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[SamBass]

I don't know if Riley's assistants to date are better than the coaches they are replacing, nor do I consider myself competent to judge them. But while experience is useful, it doesn't trump talent. We'll see next year if they are an obvious upgrade.
And even talent and experience can degrade if a person's desire to learn and grow dissipates. If you'll forgive a literary example, the great Romantic poet Wordsworth lived to 80. He didn't write anything worth reading after age 30.

colonel sanders didn't succeed till he was in his 60's and albert schweitzer did his best work including recieving the nobel peace prize when he was well in his 80's.......shine on

 

[Sodakhusk]

TL;DR

But your name makes me think of Sodolaks restaurant in Snook, TX, known for their chicken-fried bacon...
:drool:

Well, now I have to Google Snook, TX.

 

[huskrthill]

Looks like the argument has changed again. This isn't about experience, this is about hiring your buddies.

 

[howsoon99]

I do not think there is anything wrong with hiring buddies, given that they actually can do the job. Hiring buddies just because they are your buddies is a dangerous thing.

Even in my position now. I have a some friends that I think it would be cool to work with. I would have fun with them at work. But there is no way they could actually do the job I am needing them to do.

I also have friends that I know can do the job and I would hire them if I had the chance at opening more positions (hopefully in 2015 I will have budget to do so). I would ask them first because I am familiar with them, know their work ethic and their skill sets. I also know they are capable of doing the job and handling the stress that comes with this job.

No problem with hiring buddies, AS LONG as they can do the job. I think that is where Pelini made a mistake. He hired his buddies, but I do not think he fully assessed their ability to actually be able to handle the job.

 

[Husker Mort]

Bo hired a number of guys with limited experience coaching at the Power-5 level. Papuchis and Ekeler in particular, who had been GAs and made the move from GA to Power-5 position coaches. Ross Els had no experience at the Power-5 level when he was hired. Carl Pelini had no experience at the Power-5 level when he was hired. Rich Fisher had very little Power-5 level experience, all of it as a GA (2 years at Colorado, 2 years at Oklahoma State). John Garrison became offensive line coach after having experience coaching in college only as a coaching intern, and only at Nebraska under Pelini.

I've said this many times Bo was a young coach without head coaching experience. He made mistakes and being loyal to assistant coaches was one of them. He took chances with young GA's who were learning on the job.He tried to redshirt players and it cost him depth especially on the offensive and defensive lines. He played with the Blackshirt tradition and put pressure on himself with the fans and media. A totally unnecessary move. He was a nightmare with the press even those who supported him. Dave Rimington was quoted as telling anyone who would listen that when you are interviewed at halftime on national TV it's a great recruiting tool. Bo never got it he always managed to come off horribly.

Great contributions, gents.

 

[cthusker]

How about this? We wait until Riley has his entire staff in place, and then we compare their credentials to the staff that Bo first hired. Your straw man is likely to burst into flames quickly.

Like the way you think..........

 

[Red October]

HCTO rolled the dice with FHCBP and lost, simple as that. Not only was he lacking in experience, he failed to hire those with experience to make up for HIS lack of experience. We have paid the price for 7 years of lack of experience. If his buddy was Bill Bellichick or Pete Carroll, I say you have good friends to choose from but he chose poorly and those the FHCBP hired were not experienced and rookies at those positions.

End of story.

PS I loved that optic of Barney hugging AA.

 

[cthusker]

I do not think there is anything wrong with hiring buddies, given that they actually can do the job. Hiring buddies just because they are your buddies is a dangerous thing.

Even in my position now. I have a some friends that I think it would be cool to work with. I would have fun with them at work. But there is no way they could actually do the job I am needing them to do.

I also have friends that I know can do the job and I would hire them if I had the chance at opening more positions (hopefully in 2015 I will have budget to do so). I would ask them first because I am familiar with them, know their work ethic and their skill sets. I also know they are capable of doing the job and handling the stress that comes with this job.

No problem with hiring buddies, AS LONG as they can do the job. I think that is where Pelini made a mistake. He hired his buddies, but I do not think he fully assessed their ability to actually be able to handle the job.

Good post imo. BTW Bo knew EXACTLY what he was doing hiring who he hired. He DID NOT want very experienced coaches challenging him about what defensive or offensive scheme's to run, what players played and a host of other things. A young guy given a good salary and opportunity at the big leagues is NOT going to jeopardize that to challenge Bo! NO WAY!! He's going to shut up and do exactly what Bo ordered.. end of discussion. When you have them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow was his credo imo!

As Napoleon found out when he surrounded himself with idiots and yes men the end results can be less then satisfactory.

 

[Captkenny]

Hey, the buddy hire argument returns!

With Riley, it's ok to hire people you know, trust, and respect. With Bo, it's not ok.

I think the difference is the qualifications of the buddies that matter. Bo was pretty open about the idea that he would hire "up and comers" and develop them. He also suggested that his assistants leaving after a few years for better opportunities was a good thing.

Both of these philosophies can be a recipe for a disaster for a program like Nebraska that expects to compete for championships.

Riley suggests that he wants to hire experts as position coaches; people who are smarter than him. That is a different philosophy. Obviously, he believes some of the "buddies" he worked with in the past meet this criteria. (Which is not surprising. It's not as if he adopted this philosophy only after being hired by Nebraska.)

We will see next season and over the next 5 years how successful he was at picking the right experts.

 

[goodnterribles]

HCTO rolled the dice with FHCBP and lost, simple as that. Not only was he lacking in experience, he failed to hire those with experience to make up for HIS lack of experience. We have paid the price for 7 years of lack of experience. If his buddy was Bill Bellichick or Pete Carroll, I say you have good friends to choose from but he chose poorly and those the FHCBP hired were not experienced and rookies at those positions.

End of story.

PS I loved that optic of Barney hugging AA.

Two points of contention with this post: first, this whole storyline of Bo simply hiring his buddies is very much overblown. Kaz, Joseph, Garrison, and Warren were not "buddies" of Bo's. Sure, it probably would have been better off if Bo had hired some more seasoned people to replace Watson and Carl as coordinators. He didn't, and here we are.

 

[joestrummer]

Lincoln isn't Austin or Athens, but it's a nice, laid-back college town. Thanks to expanded use of TIF, increased private funding of big civic projects, and a relatively stable economic backbone, Lincoln has thrived lately. The O St. bars have always been a nice attraction for college kids. The Haymarket/Arena redevelopment looks nice and has brought many new independent hospitality businesses to town. 15 years ago Lincoln was all Applebee's and Chili's, now there are several outstanding new local restaurants. The bar scene has always flourished in "Drinkin' Lincoln." The campus isn't gorgeous but it's convenient and nice enough. Six lane I-80 to Omaha makes the drive a breeze. Omaha, which is the king of privately financed public projects and has long used TIF in creative ways, has a great independent music, restaurant, bar, entertainment scene for a moderately populated Middle-America city. Lincoln is taking cues from Omaha on downtown redevelopment and it's already paying dividends. Through my business, I've been involved in many discussions regarding redevelopment projects and we're finally coming out of the stone age. For a while, a lot of folks in Lincoln wanted everything to be like Havelock or University Place. I think we've moved past that and I think the future is bright. I've only been to Norman once, nice place, but I greatly prefer (and I'm sure it's personal preference) Lawrence and its ilk as college towns. Lincoln's never going to be the hippest place in the world, but it's certainly not Manhattan or Stillwater.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

I am bothered a little that the players think they are great judges of coaching talent. I am curious as to why they thought the assistants were a joke.

I can't imagine anyone better to judge the ability of the coaches. The players whom they lead, know the coach better than anyone.

When the players look to the coach for answers, and the coach has none, it's a bad situation.

Specifically, I recall after NU was getting gashed in the run game early in the season last year, Papuchis finally asked the defense what they wanted to do. The players offered suggestions, and the defense started to get things turned around at that point.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

I don't know if Riley's assistants to date are better than the coaches they are replacing, nor do I consider myself competent to judge them. But while experience is useful, it doesn't trump talent. We'll see next year if they are an obvious upgrade.
And even talent and experience can degrade if a person's desire to learn and grow dissipates. If you'll forgive a literary example, the great Romantic poet Wordsworth lived to 80. He didn't write anything worth reading after age 30.

I learned something today!

 

[Husker Country Doc]

I just wanted to suggest that you may be blinded with the whole Pelini love affair. I was one of the people who really wanted him to succeed and thrive as a coach. He was very likable, in a cactus sort of way. However, I also cringed with his continued adolescent outburst.

Bo is not meant for a job this big, he does not have the mental makeup to handle the stress that comes with DONU or any program with high expectations. All the program did, right or wrong, was manage him with silence and he cracked in a huge way. Years ago I was in the Army and I would take Bo in a foxhole everyday and twice on Sunday. But the last place I would want him is at the helm up on the hill leading a group of people. He deemed the program as the enemy that never attacked and it put him in a situation that affected his health, character, and how he did his job. He showed in his team meeting he doesn't have the moxie to survive in this environment. Most people don't!

I'm not sure if Mike R. has the ability to win a chamionship here, but I know he won't wear holes in his carpet pacing through the house wondering why the whole world is against him. He will simply work through the noise and win or not. He will worry, but I doubt he will express his feelings that he would rather be at Mc Donalds, not that there is anything wrong with that.

Bo was a great competitor and he wanted to win and I loved that about him. He was also way too paranoid and protected himself by using the players as a shield and created an unhealthy relationship between players and fans.

I thought he would grow with the job and eventually rise above his fears, but he couldn't and it showed. Huskrhill, how many of his assistants will be hired in the same capacity? He was even affraid to bring in strong coaches with experience because he would not allow anyone to question his authority.

There is a reason he is at Youngstown State, who knows, maybe he will return to a power five conference, but he has to change or it won't work.

I don't know if MR will win, but I doubt he will feel like the job is killing him. He gets it. Bo was tortured and I hope he is relieved to be out from under the pressure of the fans, media and the administration. In then end it really is the best for everyone he is gone. He even said so himself.

Will he even hire any of his old assistants?

"If you had it do to over again, would you do it again?"

 

[Husker Country Doc]

I do not think there is anything wrong with hiring buddies, given that they actually can do the job. Hiring buddies just because they are your buddies is a dangerous thing.

Even in my position now. I have a some friends that I think it would be cool to work with. I would have fun with them at work. But there is no way they could actually do the job I am needing them to do.

I also have friends that I know can do the job and I would hire them if I had the chance at opening more positions (hopefully in 2015 I will have budget to do so). I would ask them first because I am familiar with them, know their work ethic and their skill sets. I also know they are capable of doing the job and handling the stress that comes with this job.

No problem with hiring buddies, AS LONG as they can do the job. I think that is where Pelini made a mistake. He hired his buddies, but I do not think he fully assessed their ability to actually be able to handle the job.

You also have to make it absolutely clear that if they are not carrying out their responsibility, friend or not, they will be terminated.