Thread: Nebraska - substance on the field.....*smile*

Originally Posted by -HW-

Bo was screwed over, no doubt about it--it was dirty pool! Pederson's contract was bought out at 2.5 million. If they fire Callahan, that would be a buy out of 3 million. These are some pretty hefty sums of money. I guess Warren Buffett has come to the University's rescue (ugh---I'm not a fan of his), however, he's donating money (rumor has it) to help the cause.

I didn't like Frank Solich either - but....he was a better coach than Callahan. We need a coach that gets the team all fired-up again! There's no enthusiasm. First time in Nebraska's history they had so many empty seats. Businesses around the University are concerned as their business levels are down at this time and they said they may go out of business if it remains this poor through Christmas. When the fans are happy, I guess they spend a whole lot more money around the stadium. I do like Oklahoma too, and I miss the days of watching a good game - sitting on the edge of your seat and having a fighting chance at winning.

Honestly, I dont think 3 million is THAT much when you look at what this is and the other dollars that flow through having a good football program. Yeah, it was a similar thing with the Cubs last year. Though tickets had been sold, there were thousands of empty seats during September games and when they see this they see dollars are at stake and thats when change comes. Unfortunately it takes alienation to make people do something so drastic that others finally do something. Solich wasnt great but he was at least Nebraska, unlike Callahan. Solich was at least going to try to be a caretaker. With Callahan its slash and burn.

Oh....you should hear the rumors flying around Nebraska about firing Callahan and hiring Switzer. That would be a dream come true, but can't see that being very realistic. I do think they will fire Callahan, but it will be when the season ends.

Guess what....In the Sunday Omaha World Herald, there was a news article stating that our coaches have NOT been having our players pad-up for practice, use the state-of-the-art exercise room, or lift weights. There's a lot of fans right now who literally "hate" the present coach. I guess he hired some consultant (corporate) who had no athletic experience.

Published Sunday | October 21, 2007
Lee Barfknecht: Nebraska should not turn entirely to its past
BY LEE BARFKNECHT
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER



In 1996, Oklahoma thought it had a great idea for how to recharge its sputtering football program.

The Sooners hired a beloved native son as athletic director. They installed someone who had played and assisted there as head coach. And they used a former coach — a wildly popular Hall of Famer — to work behind the scenes to consult on some things and get boosters on board.

It didn't work. And that's being kind.

"It was embarrassing," former OU coaching legend Barry Switzer, one of those involved, said last week.

How embarrassing?

Those three seasons of football under coach John Blake produced the worst winning percentage (.353) in any three-year period in OU history.

Nebraska fans, are your eyes wide-open yet?

Good. Keep them that way, Switzer recommends, as the Huskers move forward after a time of football turmoil not seen in this state for nearly five decades.

Switzer, being loyal to his longtime profession, declined to speculate on how the Nebraska coaching situation will play out because "that job's not open."

But the 70-year-old, now retired and living in Norman, Okla., openly talked about the tug-of-war that can develop between "old guard and new guard" proponents when a football power tries to change directions.

Switzer didn't say an old guard setup won't work.

"But I'm not one to believe you have to bring back someone who played or coached there," he said. "There are examples all over the country to prove that.

"It's more about the right guy — not the familiar guy — in the right place."

Oklahoma went with "familiar" after a failed one-year experiment in 1995 with Howard Schnellenberger, best known as head coach of the Miami team that upset Nebraska for the 1983 national title.

Blake, at age 34, became the new head coach. He was a former Oklahoma defensive lineman and later assistant coach, who had played for Switzer at OU and coached under him with the Dallas Cowboys.

Switzer helped rally the Sooner faithful at the time and kept watch on some hiring to make sure Blake got the veteran help he needed. Respected coordinators **** Winder (31 years of service at the time) and Bill Young (27 years) were picked to run the offense and defense.

In this tale, the athletic director hiring came a little later.

Oklahoma's man in that spot, Donnie Duncan, resigned in the spring of 1996 to join the new Big 12 Conference. OU President David Boren courted Steve Owens, who as a Sooners running back won the 1969 Heisman Trophy.

Owens, one of the nicest people I have ever met, was financially secure as the chief executive officer of three companies. So in an interview at the time, I asked him why in the world he wanted to be an athletic director.

"I guess it came down to the great love I have for OU," Owens said. "I felt I owed a debt to the school if there was any way to help."

So Oklahomans from Guymon to Ardmore felt the dream team was in place. Yet the results were nightmarish.

Oklahoma went 3-8 in Blake's first season, 4-8 the next. Before the third season, Owens stepped down as A.D. and Joe Castiglione from Missouri replaced him.

Blake fired four assistants and installed the wishbone offense. Entering the second game, he junked that and eventually used five quarterbacks during the season. He made seven quarterback changes in the Texas game alone.

After finishing 5-6 and seeing the Sooners during his tenure average three turnovers and 10 penalties a game, Blake was fired. The Board of Regents' vote to uphold that move was carried live on statewide television.

"I was so disappointed," Switzer said. "John was a great recruiter, a good guy and a good field coach. But there is more to it than that.

"It's a good coach putting the right staff together, and then implementing a system they believe in. And then you recruit the players to make it happen."

Oklahoma's football glory days — absent following the departure of Switzer and the struggles of Gary Gibbs, Schnellenberger and Blake to succeed him — returned under Bob Stoops, who won a national title in his second season (2000).

Note that Stoops is an Ohio native who played football at Iowa and coached at Kansas State and Florida.

"Bob Stoops didn't have anything to do with Oklahoma's tradition when he came here," Switzer said.

True. But he was smart enough to have Switzer at his side at his introductory press conference. And Stoops was savvy enough to immerse himself in Sooner culture and embrace the old guard, not arrogantly alienate it.

Switzer, who was with Osborne recently at a banquet in Oklahoma City, said he hasn't talked to his old rival since Osborne took over as Nebraska's athletic director Tuesday.

"An A.D. doesn't recruit and doesn't coach," Switzer said. "If people think just having Tom as the A.D. is going to make Nebraska a winner again, it doesn't work that way."

Would Switzer coach Nebraska if Osborne asked?

After long, loud laughter, Switzer said: "I don't have the energy to chase 18- and 19-year-olds anymore. And if he tries to bring back some of those guys who used to coach there, they'll need wheelchairs and have to take naps at noon."

So which way will Nebraska go for the inevitable changes to come?

Anyone in even remote contact with Osborne knows how important loyalty and continuity are to him.

Yet tales of caution abound concerning organizations hamstrung by clinging to the past. That includes what happened at Nebraska when Osborne anointed Frank Solich as his successor and "suggested" that he keep all the assistants.

For the past four years, the Nebraska football pendulum mistakenly swung all the way toward "culture change."

But a full swing back toward nothing but the old ways would be just as dangerous to the long-term health of this program.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pag...u_sid=10163714

Sorry HW! Lou Holtz gave the Huskers the ESPN "pep talk". That's not good!

Originally Posted by Nomad B

Sorry HW! Lou Holtz gave the Huskers the ESPN "pep talk". That's not good!

Put a stake in my heart, why don't you, Nomad?

The pain! The agony! The torture of an unknown future!

Now all we need is for one of them to get arrested.

Originally Posted by -HW-

Put a stake in my heart, why don't you, Nomad?

The pain! The agony! The torture of an unknown future!

Now all we need is for one of them to get arrested.

Sorry for the news HW! But the Holtz "pep talk jinx" is true! Look what happened to LSU at kentucky! Then again I never realized they were playing in Austin! We'll get the game here in NODAK (regional) and if it makes you feel better I'll be a Husker fan today because I really dislike the Longhorns.

Originally Posted by Nomad B

Sorry for the news HW! But the Holtz "pep talk jinx" is true! Look what happened to LSU at kentucky! Then again I never realized they were playing in Austin! We'll get the game here in NODAK (regional) and if it makes you feel better I'll be a Husker fan today because I really dislike the Longhorns.

Apparently, you becoming a day-fan has been successful thus far, as in 3rd quarter it's 17-6 Nebraska.

Originally Posted by -HW-

Apparently, you becoming a day-fan has been successful thus far, as in 3rd quarter it's 17-6 Nebraska.

Again HW that darn Holtz! Glory being given to the Longhorns is like thorns in my side! Callahan is your curse and I'm not even a Big 12 fan!

Originally Posted by Nomad B

Again HW that darn Holtz! Glory being given to the Longhorns is like thorns in my side! Callahan is your curse and I'm not even a Big 12 fan!

Yep. Callahan needs to go - we need someone in here who has roots to our state and understands the fan-base. We have HIGH expectations, but we want our team energized and explosive! They were for many decades, I'll keep the faith this reverses for next season.

Yet....it was a much better game today than the three before this. That was encouraging.

I agree - I'm not a big 12 fan either, and how they arrange the teams makes so little sense to me. Yet....I'm not an expert by any means.

HW, Kansas/Nebraska game looked like a basketball score! I had to take a double look. I can't believe the Jayhawks scored 76 on the Huskers .

Originally Posted by Nomad B

Looks like nebraska has the worst home loss in like 40 years!

During halftime of the Michigan/Michigan St. game they said it was the most points NebrASSka has EVER allowed...

AND so far this season, they have allowed more points than in ANY other year before....



hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahaha

My Ex loves NebrASSka.....hahahahahahahahahaha I love to see 'em lose!!






PEACE!!!

Wow, is there any shred of Nebraska tradition that Callahan/Peterson hasnt taken a torch to? Its just sad what has become of this once proud program. What a joke.

Got this in an email from an old husker buddy..... haha
>>>>
>>>> HUSKER Q & A
>>>>
>>>> Q: What do you call 12 multi-millionaires sitting
>>>> around a TV watching the Big 12 Championship game?
>>>> A: The Nebraska Cornhusker coaching staff.
>>>>
>>>> Q: What do the Nebraska coach Bill Callahan
>>>> and Billy Graham have in common?
>>>> A: They both can make 70,000 people stand
>>>> up and yell "Jesus Christ".
>>>>
>>>> Q: How do you keep a Nebraska Cornhusker
>>>> out of your yard?
>>>> A: Put up goal posts, a first down marker,
>>>> or an end zone.
>>>>
>>>> Q: What do you call a Nebraska Coach with a
>>>> BCS National Championship Bowl ring?
>>>> A: A thief.
>>>>
>>>> Q: Why was Bill Callahan upset when the
>>>> Nebraska Cornhusker play book was stolen?
>>>> A: Because he hadn't finished coloring it.
>>>>
>>>> Q: What's the difference between the
>>>> Nebraska Cornhusker Football Team and a dollar bill?
>>>> A: You can still get four quarters out of a
>>>> dollar bill.
>>>>
>>>> Q: What do the Nebraska Cornhusker Football Team
>>>> and possums have in common?
>>>> A: Both play dead at home (and get killed
>>>> on the road).
>>>>
>>>>