Again, there's a similarity to college football. Indiana spends a lot of money to win. And, we all know a team that spends stupid money to lose.
What is your level of engagement?
- Thread starter steinek11
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There used to be many many more contributors here. I contribute about 10% of what I used to. Coming here is just a bad habit.
..And we knew exactly who MR is/was and we still extended his bs contract. Smh.
I love that people rip on Bo's coaching staff meanwhile Rhule started with one of the lamest staffs ever and has ****** up hires over and over.
Good news, Rhule is gone after this season and we can go hire that Montana (or Montana St, no one knows) coach.
And? If our administration didn't learn that putting all your eggs in the basket of one high school senior is a huge mistake, then they're even dumber than I thought, which I didn't think was possible.
Taylor should have zero to do with the decision on whether to cut Rhule loose or not. Nada, zilch, nothing.
Exactly...
Like with most recruits there is a better chance that he never does anything amazing than there is that he is the next (fill in the blank) player.
And if the next coach (soon, hopefully) can't recruit good players, that is a huge ******* problem.
For all this talk like this is the best recruiting class since the Callahan years and a program changer it's still a number 20 class in both rivals and 24/7. If you go by player average rating it's still 20th atm.
Disagree with it being "the best class since the Callahan years"
1) Those players have yet to sign, yet to show up on campus, yet to produce.
2) There are 3 classes that ranked higher on signing day than 20th:
2007 Pelini class ranked 19th
2011 Pelini class ranked 16th
2019 Frost class ranked 18th
Also, Rhule 2025 class ranked 20th. Frost 2020 class ranked 20th.
The end of last season and the entire Raiola saga dampened my spirits a lot, and some of Rhule's decisions and hires have been mystifying to say the least, but I'm not even close to the vitriol I see on this board. We have been SO much worse, SO recently, so I appreciate being a bowl-eligible program again, but it's obviously the accumulation of years and years and years of mediocrity and shittiness that have people ready to throw in the towel on the whole thing, even after some modest improvements.
I'll say this, I do feel apathy, but it's WAYYYY more related to the fact that college football has just become gibberish. The money involved in every aspect is absurd, conference "realignment" is just insulting and dumb, NIL/transfer portal rules are a mystery even to the people in charge, we have no idea who will stay or go from the team on any given year, there is no reason to pay any attention to recruiting or follow a player's progress as he grows up in the program, all of that stuff is just gone from the equation. It all has the effect of pushing fans away and making us feel like we're not a part of the sport in general. That has nothing to do with any particular coaching staff or AD or program, it's just a total failure of the institution of college sports.
I'll say this, I do feel apathy, but it's WAYYYY more related to the fact that college football has just become gibberish. The money involved in every aspect is absurd, conference "realignment" is just insulting and dumb, NIL/transfer portal rules are a mystery even to the people in charge, we have no idea who will stay or go from the team on any given year, there is no reason to pay any attention to recruiting or follow a player's progress as he grows up in the program, all of that stuff is just gone from the equation. It all has the effect of pushing fans away and making us feel like we're not a part of the sport in general. That has nothing to do with any particular coaching staff or AD or program, it's just a total failure of the institution of college sports.
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Letting Ekeler walk because Rhule is too insecure to employ a coach more talented and driven than he was a major gut-punch to an otherwise great round of hires.
I’m not sure “most fans” want that. Just as well give up the dream of having things they way they used to be. If it really worked well and for a sustained period of time, more coaches would do it. News flash, it isn’t the system, it’s the coaching. TO made it work, no one else ever will. But keep trying and opining for the old days.
Yes, the lack of a hard salary cap creates comparisons. Players certainly benefit and a lot of mid guys get paid a lot of money because teams don't really have to be careful with spending as long as they are willing to spend. Must suck to be in the NFL, and be a really good player and struggle to get any guarenteed money, and you look up and some schmuck at Nebraska is making a million a year. Emmitt could become a starter for the chiefs this year and make less money than if he stayed at NU.
I was referring to a 2020's version of Nebraska football. Physical, smart, good on both lines, don't beat yourself with mistakes. You know, the type of football that defeats us every single time we go against it.
I get supply/demand/entertainment and all that, but the fact a bunch of football players at Nebraska who majority will never sniff the NFL are making more than doctors, surgeons, educators, first responders, service members, and essential personnel is insane to me. Some of these guys make more in a year than the petty $400k the government gives the family of someone who was blown up in Afghanistan. Now, despite the insanity, I don't have a problem with those athletes making that money. It's the nature of the beast. However, we are (and have been) severely overpaying for mediocre talent.
Bet you a dollar he is still here next season
This is modern day Nebraska. Pull in a top 20 recruiting class, finish closer to 50. Watched this movie over and over…
Okay...I see you trying to call me out with that bet!
I am in!
Now...who can we trust to hold the dollar?
I don't think that but it's what some fans and media members are pushing.
I’ve noticed the uptick in it. I saw Greg Smith day he used it because we currently have the same number of top 100 commits as 2005, so I guess I get it from that aspect.
100% agree with you. I will watch every second, but I have no hope the Huskers will perform well. I think it is inevitable that Rhule gets pushed out. Highly doubt after this season. Rhule will use his new staff as an excuse if this upcoming season doesn't turn out well.
We will see that excuse after the first game...when they win by 9 in a lame performance.
"I thought the guys did a great job today, especially considering they were breaking in a new defense. I thought that even though there were a lot of mistakes with the O-Line, which is to be expected with a new coach, that they still did a great job...winning games is tough and Ohio is a heck of a program"
My engagement is lower this year than last. I have hope, but little belief.
I will follow each game until painful to do such. The days are long gone that any game is really important.
In 1984, just moved to Fairbanks, only way I got news was going to a store a mile away on Sunday morning, and hope they had recieved their shipment of Anchorage Daily News. Things have changed in many ways.
Husker Football is a habit now, not a passion as it once was.
I will follow each game until painful to do such. The days are long gone that any game is really important.
In 1984, just moved to Fairbanks, only way I got news was going to a store a mile away on Sunday morning, and hope they had recieved their shipment of Anchorage Daily News. Things have changed in many ways.
Husker Football is a habit now, not a passion as it once was.
I have a problem with it because Matt Rhule makes somewhere between 8-10 million a year and has not earned that money in the slightest. The money will dry up, and probably not gradually but punctually, over night there will be "financial problems" . 70-80% of the revenue in the AD comes from donations...it is then literally given as a hand-out to players and coaches who are not growing the program, nor the sport. Therefore the fan base will die off.
There are few kids and young adults who are becoming fans of Nebraska because of Matt Rhule or Colandrea, but we have millions tied up in them. This is standard business collapse. Pointless investment works until there is no return on the investment. And that is coming sooner rather than later, for many programs. Indiana just bought its program a few decades and probably billions in donations by having one great season. All those young kids following the team will be fans and investors for the rest of their lives. Nebraska is just not doing that. The average boomer is 70 right now. That is the donation base...is that 5-10 years with diminishing returns each year before the bottom falls out? And Nebraska doesn't have oil, it doesn't have silicon, it doesn't have financials...so we don't have the super-donors either.
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Recruiting ranks are often misleading. They’re overly influenced by the size of the class.
Or somebody just has to do something different. No more irresponsible contracts or hiring guys with journalism degrees to run a 200 million dollar business. There is ZERO creativity in our program. Completely risk averse outside of just giving away a war-chest that was built 25 years ago.
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This part, the part of being scared of a "risk" seems so true.
Clearly Cigs could have been a great hire...but of course he didn't have P4 head coaching experience.
Kiffen, 10 years ago, would have been a great hire...but he was young and flashy and that would scare our fans.
My little interaction with the athletic department over the last 25 years tells me there are a lot of lifers doing important day to day tasks for whomever the AD and the coach is...there is a lot of power held in the people who have been at NU for the entirety of our futility since 2001. Nobody in power cares about individual fans, they literally think that we are idiots, with bottomless wallets who will shill out to keep stupid things intact like the "sell-out" streak, or "best fans in america". Some of the big donors have power but they have the same non-pragmatic hang-ups of some fans...like "he isn't a fit", or "doesn't do things like T.O". The one "revolutionary" thing that Cignetti did was either clean house of the lifers at Indiana or lit a fire up their *** to wake and do things with competence. This is hard, these people have been making six-figures while the team loses for literally decades, their retirement, happiness are tied to keeping the status quo. Can an AD, or coach really make a difference if the culture of 95% of the place is steeped in mediocrity?
There are SOOOO many "lifers" in higher ed/University life...it is a safe haven for a lot of people.
I bet at Indiana it was different on the football end of things because they have never been good at all so it was probably easy to make changes and/or get people motivated.