For Each Coaching Transition You Were Around for (or Know about) - Name At Least One Positive Thing For Each Coach

[Lavaman]

I'll stick with the ones I was alive for.

Solich: 99 and 01 have looked awfully good for a really long time.
Callahan: Helped prepare Husker fans for the fact that College offenses were changing. 05 Colorado game I will be eternally grateful for. Also for Suh.
Pelini: Usually beat the teams we should beat and produced maybe the best defense since 95. Always went bowling. Introduced the world to Lavonte David.
Riley: Lead to Eichorst's demise. The undefeated start to 2016 was fun.
Frost: Has brought much needed unity and civility to the fan base, seems to recruit well, and has the attitude of a winner.

 

[Bigger Ed]

Riley: Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

en·ul·ti·mate | \ pi-ˈnəl-tə-mət \
Definition of penultimate

1: next to the last the penultimate chapter of a book
2: of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word a penultimate accent

I think MABC is asking if you really meant to say Osborne was the 'Penultimate' coach. If taken literally it means Solich would be the 'Ultimate' or 'last' coach.

"He's not just famous, he's IN-famous."

 

[BleedinHuskerRed]

I really love this thread. TO was coach when I was born, and so I love hearing from people that remember the Devaney years, and even before! Great off-season topic.

 

[Phillysker]

I'll play.

Bobfather-Fire, had the sack to promote Oz. Best move ever.
Oz: Greatness, cerebral, class, consistency. Wish he had stayed 5 more years. Who knows how many more we win.
Solich: Agreed he gave everything he had. Made some curious personnel decisions over the years. Supported the firing then not so sure now. 1999 was the year, but fumblelitis against the Whorns cost us.
Cally: Great coordinator, especially o line coach. Would have been nice to see him as o line coach under Solich.
Bo: Agreed with the hire. So many gut wrenching losses. I agree if Carl stays who knows what Bo does. The switch from spread to B10 football, the hosing at :01 and him calling out Eichorst for who he was but not having a filter cost him.
Riley: Nice man, not his fault, Eichorst's last parting gift.
Frost: I think we are on the dawn of something great IF he can improve his defense. I am not a big Chinander fan. I think if he can get a DC like Uncle Charlie or Venables or even the old DC at VT, possibility of multiple Nattys. My only thing is I want him kept him and not pilfered away by the pros.

 

[The Big Red Lebowski]

Bob Devaney: I wasn't born yet, but I've read Mike Babcock's account of the transition from Bill Jennings to Bob Devaney, and I think I can summarize it as follows:

Bill Jennings: "This state can't ever be really great in anything. It's just too thinly populated."

Bob Devaney: "Hold my beer."

Tom Osborne: Master tactician who created the most devastating rushing attack in football history, meticulous in preparation, second best recruiter of his generation (gotta give Switzer his due). He's on the coaching Mt. Rushmore.

Frank Solich: Vastly underrated coach whose biggest "failure" was having to follow Tom Osborne. That wasn't going to end well for anyone.

Bill Callahan: Tough one for me. I was off the bandwagon before it left the station. I'll go with this: The 30-3 pasting of the Buffs in the "Cup-Toss Bowl" is an enduring and joyous memory.

Bo Pelini: Brought toughness back to a defense that had none. Recruited some of my favorite players of the past 20 years (e.g. Abduallah, Burkhead).

Mike Riley: This is a bit of a backhanded compliment, but he was exactly the right guy to take us to rock bottom. You needed a complacent, semi-retired guy as the HC to fully expose the lack of leadership above him. Almost any other coach, and the unraveling takes 2 seasons instead of 1.....just long enough to likely miss on Frost.

Scott Frost: If you could "produce" a Nebraska head coach in a petri dish or machine shop, it would come out looking like Scott Frost. In the same way Arnold Schwarzenegger was born to play The Terminator, Scott Frost seems to have been born to be the head coach at Nebraska. You could fill up a Bingo card with his bona fides in about 10 seconds.

 

[Wisker]

Frank: the connection continued
Cally: his first spring game; crowd went wild, lots of throwing
Bo: "Nebraska's back and we're here to stay!"
Riley: the attempt at being representative of educational athletics
Scott: finally! connection restored

 

[Wisker]

One more with Cally: it was fun to follow all the airplane "sightings" as to who might be coming in to interview for the job, and he was part of that hype

 

[Farmer Jake]

One more with Cally: it was fun to follow all the airplane "sightings" as to who might be coming in to interview for the job, and he was part of that hype

How many of those "sightings" were actually UFOs that disappeared as fast as they appeared?

 

[YUENGLING]

Bob Devaney...he built the program the 1970 National Championship was classic and The Game of the Century will live forever.
Frank Solich...beating Colorado when the heat was on is a game I will always remember...unfortunately the jackass AD fired him after that game.
Callahan....nothing I can think of..
Bo...I loved Bo’s passion he had a Big XII Championship stolen...one of the best defensive games Huskers played in recent memory.
Riley...he coached the Huskers to their last Bowl win.
Frost...Easy he’s saved the program.

 

[Huskerphin]

Solich: Felt like Osborne lite but for the most part, possessed a lot of the same qualities Osborne did. I will always wonder what would've happened to Nebraska football if he was given more time. I envision a scenario where he's here until 2015 and steps down in order to pass the torch to Frost. During that time we win a couple more conference championships but never quite reach the national championship game. We stay yearly top 15 to top 10 team and the bottom never falls out for Nebraska football.

Callahan: The dude could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves, he just didn't know how to utilize the talent correctly once it got here. I mean, how do you under utilize a guy like Suh? It seems like you would actively have to try to do that. Not a college coach.

Pelini: Fiery passion for the game. He ties into the whole what if scenario with Solich for me. If Solich stays, it probably would've been a good idea to keep Bo as a D-coordinator as long as he could. Bo's defense was tailor made for the Big Xll.

Riley: Brought experience and knowledge, but not much else. There was always the thought that judging by what he was able to do at Oregon St, if he was given more resources, he'd take off and be really successful. I never really understood that line of thought and always saw him for what he was, an average coach with an average career.

Frost: Knows football and knows what it takes to win around here. Has reached god-level Nebraskan and has all the backing and support a coach could ever need or want. If Frost told me to walk into oncoming traffic because my sacrifice would mean we win a national championship, I would probably do it.

 

[wcbsas]

Frank Solich: Vastly underrated coach whose biggest "failure" was having to follow Tom Osborne. That wasn't going to end well for anyone.

He thought he could be Tom Osborne.

#1 He should have never made himself OC.
#2 He should have surrounded with assistants who were better recruiters.
#3 He listened to TO's plea to retain the entire existing staff rather than surround himself with assistants who would have made himself better.

Additionally when nut jobs like Petrino are getting 2nd and 3rd chances why hasn't FS (or BP for that matter) gotten another P5 coaching job). No coach, including Frost should ever come to NU as head coach without having been a HC elsewhere before.

 

[Pops]

I'll also go with the ones I was alive for

Frank Crawford 1893-94 - He was the MIch first head coach and later with Wisc and Neb. Lawyer from Yale. He was a coach that could beat Iowa.

Walter (Bummy) Booth. He served as the head football coach from 1900 to 1905, compiling a record of 46–8–1. Booth led Nebraska to a perfect, shutout season in His teams achieved the longest winning streak in Nebraska football history with 27 victories including exhibition games, and the second longest with 24 victories excluding exhibition games. Exciting times for Neb for sure. Was well worth the 3 day horse ride to get to the games

William (King) In January 1907, Cole was hired to take over as head coach of its football program.From 1907 to 1910, he coached at and compiled a 25–8–3 record. Cole developed many strong players at Nebraska, and his Cornhuskers teams twice won the Missouri Valley Conference championship. In 1911, the Missouri Valley Conference adopted a new rule prohibiting "special coaching" and requiring that coaches must be full-time faculty members.Cole had purchased a ranch in Montana that required his personal attention in the off-season.Unable to commit to a year-round position, Cole resigned as coach at Nebraska after the 1910 season in which he led Nebraska to a 7–1 record He also played for Mich and was part of their National tile point a min team Team in 1902.

Bernie Masterson - You think Riley was bad! sheesh


Okay early morning and Memory is fading...I'll list more later

 

[The Big Red Lebowski]

He thought he could be Tom Osborne.

#1 He should have never made himself OC.
#2 He should have surrounded with assistants who were better recruiters.
#3 He listened to TO's plea to retain the entire existing staff rather than surround himself with assistants who would have made himself better.

Additionally when nut jobs like Petrino are getting 2nd and 3rd chances why hasn't FS (or BP for that matter) gotten another P5 coaching job). No coach, including Frost should ever come to NU as head coach without having been a HC elsewhere before.

Principally because Petrino is a snake oil salesman in a world that loves 'em some snake oil.

It's a really good thing Devaney didn't apply your logic, or TO would have been ruled out as a head coaching candidate.

 

[wcbsas]

Principally because Petrino is a snake oil salesman in a world that loves 'em some snake oil.

It's a really good thing Devaney didn't apply your logic, or TO would have been ruled out as a head coaching candidate.

Waaaaay different time and era … back then a #1 assistant on a "P5" team was better qualified than a HC at a lower level team. Nowadays being the HC at UCF or Boise State or ND State is more valuable than being an OC or DC at Alabama or Nebraska.