One more year of Solich would have equaled one more year of terrible recruiting. I agree last years staff could coach, however they were going nowhere fast in recruiting and the 5-6 and 3-8 years were just around the corner for Frank. This is Nebraska people and we expect championships here and the only way to get them is to get some talented football players here. For every overacheiver TO had over the years he also had a Grant Wistrom, Danny Noonan, Neil Smith, Will Shields, Zach Wiegerrt which were all NFL 1st round talent. Give Callahan some time to get his own players.

I agree BullDog.
We had some greats. But that is just it.
Some.
That is what made Nebraska great. We had above average players who were coached up, led by a few studs on each side of the ball.

Another problem that comes with getting all these great players is getting them all the gravy they want. There are only so many touchdowns to go around.

But, was our recruiting going to continue to fall off? Maybe it would have. But, could there be a possibility of it going up as they saw the coaching?

Do you think recruiting will continue to go up if we continue to have poor performances in games?

John Blake could recruit when he was at OU, but guess what? They got rid of him because he couldn't coach.
Stoops took Blake's team and made them winners.

You know, I don't know anything about Callahan.
Maybe he will be the savior. I hope he is.

But I still long for the old days of NEBRASKA football. I thought Bo Pelini would bring those back, as the D coordinator, I didn't want him as the head coach.

We seen the top of bo pelinis game last year... He ran a very basic tricky scheme that shut down bad teams and was very very easy for good teams

Gocke there is no way Pelini would have stayed as the defensive coordinator after Callahan was named HC. I liked the old style Husker football as well, however we could no longer recruit the top talent to Nebraska running the option attack. The top High school players want to go somewhere where they have the best chance of going pro and I don't see to many option QB's in the pro's. A change was needed last year and SP made the right call. To everyone out there who would traded our future for another 7-7 campaign and a bottom tier bowl I don't understand you. Who are the top 2 teams in the country right now, USC and Oklahoma Pete Carroll was USC's 5th choice in there Head Coaching search, he went 6-6 his 1st year but he can recruit. Bob Stoops was not OU's 1st choice either and the reason he turned it around so fast was the stockpile of talent that John Blake left. I guarantee you whoever becomes Florida's next HC will win a NC because Zook could recruit and left a stockpile of talent. We will once again compete in the upper echelon of college football with another recruiting class or two and championships will be around the corner.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bulldog,

All I've been hearing about is these classic "overachievers" and how Osborne and Solich built such a proud tradition with them. Well take a look at our best teams, from 93-97. Where were those overachievers? They were on the bench.

Those overachievers were great for clubbing K-State and Mizzou, but were too slow and too small to beat Florida State, Miami, Washington, and Georgia Tech. It was only when Osborne went out and got speed and strength did we start winning big games. Would you call Frazier, Phillips, and Green overachievers? Berringer ran a faster straight 40 time than Frazier. Scott Frost an overachiever? He benched more than most of the linemen. He was a freak of nature.

People wanted to get rid of McBride until he recruited size and speed. Did it make him a better coach? Not really...go back and watch the NU/Florida game. On the play where Jamal Williams sacks Wuerffel in the end zone for a safety, McBride had two DBs covering three wideouts on Florida's left side. If Williams doesn't get the sack, that's a Florida TD. Is that great play calling? No, it's turning your athletes loose and letting them make plays.

Do you honestly think Barrett Ruud would start on any of those teams from 93-97? Cory Ross? Kurt Mann? Chad Seivers? (Cory Ross would probably be FIFTH string at best, behind Phillips, Green, Benning, and Childs) Don't get me wrong...I am proud that these guys wore the Husker uniform. They were a credit to the program, on and off the field. But these were not the guys you win championships with.

Say what you want to about Callahan, but in February he is going to sign the #1 recruiting class in the country, including (depending which recruiting board you look at) the #1 ranked QB, RB, FB, DB, and S in the country, as well as some of the the top OL, DL and LB prospects. I guess only time will tell if he and his staff can bring the program back.

Well said Stallion, well said. Another big difference was with Osborne our 2nd string was still better than Iowa States or Mizzous first string so when we had to sub we didn't fall off that much. We might end up with the top recruiting class in the country with 4-6 true freshman starting and 3-4 Juco's starting. The future looks very bright.

I blame him for way underachieving with this years team. We weren't running the option this year...we went 5-6 with Callahans offense and Solich's team that was 10-3 last year. I'm not a pessimist...I'm a realist. If Callahan was all that I would be singing his praises. The question that nobody who supports Callahan can answer is why would an NFL team fire an offensive GENIUS after going to the Superbowl the year before?????

Why would a school fire a coach two years after playing for the national championship? You think it was a mistake to fire Solich. Maybe Al Davis made a mistake (Al, make a MISTAKE?!?) by firing Callahan? And Oakland has done such an awesome job since Callahan left.

Because your A.D. is an idiot!

Bulldog and stallioin
you both make my points.
just because you can recruit doesn't mean you will win.
Zook can recruit, got fired.
Blake could recruit, got fired.

So what you are saying is, that after we fire callahan and staff, the next guy should be able to coach so he can win using callahans players.

I don't think it was so much pelini wouldn't stay, tho he probably wouldn't have., but that callahan couldn't keep him because of all the heat from people saying Bo would be better.

Also, stallion, yeah in the NU Florida game, we were playing D like those florida schools. We gave Charlie some athletes, people that had always been avoided in our recruiting before that time.
Look at Tony Veland. He was the norm. A guy recruited for offense, couldn't do it, so they switched him to defense. Thats how we handled D for a long time.

Bob Davie had the top recruiting teams year in and year out at Notre Dame and didn't do jack.

Grandma Al is running an asylum and the 2003 Raiders came as close to full-on mutiny as any team in pro sports history. Davis did Callahan a favor by giving him the pink slip.

Bottom line...it's Pederson's peccadillo and he should be the one taking the bullet for this one if things don't turn around next season.

Gocke, did Pete Carroll have a great 1st season at USC, no they had to change things in the program and recruit better talent now look at USC. Florida had a hard time adjusting to Zook, he will be a Head Coach somewhere else very soon. Who has been beating down Frank's door lately? The answer is nobody.

Well, thats a different walnut
Carroll can coach and has a wizard named Norm Chow.
I don't think we have proven coordinators here.So even if Callahan can coach, can the others.
Spurrier even said, he spent the whole two hours with his QB in practice...others have to coach

Please don't even attempt to compare Bill Callahan to Pete Carroll or Bob Stoops...those guys are real coaches. Simply no comparison.

lol, everything showing is that Callahan is a better coach than Stoops and Carroll, more success in the NFL and more job offers in the NFL the year he came down here... But it's simply not enough time to judge him, He's showed he's an awesome offensive coach with how quick he converted 40 guys to his system and made a pretty decent offense this year out of 40 freshman if you consider its there first year in this offense

SO404...you need to put the crack pipe down!

you know, the more i think about it, maybe it is the players.
We have 1st and 10 on the 12 against S. MIss.
And we take four shots at the end zone. Was that play calling, or what Dailey did?

Against Texas a few years ago, Lord was supposed to throw the ball to a receiver in the back corner of the end zone. The receiver went to the front corner. not much time on clock, ball picked, we lose.

Pelini's D got waxed by good teams. Maybe he needed better players too.

Who knows?

Jay Norvell was an offensive coordinator in the NFL so he is proven. Callahan was in a bad sitution in Oakland in which half his team was over the hill and about 1/4 of his team was injured last year. Callahan was instrumental in the sucess that they had prior to last year. Pete Carroll was a lousy NFL coach, but has proven himself at USC. For you Solich fans out there why couldn't he keep his hand out of the cookie jar last year and let Cotton run his offense, it is because he actually thought he was as gifted as Tom. People Callahan isn't a dumby and he will make adjustments this offseason and we will be signing the best recruiting class ever at the U, so give it a little time. I for one will take a 5-6 year this year if it puts us back at the top of the Big XII in a couple of years. Callahan signed a better class last year in 3 weeks than Frank did in his 6 years. Imagine what Callahan can do when he has the talent for his system.