This isn't a sarcastic rhetorical question, I'm genuinely curious what everybody had in mind when we hired Mike. Because during crappy times like these there are a lot of people saying expectations are out of whack one way or another, whether people expect too much from the Huskers or not nearly enough.
I was pretty panicked when he was announced and assumed Husker football squandered our last chance to recover and get relevant again haha. But after diving into his career and hearing from people who knew much more about him I decided to say "WHY NOT MIKE??" and jump on board.
I expected some important improvements, all while keeping in mind the type of messy program he inherited from Bo. Smarter and more disciplined players AND coaches, much more positive team/program culture, playing to our strengths, an offense with some fun wrinkles, a defense that refused to lie down and get blown out, a leader everyone could turn to and truly trust when things got tough.
That being said, I did figure there was a built-in ceiling based off of his career. I never expected him to kick our W/L record up too much to be honest, let alone win a championship (unless it was one of his patented giant-killer games). But five-ish seasons of around 10-3 while recruiting better and instilling a positive culture would have been a job well done in my opinion. We'd be back on solid ground and he could retire as a beloved, important, calming influence for NU who set the stage for the next guy to really kick things into overdrive.
I have to figure most people expected something like that, right? Maybe he can pull off what seems like a miracle and somehow steer things back on that track, but some of those modest expectations definitely haven't happened up to this point.
What about you guys, what were your honest expectations, and have they been met so far?
I was pretty panicked when he was announced and assumed Husker football squandered our last chance to recover and get relevant again haha. But after diving into his career and hearing from people who knew much more about him I decided to say "WHY NOT MIKE??" and jump on board.
I expected some important improvements, all while keeping in mind the type of messy program he inherited from Bo. Smarter and more disciplined players AND coaches, much more positive team/program culture, playing to our strengths, an offense with some fun wrinkles, a defense that refused to lie down and get blown out, a leader everyone could turn to and truly trust when things got tough.
That being said, I did figure there was a built-in ceiling based off of his career. I never expected him to kick our W/L record up too much to be honest, let alone win a championship (unless it was one of his patented giant-killer games). But five-ish seasons of around 10-3 while recruiting better and instilling a positive culture would have been a job well done in my opinion. We'd be back on solid ground and he could retire as a beloved, important, calming influence for NU who set the stage for the next guy to really kick things into overdrive.
I have to figure most people expected something like that, right? Maybe he can pull off what seems like a miracle and somehow steer things back on that track, but some of those modest expectations definitely haven't happened up to this point.
What about you guys, what were your honest expectations, and have they been met so far?
