Locked due to no posts in 60 days. Report 1st post if need unlocked Will Bo Pelini be coaching at NU next year??

[Trojan Husker]

Well, (a) let's see how the season plays out, and (b) I bet we could list on a single hand (maybe no hands) the number of teams that fired a coach with a 66% or better winning % and actually improved their position.

Can you think of one?

Tommy Tuberville at Auburn.

Mike Bellotti at Oregon.

And those guys were much more successful than Bo too.

 

[The Big Red Lebowski]

Well, (a) let's see how the season plays out, and (b) I bet we could list on a single hand (maybe no hands) the number of teams that fired a coach with a 66% or better winning % and actually improved their position.

Can you think of one?

I'm not even going to try to think of one, because it's irrelevant. Every situation is unique.

Bo may indeed turn things around down the stretch and keep his job. You keep talking about the long-term, and I agree with you. If Bo continues to hang around the middle of the Big Ten, he's going to be fired. If he wins anything of substance, he's going to bolt for greener pastures faster than you can say "thanks for the experience Huskers!" Long-term, NU loses. Better to start fresh in 2014.

 

[N2FL]

The team performance is regressing. NU is not competitive with good teams...and is now losing to mediocre teams. NU will likely be an also-ran in one of the weaker division of a conference that's running about 5th best in the country. The team looks physically weak (just getting blown off the line against Minny). Disorganized. Confused. Conflicted. The HC has made several questionable "cronie" hires and hasn't exhibited a willingness to do anything BUT hire cronies for the most part. He's lost a large portion of the fan base...many of whom are simply watching games to see what happens but otherwise resigned to the fact that things are getting worse, not better. Complete mismanagement of the Martinez situation...bordering on incompetence.

The schedule coming up would not be all that daunting for a good football team. NW sucks. Period. Michigan is supremely beatable. Iowa...sorry...ain't buyin that one. PSU isn't very good. MSU...I suppose I have to give them some credit but 3 years ago that team doesn't score a point on NU. Coming into this season not many reasonable people considered 9-3 anywhere near "successful". 8-4 is crap. 7-5 is just unspeakable.

Agree. In August, most people were saying 11-1 or 10-2 with this schedule. Now people are trying to justify why if/when Pelini goes 7-5 or 8-4 with one of the easiest schedules a coach could ask for - that he should be given another chance...dont fire a coach in year 6 whose terrible roster management has led to this freakishly young defensive front 7? And to be honest, if his scheme wasnt so dang complex and needing to be exact with players' positioning and assignments - this front 7 as young as it is would be able to still make plays. This defense is young, but Gregory, Banderas, Rose, Afalava, McMullen, Cooper, Valentine, Collins, Zaire...these guys were all considered 4* recruits by one or more recruiting services. I dont think the scheme is player friendly and after the Gopher game, I dont think the players trust or believe in the system. IMPO a better scheme would be getting results from these same players. Would they look like the 2009 or 2010 units and be top 15 in the nation? Probably not, but they should not be #77 in total defense against inferior opponents (outside of UCLA).

 

[N2FL]

Great post.

I'm not sure how anyone can watch this past Saturday's game and come away thinking, yeah but the next guy could be even worse. I feel pretty confident that there are coaches out there who can leverage NU's financial resources and dedicated fan base into losing efforts against Minnesota. NU was out-schemed, out-coached, and out-played. It was amateur hour across the board. When the game was still in doubt, one camera shot of the Nebraska bench told the story - the team was totally rudderless.

Fear that the next guy could be worse is born of the Frank Solich situation. It was one decision by one very egomaniacal and misguided AD. It can't inform the program forever. Barring some kind of miracle home stretch, I think it's time for a change.

 

[Greatest Fan of All]

This is simply confirmation bias. There isn't even close to enough data and way too many variables to isolate "transitional recruiting" as the cause of a coach struggling 6 years after taking a job. This is just another excuse for Bo.

Yup

 

[internet tg]

can't say I've heard that one.

Any modern examples? You're talking about the 1970s and all these coaches are retired now. The game has changed a lot since then.

Also, Osborne beat Oklahoma for the first time in year 6. That doesn't seem like a down year at all to me.

There was a post on it this offseason with numerous examples, I'm sure it's there if someone wants to find it. Going off memory here, but basically a coach's 4th and 5th teams(or 5th and 6th depending on redshirting) were his worst teams. There were plenty of examples that showed different, most of those being truly elite coaches, which Bo is not.

I'm not trying to make an excuse for Bo, just pointing out that I believe his first two classes are killing him, like they have other coaches.

 

[bilsker]

Personally, I think we've been hurt most not by a lack of talent but by a lack of continuity in the assistant ranks. We need to get that squared away.

Welcome to College football circa 2013. There's going to be relatively constant change in the assistant ranks.

And the solution probably isn't to blow the whole thing up and start over from scratch.

Way too overly dramatic. Starting from scratch would be UNO re-starting it's football program. The infrastructure is there. There's enough talent in the program for the next coach to beat Wyoming, USM, SDSU (fcs version), Illinois and Purdue. "Blow it up"...give me a break.

 

[bilsker]

I'm not trying to make an excuse for Bo, just pointing out that I believe his first two classes are killing him, like they have other coaches.

His current one isn't looking so great either. Will that be his excuse on 2016?

 

[internet tg]

His current one isn't looking so great either. Will that be his excuse on 2016?

I think coaches only get to use this excuse once

 

[internet tg]

His current one isn't looking so great either. Will that be his excuse on 2016?

I'd also point out this is all relative to a coach's other teams. So a 6-6 coach my have been 4-8 in his worst year, and a 11-1 coach may have been 9-3 in his worst year. So it's not really indicative of a coach's talents.