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Greatest NE coach.

Who is the greatest NE Coach?

  • Tom Osborne

    Votes: 28 50.0%

  • Bob Devaney

    Votes: 8 14.3%

  • John Cook

    Votes: 20 35.7%

  • Francis Allen (men's gymnastics)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    56
Huskerthom

Huskerthom

All Big 10
10 Year Member
Everybody Knows and respects Bob Devaney but we have other coaches that are just as legendary in their own right.
Francis Allen coached a men's Gymnastics team that was so dominant that at the height of the cold war he beat the Soviet Olympic team head to head with His Nebraska men's team.

Coach Cook is now going into his 6th National Championship Game. He has won 4 of the first 5. He has made 9 final 4s. He has made the tournament every year he has been a head coach.

So who do you think is our greatest coach up to this point?
 

Based on success, you could go either Osborne or Cook. I went with Osborne because of his overall influence on the sport of college football. He had a hand in a lot of things that others followed.
 



wcbsas said:
This is certainly comparing apples and watermelons but one of the signs of Cook's greatness is his coaching tree. That was something Osborne despite all his greatness could not replicate. Certainly it is probably a lot tougher to do what it pales in comparison to Cook's lineage!

https://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/82645-the-ever-expanding-john-cook-coaching-tree/
Click to expand...

One of the most impressive things Osborne did was keep his staff together, I would say that proves his greatness as much as a coaching tree does.
 
The case for Pepin to at least get a mention

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=2378

  • 2008 USTFCCCA Hall of Fame Inductee
  • District 5 Women's Coach of the Year (1995, 1996)
  • USTCA National Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year (1995)
  • Indoor Midwest Region Women's Coach of the Year (2005, 2010, 2011)
  • Indoor Midwest Region Men's Coach of the Year (2005, 2015)
  • Outdoor Midwest Region Men's Coach of the Year (2005, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016)
  • Big Ten Women's Indoor Coach of the Year (2012)
  • Big Ten Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year (2013, 2016)
  • Big Ten Men's Indoor Coach of the Year (2015, 2016)
  • Big 12 Women's Indoor Coach of the Year (1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2011)
  • Big 12 Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year (2000, 2005)
  • Big 12 Men's Indoor Coach of the Year (1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007)
  • Big 12 Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010)
  • 3 Women's Indoor National Championships (1982, 1983, 1984)
  • 72 Career Conference Team Titles (42 Indoor, 30 Outdoor)
  • 5 Big Ten Championship Teams
  • Track & Field News Dual-Meet National Champions (Men, 2017)
  • 27-Time Conference Coach of the Year
  • 23 Top-5 NCAA Team Finishes
  • 42 Women's National Champions
  • 17 Men's National Champions
  • 320 Women's All-Americans
  • 199 Men's All-Americans
  • 353 Women's Conference Champions
  • 214 Men's Conference Champions
  • 59 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
 
BigMacHusker said:
One of the most impressive things Osborne did was keep his staff together, I would say that proves his greatness as much as a coaching tree does.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure I agree.
Osborne had guys on his staff who wouldn’t/couldn’t recruit.
Solich failed in large part because he wasn’t Osborne as a recruiter (who was) and he didn’t have a staff who could pick up the slack.

How does keeping a staff that no one wanted as a head coach prove greatness?

Osborne’s staff was excellent obviously but keeping them together in and of itself does not prove anything.

Cook’s and Pettit’s assistants have gone onto incredible success at multiple P5 schools.
 




wcbsas said:
I’m not sure I agree.
Osborne had guys on his staff who wouldn’t/couldn’t recruit.
Solich failed in large part because he wasn’t Osborne as a recruiter (who was) and he didn’t have a staff who could pick up the slack.

How does keeping a staff that no one wanted as a head coach prove greatness?

Osborne’s staff was excellent obviously but keeping them together in and of itself does not prove anything.

Cook’s and Pettit’s assistants have gone onto incredible success at multiple P5 schools.
Click to expand...

You just made a case for Osborne winning championships with assistants no one else wanted, is it easier to win with coaches everyone wants or coaches no one wants? There are arguments to be made on both sides of it.
 
Coaches no one wanted? That's not true.

People have apparently forgotten Terry Pettit. He had 21 conference championships in 23 seasons before handing the reigns to Cook.
 
huskrthill said:
Coaches no one wanted? That's not true.

People have apparently forgotten Terry Pettit. He had 21 conference championships in 23 seasons before handing the reigns to Cook.
Click to expand...
He was talking about Osborne's football staff, not the volleyball coaches.
 
HUSKER HOT SAUCE said:
He was talking about Osborne's football staff, not the volleyball coaches.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's why I used two paragraphs. The first paragraph was to scoff at the idea that nobody wanted Nebraska football assistants, and the second one was to address the overall thread topic.

The sentence you just read is an example of a compound sentence. It contained two independent clauses joined together by a conjunction. I hope that helps.
 



huskrthill said:
Yes, that's why I used two paragraphs. The first paragraph was to scoff at the idea that nobody wanted Nebraska football assistants, and the second one was to address the overall thread topic.

The sentence you just read is an example of a compound sentence. It contained two independent clauses joined together by a conjunction. I hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Guess I should try and get my money back huh?
 
I voted for Cook for obvious reasons.

But everyone knows I'm the best Nebraska coach. Armchair coach that is.
 

BigMacHusker said:
You just made a case for Osborne winning championships with assistants no one else wanted, is it easier to win with coaches everyone wants or coaches no one wants? There are arguments to be made on both sides of it.
Click to expand...
No - not that no one wanted ... just not wanted as a HC.

I’m certain not every assistant makes a good HC and that metric (number of assistants who become HC) alone doesn’t define a coach like Cook and/or Osborne. But IMO Cook having a number of P5 coaches shows something about his program. Osborne “keeping his staff together” to me is not as impressive and important as Cook’s coaching tree.

Osborne rarely had his staff raided ... may be reflective of his assistants loyalty or is it about something else? Did he not have regular assistants who wanted to be coordinators? Did he not have coordinators who wanted to be HCs?
 
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