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Nebraska legend Tom Osborne proud of protégé Craig Bohl's success at Wyoming
Before he was a three-time FCS national champion, before he was the architect of a rags-to-riches turnaround at Wyoming, Craig Bohl was an injured defensive back under Tom Osborne at Nebraska.
"We had a drill at one time when we were having our receivers do cut blocks on our defensive backs," Osborne said. "Craig’s a defensive back and somehow he didn’t get his hands on a guy and the guy got into his chin, and I think he had a fracture in both bones in his leg."
Osborne convinced Bohl to remain involved as an undergraduate coach.
"Coach Osborne pulled me over and said, 'Hey, we've got a freshman team. It's time you start coaching,'" said Bohl, a business major at the time who said it was actually a shoulder injury that sidelined him. "That's how I got into it."
Cowboys fans are glad he did.
"I think that kind of morphed into a graduate assistantship," Osborne said. "So it worked out well for him, and he certainly has excelled at his career."
That's no small praise coming from Osborne, who won three national championships as Nebraska's head coach in the 1990s. Two of those came with Bohl as his linebackers coach.
After working as a graduate assistant with the Cornhuskers, Bohl headed to North Dakota State as a defensive backs coach. He then coached linebackers at Tulsa and Wisconsin and was a defensive coordinator at Rice and Duke before making his return to Lincoln, Nebraska.
After three years as Nebraska's defensive coordinator, Bohl headed back to Fargo, North Dakota, this time as a head coach, for a decade. His Bison won three consecutive FCS championships before Wyoming hired him in late 2013.
After winning a combined six games in 2014 and 2015, Bohl's Cowboys are 8-3 and one game away from a division championship.
"He’s a guy that knows how to win," Osborne said. "Of course, his record up at North Dakota State was remarkable, and he’s been able to do it in a sparsely populated area (in Wyoming) where you don’t have recruiting advantages. But he’ll get it done."
Osborne's influence has been apparent in Bohl's ascent.
"He has unabashedly indicated that he’s pretty much patterned his practices after what we did at Nebraska," Osborne said. "And I think quite a bit of his coaching philosophy, the way he treats players, the way he approaches the game has been similar to what we did at Nebraska.
"I’m naturally glad to see that, but he’s got to be his own person and I don’t want to say that whatever happened at Nebraska has been the only reason he’s been successful. He’s obviously a great coach in his own right and certainly I think his personality and the things he’s brought to the table are unique and he’s done an outstanding job."
Like Osborne in Nebraska, Bohl has made more of a point of utilizing players from Wyoming than the Cowboys' previous coaching staff.
"We leaned as much as we could on home-state players," Osborne said. "Many of those were walk-on guys, and it worked out well for us."
Osborne, now retired, has not yet been to a game of Bohl's in Wyoming, but when the Cowboys played in Lincoln this season, he was able to meet with Bohl, as well as Wyoming's other coaches with Nebraska connections like defensive coordinator Steve Stanard and receivers coach Mike Grant.
"He’s got a pretty good Nebraska contingent working with him," Osborne said.
Bohl and Osborne talk "about once every 10 days or so," Osborne said.
"I email him once in a while just to congratulate him on a win or commiserate on a loss," Osborne said. "So we stay in touch. He’s a guy that I’ve been very proud of."
The College Football Hall of Famer, who worked as a Nebraska senator and athletic director after his coaching days, knew Bohl's turnaround at Wyoming wouldn't be a quick or easy one, but he has enjoyed seeing his mentee's efforts pay off this season.
"I knew it would take some time," Osborne said. "If you look at the history book, I think Bill McCartney was at Colorado for five or six years before he had a winning season or at least went to a bowl game. Bill Snyder at K-State was about the same, was about six years.
"We live in an age when people want immediate success, and they think that one year, two years ought to be enough. It just doesn’t work that way, particularly when you start out with not a whole lot going for you.
"But most of the players that (Bohl) has there are relatively young, so I think the future’s bright."
Nebraska legend Tom Osborne proud of protégé Craig Bohl's success at Wyoming
Before he was a three-time FCS national champion, before he was the architect of a rags-to-riches turnaround at Wyoming, Craig Bohl was an injured defensive back under Tom Osborne at Nebraska.
"We had a drill at one time when we were having our receivers do cut blocks on our defensive backs," Osborne said. "Craig’s a defensive back and somehow he didn’t get his hands on a guy and the guy got into his chin, and I think he had a fracture in both bones in his leg."
Osborne convinced Bohl to remain involved as an undergraduate coach.
"Coach Osborne pulled me over and said, 'Hey, we've got a freshman team. It's time you start coaching,'" said Bohl, a business major at the time who said it was actually a shoulder injury that sidelined him. "That's how I got into it."
Cowboys fans are glad he did.
"I think that kind of morphed into a graduate assistantship," Osborne said. "So it worked out well for him, and he certainly has excelled at his career."
That's no small praise coming from Osborne, who won three national championships as Nebraska's head coach in the 1990s. Two of those came with Bohl as his linebackers coach.
After working as a graduate assistant with the Cornhuskers, Bohl headed to North Dakota State as a defensive backs coach. He then coached linebackers at Tulsa and Wisconsin and was a defensive coordinator at Rice and Duke before making his return to Lincoln, Nebraska.
After three years as Nebraska's defensive coordinator, Bohl headed back to Fargo, North Dakota, this time as a head coach, for a decade. His Bison won three consecutive FCS championships before Wyoming hired him in late 2013.
After winning a combined six games in 2014 and 2015, Bohl's Cowboys are 8-3 and one game away from a division championship.
"He’s a guy that knows how to win," Osborne said. "Of course, his record up at North Dakota State was remarkable, and he’s been able to do it in a sparsely populated area (in Wyoming) where you don’t have recruiting advantages. But he’ll get it done."
Osborne's influence has been apparent in Bohl's ascent.
"He has unabashedly indicated that he’s pretty much patterned his practices after what we did at Nebraska," Osborne said. "And I think quite a bit of his coaching philosophy, the way he treats players, the way he approaches the game has been similar to what we did at Nebraska.
"I’m naturally glad to see that, but he’s got to be his own person and I don’t want to say that whatever happened at Nebraska has been the only reason he’s been successful. He’s obviously a great coach in his own right and certainly I think his personality and the things he’s brought to the table are unique and he’s done an outstanding job."
Like Osborne in Nebraska, Bohl has made more of a point of utilizing players from Wyoming than the Cowboys' previous coaching staff.
"We leaned as much as we could on home-state players," Osborne said. "Many of those were walk-on guys, and it worked out well for us."
Osborne, now retired, has not yet been to a game of Bohl's in Wyoming, but when the Cowboys played in Lincoln this season, he was able to meet with Bohl, as well as Wyoming's other coaches with Nebraska connections like defensive coordinator Steve Stanard and receivers coach Mike Grant.
"He’s got a pretty good Nebraska contingent working with him," Osborne said.
Bohl and Osborne talk "about once every 10 days or so," Osborne said.
"I email him once in a while just to congratulate him on a win or commiserate on a loss," Osborne said. "So we stay in touch. He’s a guy that I’ve been very proud of."
The College Football Hall of Famer, who worked as a Nebraska senator and athletic director after his coaching days, knew Bohl's turnaround at Wyoming wouldn't be a quick or easy one, but he has enjoyed seeing his mentee's efforts pay off this season.
"I knew it would take some time," Osborne said. "If you look at the history book, I think Bill McCartney was at Colorado for five or six years before he had a winning season or at least went to a bowl game. Bill Snyder at K-State was about the same, was about six years.
"We live in an age when people want immediate success, and they think that one year, two years ought to be enough. It just doesn’t work that way, particularly when you start out with not a whole lot going for you.
"But most of the players that (Bohl) has there are relatively young, so I think the future’s bright."
