What went wrong? Part 1

[BIGSTICK67]

I thought they asked Urban about the Nebraska job after Solich was fired and he said it was insane a coach would be fired after a 9-win season and said he could never coach at a program like that?

This is vaguely what I remember as well.

 

[Chi7397]

Young goskers07 was very happy to see Callahan go. Current goskers07 is slightly less dumb and thinks Callahan actually would have killed it if given a bit more time.

100% same experience here - I was wayyy more entitled there and didn’t think losing seasons should happen. Callahan actually had an upward trajectory before the 07 buzz saw and might have been onto something if Gabbert ET al made it to Neb

 

[Goskers07]

100% same experience here - I was wayyy more entitled there and didn’t think losing seasons should happen. Callahan actually had an upward trajectory before the 07 buzz saw and might have been onto something if Gabbert ET al made it to Neb

Yeah that class he was building, coupled with the 05 class, bare minimum wins a Big 12 title.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Part 2 has to be the insane pinballing from west coast to spread to west coast to spread that we've done over the past 15 years.

 

[RedSavage]

100% same experience here - I was wayyy more entitled there and didn’t think losing seasons should happen. Callahan actually had an upward trajectory before the 07 buzz saw and might have been onto something if Gabbert ET al made it to Neb

What could’ve been if he’d gotten rid of Cosgrove. That was his demise.

 

[KidsSeeGhosts]

Defenses in '05 and '06 were actually pretty good. We still gave up 62 to and 52 to Mizzou in '08 w/ Pelini. Not saying Cosgrove was necessarily the answer at all, but we just weren't really ready for the change in how football was played.

 

[hothouse_corn]

Young goskers07 was very happy to see Callahan go. Current goskers07 is slightly less dumb and thinks Callahan actually would have killed it if given a bit more time.

It was a bad idea for Bill to call Dr. Tom a "crusty old motherfucker" back then (or even now when it might be true.) It was also a bad idea to cut the roster by 40% and keep the DC when the defense sucked.

 

[huskerj12]

Young huskerj12 and present-day huskerj12 both think Callahan was a pretty poor head coach and a truly awful fit for NU.

My theory is that people now look back on Callahan with rose colored glasses because A) we have fluctuated between decent/mediocre and absolutely awful and no coach has broken through, and B) he was having recruiting success during a time when Rivals/online recruiting coverage was new and fun and exciting. They think Callahan was unfairly judged, but they really just miss the rush they felt following recruiting while he was the coach.

He’s also become sort of a symbol in peoples minds of the “anti-tradition coalition,” a guy who came from the outside and had to battle the crotchety old timers who have been holding us back all these years. Unfortunately he just wasn’t a good head football coach. The offense wasn’t great no matter how many times people claim it was "putting up great numbers." It sputtered constantly, was notoriously hard to learn and execute, I remember MANY games when it was a disorganized mess, and many more when we only racked up points/yards after we were already dominated. The defense fell off a cliff, he wasn’t an effective leader, he didn’t seem to connect with players/fans/UNL/Lincoln/Nebraska, it just wasn’t right and that’s ok.

I do think now looking back that he took extra heat for being the "first" crappy coach, and sadly many things that he got drilled for have become commonplace since he was fired. However, our incredible history was MUCH more recent (and useful) in those days, so the downfall felt completely insane. Throughout all the woes of the past three coaching tenures, I have never once looked back with regret about Callahan getting fired. He was never the answer.

 

[Black Dean]

Regarding Callahan I believe he told Osborne (who did recognize the recruiting class he was bringing in) that he would keep him around for another season if he made defensive staff changes after the season and Callahan said he wasn’t firing Cosgrove. Cally dug his own grave with that one.

 

[Kaladin]

who were the guys in Callahan's last recruiting class, before Pelini blew it up

I've seen it mentioned all over that it was a great class

 

[Chi7397]

who were the guys in Callahan's last recruiting class, before Pelini blew it up

I've seen it mentioned all over that it was a great class

Blaine gabbert
Jonas gray
Trevor Robinson
Bryce givens

A bunch of other guys - it was going to be a top 5 class

 

[Pipe Line]

What's the Part 2 to this?

 

[Kaladin]

What's the Part 2 to this?

Pelini turning into a crazy lunatic, assaulting donors in basements, getting into violent screaming matches with umpires at teaball games, etc

 

[Pipe Line]

Pelini turning into a crazy lunatic, assaulting donors in basements, getting into violent screaming matches with umpires at teaball games, etc

So I'll be honest regardless of the record, I love having Frost as the face of the program, I really do. But god damn if I wouldn't take Pelini's 9 wins a year and eventful rumors right now.