Shawn Eichorst statement on "Black Friday" games

[Alum-Ni]

From NU Media Relations:

“I want to clarify Nebraska’s position regarding the dates of our season-ending football games in 2020 and 2021 as announced earlier this week by the Big Ten Conference. At this time no final decision has been made on what dates these two games will actually be played. As in past years, the Big Ten releases opponent matchups and typically assigns these match-ups to Saturday. That has been the case in the past when we agreed to move our season ending games against Iowa from Saturday to Friday.

“Moving forward we will do everything possible to maintain our tradition of playing games on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We look forward to playing Iowa on the Friday after Thanksgiving through 2019.”

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Well shit, that's no fun. Do we have to delete the thread about black friday games now?

 

[chicolby]

Actually, I credit Tom Shatel with generating the public reaction to this decision. If he was planning to keep the Friday games, they'd have been out in front of this news.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Somehow this is wrong I am sure. He will get buried by the locals for listening and being flexible.
Now back to foaming at the mouth about carries for the back-up (to the back-up) running back.

 

[Toms Wife]

It just goes to show you that if the fans speak loud enough on here and other outlets about issues in the program the administration just might listen.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Somehow this is wrong I am sure. He will get buried by the locals for listening and being flexible.
Now back to foaming at the mouth about carries for the back-up (to the back-up) running back.

Thank goodness Eichorst caved to the public pressure. ha ha ha ha Even with a logical explanation as to why there was no need to get in front of it. The opponent changed everything else remained the same as far as the B1G press release was concerned

 

[hddude55]

Amid all of the hand wringing re Black Friday games, a few oldtimers probably remember when the OU game was played on Turkey Day. I remember thinking at the time that it was a mistake to move the game to Friday as the Thanksgiving game had the entire country's attention. Black Friday isn't even a day off for lots of people.

Based on the press release, the AD may not even know the original "traditional date" was Thanksgiving Day. It would be nice if Thanksgiving was considered since the whole matter seems to be under review anyway.

 

[ctscts]

If the fans speak loud enough (and pretend to be women) on here and other outlets, the administration just might listen.

fify

 

[bigboxes]

Amid all of the hand wringing re Black Friday games, a few oldtimers probably remember when the OU game was played on Turkey Day. I remember thinking it was a mistake to move the game to Friday as the Thanksgiving game had the entire country's attention. Black Friday isn't even a day off for lots of people.

The AD may not even know the game was formerly on Thanksgiving. It would be nice if Thanksgiving was considered since the whole matter seems to be under review anyway.

Having 2-3 pro games on the same day does not make it the only game in town.

 

[cecilB]

Feeling the heat

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Having 2-3 pro games on the same day does not make it the only game in town.

Does not matter what day it is. The same people would be there in the stands, or watching any of the 3 days. This is all so very dramatic.

 

[chicolby]

Thank goodness Eichorst caved to the public pressure. ha ha ha ha Even with a logical explanation as to why there was no need to get in front of it. The opponent changed everything else remained the same as far as the B1G press release was concerned

I'm not sure why you're so quick to defend Eichorst in this situation. I don't love or hate the guy, but I call a spade a spade. When the team has played decades worth of games on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the B1G announces a change in schedule, you have to be wise enough to either a) proactively explain why the change or b) proactively explain the desire to keep the game on a Friday. He did neither, which leads me to believe the conference was dictating and he was taking it.

This isn't that different than when the conference announced Friday night games and he was just going along while other programs (Michigan and Ohio State in particular) said "nope, we aren't doing that." They had balls to stand up to the conference when Eichorst waited for fan reaction again.

While I appreciate his willingness to be flexible, as an Athletic Director, he should be anticipating fan response and standing up for his team and the historic traditions.

Sorry, but I give him a C for his handling of this.

 

[hddude55]

Does not matter what day it is. The same people would be there in the stands, or watching any of the 3 days. This is all so very dramatic.

I don't have data to show the effect of moving from Turkey Day to Black Friday but I'll bet it was more significant than you think. Why would you think about the same number of eyeballs would see the game either day when most of the country is at home on Turkey Day when most businesses are shuttered vs Black Friday when many people are either at work or Christmas shopping? The hard core will watch any day -- unless they have to work -- but for a lot of fans options mean they will choose those other options.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

I'm not sure why you're so quick to defend Eichorst in this situation. I don't love or hate the guy, but I call a spade a spade. When the team has played decades worth of games on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the B1G announces a change in schedule, you have to be wise enough to either a) proactively explain why the change or b) proactively explain the desire to keep the game on a Friday. He did neither, which leads me to believe the conference was dictating and he was taking it.

This isn't that different than when the conference announced Friday night games and he was just going along while other programs (Michigan and Ohio State in particular) said "nope, we aren't doing that." They had balls to stand up to the conference when Eichorst waited for fan reaction again.

While I appreciate his willingness to be flexible, as an Athletic Director, he should be anticipating fan response and standing up for his team and the historic traditions.

Sorry, but I give him a C for his handling of this.

It's not so much defending him as it is pointing out the ridiculousness of it all. When the last schedule came out it had Iowa and Nebraska on the Saturday, everyone just assumed it would be moved to Friday because it always had been. But because the opponent changed, then all of a sudden we needed to hear that the Friday game was still going to be a on. This was a B1G release not a Nebraska release. The games we are talking about are 3 and 4 years down the line. I am not sure the number 1 priority of the AD is the Friday after Thanksgiving 2020. But that's just me.

 

[mgbreis]

On the day of the announcement I was listening to 590 at like 4:55pm and they pointed out that the "schedule" didn't mean the teams couldn't request to play the game on Friday. So that part of the story was always there for any journalist or fan who cared to convey the full picture. Personally I don't give a crap. Are we into some minutiae BS now or what?

 

[JohnRossEwing]

How much, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most, do you think SE hates being at NU? He would probably love to be at a place where a possible day change, 3 years from now, wouldn't lead to him having to make statements.

 

[cecilB]

On the day of the announcement I was listening to 590 at like 4:55pm and they pointed out that the "schedule" didn't mean the teams couldn't request to play the game on Friday. So that part of the story was always there for any journalist or fan who cared to convey the full picture. Personally I don't give a crap. Are we into some minutiae BS now or what?

and then followed by the SE and CMR quotes. They mis-read the fan base plain and simple.

Now, this will be dependent on the goofers wanting to do it. It is also possible that say Iowa and Wisconsin request it....after all as SE and CMR were sayig they didn't like it, Ferentz was quoted saying he did. Both could be on. Which game would get ABC/Fox, which one would get ESPNU?

 

[jlb321]

Can we just all agree that the fundamental question surrounding the games thanksgiving weekend boils down to 2 options

1. Would we rather lose on the Friday after Thanksgiving and have the Saturday and Sunday to lick our wounds and recover before going back to work Monday.

Or

2. Would we rather lose on Saturday thereby still being able to enjoy Friday. Our likely abysmal performances also have a better chance to be buried in the multitude of games played on Saturday rather than having a beat down be a feature game on Friday

<sarcasm>

 

[cecilB]

How much, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most, do you think SE hates being at NU? He would probably love to be at a place where a possible day change, 3 years from now, wouldn't lead to him having to make statements.

probably a half a million reasons why he likes it, but occasionally looks quite uncomfortable here. I say 5

 

[chicolby]

How much, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most, do you think SE hates being at NU? He would probably love to be at a place where a possible day change, 3 years from now, wouldn't lead to him having to make statements.

I'm pretty sure most ADs wouldn't want to be at programs where small things don't rile up fan bases. The programs where fans don't care about small things are called Purdue, Maryland, Illinois. The big programs all have fans who care about these things and require their AD to make statements. By the way, those programs also tend to pay their Athletic Directors and coaches more money too.

In the business world, those companies are called leaders. They do things their way and they fight against being treated like everyone else. That's why they are leaders.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

I'm pretty sure most ADs wouldn't want to be at programs where small things don't rile up fan bases. The programs where fans don't care about small things are called Purdue, Maryland, Illinois. The big programs all have fans who care about these things and require their AD to make statements. By the way, those programs also tend to pay their Athletic Directors and coaches more money too.

In the business world, those companies are called leaders. They do things their way and they fight against being treated like everyone else. That's why they are leaders.

I disagree. Some people in the fan base hate every decision Eichorst makes based mostly on the fact that they didn't like the result and process of hiring his head football coach. Since that day, he has been under scrutiny for every little thing he does. If things were peachy with the football program and the basketball program was making progress, this stupid Friday thing doesn't get blown out of proportion.

 

[Truehuskerfan]

I disagree. Some people in the fan base hate every decision Eichorst makes based mostly on the fact that they didn't like the result and process of hiring his head football coach. Since that day, he has been under scrutiny for every little thing he does. If things were peachy with the football program and the basketball program was making progress, this stupid Friday thing doesn't get blown out of proportion.

Just about ready to say something similar. Your reaction to this whole thing has a lot to do with how you feel about Eichorst as a whole. The crowd who doesn't like him was bound to see this as some major issue, because they look for anything and everything to use against him. The rest of us actually recognized that nothing about the schedule said it definitely wasn't going to be played on Black Friday and it was a minor issue(or in my case non-issue).

 

[Mack In Motion]

I'll say it again.

Given that it's not Oklahoma for that week, and hasn't been for quite some time, who really gives a shit?

If we really crave an engineered rival, give us the booby prize of Colorado back. Or Iowa. Or Holy Cross or Toledo or Texas State.

 

[mel mains]

I disagree. Some people in the fan base hate every decision Eichorst makes based mostly on the fact that they didn't like the result and process of hiring his head football coach. Since that day, he has been under scrutiny for every little thing he does. If things were peachy with the football program and the basketball program was making progress, this stupid Friday thing doesn't get blown out of proportion.

Well that's true, winning solves everything, but you cannot be suggesting that not liking the "result and process of hiring his football coach" does not relate directly to things not being all peachy with the football program. I thought the day and manner in which he hired Riley he'd settled, and it's hard to argue that at this point stuff ain't all peachy with his hire.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Well that's true, winning solves everything, but you cannot be suggesting that not liking the "result and process of hiring his football coach" does not relate directly to things not being all peachy with the football program. I thought the day and manner in which he hired Riley he'd settled, and it's hard to argue that at this point stuff ain't all peachy with his hire.

My comments were made in response to the poster who said this is what happens at all big time programs. It has nothing to do with that. It is all about Eichorst. Period

 

[Toms Wife]

It's not so much defending him as it is pointing out the ridiculousness of it all. When the last schedule came out it had Iowa and Nebraska on the Saturday, everyone just assumed it would be moved to Friday because it always had been. But because the opponent changed, then all of a sudden we needed to hear that the Friday game was still going to be a on.

Or maybe people thought Shawn didn't really want the Black Friday game when,

"Earlier in the week, he told Huskers.com:

'Since moving to a nine-game conference schedule,' said NU athletic director Eichorst said, 'it makes sense from a student-athlete health, safety and welfare perspective to play on Saturday at the end of the regular season.'"

Shawn should just come out and say, "I royally screwed up with my comments earlier in the week and didn't understand that these Thanksgiving/Day after Thanksgiving games were part of Husker football culture for a very long time. Now that the press and fans have brought this to my attention, I am switching courses and will petition the Big Ten for Friday games at the end of the season."

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Or maybe people thought Shawn didn't really want the Black Friday game when,

"Earlier in the week, he told Huskers.com:

'Since moving to a nine-game conference schedule,' said NU athletic director Eichorst said, 'it makes sense from a student-athlete health, safety and welfare perspective to play on Saturday at the end of the regular season.'"

It makes sense to do a lot of things. Clearly his preference is to have the games played on Saturday so is Riley's But because the schedule said Saturday, (like it had in every other B1G schedule release) people assumed that he and Riley had already dictated that it was changed to Saturday, which wasn't true.

As I said before, regardless of how he handled this, those of you that hate everything he does were going to find a way to try and make him look bad. That's what you do.

 

[kaz36]

You guys should have been around this board back in 1990 when the announcement was made that they were moving the NU/OU game from Saturday to Friday. I wasn't sure if Devaney was going to survive that one or not. There was a poster that went by the name @TomsGrandma who led the pitchfork brigade and nearly got Devaney fired over that one.

 

[chicolby]

Just about ready to say something similar. Your reaction to this whole thing has a lot to do with how you feel about Eichorst as a whole. The crowd who doesn't like him was bound to see this as some major issue, because they look for anything and everything to use against him. The rest of us actually recognized that nothing about the schedule said it definitely wasn't going to be played on Black Friday and it was a minor issue(or in my case non-issue).

If you're referring to Joe fan who tends to hate all administrators, (e.g., ADs, commissioners, etc) you'd be right. In my case I actually defend Eichorst in many cases where fans blast him simply because he makes money. I defend a lot that he does and I applaud big accomplishments too. But when you play the company (conference) guy and don't think about the regular fans in regards to Friday night games and tradition games, I think you are making a mistake. Maybe he feels Nebraska doesn't have ground to stand on because the program has been mediocre since joining the conference but you still should fight like hell to keep that status. While I didn't love Iowa as a designated "rival" they sure beat Minnesota.

 

[Hskerhd]

Or maybe people thought Shawn didn't really want the Black Friday game when,

"Earlier in the week, he told Huskers.com:

'Since moving to a nine-game conference schedule,' said NU athletic director Eichorst said, 'it makes sense from a student-athlete health, safety and welfare perspective to play on Saturday at the end of the regular season.'"

Shawn should just come out and say, "I royally screwed up with my comments earlier in the week and didn't understand that these Thanksgiving/Day after Thanksgiving games were part of Husker football culture for a very long time. Now that the press and fans have brought this to my attention, I am switching courses and will petition the Big Ten for Friday games at the end of the season."

Called checking which way the wind blows & backpedaling

 

[Toms Wife]

It makes sense to do a lot of things. Clearly his preference is to have the games played on Saturday so is Riley's But because the schedule said Saturday, (like it had in every other B1G schedule release) people assumed that he and Riley had already dictated that it was changed to Saturday, which wasn't true.

As I said before, regardless of how he handled this, those of you that hate everything he does were going to find a way to try and make him look bad. That's what you do.

The only way to move it to Friday is for the two schools to petition the Big Ten Administration's Council. So if Shawn and Mike don't want it, there is no petition, and thus they have dictated that the game is on Saturday. The only recourse at this point is to say, "We have heard from the fans and changed our minds."

P.S. There is nothing wrong with saying the fans had their say and we heard them.

 

[TruHusker]

Sounds to me like a bunch of people wanting to find something to complain about that doesn't exist. The AD can do nothing right. There is always a sinister motive to everything.

Then there is a crowd who thinks if they post enough crap on a message board the "AD" and Chancellor will listen and change their minds. These people finally listened to us! Hooray for our side! Can we make more out of so little?

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

The only way to move it to Friday is for the two schools to petition the Big Ten Administration's Council. So if Shawn and Mike don't want it, there is no petition, and thus they have dictated that the game is on Saturday. The only recourse at this point is to say, "We have heard from the fans and changed our minds."

P.S. There is nothing wrong with saying the fans had their say and we heard them.

And that petition needed to be sent within 5 minutes of the announcement?

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Sounds to me like a bunch of people wanting to find something to.complain about that doesn't exist. The AD can do nothing right. There is always a senister motive to everything
Then there is a crowd who thinks if they post enough crap on a message board the "AD" and Chancellor will listen and change their minds. These people finally listened to us! Hooray for our side! Can we make more out of so little?

Oh yes we can! Lead by the transgender priestess.... anything can be blown out of proportion.

 

[Toms Wife]

And that petition needed to be sent within 5 minutes of the announcement?

You keep missing the fact that Shawn and Mike said they don't want it. So why would the Athletic Director's office send a petition they don't want? Unless, "something" helped change their minds in the last 48 hours.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

You keep missing the fact that Shawn and Mike said they don't want it. So why would the Athletic Director's office send a petition they don't want? Unless, "something" helped change their minds in the last 48 hours.

Once again you fail to read a post and make assumptions. I clearly stated that neither Eichorst nor Riley want the game on Friday. That doesn't mean that they weren't going to petition the league to play the game on Friday. There are many things that I don't like, many of those things I have the ability to change if I wanted to. You assumed because Eichorst has an opinion that he was going to force his opinion. He made no statement immediately after the release of the change of opponent was announced. Then because everyone blew this out of proportion, he had to address something that may or may not have been an issue. The only thing the bitching did was cause him to put out a statement. He hasn't petitioned the B1G and to my knowledge neither has Minnesota. Why? because you don't have to do it today.

 

[red rover 70]

OKLAHOMA SOONERS

 

[Toms Wife]

Once again you fail to read a post and make assumptions. I clearly stated that neither Eichorst nor Riley want the game on Friday. That doesn't mean that they weren't going to petition the league to play the game on Friday. There are many things that I don't like, many of those things I have the ability to change if I wanted to. You assumed because Eichorst has an opinion that he was going to force his opinion. He made no statement immediately after the release of the change of opponent was announced. Then because everyone blew this out of proportion, he had to address something that may or may not have been an issue. The only thing the bitching did was cause him to put out a statement. He hasn't petitioned the B1G and to my knowledge neither has Minnesota. Why? because you don't have to do it today.

Why is it so hard to think that the fan and press uproar helped him to change his mind? If the fans didn't care one way or the other he's not sending in a petition. The game will be on Saturday. But now that 85% of fans want the Black Friday game he's changing his mind. Good on him.

This is Nebraska and the fans, who are astute followers of the game, are the ones who knock. This isn't Wisconsin.

 

[jawatkins]

Bring back Oklahoma on Thanksgiving or move it to Saturday, Friday has been always a dumb day to play.

 

[TruHusker]

Why is it so hard to think that the fan and press uproar helped him to change his mind? If the fans didn't care one way or the other he's not sending in a petition. The game will be on Saturday. But now that 85% of fans want the Black Friday game he's changing his mind. Good on him.

This is Nebraska and the fans, who are astute followers of the game, are the ones who knock. This isn't Wisconsin.

Define "uproar"? I didn't say anything so I didn't roar. Where did the 85% number come from? In the old days I had to work on Friday and hated when it got moved. I didn't "uproar" about it though. How did the fans get so organized so quickly? 85% is amazing!