The Athletic article on the 2005 recruiting class

[Flabio]

Those who think Callahan needed to go = hard R pancake feed group that has helped keep the program fxxked up post TO. Literally hard R to can him with a top 3 class coming in. It’s why we still suck at FB and can’t win a tourney game. With no cally we have no Suh. It’s so hilarious to hear the mantra we need to have a “hard working team, with walk ons, that emulate the hard workin folks from the state” vs doing what it takes to win. We have volleyball which literally no one nationally cares about to give fans something to cheer for.

 

[doublewing]

Those who think Callahan needed to go = hard R pancake feed group that has helped keep the program fxxked up post TO. Literally hard R to can him with a top 3 class coming in. It’s why we still suck at FB and can’t win a tourney game. With no cally we have no Suh. It’s so hilarious to hear the mantra we need to have a “hard working team, with walk ons, that emulate the hard workin folks from the state” vs doing what it takes to win. We have volleyball which literally no one nationally cares about to give fans something to cheer for.

(1) He was here long enough to amass 4 recruiting classes and it culminated in the 2007 season where fans were departing at halftime of home games because we were that bad.
(2) No one has hired him to be a HC since NU canned him in 2007. I guess there are a lot of "hard R" AD's and GM's that have all missed the boat on the greatness of BC in the past two decades.

"hard R" is thinking that because one can recruit they can also be a great HC. Ask Oklahoma how that worked out with John Blake. And - your walk-on rant is strange. We all want good recruiting classes and understand the importance. It's also important to have good coaching.

 

[Flabio]

(1) He was here long enough to amass 4 recruiting classes and it culminated in the 2007 season where fans were departing at halftime of home games because we were that bad.
(2) No one has hired him to be a HC since NU canned him in 2007. I guess there are a lot of "hard R" AD's and GM's that have all missed the boat on the greatness of BC in the past two decades.

"hard R" is thinking that because one can recruit they can also be a great HC. Ask Oklahoma how that worked out with John Blake. And - your walk-on rant is strange. We all want good recruiting classes and understand the importance. It's also important to have good coaching.

All downhill since then. Maybe we win seven regular season games this year?

 

[doublewing]

All downhill since then. Maybe we win seven regular season games this year?

Do you think Callahan is the cure for that? He got us to 5 wins in his disastrous swan song of a season.

Nebraska made bad coaching hires over the past few decades. BC included.

 

[BorWhiskey]

A couple of things:

1. The fact that Bill Callahan still won't discuss his Nebraska's Coaching days suggests that man is still really upset about how everything went down. Its been 20 years Bill, let it go.

2. Bill's downfall wasn't really due to offense or even QB. His issue was Kevin Cosgrove and the era that Bill arrived in College Football. It coincided with the explosion of the Spread Offense. Cosgrove was a long time Big Ten Defensive Coordinator, and at that time, every team in the Big Ten was basically running the same offense they were running in 1980. Cosgrove had ZERO clue how to stop the Spread. As bad as Nebraska was at times under Riley and Frost, their defense was never as bad as it was when Cosgrove tried to stop Spread teams.

3. Bill Callahan was not receptive to outside advice. And he probably could've saved his job if he would've fired Cosgrove. But they were friends, and Bill despised any type of outside influence trying to make recommendations.

On a side note, let's play a crazier hypothetical. Let's pretend Callahan does fired Cosgrove prior to 2007 or during the season, and he is retained. The following would've happened:

- Callahan probably hires a young and elite Defensive Coordinator
- Blaine Gabbert remains committed to Nebraska
- RB Cyrus Gray signs with Nebraska
- LT Tyron Smith signs with Nebraska
- TE Kyle Rudolph probably chooses the Huskers
- DT Sheldon Richardson probably signs in 2009 class
-RB Montee Ball probably signs in the 2009 class

Long story short:

Nebraska probably easily wins the Big Twelve in 2009.
Nebraska likely comes very close to winning a National Title in 2010

Huskers would've been primed to excel in the Big Ten starting in 2011.

On 3, he saw the writing on the wall. He would have made changes and listened to people, but Osborne was uninterested in helping. He never was going to help the guy who replaced Solich.

 

[BorWhiskey]

I had a theory that’s at least 10 years old so no way I remember all the justification I had, but I believe BC’s real downfall was his reliance on JUCO recruiting. In short, our 2007 was like 2024 FSU with no culture, etc.

 

[Stan Raymond]

Callahan had a lot more issues than just Cosgrove. He could recruit, but he just isn't a leader. He also had issues teaching college kids, he just wanted them to do to much, college is different than the NFL, there just isn't time to get everything that he wanted done in a satisfactory manor. But in the end it was a lack of leadership that was his demise same as it was with him for the Raiders, he's just not a guy that players want to play for.

He's back where he belongs, Callahan is one of the best OL coaches in NFL history, where others can do the leading and there is time to perfect things.

 

[Flabio]

Do you think Callahan is the cure for that? He got us to 5 wins in his disastrous swan song of a season.

Nebraska made bad coaching hires over the past few decades. BC included.

Firing him with a top 3 class was peak Nebraska idiotiocracy. All poor hires subsequent. TO wouldn’t spend so we got Bo bc he was cheap which was the peak. We got to witnesses single game rushing records vs Wiscy. Very poor ADs, and boosters who are to nice to do what it takes to win is why we consistently suck at major sports.

 

[doublewing]

Firing him with a top 3 class was peak Nebraska idiotiocracy. All poor hires subsequent. TO wouldn’t spend so we got Bo bc he was cheap which was the peak. We got to witnesses single game rushing records vs Wiscy. Very poor ADs, and boosters who are to nice to do what it takes to win is why we consistently suck at major sports.

Because Bo was a bad coach does not make firing BC the wrong decision.

And a top 3 class with a terrible coach cancels things out. There is a BC track record to prove this. The only people on the planet that think BC was a good HC are NU message board revisionists. If he was even an average HC, he would have been hired for an open HC job in the last 17 years but he hasn't even been a candidate.

 

[betsch]

The recruiting class that led me to Dean

For a long time I thought he was Callahan's son LOL.

 

[Herbie]

Those who think Callahan needed to go = hard R pancake feed group that has helped keep the program fxxked up post TO. Literally hard R to can him with a top 3 class coming in. It’s why we still suck at FB and can’t win a tourney game. With no cally we have no Suh. It’s so hilarious to hear the mantra we need to have a “hard working team, with walk ons, that emulate the hard workin folks from the state” vs doing what it takes to win. We have volleyball which literally no one nationally cares about to give fans something to cheer for.

Callahan was never the problem.
The fan base was the problem. Always has been

 

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

It probably differs with the former players you talk with, but I know a number of former players that were recruited and played for him, as they are friends with one of my family members that played during that time as well. The offensive guys really liked Callahan especially the lineman. The frustration that they did voice all had to do with the D side of the ball. The Cosgrove relationship definitely was a big player in his downfall but a number of those guys said Billy C was a great teacher and helped them when they got to the pros. I'm not sure he would have ever been great here, but I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if he would have had a really good D-Coordinator.

 

[Flabio]

Nebraska’s problem is many. Some examples hiring terrible ADs like Mooose bc they know about farmin and cattle vs getting best available that may not appease the locals. Same with coaching hires. Unwillingness to do what it takes to win bc soft and believe the TO purity story when it was paying players, omega steroids, rampant breaking the rules pushing it forward to today.

Bring in Rhule and tell him hs cruits and development vs do what’s needed to win.

Soft, incestuous yet complains when can’t win even though the support is there.