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I don't know how long ago this interview was but hopefully the new coach finds a place for him.
LINCOLN — This is the life he chose. So Bill Busch knows that in two weeks, he will be job-hunting again, moving again, looking for another horizon on the coaching trail.
“When a new staff comes in, it’s usually a whole new staff,” Busch said. “That’s how the business works. That’s what I signed up for.”
And Busch had thought he had seen everything in 12 career stops. Until this fall.
The Nebraska native was in his third tour at NU. Life was sweet. Then Scott Frost was fired after the third game.
A week later, Busch was elevated to defensive coordinator, trying to help interim coach Mickey Joseph navigate a season in a storm.
It’s been his greatest challenge.
And, for a Pender, Neb., native and lifelong Husker fan, his greatest honor. And privilege.
“It’s unreal for me,” Busch said. “I couldn’t be more humbled. It’s a big deal for me to be in this spot.
“The past history of this place, the past players and coaches of each regime. Everything in my mind is how I can do what’s best for these players and this state.”
This Saturday might be Busch’s last game at Memorial Stadium, a place where he attended games as a kid, a place where he dreamed of either playing or coaching one day.
How did he get here? Every coaching career has a story. Busch’s story is pure Nebraska.
Busch, who played at Nebraska Wesleyan, took a graduate assistant job at UN-Kearney in 1989 as he finished his Masters.
In 1990, he did what many young coaches have probably done. He asked Tom Osborne for a grad assistant’s job.
Busch recalls sitting in the South Stadium football offices, waiting 40 minutes to see Osborne. Finally, the coach called him in.
“He said, “We don’t have anything,” Busch said. “And I said, well can I come and work for free? And he said, yeah, if you want to.”
Busch worked for free. His days would begin at 5 a.m., working at the Lincoln Racquet Club until 7. Then he would report to Dave Gillespie in NU’s recruiting office, and then back to the Racquet Club at night.
“Then one day Kevin Steele (NU linebackers coach) was walking down the hall and asked me, “Do you want to do recruiting or do you want to coach?”
Coach.
“He said come with me,” Busch said. “So I jumped in with Kevin and that got me in with Charlie McBride, which got me in with Coach (George) Darlington, my mentor.
“What happened in the end was, they just thought I worked here. It was a classic, like Seinfeld with Kramer. They didn’t know who I was but they thought he must work here, so they gave me a job.”
Busch is modest. But it’s true, in a career as long as his, you need some breaks.
Two of his biggest breaks came courtesy a guy named Urban Meyer.
The first happened in 2003. Busch was at Utah, his third stop as a full-time assistant. Coach Ron McBride was fired after the 2002 season. The Utes hired Meyer from Bowling Green.
“When I first met Urban he told me he already had a guy he was bringing from Bowling Green,” Busch said. “We sat and talked for an hour and I told him I appreciated being considered.
“I was driving home and Kyle Whittingham (Utah assistant) called me and said “Hey, come back. Urban’s going to keep you.”
The other one came in 2014. This was the one time Busch thought his coaching career might end.
Busch, who was a graduate assistant to Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin in 1994, came back to Madison in 2013 to coach defensive backs and special teams.
The 2014 Wisconsin team went 11-3 and played in the Big Ten championship game. After that game, head coach Gary Andersen surprised everyone by going to Oregon State.
“I didn’t want to go there,” Busch said. “I just assumed things would go well for me and all of a sudden there were no jobs.
“I sold everything I had and moved back to Nebraska. Then, after about four or five months, Urban found out I wasn’t coaching. So he called me to come there as an analyst.”
That is, Ohio State. Busch was there for one season, then moved to Rutgers for two years before he got a call from an old friend on the Wisconsin staff, Dave Aranda, the defensive coordinator at LSU.
Busch coached the safeties at LSU, helped recruit quarterback Joe Burrow and won a national championship.
“It’s kind of crazy how things work,” he said.
The coaching life isn’t for everyone. Many coaches have left for jobs in the business world. Busch never ever considered it.
“I have zero skills except coaching,” Busch said. “But you have kids, you have to get jobs and pay bills. In this profession, your face is in the fan all the time.”
Busch became a husband and stepfather in 2019, marrying Laura Bonta. He calls Sydney (24), Olivia (21) and Gianna (13) “stepdaughters that are like my daughters.”
He was at LSU then. They devised a plan. They would have a permanent home in Lincoln. And Laura and the girls would come to visit Bill on weekends in Baton Rouge, La.
It wasn’t perfect. But it was pretty close to perfect the last two years with Busch back at NU.
Now they will maintain their home in Lincoln while Busch heads back out to another job, another college town.
The nomad is in his 50's now. He says he would have liked more time at NU “to have seen what I could have done here.” It’s the second time he’s been on a Husker staff that was let go.
But he’s a man with no regrets. And one giant blessing he’ll never forget.
That is, being called upon to serve his favorite school, hold things together, in a time of great need.
“I've had a lot of great moments in coaching,” Busch said. “Had a chance to win a national championship.
“This is probably as meaningful a time, because of the kids I’m coaching. They’re relentless and ridiculous with their attention to detail and effort. When you see these guys down the road, I’ll say “yeah, it was a tough deal but you handled your business.”
Busch repeated it to the media after Wednesday’s practice. What’s the goal these last two weeks? Being grown men. Handling your business.
“Like I tell these guys all the time,” Busch said, “when we see these guys at Applebee’s seven years from now, I’ll say 'Hey I appreciated you guys and how you did things.'”
Hopefully one day someone from Nebraska will tell Busch the same thing. And buy him an appetizer.
LINCOLN — This is the life he chose. So Bill Busch knows that in two weeks, he will be job-hunting again, moving again, looking for another horizon on the coaching trail.
“When a new staff comes in, it’s usually a whole new staff,” Busch said. “That’s how the business works. That’s what I signed up for.”
And Busch had thought he had seen everything in 12 career stops. Until this fall.
The Nebraska native was in his third tour at NU. Life was sweet. Then Scott Frost was fired after the third game.
A week later, Busch was elevated to defensive coordinator, trying to help interim coach Mickey Joseph navigate a season in a storm.
It’s been his greatest challenge.
And, for a Pender, Neb., native and lifelong Husker fan, his greatest honor. And privilege.
“It’s unreal for me,” Busch said. “I couldn’t be more humbled. It’s a big deal for me to be in this spot.
“The past history of this place, the past players and coaches of each regime. Everything in my mind is how I can do what’s best for these players and this state.”
This Saturday might be Busch’s last game at Memorial Stadium, a place where he attended games as a kid, a place where he dreamed of either playing or coaching one day.
How did he get here? Every coaching career has a story. Busch’s story is pure Nebraska.
Busch, who played at Nebraska Wesleyan, took a graduate assistant job at UN-Kearney in 1989 as he finished his Masters.
In 1990, he did what many young coaches have probably done. He asked Tom Osborne for a grad assistant’s job.
Busch recalls sitting in the South Stadium football offices, waiting 40 minutes to see Osborne. Finally, the coach called him in.
“He said, “We don’t have anything,” Busch said. “And I said, well can I come and work for free? And he said, yeah, if you want to.”
Busch worked for free. His days would begin at 5 a.m., working at the Lincoln Racquet Club until 7. Then he would report to Dave Gillespie in NU’s recruiting office, and then back to the Racquet Club at night.
“Then one day Kevin Steele (NU linebackers coach) was walking down the hall and asked me, “Do you want to do recruiting or do you want to coach?”
Coach.
“He said come with me,” Busch said. “So I jumped in with Kevin and that got me in with Charlie McBride, which got me in with Coach (George) Darlington, my mentor.
“What happened in the end was, they just thought I worked here. It was a classic, like Seinfeld with Kramer. They didn’t know who I was but they thought he must work here, so they gave me a job.”
Busch is modest. But it’s true, in a career as long as his, you need some breaks.
Two of his biggest breaks came courtesy a guy named Urban Meyer.
The first happened in 2003. Busch was at Utah, his third stop as a full-time assistant. Coach Ron McBride was fired after the 2002 season. The Utes hired Meyer from Bowling Green.
“When I first met Urban he told me he already had a guy he was bringing from Bowling Green,” Busch said. “We sat and talked for an hour and I told him I appreciated being considered.
“I was driving home and Kyle Whittingham (Utah assistant) called me and said “Hey, come back. Urban’s going to keep you.”
The other one came in 2014. This was the one time Busch thought his coaching career might end.
Busch, who was a graduate assistant to Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin in 1994, came back to Madison in 2013 to coach defensive backs and special teams.
The 2014 Wisconsin team went 11-3 and played in the Big Ten championship game. After that game, head coach Gary Andersen surprised everyone by going to Oregon State.
“I didn’t want to go there,” Busch said. “I just assumed things would go well for me and all of a sudden there were no jobs.
“I sold everything I had and moved back to Nebraska. Then, after about four or five months, Urban found out I wasn’t coaching. So he called me to come there as an analyst.”
That is, Ohio State. Busch was there for one season, then moved to Rutgers for two years before he got a call from an old friend on the Wisconsin staff, Dave Aranda, the defensive coordinator at LSU.
Busch coached the safeties at LSU, helped recruit quarterback Joe Burrow and won a national championship.
“It’s kind of crazy how things work,” he said.
The coaching life isn’t for everyone. Many coaches have left for jobs in the business world. Busch never ever considered it.
“I have zero skills except coaching,” Busch said. “But you have kids, you have to get jobs and pay bills. In this profession, your face is in the fan all the time.”
Busch became a husband and stepfather in 2019, marrying Laura Bonta. He calls Sydney (24), Olivia (21) and Gianna (13) “stepdaughters that are like my daughters.”
He was at LSU then. They devised a plan. They would have a permanent home in Lincoln. And Laura and the girls would come to visit Bill on weekends in Baton Rouge, La.
It wasn’t perfect. But it was pretty close to perfect the last two years with Busch back at NU.
Now they will maintain their home in Lincoln while Busch heads back out to another job, another college town.
The nomad is in his 50's now. He says he would have liked more time at NU “to have seen what I could have done here.” It’s the second time he’s been on a Husker staff that was let go.
But he’s a man with no regrets. And one giant blessing he’ll never forget.
That is, being called upon to serve his favorite school, hold things together, in a time of great need.
“I've had a lot of great moments in coaching,” Busch said. “Had a chance to win a national championship.
“This is probably as meaningful a time, because of the kids I’m coaching. They’re relentless and ridiculous with their attention to detail and effort. When you see these guys down the road, I’ll say “yeah, it was a tough deal but you handled your business.”
Busch repeated it to the media after Wednesday’s practice. What’s the goal these last two weeks? Being grown men. Handling your business.
“Like I tell these guys all the time,” Busch said, “when we see these guys at Applebee’s seven years from now, I’ll say 'Hey I appreciated you guys and how you did things.'”
Hopefully one day someone from Nebraska will tell Busch the same thing. And buy him an appetizer.
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