Forgive me for the diversion from the Scott Frost carnivale. I don’t really disagree that SF is obvious young coach that someone will want, maybe us. He certainly is. And he has earned it.
But there is a certain madness setting in that has persuaded some that we are so unique, our challenges are so extraordinary, that there is only one, “THE ONE,” who can save us. I listen to some people talking about this situation who by all appearances believe that if Scott Frost was to be hit by a bus tomorrow, Nebraska football would be effectively over. This is silliness. I suggest we stop it.
Our challenges are not so extraordinary; our situation isn’t so unique.
Our situation is comical, in a way, that is for sure. We have done this to ourselves. But our situation is far from overwhelming. The next step is to hire the right leader and support him as long as it takes to work out.
By the way, if we are unique, if we are extraordinary, it’s not in the negatives. There are plenty of teams in the current top 25 that are as difficult jobs – or nearly so -- as Nebraska in their own ways as we are: Wisconsin, Iowa, Oklahoma, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Memphis, Washington State, Iowa State, Mississippi State, South Florida, NC State, Washington.
In all the dizziness from the trainwreck we have been witnessing, we have apparently lost our collective awareness of who we actually are. We have experienced so much mediocre football that we have persuaded ourselves that we ARE mediocre as such.
But friends: It just isn’t true.
Lest we forget: We rank 5th in all time wins in modern college football, ahead of Ohio State, Alabama, Oklahoma, Penn State, USC and LSU. The only teams with more wins in ALL of college football history are Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas. That’s it.
We are 6th in number of National Titles, and 8th in all time winning percentage.
I don’t care one wit what Mike Bellotti or Kirk Herbstreit or any other ahistorical moron out there says, we ARE extraordinary, we ARE unique, precisely for the reasons almost NO ONE can claim: We have a long storied history of the highest order of college football. Along with just a few select other “blue blood” teams, we ARE college football history.
That said, we obviously have a problem to solve.
The question for me is: do we act like a Blue Blood or do we continue acting like a program that has an inferiority complex. Is Herbstreit right? Bellotti? Are we doomed to forget who we are and act like a an up-and-coming team, looking for an up-and-coming coach?
Right now, that guessing game – the one that others will surely undertake --- would be to guess on whether some young hot coach would be the right guess: Matt Campbell, Justin Fuente, Mike Norvell, or Dave Doeren, or, yes, maybe Scott Frost. Roll the dice like everyone else. Hope we hit.
Yeah, yeah, I get it: Scott Frost surely makes the most sense for us among this group. But that is beside the point: Frost is still in the “maybe he’ll be great someday” category. He is far from a sure thing. Let’s think clearly here. We all like the guy, but he isn’t proven. He has one great season thus far, winning in a mediocre conference. That’s not nothing, I know.
But here is what we also know: We know he doesn’t yet have a solid record of winning in difficult circumstances. We know he doesn’t have a top-flight staff, and we have no reason to know that he can attract one. He hasn’t proven himself as a top-flight recruiter. He might be; he might not. Most importantly for me, he hasn’t personally been the Head Coach in a program where he has gone where we want to go. He hasn’t faced the stuff that guy faces along the way. He might be fine when that moment arises; he might not. We just don’t know.
And so Scott Frost, for as good of a young coach as he appears to be, is still a maybe, still a let’s hope so.
So, Moos, do we act like Iowa State or Purdue and go with a guess? Do we eat our inferiority pie and act like every other program in the big middle of college football does?
NO. We aren’t everyone else. We ARE elite. Look around people. We built this place.
What does a real blue blood program in our situation do? It stops screwing around and goes out and hires the right guy. Whatever it takes. After Bear Bryant retired in 1982, Alabama guessed 7 times before it got it right by hiring the “sure thing” Nick Saban after being fully aware of his success at LSU.
After the very successful Jim Tressel was fired by Ohio State in 2011, OSU fooled around a year with Luke Fickell, but then realized the stupidity of that experiment and hired another sure thing: Urban Meyer.
We can continue the guessing game, and we might hit it right with Frost. I will sure support him. But there is a great risk in the guessing game. Consider what Texans must be thinking about Charlie Strong just a bit ago, and now are wondering about Tom Herman? Miami – you think maybe the Hurricanes are wishing they had skipped over a few guesses before finally just hiring Mark Richt?
Being a blue blood means you don't have to guess; you can skip all that.
If I were Moos, I would stop the guessing game, and hire the closest thing to a sure thing there is out there. I would shrug off all the “he won’t come here” pessimism we flop around in and do it right this time. Let’s hire our Urban Meyer. Let’s hire our Nick Saban. Let’s hire Chip Kelly.
If I were Moos I would be on a flight to meet with Chip Kelly, getting the deal done. I would thank Mike Riley for his gentlemanly service, and show him the door. Tomorrow. I would make someone on the staff -- it doesn't matter -- the interim coach. I would announce our new Head Coach, Chip Kelly, tomorrow.
I would then tell him his only job for now is to tour the country with the Williams duo and tell everyone: the current players, the recruits that are still in, and those that have been in, what it is going to be like playing for a Blue Blood with a Coach like him.
The Collective
East Stadium since 1978
But there is a certain madness setting in that has persuaded some that we are so unique, our challenges are so extraordinary, that there is only one, “THE ONE,” who can save us. I listen to some people talking about this situation who by all appearances believe that if Scott Frost was to be hit by a bus tomorrow, Nebraska football would be effectively over. This is silliness. I suggest we stop it.
Our challenges are not so extraordinary; our situation isn’t so unique.
Our situation is comical, in a way, that is for sure. We have done this to ourselves. But our situation is far from overwhelming. The next step is to hire the right leader and support him as long as it takes to work out.
By the way, if we are unique, if we are extraordinary, it’s not in the negatives. There are plenty of teams in the current top 25 that are as difficult jobs – or nearly so -- as Nebraska in their own ways as we are: Wisconsin, Iowa, Oklahoma, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Memphis, Washington State, Iowa State, Mississippi State, South Florida, NC State, Washington.
In all the dizziness from the trainwreck we have been witnessing, we have apparently lost our collective awareness of who we actually are. We have experienced so much mediocre football that we have persuaded ourselves that we ARE mediocre as such.
But friends: It just isn’t true.
Lest we forget: We rank 5th in all time wins in modern college football, ahead of Ohio State, Alabama, Oklahoma, Penn State, USC and LSU. The only teams with more wins in ALL of college football history are Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas. That’s it.
We are 6th in number of National Titles, and 8th in all time winning percentage.
I don’t care one wit what Mike Bellotti or Kirk Herbstreit or any other ahistorical moron out there says, we ARE extraordinary, we ARE unique, precisely for the reasons almost NO ONE can claim: We have a long storied history of the highest order of college football. Along with just a few select other “blue blood” teams, we ARE college football history.
That said, we obviously have a problem to solve.
The question for me is: do we act like a Blue Blood or do we continue acting like a program that has an inferiority complex. Is Herbstreit right? Bellotti? Are we doomed to forget who we are and act like a an up-and-coming team, looking for an up-and-coming coach?
Right now, that guessing game – the one that others will surely undertake --- would be to guess on whether some young hot coach would be the right guess: Matt Campbell, Justin Fuente, Mike Norvell, or Dave Doeren, or, yes, maybe Scott Frost. Roll the dice like everyone else. Hope we hit.
Yeah, yeah, I get it: Scott Frost surely makes the most sense for us among this group. But that is beside the point: Frost is still in the “maybe he’ll be great someday” category. He is far from a sure thing. Let’s think clearly here. We all like the guy, but he isn’t proven. He has one great season thus far, winning in a mediocre conference. That’s not nothing, I know.
But here is what we also know: We know he doesn’t yet have a solid record of winning in difficult circumstances. We know he doesn’t have a top-flight staff, and we have no reason to know that he can attract one. He hasn’t proven himself as a top-flight recruiter. He might be; he might not. Most importantly for me, he hasn’t personally been the Head Coach in a program where he has gone where we want to go. He hasn’t faced the stuff that guy faces along the way. He might be fine when that moment arises; he might not. We just don’t know.
And so Scott Frost, for as good of a young coach as he appears to be, is still a maybe, still a let’s hope so.
So, Moos, do we act like Iowa State or Purdue and go with a guess? Do we eat our inferiority pie and act like every other program in the big middle of college football does?
NO. We aren’t everyone else. We ARE elite. Look around people. We built this place.
What does a real blue blood program in our situation do? It stops screwing around and goes out and hires the right guy. Whatever it takes. After Bear Bryant retired in 1982, Alabama guessed 7 times before it got it right by hiring the “sure thing” Nick Saban after being fully aware of his success at LSU.
After the very successful Jim Tressel was fired by Ohio State in 2011, OSU fooled around a year with Luke Fickell, but then realized the stupidity of that experiment and hired another sure thing: Urban Meyer.
We can continue the guessing game, and we might hit it right with Frost. I will sure support him. But there is a great risk in the guessing game. Consider what Texans must be thinking about Charlie Strong just a bit ago, and now are wondering about Tom Herman? Miami – you think maybe the Hurricanes are wishing they had skipped over a few guesses before finally just hiring Mark Richt?
Being a blue blood means you don't have to guess; you can skip all that.
If I were Moos, I would stop the guessing game, and hire the closest thing to a sure thing there is out there. I would shrug off all the “he won’t come here” pessimism we flop around in and do it right this time. Let’s hire our Urban Meyer. Let’s hire our Nick Saban. Let’s hire Chip Kelly.
If I were Moos I would be on a flight to meet with Chip Kelly, getting the deal done. I would thank Mike Riley for his gentlemanly service, and show him the door. Tomorrow. I would make someone on the staff -- it doesn't matter -- the interim coach. I would announce our new Head Coach, Chip Kelly, tomorrow.
I would then tell him his only job for now is to tour the country with the Williams duo and tell everyone: the current players, the recruits that are still in, and those that have been in, what it is going to be like playing for a Blue Blood with a Coach like him.
The Collective
East Stadium since 1978
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