A Brief History of Husker Recruiting: 1980-89
Recruiting is an inexact science. We all know that. But of the many frustrating things wrapped up in recruiting and its coverage, the most frustrating thing for me has always been the lack of a historical record through which we could compare today's best guesses by analysts to the best guesses by analysts of the past.
Bo Pelini, by all accounts, pulled in a "solid" class last week. Rivals ranked it No. 25 nationally which, as with everything Nebraska football, prompts comparisons to the Tom Osborne era. You hear both sides of it. Either "Osborne rarely landed top-ranked classes," or "Pelini isn't getting All-American talent like Nebraska used to." Which is true?
Like recruiting itself, there's an inexact answer out there somewhere but it hasn't been easy to find. Rivals and Scout both have class rankings dating back to 2001. The big recruiting services and analysts of the 1980s have all been signed up and folded into today's popular recruiting services. For some reason, their rankings have yet to be cataloged and published online. Want to know who had the top-ranked recruiting class in 1988? Be prepared to dig.
After cursing that lack of historical comparison for years, I finally decided to at least try and do something about it. Armed with my Omaha Public Library card and 10 inches of motivating snow on the ground, I started scouring the Omaha World-Herald's archives (online via the OPL, they date to 1984) and national newspapers for class and recruit rankings and any other information I could find. HuskerMax's recruiting pages, which lists classes dating back to the 1960s, were also essential.
I wouldn't necessarily say I was successful. I wasn't always able to find out where Nebraska's class ranked, but I was able to find 12 Top 10 class rankings for 20 of the years between 1980 and 1999 and a few Top fours, sixes or eights. I will say I know vastly more about Nebraska recruiting than I did before.
Most of the early recruiting prognosticators -- Tom Lemming of National Prep Report (NPR), Max Emfinger, and Allan Wallace of SuperPrep (SP) -- got the start in the late seventies or early eighties, so I decided to start my search at 1980. I'll publish the results for 1990-99 later this week. From there, Rivals and Scout have about as much information as you could need.
This is a long and, at times, unwieldy document but hopefully it will answer at least some questions for you as to how Nebraska "used to" recruit. With that long preamble out of the way, let's get started. (An asterisk denotes an in-state player. Click the years to go to a listing of Nebraska's class.)
1980 - Recruiting coverage was still in its infancy at this point. The only sort of ranking I could find was Nebraska's recruiting coordinator, Jerry Pettibone, saying the Oklahoma and Nebraska had the best classes in the Big 8. He should know. He came to Lincoln via Norman in 1979. The Huskers and Sooners dominating conference recruiting isn't necessarily news, but it is enlightening in one regard: It might be the key difference between recruiting then and now.
Nebraska finished third in the Big Ten according to Rivals this year. It was a distant third, 21 spots behind Ohio State and 18 spots behind Michigan in the national rankings. Go back to the Big 12 and Nebraska was, generally speaking, third best in most years behind Texas and Oklahoma. The difference between second and third place in the conference, and from a Top 10 and a Top 25 class nationally, looms large. Even through Colorado's ascendancy in the late 1980s, Nebraska was almost always in the top two.
The seeds of the "Scoring Explosion" were sown in 1980. Nebraska landed Irving Fryar (eventual No. 1 overall NFL draft pick) and Turner Gill who, as late as August, was still being wooed by Bill Veeck to join the White Sox. Overall, the class would produce four All-Americans (Fryar, DB Bret Clark*, DT Harry Grimminger*, OT Mark Traynowicz*).
1981 - Mike Rozier, along with his brother Guy, arrives. Of the 26 scholarship athletes Nebraska signs, eight of them are from Nebraska. Twelve of the 26 will never letter at Nebraska. The class produces three All-Americans (RB M. Rozier, C Bill Lewis, OL/DL Jim Skow*) and Mike Rozier goes on to win a major award called the Heisman.
1982 - Tom Osborne tells the AP "this is one of the best years for football players in state in a long time." Of the Huskers' class of 28 players, 11 are from Nebraska. The class produces zero All-Americans, but does include RB Doug DuBose. DuBose would go on to rush for more than 1000 yards as a sophomore and junior -- the first player in Nebraska history to do so -- and is a Heisman front-runner before a knee-injury derails his senior season. He'll become an important and controversial figure later. Still light on good recruiting data, but it picks up after this, I promise.
1983 - We have our first Top 10 ranking, courtesy of Tom Lemming's National Prep Report, and Nebraska's not in it. Nebraska loses TE Eric McKee, the 21st ranked propsect nationally, to USC but the class does produce two All-Americans (OL/DL John McCormick*, OL/DL Danny Noonan*).
| Rank | School |
|---|---|
| 1 | Penn State |
| 2 | Notre Dame |
| 3 | Auburn |
| 4 | West Virginia |
| 5 | Illinois |
| 6 | USC |
| 7 | Michigan State |
| 8 | SMU |
| 9 | Iowa |
| 10 | UCLA |
1984 - Nebraska signs a small class of 17 players, but 16 of them will go on to letter at least once. Max Emfinger, perhaps the foremost recruiting expert at the time, calls the class "below Nebraska's standard, but still "an exceptional class." Emfinger ranks his classes on a point system that awards schools two points per each Gold Chip recruit (equivalent to a five-star player today) signed, and one point per Blue Chip (four-star). Nebraska has 12 points and two Gold Chip prospects in DB Brian Washington and TE Willie Griffin, ranking them somewhere in the Top 15 nationally. Georgia and Illinois have the top classes nationally with 24 points each on Emfinger's scale.
The Huskers lost WR Tim Brown (eventual Heisman winner) to Notre Dame. RB Keith Jones' brother tells the Omaha World Herald that Keith nearly went to Washington thanks to some angry letters from Nebraska fans that wondered how he could even consider leaving. It's a good thing Twitter didn't exist.
Osborne also has a bone to pick with newly-minted Heisman winner Mike Rozier. Now enjoying the riches of the USFL, Rozier tells the AP "I had people send me money (while at Nebraska), the alumni helped out." Osborne is convinced other schools used that quote against Nebraska on the recruiting trail. He tells the AP "We're very comfortable that there is no problem here, but (the quote) has been...devastating to our recruiting."
The class produces one All-American in DL Neil Smith who, it should be noted, was not a Gold Chip or a Blue Chip prospect according to Emfinger.
1985 - Despite having heart surgery the day before signing day, Osborne tells the OWH that this might be the best class he's had in his 12-year career. The Huskers land LB Leroy Etienne (two-time Louisiana player of the year), DL Broderick Thomas and QB Steve Taylor (broke Marcus Allen's total offense record at his high school). They're all top 100 recruits and Emfinger awards Nebraska and Penn State his "Recruiting National Championship." Fifteen of the 25 recruits in this class go on to letter and two of them (Taylor, Thomas) become All-Americans.
1986 - This may come as a shock, but Husker legend Johnny Rodgers is very involved in the recruitment of his son, Terry, the California player of the year and the 32nd ranked prospect nationally. Terry is considering Nebraska, Texas, USC and Ohio State, eventually picking the Huskers on April 30, nearly three months after national signing day.
Nebraska lost QB Sal Aunese to Colorado and the Buffs are officially a factor in Big 8 recruiting. The Huskers end up signing 20 players, including three All-Americans (OL Doug Glazer, DE Kenny Walker, OL Jake Young). Emfinger does not have Nebraska listed in his top 20 classes nationally but Duke (one year before Steve Spurrier arrived), Baylor and Stanford are.
| 1 | UCLA |
| 2 | Alabama |
| 3 | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Michigan |
| 5 | Notre Dame |
| 6 | Texas A&M |
| 7 | USC |
| 8 | Duke |
| Top 20 | Baylor |
| Top 20 | Cal |
| Top 20 | Florida State |
| Top 20 | Georgia Tech |
| Top 20 | Illinois |
| Top 20 | LSU |
| Top 20 | Stanford |
| Top 20 | TCU |
1987 - It's 1987 and recruiting is already a subscription based service. Emfinger, a former University of North Texas coach and Dallas Cowboys scout, tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that his wife's Cadillac was repossessed following his first year as a full-time recruiting pundit, but by 1987 he's bought her a new one. He says he's using 16 "major college coaches" and recruiting coordinators to compile his rankings.
"We don't just guess at these ratings. We're talking about facts here." -- Recruiting analyst Max Emfinger to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1987
The Huskers land QB Mickey Joseph, Emfinger's top-rated QB, but it's not enough to place Nebraska in the top 10 classes nationally. The class doesn't produce any All-Americans but, continuing the trend, it's very efficient with 19 of 22 signees earning letters.
| T-1 | Pittsburgh |
| T-1 | Texas A&M |
| 3 | Notre Dame |
| T-4 | Florida |
| T-4 | Oklahoma |
| Top 10 | Georgia |
| Top 10 | Michigan |
| Top 10 | Stanford |
| Top 10 | UCLA |
1988 - Iowa State makes news by signing their first player from Texas since 1979. (Explains so much.) Nebraska missed on QB Darian Hagan (Colorado) but Emfinger still ranks the Huskers' class 10th nationally while awarding top class honors to Auburn and Notre Dame. The '88 class will produce one All-American (DE Travis Hill) and 20 of 26 signees will letter. (Other than where noted, the below table is not in order.)
| Emfinger | Terranova |
|---|---|
| Auburn (T-1) | Clemson |
| Notre Dame (T-1) | Notre Dame |
| Tennessee | Penn State |
| LSU | Pittsburgh |
| UCLA | Texas |
| Nebraska (10) | UCLA |
1989 - Unlike 1985 Tom Osborne doesn't say it this time, but this is easily one of his, and the nation's, best classes. LB Trev Alberts goes on to win the Butkus Award, OL Will Shields wins the Outland Trophy and both are consensus All-Americans at Nebraska. The class also includes: RB Derek Brown (Top 100 player, SuperPreps West Coast POY), LB Troy Branch (Philadelphia Inquirer's East Coast POY), and OL Lance Larson (Parade All-American, OL of the Year in Minnesota). Eighteen of 23 signees will letter, with seven recruits earning four letters. The OWH says it's the first time in school history that Nebraska doesn't sign a player from Omaha.
Emfinger ranks Nebraska's class in a three-way tie for seventh while Allan Wallace and SuperPrep rank it 11th.
| Rank | Emfinger | SuperPrep |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida St | Notre Dame |
| 2 | Notre Dame | Florida St |
| 3 | UCLA | Texas |
| 4 | Ohio Sate | USC |
| 5 | Texas | Michigan |
| 6 | LSU | Ohio State |
| 7 | Michigan | UCLA |
| 8 | Nebraska (T-7) | Clemson |
| 9 | Georgia (T-7) | Georgia |
| 10 | LSU | |
| 11 | Nebraska | |
| 12 | Miami |
Recapping the 1980s - So how did Nebraska do in recruiting in the 1980s? It's still a difficult decade to dissect due to the hit and miss nature of the data. Here's what we know:
1) Letterwinners are a tricky measurement because each coach awards them differently, but it's safe to say that if a player never letters at Nebraska he was definitely not an on-field contributor. (If it's okay by you, we'll just call them "busts." If not, insert "non-contributors.")
Through the 1980s, 168 of 234 signees (71.7 percent) went on to letter at Nebraska. On average, there were 6.6 busts per class in the decade. We'll tackle those numbers for the 1990s later this week but by way of comparison, from 2000 to 2006 76.2 percent of Nebraska signees lettered, for an average of 5.14 busts per class. Factor in differing class size between the varying eras and Nebraska missed on slightly more kids, on average, in the 1980s than in the current era.
In the 1980s Nebraska's average class size was 23.4 players for an average "bust-rate" of 28.2 percent. From 2000 to 2006, the last year we have complete letterwinner data, the average class size was 21.6 for an average bust-rate of 23.7 percent. Considering the scholarship limitations and other changes that went into effect in the 80s I think it's safe to say the numbers are very comparable between the two eras. When Nebraska had fewer scholarships to work with they struck out slightly less.
2) For the marquee players, as measured by All-American status, there's an interesting shift midway through the decade. Here are Nebraska's All-Americans from the 1980s broken down by state:
| State | Number |
|---|---|
| Neb. | 6 |
| Texas | 5 |
| N.J. | 2 |
| Iowa | 2 |
| Okla. | 1 |
| Calif. | 1 |
| La. | 1 |
| TOTAL | 18 |
Nebraska led all states in the total number of AA's but none of them came in after 1983. Four of the five AA's from Texas arrived at Nebraska in 1985 or later. The one clear difference between the 1980s and now is the number of in-state kids Nebraska signed to scholarships. Throughout the decade, it wasn't uncommon for Nebraska to sign eight or more scholarship athletes from Nebraska. The 2012 class had one (Sam Cotton). In five years, Pelini has signed 18 Nebraska kids to scholarships.
Does that mean that Nebraska (the state) is producing less high school talent or that Nebraska (the school) is taking less homegrown talent? There are almost too many factors to consider -- increased access to travel, decreased population, different coaching staffs and schemes, etc. -- to make a meaningful judgement but this much is clear: There was a change in where Nebraska's best players, as measured by actual college results and not recruiting hype, were coming from in the 1980s.
(Related: It would really help Nebraska if Omaha Central would get back to producing All-American running backs at a regular clip.)
3) 1980s by the Numbers: Nebraska had 18 All-Americans, one Heisman, one Butkus and one Outland award winner. Irving Fryar was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1984 NFL Draft. Based on the five out of 10 years for which I was able to find some sort of class ranking, and a few others where a general ranking was implied, I think it's safe to guess that Nebraska was in the Top 20 nationally and near the top of the Big 8 in most years. We know for sure that Nebraska was Top 15 in 1984 (Emfinger), tied for the top-ranked class in 1985 (Emfinger), Top 10 in 1988 (Emfinger) and No. 7 (Emfinger) and No. 11 (SuperPrep) in 1989.
It may not seem like much, and I'm the first to admit there are still a lot of holes, but it's better than where we were when you started reading this approximately six hours ago.
Now give your eyes a rest and be sure to check back later this week for "A Brief History of Husker Recruiting: The 90s" where I can promise you at least one national Top 10 ranking for each year.
KC, MO
2/6/2012
This is just fantastic. I know there are holes in the data, but comparing the different recruiting years with ACTUAL data is something badly needed.
Please just revisit this after all the data is in for the 2000s (and again for 2010s if you’re still doing this).
2/6/2012
Thank you for putting this info together. I have been arguing with people for years who always try to say TO never had classes in the Top 10 or 15. Recruiting is much more detailed today and although it can never be completely accurate, it does give us an idea of where we are. If TO’s clases were rated with today’s Rivals and Scouts, his classes would be in Top 10 or 12 every year. Here in lies the problem with perception. I for one think Pelinii put together just an average class and for us to get to the level we want, he needs to start getting difference makers or we will never be a better than 9-4 or 10-5 type team. Walkons are a great part of NU’s success in the past but it is a fantasy to think only walkons and player develpment are going to get us in a BCS bowl and playing for titles. We need to get top notch talent mixed in there as well becasue remember, if half of the commits end up ever seeing the field, than you are lucky, This is not a knock on some of the commits we did get, but we need more explosive type players or we will be no better than what have been for the loast 4 years.
2/6/2012
Sorry I had a typo, meant to say No better than 9-4 or 10-4 (not 10-5)
2/6/2012
To Joe Husker.
I agree with you 100%, Bo needs to figure out how to get more higher profile players. Everyone knows every 4 or 5 star player will not be a superstar but I agree in that this class is no more than just a solid class. We have had 4 solid or average classes and look where we are, losing to teams like Northwestern at home. We still need the walkons and some of the guys commited could be pretty good but in my opinion, every commit should have been someone that was being recruited by all the big boys and losing Peat to Stanford makes no sense and Fuller to UCLA, seriously, Brandon Beaver and countless others. No excuse
2/6/2012
I am not only a graduate of UNL, but have been watching the football program since the 6o’s and the birth of what we now
know as Husker football under Bob Devaney.
From my vantage point, unless Pellini can upgrade his recruiting classes to those of Dr. Tom’s, he will be gone in two years.
The bottom line is: not only did Dr. Tom recruit better players, he had the luxury of playing in a weaker conference against less competitive competition, and when expectations were lower.
Pellini has none of those advantages and has contributed to a downward spiral in recruiting mediocrity which will contribute to a a self-fullfilling prophecy of failure.
2/6/2012
Guys winning will bring in better recruiting plain and simple.. You have to win with what you got to get to that next level..
NU is getting back to winning 9 to 10 games a year ( just like Osborne) IT takes awhile for kids to to appreciate that.. It took Tom 2o years to win a national championship, and kids came because the program was a consistent winner..
Put yourself in a 19 year old recruits shoes..
When did you really start getting into football ?.. a 17 old kid right now grew up seeing nebraska
17 yr old - 2011 9-4 #24
16 yr old -2010 10-4 #20
15yr old- 2009 10-4 #14
14yr old -2008 9-4 NR
13yr old - 2007 5-7 NR
And previously before that the rest of the Callahan years, and the firing of a 9-4 coach. Thats what he grew up thinking NU football was..
He did not grow up like many of us with Nebraska National Championship teams or where we were a power house.. He grew up in an age where the SEC has been winning national championships, and teams like Boise State, and Oregon, and USC, TCU , Ohio State, OU and TExas all played in National Championships or were a game away..
AGAIN , put yourself in recruits shoes ,and ask these questions..
Do I want to live in ? ( Location) Nebraska , Florida, California,Texas, S Carolina??
Do I want to go to a school thats had the same traditions year in and year out or do I want to go to a school thats new , and creating new traditions?? like say Oregon with their Nike Contract..
Do I want to go to a school were I can play right away?? Kids can now go to schools all over the country, still play on national Tv and be on teams like Boise State, SJSU, Fresno, USF, UFA.. Where as they would have never thought of that before..
We have a lot of things going against us in recruiting… I think people just have to be more realistic on what type of recruits you will bring in , until you start winning conference championship and wining big meaningful games.. We can get better , but it takes time ..
2/6/2012
Also Last year we were a top 15 class , which seems about equivilant to the majority of toms years..
Another thing , CAllahan had a class or two in the top 5 .. How did we do then?? You can bring in all the top recruits you want, but if they dont fit your scheme or your game plan they do you no good..
2/6/2012
Wow u really did your homework. Very interesting. I think even if nebraska isn’t ranked high for recruit class its Alrite in a way great coaching can make average players into great players. If I remember rite burkhead was only a 2 or 3 star recruit. Could be wrong tho
2/6/2012
Wow - great read! Thanks for compiling all of this! Articles like this are why this is my favorite Husker site.
2/7/2012
It shows that to be successful, you have to have good recruiting. TO was top 10-15 how many times in that one 20 year period? This is where we need to be.
2/7/2012
Mickey Joseph was Emfinger’s top rated QB? Any credibility that Emfinger had, just went out the window.
2/7/2012
You need to win consistently, then the top recruits will start flowing in. It doesn’t happen overnight. TWAuto’s “recruits” perception example is dead on. You can’t expect the recruits from other areas to love the Huskers like we do. We have to get our program to a point they notice us first. I believe Bo is getting us to that place. This class he just brought is is going to help him get to that place. And TO started having his best recruiting classes AFTER he started beating OU. If we beat OSU again this year, more Ohio kids will start looking at Lincoln too.
2/7/2012
Are the best recruits in Ohio? Michigan? Or, scattered throughout the country? Why has the B1G been so bad in bowl games? Can we beat the SEC with recruits from the B1G? Osborne in the mid-90’s got the right mix of talent from home and abroad for his system, and that’s what NU should always recruit to, kids that fit the system.
2/7/2012
To Greg9
Rex Burkhead was a high 4-star recruit, not a 2 or 3. Rivals had him as the #8 best running back in his class. To Doc 1400, you are dead on right in my opinion. If Bo does not start elevating his recruiting classes, he will be gone in two years. Folks open you eyes, if things go just a little south for us next year, a key injury or two for example, we could be looking at 5-7 or 6-6. And to those of you trying use the argument that because Callahan had a top 5 class, and we stunk doesn’t give Bo a pass on his recruiting weaknesses. Obviously coaching has as much to do with success as well, they have to work hand in hand but if you think we can consistenly get mid-velel talent and compete consistently for conference and BCS types titles you are dreaming. Solich, yes Solich started this mess by chasing things other than the top recruits and the downward spiral started. As good of a coach as Saban is, if he had our recruiting classes of the last 4 years, he would be sub 500 in the SEC
2/7/2012
Kind of funny you guys keep thinking to had a top 12 recruiting class every year. What i read was different, looks like to me he only had 3 top 12 classes in all of the 80’s. Alot of those aa’s were not highly recruited minus a few top schools recruiting them. To just could coach 2 and 3 star recruits and turn them into 5. It’s hard to recruit to nebraska and always has been don’t kid yourself that it isn’t. Prime example of a team who never recruits in to the top 30 and is winning and beating thos top 30 schools you all love- Boise State. It’s all about coaching and has always been about coaching. TO recruited kids that were awsome at running his sceam not always the best player. I don’t know if Bo will get it done but i can say this recruiting never bothers me, like it bother u guys.
Put some things in perspective:
UCLA-usually a top 20 recruiting class every year and always a pretty shitty team.
Missouri- Pinkel usually gets them in the top 25 in recruiting but never and i mean never will get those kids to produce anything more then just ok
Notre Dame- Always pretty shitty and always a top 15 recruiting class.
Florida State- Always a top 10 recruiting school and since bobby left they fell to just ok with all that talent no coach to coach them.
I could go on and on about alot of the top 20 schools in recruiting who never do alot with all that so called talent. Im just saying calm down we keep winning 9 to 10 wins every year under bo that stars will allign every once and a while and we’ll win big.
Springfield, MO
2/7/2012
FANTASTIC post!
Just one more reason that this is my first Husker site, daily!
For future reference however, please define the word “Brief” in the title. hehehe
GBR!
Bob
KC, MO
2/7/2012
I’m kind of with Josh here. I didn’t finish reading this article and think, “Oh man, Pelini is recruiting so much worse than TO”.
It’s pretty hard to tell really since the data is pretty scarce. So I read this as much more of a look back at recruiting results vs. recruiting rankings. It’s still hard to make any concrete observations, but I did notice 2 things:
1) Like always, the players highly rated and the players who end up being all americans are not the same.
2) Look how many of our all americans were from Nebraska—1/3.
I’m pretty sure if 1/3 of our recruiting classes now were from Nebraska we’d have really low ranked classes and even more fans down on our recruiting. So, it seems like either the talent is no longer there in the state or TO coached up the lesser ranked players to be stars.
We’d all like to have a top recruiting class, but I just didn’t see this column as proof that Pelini is doing anything worse any any former coach. I’m really looking forward to the 90s edition though which may prove it more one way or the other.
2/7/2012
Intriguing read…keep it up Brandon.
2/7/2012
What’s missing in these most recent classes are those top tier prospects. This column is damning of most recent classes. If you don’t think so you didn’t read the same column. Every year T.O. had at least 1 and in many cases several 5 star Top 100 type prospects in those classes. Irving Fryar, Broderick Thomas, Steve Taylor, Derek Brown (still remember him from the Parade All-American list). Drop off in difference makers from in state has been big too. The fact that some programs underperform is not an argument for recruiting ratings don’t matter. I remember the 88 UCLA game and I thought it was interesting that they had some good classes there in the 80’s. Go figure.
2/8/2012
Stan you are correct! Yes this was a solid class, but by what we’ve just read in this excellent article was that, in fact Dr Tom DID have top recruiting classes! He got the top guys…many of them at least. I still think since some schools always have high recruiting classes and some of them don’t perform as well as they should, it is no argument that recruiting doesn’t coincide with winning. Alabama has top classes each year and they win NC’s. So does LSU. Florida does too. recruiting matters in my opinion and we are no where near where we ought to be and frankly could be. Assigning a guy like Ross Els as recruiting coordinator is dowright foolish and dangerous. You go out and get the best you can…it’s the same thing as in business. If Bo’s stratagy works, great, but what re the chances of that! Slim to none. It’s the same thing as recruiting in business…companies go out and get the best talent they can. It’s as simple as that.
Dr Tom had another advantage though over this group…he had been here so long that their system was in place and working smoothly. They reloaded, they didn’t rebuild like we seem to be doing all the time. Bo and Co, to be fair, are still in the process of establishing systems and a program and I might add had to start basically from scratch. But TO could coach them up too. he had the systems in place.
I’m not against Bo, but I do think he has made some bonehead moves regarding hiring and a few other things. He’s letting himself get int eh way. Joe Moglia who coached him as an executive would probably land on teh side of going out and getting top notch talen for your program.
It could easuily be pointed out however that what Tom Osborne did was hire from within and none of his coaches were big names…I think Milt Tennepoir was a HS football coach. That’s all well and good but in todays envronment, things move at light speed compared to back then. Back then it was far more common to promote from within and hire guys you have had some experience with and just had a good feeling about. That day and age is past now for the most part, and if you want to compete, and if we want to play with the big dogs, that old system isn’t going to get us there in any kind of fast way. It takes years to develop a coach and develop a system normally. However, in recent times, we have seen several examples of coaches coming in and turning programs around in no time flat. Just look at the job Brady Hoke has done and more spefically what he did on defense…he went out and hired someone who knew what the heck he was doing. That’s the way big time programs do it. Also, there have been several instances of programs winning National Championships within 2 years of their HC being hired in the last decade of so. Bob Stoops did it, Les Miles, Nick Saben, and the Auburn coach.
If you’re not a star power HC, then you need star power assistant coaches. Recruits today want that. It’s hard enough to recruit to Nebraska, why don’t we stack the odds a little in our favor? When you are sitting in a recruits home and your Bo Pelini, it would sure be impressive if your OC was a Dana Holgerson, Gus malzon or somebody with a proven track record and name recognition, that says something to them. If you are a 5 star O lineman and we want and need you, it would be impressive if your coach was going to be someone that is known for offensive line coaching and has sent many linemen to the pros. We could have hired Wisconsins O line coach…someone just did…and that guy had lines that were incredible!
2/9/2012
I will put this on this post and the next. Dr Tom didn’t have the top 5, he had the the players that fit into his system. I played against a cpl of Huskers we love in HS. Jared Tomich and Jamal Williams. FYI Jared was told by Purdue that he could walkOn. And Jamal was a RB/ DB in high school who had an ACL tear as a senior in HS. Both are examples who believed in Huskers and wanted to do anything to make us better. Most of these 5* recruits are about themselves and their own airtime. Just stop the turnovers and the penalties and we will be fine.
2/9/2012
With all due respect Matt, you’re only partially right. T.O. may not have had classes consistently ranked in the top 5, but he did have top level talent in every class and benefited from a lot of top notch in state talent as well. Top west coast player. Top east coast player. Two-time Louisiana player of the year. You think NU has landed that type of kid in the last 5 years? Parade All-Americans not once in awhile, but at least 1 and frequently more every year. Jared Tomich would not be able to enroll at NU now out of HS at least. Neither would Christian Peter and several other household Husker names. So in that regard it’s a more challenging job to fill out a team.