect, said the Nebraska opportunity might not have been best for Bill.

“He, or we, didn’t really assess the opportunity properly,” O’Hagan said. “We thought, ‘OK, it’s Nebraska. They’ve had national championships. They’ve had Big 12 championships, Big Eight championships.’ But it wasn’t the same.”

 

[9and4]

What about Wannstedt?

From the story:

He ended up interviewing five external and two internal candidates over those 41 days. A slew of other names were linked to the job, either through media speculation 17 years ago or interviews for this story. Among them: Brad Childress, Bill Cowher, Butch Davis, Gary Kubiak, Steve Mariucci, Steve Spurrier and Dave Wannstedt from the NFL; David Cutcliffe, Joe Glenn, Jim Grobe, Harris, Steve Kragthorpe, Urban Meyer, Rich Rodriguez and Jeff Tedford from college.

 

[WHCSC]

What a mess

 

[9and4]

Five external interviews:

1. Sherman
2. Saunders
3. Nutt
4. Zimmer
5. Callahan

Two internal interviews:

1. Gill
2. Pelini

 

[scarletred]

Interesting… But wasn’t Dave Wannstedt Peddy first choice before all of this unfolded?

 

[dinglefritz]

Mitch Sherman and Max Olson wrote a co-bylined story in The Athletic, published today, that quotes Harvey Perlman as saying Pederson almost brought Mike Sherman to Lincoln as Solich's replacement.

“Nebraska is one of the elite programs in the country,” Sherman said. “We were into the season, and I didn’t feel like I would be doing either team justice by getting too far involved in that thing. They had some interest and obviously, because it’s Nebraska, it’s a unique situation. But I stuck with the Packers.”

I'm not sure why they singled out Mike Sherman. Wannstedt was Pederson's plan A before he got stood up. That was from the horse's mouth as he told a booster of substance acquaintance of mine before he had even formally fired Frank. Then Wannstedt got extended at Miami right after Pedie had fired Frank. Wanndstet wasn't going to bail out of Miami as long as he had a contract. No doubt Sherman was on Pedie's list in his top drawer along with several other guys. We actually offered the job as well to current Viking's head coach Mike Zimmer who was the Cowboy's DC. Wannstedt might have been a decent fit. There was no way in hell Sherman would have been better than Callahan.

 

[9and4]

Interesting… But wasn’t Dave Wannstedt Peddy first choice before all of this unfolded?

That is not addressed. Wannstedt's only mention is in the paragraph listing all the possibilities.

 

[dinglefritz]

What about Wannstedt?

Exactly. Pedie and Wannstedt were friends from his days at Pittsburgh. He was plan A. A booster friend told me that before Frank was publicly fired. That came directly from Stevie P.

 

[dinglefritz]

That is not addressed. Wannstedt's only mention is in the paragraph listing all the possibilities.

They needed to talk to Pederson or a couple of boosters of substance. Wannstedt had agreed in principle to take the job before Frank was even fired.

 

[9and4]

 

[scarletred]

I'm not sure why they singled out Mike Sherman. Wannstedt was Pederson's plan A before he got stood up. That was from the horse's mouth as he told a booster of substance acquaintance of mine before he had even formally fired Frank. Then Wannstedt got extended at Miami right after Pedie had fired Frank. Wanndstet wasn't going to bail out of Miami as long as he had a contract. No doubt Sherman was on Pedie's list in his top drawer along with several other guys. We actually offered the job as well to current Viking's head coach Mike Zimmer who was the Cowboy's DC. Wannstedt might have been a decent fit. There was no way in hell Sherman would have been better than Callahan.

Wannstedt ended up at Pitt after all and Callahan beat him twice at Nebraska…

Wannstedt was a terrible decision to replace Solich..

But Eichorst made the worse hire of them all hiring Smiley Riley away from Oregon State..

 

[dinglefritz]

Wannstedt ended up at Pitt after all and Callahan beat him twice at Nebraska…

Wannstedt was a terrible decision to replace Solich..

But Eichorst made the worse hire of them all hiring Smiley Riley away from Oregon State..

Wannstedt at least had more college experience than Callahan and his run the ball style of offense would have probably fit better than Callahan. That said, ANYBODY who followed Frank was probably doomed to failure. It's been the same story over and over again when a popular head coach who has won championships in college has been fired. It sows division and unrealistic expectations. We are where we are now and we probably should have expected years of frustration when Tom retired.

 

[scarletred]

Wannstedt at least had more college experience than Callahan and his run the ball style of offense would have probably fit better than Callahan. That said, ANYBODY who followed Frank was probably doomed to failure. It's be been the same story over and over again when a popular head coach who has won championships in college has been fired. It sows division and unrealistic expectations. We are where we are now and we probably should have expected years of frustration when Tom retired.

That maybe true but at the time when we heard Solich was fired, I surely wouldn’t have thought of hiring a pro coach over hiring another coach in the college ranks..

What was Wannstedt record at Pitt without looking it up?

 

[BugsAreQualityProtein]

Wasn’t Steve Spurrier approached as his time with the Redskins wasn’t going well?

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

That maybe true but at the time when we heard Solich was fired, I surely wouldn’t have thought of hiring a pro coach over hiring another coach in the college ranks..

What was Wannstedt record at Pitt without looking it up?

42-31

 

[drubendall]

Pederson's master plan: Find a scrub of an NFL coach with low interest in college football. Pay them a fortune. Sit back and wait for national championship trophies to roll in.

I wonder how much credit he takes for Osborne's success?

 

[steve malkmus]

It was even worse than it appeared back then. So many turned down the job. Clearly it isn't the sought-after job so many think it is. And that is how many coaches ago?

 

[scarletred]

It was even worse than it appeared back then. So many turned down the job. Clearly it isn't the sought-after job so many think it is. And that is how many coaches ago?

No it doesn’t appear worse.. The fact that we had a AD that fired a 9 win coach spoked a lot of coaches including Urban Meyer…

Coach’s thinking what kind of a record do I need to keep this guy happy to keep my job every year..

 

[timnsun]

It was even worse than it appeared back then. So many turned down the job. Clearly it isn't the sought-after job so many think it is. And that is how many coaches ago?

How so? Sherman and Wannstedt were extended, Saunders thought he was getting the Chiefs head gig (says he would have probably taken Nebraska had he known he wasn’t)… sounds to me like we had candidates lined up who would have come if not extended or expecting a pro gig…

Not saying the search looked good while it happened, but I don’t see it as being even worse now that this is out. At the time, it seemed terrible. This actually makes it sound better to me.

 

[tpmcg]

We are where we are now and we probably should have expected years of frustration when Tom retired.

if i could step back in time and tell Tom how much money he's gonna leave on the table.

 

[9and4]

Solich, Pelini and Bo all had similar career arcs at Nebraska — start OK, field your best teams for 2-3 seasons, get worse, get canned. Riley's even took a similar, though shorter, arc.
Start OK
Frank's first season (9-4) had a few heartbreaks in it, and the young team lost some tight games. His QB room was a mishmash of injured freshmen and sophomores and walk-ons.
Callahan's first season (5-6) was a result of trying to fit round pegs into square holes. His QB room was virtually empty.
Bo's first season (9-4) felt good at the time despite getting boat raced by Missouri and Oklahoma. He had a decent senior QB who wasn't quite enough to beat better defenses.
Riley's first team lost six one-score games (this isn't new to Nebraska), but played hard and dominated UCLA in the Whatever Red Box Chicken Bowl to give us a sense of hope.
Best Teams
Solich went 33-5 between 1999-2001, won a conference title, tied for two division titles, and played for a national championship. He had a Heisman Trophy-winning QB at the helm.
Callahan went 17-9 in 2005-06, won a division title and won an Alamo Bowl against Michigan. He had a Big XII Player of the Year at QB.
Bo's best teams won division titles in 2009-10, and didn't get embarrassed. He got by in 2009 with poor QB play because he had a Heisman-level defensive tackle and other all-conference level players on that side of the ball.
Riley's best team actually was a mirage, but looking back on it, the 9-4 season in 2016 was better than anything we've seen since, even with the woodshed beatings by Ohio State and Iowa. He had a healthy senior QB until the OSU game. A walk-on started against Purdue and Tennessee, and Armstrong played on one leg against Iowa.
Downfall
Solich started getting boat-raced in 2001, and the trend continued until the 38-9 home loss to Kansas State precipitated Pederson's pouty pronouncement that we would not gravitate toward mediocrity.
Callahan's final team gave up — with the notable exception of that 73-31 pasting of K-State. He was officially gone after losing 65-51 to Colorado.
Bo's teams never gave up on a season — they just started giving up in individual games against any opponent with a pulse, starting with the 2012 twin embarrassments in Indianapolis against Wisconsin and in San Diego against Washington.
Riley was on thin ice as soon as we lost to NIU, and then Northwestern in OT at home, surrendering a lead in the fourth quarter. The subsequent beatdowns by Penn State, Ohio State and Iowa simply hastened the inevitable.

Ironically, Frost has broken this cycle by fielding consistently poor teams. These last six weeks have given us some hope, but until the season is over, we won't be able to say if Frost has us in the "Best Teams" part of his cycle, or if it will ever happen for him.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Wasn’t Steve Spurrier approached as his time with the Redskins wasn’t going well?

No. Fans mentioned his name and Spurrier publicly shot it down.

 

[saluno22]

If Mike Sherman got the job, does he recruit Zac Taylor? And does Zac Taylor still eventuallymarry his daughter?

 

[WHCSC]

if i could step back in time and tell Tom how much money he's gonna leave on the table.

Does he seem like the type of guy that's motivated by money?

 

[saluno22]

Does he seem like the type of guy that's motivated by money?

If I recall correctly, he forwent raises occasionally in order to pay assistants more to stick around.

 

[dinglefritz]

That maybe true but at the time when we heard Solich was fired, I surely wouldn’t have thought of hiring a pro coach over hiring another coach in the college ranks..

What was Wannstedt record at Pitt without looking it up?

Obviously his record that last year was not great considering he got fired. I watched quite a few of their games that year and I thought he had a lot of really good young talent. Their problem was they had multiple bad injuries including their QB. I recall that they had 2 QBs banged up and that their starter tried to play through some injuries. I thought they canned Wannstedt too soon. He had recruited pretty well. He left the next guy a pretty good roster. They've floundered since then. I think IF they had stuck with the guy he would have had success long term. I'm not talking about playing for national championships but he might have given them a shot in any given year if he got the right QB. He's a solid coach IMO.

It's just another case of a school desperately trying to repeat a past glory year with a revolving door at head coach.

 

[dinglefritz]

if i could step back in time and tell Tom how much money he's gonna leave on the table.

He would be dead long ago if he had continued to coach. He nearly died that last season. Not many people know how serious his health problem was back then and he downplayed it tremendously. Frankly I'm shocked he's still alive. It's a testament to his lifestyle choices and the medical care available in Lincoln.

 

[tpmcg]

He would be dead long ago if he had continued to coach. He nearly died that last season. Not many people know how serious his health problem was back then and he downplayed it tremendously. Frankly I'm shocked he's still alive. It's a testament to his lifestyle choices and the medical care available in Lincoln.

i was mostly being facetious, but he did miss the start of the crazy money train.

 

[nebcountry]

No it doesn’t appear worse.. The fact that we had a AD that fired a 9 win coach spoked a lot of coaches including Urban Meyer…

Coach’s thinking what kind of a record do I need to keep this guy happy to keep my job every year..

I've always considered the Meyer response as a cop out. I cringe every time I see this.

John Cooper was the head coach at ohio state. Two years after co-winning the conference and finishing #2 in the polls, Cooper was fired. The resemblance between Solich and Cooper firing situation is nearly carbon copy. The time difference between their respective firings: 3 years. The thought that Meyer wouldn't head to a program "like this" is laughable.

 

[timnsun]

I've always considered the Meyer response as a cop out. I cringe every time I see this.

John Cooper was the head coach at ohio state. Two years after co-winning the conference and finishing #2 in the polls, Cooper was fired. The resemblance between Solich and Cooper firing situation is nearly carbon copy. The time difference between their respective firings: 3 years. The thought that Meyer wouldn't head to a program "like this" is laughable.

So Meyer said it, but didn’t mean it. Got it.

 

[cubsker]

I think Zimmer would have done the best here out of those names.

 

[9and4]

Trev Alberts Plan A in 2003-4: Kirk Ferentz

 

[drubendall]

Trev Alberts Plan A in 2003-4: Kirk Ferentz

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Yikes