Who Left The NU Program In Worst Shape?

[KleinTxHusker]

Consider the only wins Frost had against teams that finished with winning records were in Frost's first season.

Also, I'm concerned that the combination of both of our lines is currently the worst it's been in my lifetime.

As bad as Riley was, things are worse now, if for no other reason than we’ve basically had four straight pathetic seasons and your comments on the lines are dead on.

At least Jennings beat Oklahoma. Scott beat ….. crickets

And I had to go back to see how bad Jennings' record was. It was very bad. But, in addition to beating OU, he beat UT. And that infamous sCUm game with no first downs for DONU? We lost 7-0 and sCUm was ranked #8.

 

[BigRedDave]

This was a tough one. I went with Riley. Verdict is still out on SF players. I really felt MR left a soft group. I think this group is more misaligned and lacking direction. I think they can be molded better than the Riley hangovers but I’m totally in speculation/hope mode on that one.

Frost's best season had a core made up of Riley's "soft group".

 

[Huskerthom]

I think it has yet to be determined how bad SF left us. With a new coach next year we will see in year one.

 

[jreb14]

I am thinking of the case of Frost "The Emporer has no Clothes" because he had almost no accountability people were not aware of what was going on. It is terrible he kept saying it is getting better and everyone believed him even though the product on the field was getting worst.

 

[ReasonablyRed]

I am thinking of the case of Frost "The Emporer has no Clothes" because he had almost no accountability people were not aware of what was going on. It is terrible he kept saying it is getting better and everyone believed him even though the product on the field was getting worst.

Agree, but with the caveat that those closest to Frost knew exactly what was going on behind the scenes.
I believe it was the string of one score losses that made us fans want to believe we were that close.
Had we had all the information, there might have been more skepticism.

 

[the fountainhead]

Ouch.


View attachment 88605

Ironically he misspelled Pederson

 

[HuskerInTexas]

I think it has yet to be determined how bad SF left us. With a new coach next year we will see in year one.

Not sure that's how I would judge it. Depending on who we hire and with the way the transfer portal operates, it *COULD* look much better a year from now. That's one of the reasons I don't feel as strongly as others about the program being in the dumps long term. This SEASON could end up being one of the worst in school history but the amount of issues coming out about our former HC and his staff's organization + efforts makes me think Mickey can start the clean up process now and Coach Next will be in a better place because of it.

It won't tell the true story of how piss poor Frost did toward the end of his tenure. I do believe Frost tried and worked hard early on but had some breaks go the other way. I heard plenty of positive stories those first 18-24 months... I haven't heard anything close to the same over the last 36.

 

[Husker1995]

Ironically he misspelled Pederson

Autocorrect. Lol

 

[Cornhuskers7]

It will be hard to truly grade how bad of shape Frost left the program until we see what happens when the next coach comes in. There is a difference between who did the worst job and who left it in worse shape.

Callahan's biggest fault was removing our identity. He ignored many of the traditions and things that made NU great and did his own thing. He did do a pretty good job of recruiting, though. As bad as we were in his final year, the program was in good enough shape that Pelini could come in and quickly get things on track.

Bo's biggest fault was in the way he left the program. He was ticked he was being let go after being successful (for the most part) on the field, and felt like he was being done wrong. The lack of professionalism he showed in being fired caused division when it happened. However, I don't feel like there were any real long term ramifications for that. He left the program in good enough shape that we were in every game for Riley's first season and were very successful in his second.

I think with Riley he failed to maintain the things that made us successful under Bo. Defense went in the toilet. We were poorly conditioned. Recruiting wasn't very good. I don't think Riley was a bad coach (there is plenty of data points that suggest he can coach football), but I don't think he had what it took to be the CEO of a program like Nebraska. There are very few redeemables about the program upon his departure.

Frost talked a big game, but never did what was necessary to deliver on it, or at least regressed as time went on. He is leaving the program in a place that is terrible from a culture and record standpoint. The one redeemable I do see is that I think he has brought in a little more talent than Riley did. If the next coach is able to walk in and turn around what we have, that might earn Frost enough credit to not be all the way at the bottom. Again, I think time will tell on that.

 

[Cornhuskers7]

Not sure that's how I would judge it. Depending on who we hire and with the way the transfer portal operates, it *COULD* look much better a year from now. That's one of the reasons I don't feel as strongly as others about the program being in the dumps long term. This SEASON could end up being one of the worst in school history but the amount of issues coming out about our former HC and his staff's organization + efforts makes me think Mickey can start the clean up process now and Coach Next will be in a better place because of it.

It won't tell the true story of how piss poor Frost did toward the end of his tenure. I do believe Frost tried and worked hard early on but had some breaks go the other way. I heard plenty of positive stories those first 18-24 months... I haven't heard anything close to the same over the last 36.

There is no doubt that culturally Frost has us in uncharted territory at his departure. I don't think Riley was doing the things he needed to do to make our program successful, but he was still professional in the way he ran the team. The same cannot be said for Frost.

If the next coach comes in and rebuilds the program with all new players, I think Frost's tenure will definitely rank at the bottom. However, some of his "legacy" (if you can call it that) could be saved if some of the guys he recruited help get things turned around under the next coach. It won't save face much, but that will play a factor.

I don't think there is any doubt, given the stories that are slowly leaking out, that Frost did the worst job as coach of the group. But, that is a different question than who left it in worst shape (although, those do mostly tie together).

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

And I had to go back to see how bad Jennings' record was. It was very bad. But, in addition to beating OU, he beat UT. And that infamous sCUm game with no first downs for DONU? We lost 7-0 and sCUm was ranked #8.

Bill Jennings did have an overall bad record; however, Nebraska football was horrible for the 16 years prior to Jennings' arrival.

1941-1956, Nebraska was 57-91, which ranked 125th in the nation for that period. Only 3 of those 16 seasons had winning records.

When Jennings arrived in 1957, Nebraska hadn't sniffed quality football in a long time. He was really just keeping up a trend that started long before him. We went through 7 head coaches in that 16-year span (well, 6, as Potsy Clark coached two separate one-year stints).

What Jennings did that Frost never did was beat a few ranked teams (and rival Oklahoma, twice). 1958: W over #14 Pitt. 1959: W over #19 Oklahoma. 1960: W over #4 Texas, plus another win over unranked OU.

Jennings was 15-34-1
Frost was 16-31

Not much difference. For that matter, after Jennings first season (when NU only won once), his next four years had a better winning percentage than Frost's first four, not counting the 1-2 record from this season.

Nebraska's winning percentage the 16 years prior to Jennings was .387. Nebraska's winning percentage the 16 years prior to Frost was .620.

 

[huskerman1]

Ironically he misspelled Pederson

Steve Pederson was the first 'can't miss' hire, the second was SF.

 

[huskrthill]

All I know is that the blowout losses had finally stopped under Frost, and then the first game that he's not on the sideline ends up as a blowout.

Frost wasn't successful overall, but the players he left behind are certainly capable. The next coach has gaps to fill for sure, but they aren't giant gaping holes.

This is still fresh, so it's no surprise how the poll looks today. Ask again in a couple of years.

 

[ramsker]

All I know is that the blowout losses had finally stopped under Frost, and then the first game that he's not on the sideline ends up as a blowout.

Frost wasn't successful overall, but the players he left behind are certainly capable. The next coach has gaps to fill for sure, but they aren't giant gaping holes.

This is still fresh, so it's no surprise how the poll looks today. Ask again in a couple of years.

The O & D lines are in shambles . . . I would argue those are huge holes that the new staff has to fill. Between subpar recruiting and development there, it's going to take a few years to get that back to respectable.

The fact that the first blowout in awhile happened right after Frost left has practically everything to do with who's missing from the defense and not having viable replacements in year 5. Losing Domann (especially), Stille, Williams, Bootle, CTB, Thomas, etc. was a disaster. We also lost to Ga Southern and got taken to the limits by North Dakota with Frost on the sidelines. Those are just as bad (if not worse) than being blown out by a Top 10 team that seems to be finding its mojo a bit again.

 

[KleinTxHusker]

It will be hard to truly grade how bad of shape Frost left the program until we see what happens when the next coach comes in. There is a difference between who did the worst job and who left it in worse shape.

Callahan's biggest fault was removing our identity. He ignored many of the traditions and things that made NU great and did his own thing. He did do a pretty good job of recruiting, though. As bad as we were in his final year, the program was in good enough shape that Pelini could come in and quickly get things on track.

Bo's biggest fault was in the way he left the program. He was ticked he was being let go after being successful (for the most part) on the field, and felt like he was being done wrong. The lack of professionalism he showed in being fired caused division when it happened. However, I don't feel like there were any real long term ramifications for that. He left the program in good enough shape that we were in every game for Riley's first season and were very successful in his second.

I think with Riley he failed to maintain the things that made us successful under Bo. Defense went in the toilet. We were poorly conditioned. Recruiting wasn't very good. I don't think Riley was a bad coach (there is plenty of data points that suggest he can coach football), but I don't think he had what it took to be the CEO of a program like Nebraska. There are very few redeemables about the program upon his departure.

Frost talked a big game, but never did what was necessary to deliver on it, or at least regressed as time went on. He is leaving the program in a place that is terrible from a culture and record standpoint. The one redeemable I do see is that I think he has brought in a little more talent than Riley did. If the next coach is able to walk in and turn around what we have, that might earn Frost enough credit to not be all the way at the bottom. Again, I think time will tell on that.

To me the problem with Riley was that he let Eichorst run his program as sort of an fantasy NFL General Manager model. that is where the Rugby Tackling idea came from. Might not have been that bad if it was something Riley had decided to do himself. But it sounded like Riley was willing to indulge Eichorst in his NFL GM fantasy. Which Bo obviously never would tolerate. I have since forgiven Bo; I still think we could have done better than Bo, but Riley was an absolutely bad choice for a whole host of reasons.