Frank Solich Retires
- Thread starter HuskerHackFraud
- Start date
Bringin Frank home.... A retirement home maybe. He's originally from Ohio but they have family in Nebraska and I won't be surprised if he moves back here. I know he and his wife have visited often.
He's 76 and probably just realized it was time. I would bet they keep the staff intact and that might have been a purposeful move on Frank's part.
Good for Frank, he had a very good coaching career..
Tim Albin was a loyal coach for Frank and Iām glad he is being given to succeed as a head coach..
I remember him going to Holy Ghost for game film as a Husker grad Assistant..
Tim Albin was a loyal coach for Frank and Iām glad he is being given to succeed as a head coach..
I remember him going to Holy Ghost for game film as a Husker grad Assistant..
Frank's win record was .631% and for his career he was 8-9 in bowl games. He rebuilt Ohio but wasn't a dominant head coach. Being a solid program is about all you ever get in the MAC. IF you're too good your coach moves up usually. He's a better coach than recruiter. Solid guy.
Per twitter, Frank is staying on at Ohio as a student advisor.
Interesting that he had no conference championships at Ohio.
Interesting that he had no conference championships at Ohio.
It is. Gary and Jim were just talking about it on 1110 kfab. They said Frank is focused on cardiovascular health. We can read between the lines.
I was pro Frank being fired from Nebraska and admit that it was a terrible move in hindsight. How do you take one of the best offenses in college football and make a wholesale change to West Coast offense? He deserved more time to right the ship. He put together an outstanding second career at Ohio. Would have been nice to have seen what he could do with Nebraska resources.
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I've known he had heart issues for years. Can't say how. I just didn't know the public knew. Frank's offense as he ran it was not the best offense in college football anymore. Tom and his coaching was what made that offense work. Crouch carried Frank those first few years and Jamaal Lord was a WAY under rated QB. The system sure helped Frank and I think he probably would have continued to be an 8ish win coach had we kept him. That said, there were things going on in the program besides the W/L record that helped lead to Frank's departure. I'm not going in to that whole deal again. The WCO worked and in fact Tom's offense was rooted in the WCO originally. Tom had no problem with the WCO and it's one of the reasons why he asked Bo to keep Shawn Watson.
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He had a long career. Wishing Frank a happy and healthy retirement!
Update: Frank says he's retiring to focus on a cardiovascular health issue so the good health wish is doubly meaningful.
Update: Frank says he's retiring to focus on a cardiovascular health issue so the good health wish is doubly meaningful.
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Congratulations to Frank on a fine career. He contributed a lot to Nebraska. Best wishes on his health.
You guys got it all wrong. Heās obviously coming back to Nebraska to run for Congress. Then he can take over the AD role and clean up Trevās mess years from now.
They've been trying to do it for years and Frank has resisted from what I was told. Maybe now he'll do it.
I'm kind of surprised they brought that whack job back. He's totally lost his mind.
Hindsight is 20/20, but Frank should have been allowed to fail at NU. Instead, he was unseated after a 9 (+1) win season due to the fear of slipping into mediocrity. That's a big bowl of bad karma if one believes in such things. For those wondering how difficult a legit coaching search might have been, at the time Urban Meyer said he would be very leery of coaching at a school that fired a nine-win coach. He was the top young coach that was doing things on offense that would have fit NU like a glove.
And the fail would have likely happened. The QB run first offense that began to evolve with Crouch continued with Lord who was indeed an underrated warrior of a player. Joe Daily couldn't do the things Lord did, plus RB and OL recruiting had slipped noticeably. But Pelini would have kept the defense at the top of the league. NU wins 7-8 games the following year, depending on who was the bowl opponent.
And the fail would have likely happened. The QB run first offense that began to evolve with Crouch continued with Lord who was indeed an underrated warrior of a player. Joe Daily couldn't do the things Lord did, plus RB and OL recruiting had slipped noticeably. But Pelini would have kept the defense at the top of the league. NU wins 7-8 games the following year, depending on who was the bowl opponent.
I pray he can have peace and more sleep in retirement away from work. I know getting enough sleep is very important for his health. Wishing him rest, peace, and happy retirement.
Hindsight is 20/20 and Frank should have never been hired. Byrne should have been able to do his thing and possibly bring in Bob Stoops or someone else during that time. Frank shouldn't have been the guy.
Frank was the heir apparent HC for years before TO retired and I assume was TO's choice. What Byrne should have been able to do and what choices were actually available to him were very different.
Like I said, Byrne should have been given the grace to do what he was going to do. Frank should never have been the head guy at NU. I know TO was loyal, but that decision was part of the downfall of NU Football. Yes it is hindsight, but Byrne is the AD and should have been able to pick his guy.
Solich just did the same thing, he hired Tim Albin to replace him. Totally bypassed the Ohio AD. Somtimes this works out like with Ryan Day and Lincoln Riley, but more often than not I think it fails miserably. TO's coaching tree was incredibly weak compared to others top coaches.
Long time assistant picked to coach a program with a lot of wins, then proceeds to basically win at the same clip. Probably has a title in 99 if not for a play or two in the first game against Texas. Enjoyed the confidence of the fan base. Downtick in overall program quality yes, program downfall no. In fact, the actual downfall of the program happened after Tommy Armstrong left the program.
7-7 season in 2002 was the start of the downfall. The 2003 schedule looks good on paper but Penn St was 3-9, we played two teams that were ranked at the end of the season and lost to both Kansas St and Texas, plus lost to a meh Missouri team that year. Oklahoma St was the only team with a winning record that Solich beat that year.
Not all 9-3 look the same.
It's good conversation, but if any of the assistants would have taken over they would have had success. That was a well oiled machine and was stocked with talent. That staff started to age and needed some turnover as well as recruiting started to fall off as well. TO was an innovator. He was doing all kinds of things moving the program forward. Frank didn't have that gift or the gift of recruiting.
A coach goes 7-7, then revamps the defensive staff and the team has a record of 10-3 the next year, albeit with a kind schedule. Ranked in the top 25 after the season. I'm sure the fear was of having a true losing season, but NU did that with Callahan the next year. Frank would have been gone the next year had he gone 5-7 and missed the bowl. I suspect the fear for Stevie P was that with Pelini in the fold as D coordinator, Frank would have posted 8-9 wins as long as Bo was in the mix, thus putting NU in a kind of purgatory. I think there were 8-9 wins on the schedule in 2004 under a Solich/Pelini staff.
The fact is that we think we know what would have happened if Solich remained, but we really don't. The general operating procedure since TO left has been to not be happy with the coaching, and thinking that if we could just be rid of that coach, some magic coach was was waiting in the wings to take NU to new heights. The result is that we would all be incredibly happy if the team won the same number of games that Frank and Pelini won every year but one.
A 7-7 record is a reality that even great programs had experienced much more recently than NU. So no, that wasn't a downfall. It was a sign for a corrective, which NU made. Was Solich an inferior head coach to TO. Yes. Was it wise to fire him after a 9-3 regular season and a top 20 final ranking. No, unless you wish to signal to the applicant pool that insane expectations are expected.
I respectfully disagree.. If it isnāt broke donāt fix it.
And Tom must have felt the same way with all that stability in the coaching staff.. Omly problem was a few where getting old and couldnāt hop on air planes to recruit around the country..