Top 3 coaches leading in NU search 9/20/22

[Brew City Husker]

No worries.

I will give you top 3 but this somewhat of a wish list and a partial realistic possibility list. My top 3 would be Chris P, LL and Aranda. I concede Chris P would be a touch get but he would easily be on top of my list. I think Lance and Aranda are much more reasonable gets and much more likely to fit the culture here. The only thing that really concerns me about Aranda is Baylor had fallen off a bit before he came but the cupboards were not bare. I am also not the biggest fan of the offense his coordinator is running.

Is far as LL my biggest concern is can he get it done at Nebraska. I think he can.

Right now I have seen about a dozen wants by the fan base. The problem I have with is simple. The single best predictor of how someone will do at their next job is how well they did at their previous job. I think with the vast majority of candidates that people throw out, there is historical context to indicate that they were not able to get it done in one form or another. I think Trev said it best when he said he was looking for a coach that HATED losing. This I agree with. I also want a coach that demands perfection. When I look at some of BOB's past teams I can see a coach that does not hate losing and a coach that does not demand perfection. I guess that is my biggest gripe.

Some coaches are going to have success periodically. This is regardless of their short comings. For example look at when Texas hired Strong. It was clear that Strong's success was his QB. That does not bode well when you asking a coach to start over. IE Strong needed phenomenal QB play to be successful.

Coaching is hard. There are a lot of aspects to coaching that are really tough to measure. I will give Scott Frost one compliment and that is that our team now looks the part. His weakness was that he did not demand perfection.

Instead of asking for the perfect coach, here is a list of what I want out of a coach.

1) Someone who manages the culture. NU's culture needs a swift kick in the you-know-what. If a player doesn't want to compete then hit the transfer market.
2) An offense predicated on a mobile QB and the run.
3) A defense that attacks the line and the corners.
4) A teacher of fundamentals. Schemes can work but in the long run blocking and tackling > scheme.

This is a good post. Thank you.

I like Aranda and Liepold better than I like O’Brien. I think that both of them are going to end up being better CEO-type detail managers than O’Brien will be. TO was world class at managing the smallest of details while at the same time giving his assistants the free reign to excel at their jobs. It’s amazing how he was able to do that. Saban does it, too.

I see Aranda and Liepold being better at that than O’Brien. But O’Brien may be learning more about how to do that in his tenure with Saban. He’ll be a head coach somewhere next year, and he’ll be successful at it. I know that a lot of Nebraska fans don’t care for him, and maybe it’s because of the NFL “taint” that comes from having been a head coach in the NFL. We all remember Bill Callahan, and that didn’t really turn out all that well for Nebraska. A coach with significant NFL experience tends to make us think of Callahan. On the other hand, guys like Saban and Pete Carroll went back to college after NFL stints and did really well, so it’s not like every pro coach ends up being like Bill Callahan.

I like Mark Stoops and Dave Doeren, too. They’ve built good football programs in places where traditionally basketball has been more important.

I actually like Matt Ruhle, too, and I think he will be available. He turned losing programs at Temple and Baylor into double-digit winners. The only thing I worry about with Ruhle is that every job he’s been successful at has been used as a stepping stone to get a bigger, better job. I’d hate to see him get Nebraska back to winning in 2-3 years and then head right back to the NFL.

If Chris Petersen wanted to get back into coaching again and saw Nebraska as an opportunity to build something great, and wanted that challenge, I’d be all in on him.

 

[Warzone]

Are you trying to tell me that high school accolades translate directly to winning Heisman trophies, without collegiate coaching and development being important? It seems like that is what you are trying to tell me, and talk about silly, that’s about as silly a thing as I have ever heard. Young was an outstanding HS player, but not all outstanding HS players win the Heisman trophy. It takes good coaching, development and in the case of QB play, good play calling.

The “facts” that you gave me about BOB’s tenure at Penn State were just plain wrong. You said that PSU was humming along just fine and then BOB turned them into “Iowa”. It turns out that PSU was 7-6 in each of the two years before BOB. O’Brien went 8-4 in his first year and won National Coach of the Year honors. Then went 7-5 his second year. Both years, better than PSU had been before he got there. Saying that PSU was doing well and then BOB “turned them into Iowa” turned out to be complete BS. Yet you pass that off as fact, ignore factual information to the contrary and just keep spewing your BS.

Then you claim that the sanctions against PSU were but a slap on the wrist. They were not allowed to participate in the post-season in 2012 and 2013 which cost them the extra practices that bowl teams get. They also had the number of scholarships allowed per year cut from 25 to 15 for two years. So they lost 10 scholarships per year for two years. While the scholarship reduction was lifted after two years, they never got those 20 scholarships back. And finally, the university was fined $60,000,000 dollars, the equivalent of one season of revenue by the football program. They never got that money back, either, although the NCAA did allow it to stay within the state of Pennsylvania and pay for child sexual abuse counseling within the state. You say that these things are just a “slap on the wrist”. I say BS. Here, you are trying to pass your opinion off as fact. I call BS.

And Warzone, I’m sorry, but the bolded text from above is nothing more than your opinion. Once again, you try to pass off your opinion as fact.

So your argument then is that Bruce needed BOB?

 

[GIFRRO]

Lmao
This thread is a comedy show of people that work at jiffy lube by day but know exactly what to do as an athletic director and exactly how to run a football program at night.

 

[solesrfr]

Lmao
This thread is a comedy show of people that work at jiffy lube by day but know exactly what to do as an athletic director and exactly how to run a football program at night.

Hey man, I do my own vehicle maintenance. Clowns at Jiffy Lube got nothing on me.



C

 

[Brew City Husker]

NM

 

[Brew City Husker]

So your argument then is that Bruce needed BOB?

Bryce Young benefitted from BOB’s coaching and play-calling. Are you saying that he would have won the Heisman trophy regardless of who was calling the plays and coaching him?

 

[LoneTreeHusker]

Please, not BOB.

 

[Warzone]

Bryce Young benefitted from BOB’s coaching and play-calling. Are you saying that he would have won the Heisman trophy regardless of who was calling the plays and coaching him?

Sorry I was kind of short in my last response. It is hard to type from a telephone. In essence yes, that is what I am implying. Of course I know that there are thousands of eligible athletes to win a Heisman trophy. However, the player of the year is essentially the best player in high school football at the time of his recruiting class. His first year he already ha a 60% completion rate when used sparingly. What I am saying is that had BOB just been average, there would be a good chance Bryce would win the Heisman. If BOB was good, it would increase the odds. But, as I showed you with the stats I listed regarding Alabama's offense in a previous post, BOB is not that good. In fact, a team like Alabama should have massive offensive numbers because their defense is giving them the ball with minimal time lost (due to quick 3 and outs), and with a short field to score.

Two of the past 5 Heisman winners were Army players of the year. There were also a handful of RBs and Tackles and we all know they are not going to get the fairest shake at a Heisman. There have only been 4 QBs since 2008 that are eligible to win the Heisman. 50% of those won the Heisman.

 

[Brew City Husker]

Sorry I was kind of short in my last response. It is hard to type from a telephone. In essence yes, that is what I am implying. Of course I know that there are thousands of eligible athletes to win a Heisman trophy. However, the player of the year is essentially the best player in high school football at the time of his recruiting class. His first year he already ha a 60% completion rate when used sparingly. What I am saying is that had BOB just been average, there would be a good chance Bryce would win the Heisman. If BOB was good, it would increase the odds. But, as I showed you with the stats I listed regarding Alabama's offense in a previous post, BOB is not that good. In fact, a team like Alabama should have massive offensive numbers because their defense is giving them the ball with minimal time lost (due to quick 3 and outs), and with a short field to score.

Two of the past 5 Heisman winners were Army players of the year. There were also a handful of RBs and Tackles and we all know they are not going to get the fairest shake at a Heisman. There have only been 4 QBs since 2008 that are eligible to win the Heisman. 50% of those won the Heisman.

Those numbers would not hold up as statistically significant because of the small sample size, but I hear you. Yes, Bryce Young was a very talented player coming out of high school. You assume that “average coaching” (your opinion) would be enough for him to win the Heisman, and that therefore, since he won the Heisman, BOB must just be an average coach. Flawed logic, at best………but probably no more flawed than me saying that Young won the Heisman, so the coaching must have been good. I guess it’s just a difference of opinion.

Don’t look now, but Alabama is currently ranked 5th in the NCAA in scoring offense, 6th in total offense and 10th in rushing offense. I doubt that there is much coaching going on there, though. They probably just wind up all those high school All-Americans and let them have at it. They didn’t have a great game against Texas, and I know you are putting a lot of stock in that. We’ll see how they do against a real SEC schedule (I don’t consider Vanderbilt a “real” SEC team). I’m not a betting man, but Caesar’s Sportsbook in Vegas has Alabama tied for the best odds to make the CF Playoff and best odds to win the National Championship. Must be doing something right. If I were a betting man, I’d bet that it had something to do with quality coaching, even though we both know that a lot of it has to do with getting the best players.

If BOB wants to be a college (or pro) head coach next year, he’s going to have plenty of options. As I’ve pointed out, he’s not my first choice. But guess what. Nebraska may not be his first choice either, or even his best offer, so you probably won’t have much to worry about.

 

[Quality Czech]

Bryce Young benefitted from BOB’s coaching and play-calling. Are you saying that he would have won the Heisman trophy regardless of who was calling the plays and coaching him?

While I appreciate your affinity for O’Brien, I’ll take a shot at answering your question: given all the Alabama hype in the media (especially the totally unbiased bunch at Disney/ESPN), yes, I do think Bryce Young would have win the Heisman, based purely on impression. The qb on the “best” team is always the leader in the clubhouse…

 

[Brew City Husker]

While I appreciate your affinity for O’Brien, I’ll take a shot at answering your question: given all the Alabama hype in the media (especially the totally unbiased bunch at Disney/ESPN), yes, I do think Bryce Young would have win the Heisman, based purely on impression. The qb on the “best” team is always the leader in the clubhouse…

It’s surprising to me that some people on this board do not seem to recognize or appreciate the value of quality coaching, all while watching the folly of what happens with poor coaching unfolding right before our very eyes.

Without good coaching (from the top down) at Alabama, the young man would not have been playing on the “best” team, and the hype machine would have been focused on someone else.

 

[Quality Czech]

It’s surprising to me that some people on this board do not seem to recognize or appreciate the value of quality coaching, all while watching the folly of what happens with poor coaching unfolding right before our very eyes.

Without good coaching (from the top down) at Alabama, the young man would not have been playing on the “best” team, and the hype machine would have been focused on someone else.

Point taken. But at the same time, it’s surprising to me how some people on this board seem to overestimate the ‘quality‘ of some coaching. Alabama does not recruit two-star qb’s that need to be coached up to realize their potential. They are a plug and play system right now, loaded with four- and five-star players at just about every position and with plug and play coaches (on the Nick Saban rehab tour) up and down the staff. I’ll be impressed with O’Brien the day he coaches up a two-star qb to Heisman level on a team that isn’t loaded with pro prospects…

 

[Brew City Husker]

Point taken. But at the same time, it’s surprising to me how some people on this board seem to overestimate the ‘quality‘ of some coaching. Alabama does not recruit two-star qb’s that need to be coached up to realize their potential. They are a plug and play system right now, loaded with four- and five-star players at just about every position and with plug and play coaches (on the Nick Saban rehab tour) up and down the staff. I’ll be impressed with O’Brien the day he coaches up a two-star qb to Heisman level on a team that isn’t loaded with pro prospects…

O’Brien won’t go anywhere as a head coach where he has to coach up 2 star quarterbacks to Heisman level. Please name for me someone who does that. And Alabama’s system is not as “plug and play” as you think. The name of the game there is competition. You bring in as many great players as you can you get and then make them compete for playing time. And Saban has the organizational skills and work ethic to make it work. And he does not accept any less effort from anyone on his staff or anyone on his team. It’s not so much “plug and play” as it is “come here and compete against the best”.

 

[Quality Czech]

O’Brien won’t go anywhere as a head coach where he has to coach up 2 star quarterbacks to Heisman level. Please name for me someone who does that. And Alabama’s system is not as “plug and play” as you think. The name of the game there is competition. You bring in as many great players as you can you get and then make them compete for playing time. And Saban has the organizational skills and work ethic to make it work. And he does not accept any less effort from anyone on his staff or anyone on his team. It’s not so much “plug and play” as it is “come here and compete against the best”.

Well, then we’re in agreement on this. O’Brien wouldn’t work here because he excels at overseeing competition among ’the best of the best,’ but can’t coach up average players (which we have here). Just wouldn’t be a good fit or a good outcome…

 

[Hville]

It’s surprising to me that some people on this board do not seem to recognize or appreciate the value of quality coaching, all while watching the folly of what happens with poor coaching unfolding right before our very eyes.

Without good coaching (from the top down) at Alabama, the young man would not have been playing on the “best” team, and the hype machine would have been focused on someone else.

They seem to like the podium guys like MJ.