Parrella
- Thread starter Cloud_a_Heart
- Start date
asst D line coach Cleveland Browns. That explains their team's recent successes.Winking
I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I think Callahan is a very good coach. I really think if given another shot somewhere without the turf war NU had going on that he could be successful. Every time I think about his analytics approach to player evaluations I can't help but think of Rain Man.
he wasn't a good fit at NU. That doesn't mean he couldn't be successful NOW in college. Saban wasn't a great college coach early in his career either. Callahan's organization skills and work ethic are second to none. He had some pretty daunting circumstances fighting him at NU and he screwed up royally by not embracing former players and the fans. His ability to recruit NFL caliber to NU hasn't been matched since we fired him.
I don't know if he would be a good head coach in college or not, but I met Bill on his introductory tour in Sioux City. He was talking with fans five or six deep when I came into the event. Shortly after he was by himself in the cost room. I asked him if I could get him a drink. He just kind of stared into space. I knew right then the Nebraska job wasn't right for him.
From speaking to former players during that era, they all admitted that Callahan was a genius. He was so smart that he was socially awkward and difficult to connect with. The whole staff was pretty dysfunctional. Some were liked such as Blake and Norvell, but the general consensus was that everyone hated Elmo. Coach Cosgrove wasn’t liked much either. The staff never created a good culture and a solid foundation, so when the going got tough in ‘07, the entire team caved. All this was on Callahan. Had Callahan hired a GREAT DC that could coach and also build a good culture on the defensive side of things, Callahan would have lasted a lot longer.
Crazy note about Jake is he had a game this year where scored 3 defensive TDs... 2 INTs returned and 1 fumble recovery.
That’s insane.
If left alone he would have won big at Nebraska. He was bringing in way to much talent to fail much longer. The class that got dismantled when he was fired was going to be a monster class. They should have pushed him to get a new DC.
Good ol coach. Would have been here many years more if he would have made changes on D
A family member of mine had a professional relationship with Callahan which I can't give the details of. He says that Callahan was actually a really good guy to deal with. He liked him a lot. Good guy when you got to know him. BC didn't deal well with the microscopic rectal examination of being NU's head coach.
I vaguely remember that. Didn’t someone say that Osborne was going to take over the AD role and was going to fire Callahan? That poster vanished from the RSS soon after that claim.
Yep. It was cleaned up pretty quick, so I'm very lucky I even saw it. And it should be noted that we were talking about playing for the national title around this time.
My family member was privy to what was going on. There was a concerted effort by former players to undermine Cosgrove in particular on defense. The hate was mainly directed at Pederson for firing Frank, but once Tom lost that election things swung in to full gear. Callahan was facing a revolt very similar to what he dealt with from Woodson with the Raiders. Player leaders can undermine a coach very quickly. IF I recall correctly there were 2 of them on the defense who had older brothers who had played for Frank that caused a lot of damage. Ironically IF Cosgrove had recruited better linebackers early in his tenure, they might have been okay. We had everything else other than the right attitude. That defense just plain quit.
I think he would have been successful or at least have got another year, if he fired another d coordinator. There was nothing wrong with his offense. His recruiting was masterful. I wonder if he had Carl for his D coordinator. Callahan is one of the best, if not the best line coach in the NFL. I didn't really like his offense however, I don't think Its a winner for a state and University like Nebraska.