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Was Devaney a consensus hire?




I don't know, we'll have to search the Twitter archives from 1962 to see how much fan outcry there was.
In 1962, there wasn't much fan outcry. There had not been much to cheer about since Bobby Reynolds was here in the early 50's, so expectations were low. NU had not been to a bowl since 1955 (and that was a back-in deal and a blowout loss to Duke). As I recall, that team also lost to Hawaii 6-0.
 
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Didn't have to go thru disection like today either. Between media, sports writer broadcasts, pod casts and us (social media)...what an onslaught in today's world.
 



Point being...you never know what you're going to get. How many had even heard of Devaney? How many knew that Osborne would go on to be a HOF coach?
 
There were not alot of folks saying way to go...especially after Jennings. It turned out good for Nebraska.
 
My mom was a rabid Husker fan and loved Devaney. She didn’t really care for TO at first and called him “Mique Toast”, saying that his calm sideline demeanor was boring and dull and that she wanted the intensity and fire of Devaney on the sideline. In the 90’s she changed her tune. After years of futility against Switzer and OU (She had a thing for Switzer) she finally came around to admiring the genius of TO. When he ran for congress after his coaching career she met him at a political function and conversed in detail with him about politics in Nebraska (She was huge in the Republican Party back in the day) and was completely smitten by him.

Point is, you don’t necessarily know what you are going to get. Mom is gone now, we lost her right at the beginning of Covid. To be fair, she never cared for Scott Frost. She held the whole Stanford thing against him and wouldn’t let it go. She was an O’Neill High School graduate and when Scott’s father, Larry coached high school football there, well she wasn’t all that impressed (she was difficult to impress, to be fair).

I’m hoping for a turn of the page and a coach that would have impressed Mom. Someone with the fire and wit of Devaney and the football acumen of Osborne. It will probably never happen, because we were so lucky to have those two Hall of Fame coaches consecutively. But I’m hoping for it. I’m hoping for a coach that would have impressed Mom.
 



Devaney wasn't even close to being the top choice.
Following the 1961 season, Devaney would leave Laramie to become the head coach at the University of Nebraska. The Wyoming head coach would only be offered the job after Utah’s Ray Nagel, Utah State’s John Ralston, and Devaney’s former employer, Michigan State coach Duff Daugherty turned down the job. Daugherty would recommend his former assistant to Nebraska athletic director Tippy Dye for the job.
 


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