It's ok. We will never know who is right and it is good conversation, I just don't think Frank was the guy. You never know, Byrne could have hired a terrible candidate and would have probably still went down the same road. I think the biggest thing was we failed to innovate and move forward. TO was ahead of this curve a few times. Looking back Frank didn't get the athletes and we definitely got a lot less athletic and a lot slower than we were.
Frank Solich Retires
- Thread starter HuskerHackFraud
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It's ok. We will never know who is right and it is good conversation, I just don't think Frank was the guy. You never know, Byrne could have hired a terrible candidate and would have probably still went down the same road. I think the biggest thing was we failed to innovate and move forward. TO was ahead of this curve a few times. Looking back Frank didn't get the athletes and we definitely got a lot less athletic and a lot slower than we were.
Usually teams don't follow up a HOF coach with another HOF coach, but NU did just that between 1962 and 1997. HOF coaches are not usually hanging around waiting on offers. But Stevie P fired Frank, didn't seem to have a real plan for his replacement, and eventually hired a pro coach who had just been fired by the Raiders.
That, and Frank was saddled with some old guys on the staff who rested on their laurels and didn't put in the work on the recruiting trail. Was going to be pretty hard for him to cut those guys loose prematurely.
I 100% agree with this Stevie P had nothing and that was just a huge clusterfuck. I don't necessarily think Frank should have been fired at the time, I just think we screwed up going with him out of the gate.
Get him back this year so we can finally honor him and get rid of this curse we've been under. Anybody got a live chicken
There are a couple of facts that I will share. No matter how you want to sugarcoat it, 7 losses in one season is a downfall at Nebraska, especially the year after playing for a national title. The fact that of the 16 wins over the next 2 seasons, 2002 and 2003, Frank Solich coached teams beat exactly 2 teams with winning records. Both games were the first games of the year both at home.
I tend to agree with others that pointed out that Solich shouldn't have been the hire to begin with. Osborne handicapped him by stating publicly that the staff should remain intact outside of hiring Gillespie as RB coach. Sort of a it worked for me so it will work for you type thing. Except the relationships between Solich and the staff and Osborne and the staff were no where near the same. The respect level for Solich was miniscule as compared to that of Osborne.
The fact that Osborne wanted to run the show, without running the show, was an issue. There were multiple coaches on that staff that needed to retire. But Solich knew that he couldn't go against the guy that gave him the job and make changes to the staff. So one bad decision is compounded by another bad decision.
I like Osborne the coach and by all accounts is a genuinely great man. I just wish people at the university would leave him out of decision making process. We don't sell alcohol because Osborne wouldn't like it. When we needed to get rid of Petersen, lets bring Osborne in to fix it, he will know what to do. Except the only people he interviewed were 2 guys with Nebraska ties, Pelini and Gill and then Jim freaking Grobe to replace Callahan. Was Pelini a hot candidate at the time? absolutely but you can't tell me there wasn't more interest in that job than those 3 dudes.
You are right. TO botched the hire. Should have hired Mack Brown. Solich was let go at the right time. Those three losses were *** wuppings.
They a really do
No one cares your schedule is hard if you go . 3-9.
They say you sucked liked the other 3-9 teams..lol
The problem with a GOAT level head coach is that coach has an open lane to meddle as former HC. The dude is one of the most revered Nebraskans. But canning a coach that just won 9 games sends a message to the future applicant pool, and it doesn’t matter much the opponents quality. And whatever the nature of TOS meddling was didn’t excuse the fact that Pederson didn’t have his ducks in a row on the subsequent search.
Johnson from Georgia Tech was also being considered with Grobe outside of Gill and Pelini..
Read Osborne knew the offensive side of the ball didn’t need fixing so that is why Watson was retained but the defense needs a overhaul…
I'm a proud Ohio grad. And I think it's really remarkable what Frank did with our program. Undergrads never even bothered going to games before Frank.
We could've had a pre-Texas Mack Brown? That would've been amazing! We'd still be rolling!
People talk about doing things "the Nebraska Way". I don't know what that means exactly, but my interpretation is being honest, humble, forthright, fair, and practicing the Golden Rule. All I know is it is obvious when something is not done "the Nebraska Way."
Holding a grudge against your boss who got the job you coveted, then quitting and holding a PC to announce your successor (who your boss had the right to name) while your boss is off on vacation is definitely not the Nebraska Way.
Holding a grudge against your boss who got the job you coveted, then quitting and holding a PC to announce your successor (who your boss had the right to name) while your boss is off on vacation is definitely not the Nebraska Way.
Never mind… I thought you were talking about solich passing the reigns at OHio to Albin. You are obviously talking about Osborne’s pass to Solich while Byrne was on vacation
Yes, conventional wisdom / urban legend has historically suggested that Bill Byrne wanted to hire Mack as TO's replacement and supposedly there was mutual interest.
The only thing I would disagree with is the idea of completely leaving Tom out of the decision making process. His endorsement or lack thereof can largely determine how a coaching move is viewed by a large percentage of the fan base and potentially the future success of that coach. I have no problem with them doing their search and after they've got it pretty well narrowed down going to Tom and telling him "this is what we're thinking and why". Listen to what he has to say and then do what you're going to do.