I was born in 62, and have lived through the best football ever for almost 40 years. I am not close enough to know why we are here, but before I leave this earth, can we please return to something close to those glory days.
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.
My gut has always said that Frank was not going to get it done at a level that would have preserved his job at NU even if Pederson had given him a longer runway with his new staff. Yes, Frank and his revamped staff got back to 9 wins the year he was fired, but the losses that season were all ugly ones to non-ranked or lower ranked teams (anyone remember the loss at Missouri where they scored 4 TDs in the 4th quarter?), That team benefited from some crazy positive turnover margin in Bo's one season as DC that wasn't going to be sustained, and I don't think Bo was going to be long for the DC job at NU. Pederson gets alot of criticism for firing Solich, and maybe Frank would have turned it around, but I'll go to my grave thinking Pederson's bigger sin was not the firing, it was the botched hiring of Callahan.
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.