Was it risk taking in getting Mike Riley? No. He was the best you could get after other people having turned it down. To think otherwise (that it was due to risk taking) is a massaging of reality. I think the here and now (since you want to be there) is a much different landscape than when Nebraska was able to have a better weight room etc than everyone else. The advantages aren't there compared to everyone else with the parity imho. You think wanting to "take risks" (whatever that means) will differentiate you/bring back the glory days? I'm skeptical...wishful and inaccurate thinking imho. I think Iowa is every bit as focused on being the best...they don't want to be average...they just have a different way of going about it and this way got them one play away from the CFP in 2015.
I love nothing more than an extended metaphor/analogy, so here it goes (not going all the way back to the '70s, though I remember those days):
We're 250 yards from the pin, and water guards the green.
Iowa has a tried-and-true strategy. You pull out the six iron and land it 80 yards from the pin, a few yards in front of the water. You break out the sand wedge, and more often than not you put it within 15 feet. Sometimes you birdie (2015, 2009, 2002), you almost always par, and very rarely do you bogey (how did you miss that one-footer back in 2012?).
Well, we've played this hole as often as you have, and we have the muscle memory of that string of double-eagles (1994, 1995, 1997). We know we don't always hole the damn thing, but there are enough eagles in our past (1981, 1982, 1983, 1993, 1996, 2001 to name a few) and lots of birdies that we weren't not gonna give up on that five wood.
So in 2004, we bought a new set of clubs. The store had run out of the high-end set, but there was a really nice used set that had an awesome five wood. We reached the green once with that set but three-putted, scrambled for par out of the water once, and bogeyed twice when we splash-landed.
That set was never going to do the job. So we went back to the store, and they had the set we wanted. After several tries and even a really nice couple of birdies, we eventually flew into a rage and dumped the entire set into the water, where we'd just landed a couple of balls.
In 2015, we just went to a garage sale and picked up a mismatched ladies' set, and even tried to play Iowa's "safe" game. We skulled the ball, sent into skipping into the water, and generally set the game back several years.
Now we've finally spent the money, and we've gotten our Mizuno MP5 irons and TaylorMade woods. We're ready to start shooting for the green again, fully aware that the first couple of attempts might get us right back in the water.