… when we used to be really really good?
What the f$ck happened?
Discuss
What the f$ck happened?
Discuss
Remember …
- Thread starter Pennsyhuskers
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Earliest game I can vividly remember was the OU game where crouch caught the td pass from Stuntz. So i caught the last little remnants of greatness followed by the CU and Miami curb stompings, some false of hope the Pelini years, Mack browns 1 second finger wag, 12 years of garbage and a future season that I have low or no expectations. But I still wear red.
There’s been a civil war going on inside the program, the school, even the state for decades. At the end of the day, the leadership at all levels has been inept to say the least.
We stopped being a run first team. Rhule never learned the most important lessons from Tom Osborne. Until proven otherwise, I think we would be better with an Osborne offense in the Big 10.
And remember Tom recommended him for the job soooo…., Let’s imagine for a minute that Tom hadn’t installed Frank without the proper administrative authority to do it. Then imagine Tom hadn’t pressured Frost to return. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Tom for what he accomplished, but making Pederson the lone scapegoat is silly. Even TO said “winning is hard”. Our situation is multifactorial starting with poor coaching hires which have been complicated by our former coach’s presence. We should have expected this.
Just like Frost, everyone wanted Steve Peterson at the time
TO is arguably the greatest coach of all time, winning at NU is a lot harder than he made it look.
I remember people saying Frank Solich had more fire than Tom Osborne. The claims were that he would be relentless and his offenses would be more powerful. Steve Pederson said he would not let Nebraska gravitate into mediocrity. They also said artificial sweeteners were safe; WMDs were in Iraq; and Anna Nicole married for love.
Unlimited rosters and lower academic standards.
TO was in the right place at the right time.
I am so glad we are finally discussing this.
Same exact boat, I have never felt more tricked.
There comes a point where if a hobby isn't enjoyable it doesn't make sense to keep at it. I find myself dreading the games much more than I enjoy watching it. Wins don't even feel enjoyable under Rhule, it's more accurately a brief reprieve from waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Perpetual failure isn't something that is tolerated by successful people, so it has become to feel very unrelatable.
Partial qualifiers. Back in the day the roster was loaded with players that couldn't qualify at other schools. When the Big XII put limits on partial qualifiers Nebraska started falling off.
Wow, you missed out on sooner magic in the mid 1970’s or the Miami game going for two for the win , the 7 year bowl losing streak where we usually got drubbing by a Florida team. My first recollection of Nebraska football was 1970 season and watching the orange bowl on a black and white tv with a snowy screen
I agree with you, TOs influence after his retirement hasn’t been for the good of the program overall. I’ve said so on here previously and was slammed for it. But about Pederson, 20+ years after he refused to allow the program to gravitate towards mediocrity we finally have a coach that has allowed us to climb back up to being mediocre.
we used to have a coach named dr. tom who ran the ball...now you know the rest of the story, good day
I’m not blaming Tom. He was a brilliant coach and person who could motivate players. The problem for us may be that he elevated expectations beyond reality for a team located in a relative talent desert. ALL of the guys we hired had at least one issue that held them back. Maybe the best X’s and O’s and recruiting guy we had was Callahan. I said when we hired Rhule, maybe our best bet was to gamble on a young guy like Vigen. Who knows if that would have worked but I would wager it would have been as good as Rhule at half the cost.
Genuinely curious, was Nebraska the only school to take advantage partial qualifiers or able to accept them?
Frank had fire and was relentless. Unfortunately those efforts went into other things.
"On the academic rule that limited the number of Proposition 48 qualifiers — the SWC didn’t allow them, the Big Eight did and new league settled on one such qualifier for football and men’s basketball: “It was aimed directly at (Nebraska) Cornhusker football. By the late 1990s, this new Big 12 rule has seriously damaged the quality of Nebraska football. In fact, you could say it brought the era of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne to a close.”
Wefald recalled Berdahl harmed Nebraska after leaving Texas. Berdahl was the president of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in 2011 when Nebraska was voted out of the prestigious group. Wefald said Berdahl could have used his influence to sway a close vote.
“The truth is,” Wefald wrote, “no outside academic leader has dented Nebraska’s athletic and academic standing over the years more than Bob Berdahl.
“In another irony, if Nebraska had not been a member of the AAU in 2010 when the Big 10 was adding a new school, the University of Missouri, an AAU school, would likely be a member of the Big 10 today.”
Former Kansas State President's thoughts
The swc just paid players under the table back then they didn’t need partial qualifiers and they were put on probation, Texas, SMU A&M Baylor. I believe Toms point was some of the non qualifiers was a product of a poor public school system and they could sit out a year to get their grades up. We never heard about the failures of the kids that never were able to get their grade up.
Fixed for accuracy. Two single worst things to happen to Nebraska football.
The loss of Prop 48 disproportionately took opportunities away from young black men to be able to access a college education and escape the dystopian hellholes that the American inner cities have become.
Crickets from the SJWs as long as Nebraska gets hurt in the bargain.
**** Bob Berdahl in the *** with a cactus.
For sure. I just didn't know if the Pac12, Big10, Big East, SEC or ACC allowed for partial qualifiers too back then or if it was just the Big8 ?
Pederson actually came with better credentials than Frost did. He had previously served as recruiting coordinator for blueblood programs NU, Tennessee and Ohio State, and he came back to NU at a time when recruiting was clearly dropping under Solich. Who better to get recruiting moving in an upward direction again. He had also led a number of improvements as AD at Pitt which had fallen on hard times in both football and ball before he was hired. He made a great hire in Ben Howland and a pretty good one in Walt Harris. It was a no brainer that he was hired at NU. And he was right, NU was gravitating toward mediocrity, except he helped accelerate it not fix it.
Both hires that made Total Sense that went to Total Fail!
In both cases they were from here and part of Nebraska under Tom Osborne and should have understood the culture and what it takes to win here. SMH!
I’ve gave more to husker football emotionally than it has ever gave, like a love for a woman who won’t love me back
Good thing other teams did not have the same advantages.
A better start is to flush Pillen, The UNL President, the Board of Regents. Basically all of the POS losers that have been dragging this program down for the last 25 years.
TO and his assistants coached developed their unique system and recruiting thru the years. Like every other great program, when they got just the right group of players they had success. They had a system and recruited to and practiced to it and played the game to the system. I always have wished that TO could have coached Bobby Newcombe for his career.
crouch was great, but the offense was returning to qb run. I think and who knows since Bobby got hurt and Crouch took over, but we would have run Osborne’s offense, not a single wing. Bobby could have been great at it. If’s and but’s were candy and nuts…. We have no system to play or recruit to. I will be long gone by the time we return to greatness. But no loss I don’t enjoy nil and transfer portal. Big thing is I don’t gamble. And gambling is controlling all phases of all sports. Only way to generate viewer pleasure. So I watch what I want and hunt and fish all the more.
crouch was great, but the offense was returning to qb run. I think and who knows since Bobby got hurt and Crouch took over, but we would have run Osborne’s offense, not a single wing. Bobby could have been great at it. If’s and but’s were candy and nuts…. We have no system to play or recruit to. I will be long gone by the time we return to greatness. But no loss I don’t enjoy nil and transfer portal. Big thing is I don’t gamble. And gambling is controlling all phases of all sports. Only way to generate viewer pleasure. So I watch what I want and hunt and fish all the more.
Pederson was definitely qualified and I don’t think Tom was wrong at the time for recommending him. He maybe didn’t realize the personal disdain Frank maybe already had for Pedie. I like Frank a bunch but firing him was probably going to happen no matter who the AD was. Things were trending poorly and our roster was awful when Frank was canned. Recruiting classes had slipped in to the 40s two years in a row and we had nobody worth a sh## at QB. O line was depleted as well.
You do realize that virtually none of the BOR know anything about running a football program right? Changing them out won’t change anything. Pillen isn’t the problem with football either. AD? Maybe.