Thank Bill Callahan, don't hate him
- Thread starter jive69
- Start date
Bill Byrne resigned December 2, 2002, but had clearly checked out of the job months before that, for example that time he named Anderson as head baseball coach over Childress. December 3, 2002, Frank Solich announced the firing of Craig Bohl, I'm assuming this was also the point where guys like Tenopir and Young decided they would retire (not announced until January). Steve Pederson's first day on the job was December 20, 2002, so with the wheels already in motion to "fix it" I'm not sure he really had the opportunity to fire the guy when it arguably should have been done. And we all know how things have gone since Sick
I think his coaching ability was outmatched by "whatever" made him leave the program and keeps him coaching at a HS. In a vacuum he certainly appears to be a good coach, in reality he couldn't sustain.
Was thinking while reading this post about TO’s decision to return in 1997 rather than hanging it up after 1996. He said the reason he decided to return was because Wistrom and Jason Peter cane into his office and said they weren’t going to declare for the draft because they wanted to win another national championship. I wonder how much the feeling of potentially abandoning players you recruited played into the decision to hand the reins off to Solich and keep the staff intact (beyond TO promising the job to Solich).
Callahan worked about 80 hours a week and surrounded himself with some very good coaches...Cosgrove of course not being one of them. Watson, Norvell, Gilmore would go on and coach at major universities. Cally was the wrong guy to come in and flip such a unique culture but he did a lot of innovative things. I still remember standing in line for 3 hours just to get into the student section for the USC game. THat was an electric night, and showed how close we were to national relevance. Wrong hire but his exit was clean and he certainly gave Bo everything he needed to win big.
The fact that the Wistrom and Peter wouldn't stay to play for Solich in 1997 speaks volumes....Frankie was certainly missing the "it" factor that all coaches need and I am so surprised that Tom didn't get this. Solich had zero presence and was not a man of integrity, you have to either be really charismatic or really principled. He wasn't either and the ship went straight to the bottom.
I'm acknowledging the dislike for Callahan ITT. I don't feel the same as some do. I think that Callahan had a chance to be a great offensive mind. He just wasn't a really good head coach.
There's the CEO aspect of the job that he really didn't want. But that comes with the position.
He should have replaced Cosgrove at some point in year 4. If we had a competent defense in '06 we could have really been building something.
I've moved on. I support Husker football, regardless of who is the coach. Deep down maybe we had to go through all this just to land Scott Frost.
Everyone knows that Osborne said he would have adopted the spread in his offense had he stayed on. Osborne would have adapted as the game changed. Solich did not.
There's the CEO aspect of the job that he really didn't want. But that comes with the position.
He should have replaced Cosgrove at some point in year 4. If we had a competent defense in '06 we could have really been building something.
I've moved on. I support Husker football, regardless of who is the coach. Deep down maybe we had to go through all this just to land Scott Frost.
Everyone knows that Osborne said he would have adopted the spread in his offense had he stayed on. Osborne would have adapted as the game changed. Solich did not.
Back then, I hated Pederson for firing Frank. Hated his face. Hated how he had to have his sticky fingers all over Husker sports. Hated how he held us hostage with his "best fans" crap.
Made a huge mistake firing Frank at 9-3. Should have waited for when he would inevitably nose dive in results in years to cime.
His awful timing left us with a bad coach, in "he who shall not be named". For as bad a fit as he was, he could NOT organize an average Defense. Cosgrove was his grave.
Dare I say, that if Bill "Brasky" was at least competent enough to identify that his defenses were worse than pedestrian... If he had gotten a legitimate coach to see to the D... he may have gone someplace.
Made a huge mistake firing Frank at 9-3. Should have waited for when he would inevitably nose dive in results in years to cime.
His awful timing left us with a bad coach, in "he who shall not be named". For as bad a fit as he was, he could NOT organize an average Defense. Cosgrove was his grave.
Dare I say, that if Bill "Brasky" was at least competent enough to identify that his defenses were worse than pedestrian... If he had gotten a legitimate coach to see to the D... he may have gone someplace.
I don't think Callahan should have been here in the first place.
But I do think him and Bo would have something of note before they crashed their tenure into the ground via their culture or whatever.
Hell Bo basically did it all by himself anyway. Had he had even the slightest bit of a real offense our drought would have ended years ago
But I do think him and Bo would have something of note before they crashed their tenure into the ground via their culture or whatever.
Hell Bo basically did it all by himself anyway. Had he had even the slightest bit of a real offense our drought would have ended years ago
Bill Byrne quit because Tom went over his head to hire Frank when he wanted to hire a young and rising D-Cord. named Bobby Stoops. Dollar Bill did a lot more for us than he was given credit for. Tom was one of the greatest coaches ever but his track record for hiring coaches wasn't very good to say the least. In Callahan's case or any coach that he didn't give the ok to hire he wouldn't support them and in his own way undermined their chances of success. The fans could sense Tom didn't like Bill so half the state hated him from day one. Im not saying bill should or shouldn't have ever been hired here but with out Toms blessing he was a dead man walking from day one.
Right, I assume Byrne felt a certain amount of futility watching TO's chosen one drag the program down and figured firing his *** would piss too many people off, so best to just chase that sweet A&M $$$$, but whatever...
Watch some of those Callahan teams and he has a kick a** offense. Problem was he had no defense and would do nothing about it. didn't we score 50-60 one game and lose ? Even now he's considered one of if not the best offensive line coach in football.
No, that never happened. See, this is where the revisionists go wild. Callahan never had a kick *** offense. In fact, it wasn't really that good at all when he played a team with a pulse.
His defense was really only bad in 2004.
What really happened was 2007. Cosgrove was one major problem. This is also when some smug pricks on the defensive side of the ball decided it was cooler to dance around in volleyball outfits than it was to play football. When you have several players on the defense decide not to care anymore and DC like Cosgrove, you get a season like 2007.
Osborne had no other choice, given the pressure, to get rid of Callahan and go with Pelini. The entire state of Nebraska wanted him.
I don’t remember the Nebraska-Colorado score in 2007 but I know we scored over 50 and ended up losing. We damn near lost to Ball State that season and scored 40 some I believe.
Our offense was only able to put up points in garbage time. The Jamal Lord offense under Solich was just as good as any Callahan had. Most of Pelini's offenses were just as good as Callahan's. There was really nothing special about his offense other than having to go through 2 painful transitions because a west coast offense is never going to be successful at Nebraska long term.
Exactly. Clownahan racked up HUGE stats when we were playing the opponent's water boys and the game was all over. Just another monster sized blow-out loss.
I don't think it was known to Wistrom and Peter that Osborne was going to retire. The way I heard the story was Obsorne was about to announce his retirement, but before he was able to, Wistrom and Peter told TO they were coming back. TO internally decided he couldn't walk away from the team if his defensive leaders were willing to delay their professional careers for another shot at a championship.
This. Think back on the Callahan years and compare them to the Pelini years: who are the standout offensive players that you can remember?
Callahan: nobody really, maybe Zac Taylor but in all honesty he wasnt that great.
Pelini: Helu, Martinez, Burkhead, Abdullah, westerkamp.
If Callahan's offense was as great as some people make it out to be we should have at least a couple of other guys that stood out.
How dare you forget Kenny Wilson... Winking
I remember 2006 when we played USC at the Coliseum when all the media could really say about the game was "look at how many carries Kenny Wilson had" in Callahan's effort to shorten the game and keep it close.
In all seriousness, I'd put Brandon Jackson as a standout offensive player. Was drafted fairly high as well. Maybe Maurice Purify, too (though not drafted, but a difference maker).
Yep, but he didn't play for Callahan. Kinda funny to think that a low 3 star running back was the best offensive skill position player that Callahan brought in. For all of the hooplah surrounding Callahan's recruiting, Bo actually did better on the offense.
Osborne wiffed on both Solich and Pelini. Osborne's picks sucked. I don't care how much you don't like Callahan or Riley. That doesn't change the fact that Osborne made the wrong choice and it affected a once great program where someone else had to take a chance on Callahan and Riley.
So you remember Helu for his time playing in Callahan's offense? Yeah, he was a Callahan recruit but we were comparing offensive systems and Helu didn't do anything memorable under Callahans. Under Bo, he set the single game rushing record.
He was just a freshman under Callahan. It was Callahan who recruited him to Nebraska. I won’t give Pelini any credit for Callahan’s recruits.
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