Recruiting Round Table Wrap Up

Steve I think your point to the pass rush being weaker last season is right on.  Obviously our secondary as a whole needs to improve realty this offseason, but I think the loss of Crick hurt us significantly. However, the guys behind Crick who got playing time are now game hardened and with the incoming talent competing I really think our d could be better than last year even though we lose key pieces.

*greatly not realty

realty works.  They need to quit selling real estate so cheap.

I watched the Jared afalava highlights on YouTube I know it’s just a sample of his good plays but that kid attacks the ball carrier

I guess I’ll have to be that guy but there are reasons for concern here.  We have pending depth issues around the corner at TE, OL and DB, and they are considerable, and strategic in scope.  This is not a matter of missing on one guy here or there.  It is well beyond that.  But more than anything else it is the fear that Michigan and Ohio State will not only have clearly better coaching staff’s but that we will not be able to compete on a recruiting basis with either moving forward.  You can talk all you want about coaching people up, but if someone has better and stronger horses pulling the wagon then you can only do so much to make up for that. . .

Ohio is now roped off.  Consider it the Texas of The Big 10 for being the center of high quality HS football in the conference.  Only Ohio State and Michigan (The Big 10’s Oklahoma) will get the first crack at the choice prospects there.  That is a player that we have to get.  And for all of the hard work we do in States like California or Louisiana look what happens when USC or LSU offers a hometown recruit.  They take it. Just like Nebraska kids who take their offer the minute their dream school offers.  So where, where are we going to go for our players?  Florida?  SEC Country?  We’ll go out West to beat Oregon or USC for somebody in California?  I don’t see us beating out The Big 12 for too many people in Texas.  The conference survived and they can pitch their “stay at home so your family can see you play while you are at college and you can compete against some of your HS rivals too.”  We couldn’t beat Stanford for Peat and we signed his brother and cousin too.  Heck Michigan snagged a DT from Kansas City. . .

People say quite frequently that Dr. Osborne would’ve never made it to The Triplets or to the Dynasty Teams but Coach Pelini is not Dr. Osborne.  It must be emphatically emphasized that he does not have the same aptitude as a football mind or a managerial talent.  Not the same ballpark or the same league, and there is no shame in that.  For a good part of Dr. Osborne’s tenure it was us, Oklahoma, nobody else on The Great Plains, and these two programs could carry 100+ scholarships of quality talent year in and year out.  That is not the lay of the land today.  If Coach Pelini was Bud Wilkinson, Bear Bryant or Dr. Osborne then I would hands down give him the benefit of the doubt for hiring a HS Football Coach to be our WR Coach, or for a Defensive Coordinator to receive his promotion solely based on the fact that he had been with Coach Pelini since being a Graduate Assistant at LSU, or make every position coaching decision based on whether that candidate knew him.  But Coach Pelini is not those guys.  He is a young football coach with a long ways to go.  His insistence on sticking with his guys and not getting the best coaches available worries me.  With Coach Fisher moving to Recruiting Coordinator I must ask the question, on what grounds?  Why is he the most suitable and best qualified candidate for the job?  Could we have done better?  Or did we take him because he knew Coach Pelini.  There is talk that we want to go to an Oregon-style spread.  This can only happen when Martinez is either benched or gone.  But let’s look at this as a credible conclusion, that this is what the staff wants.  Well Coach Pelini had a chance to take that route by hiring Scott Frost and said no.  He would rather promote his guy first.  I like Coach Beck but if an Oregon-style spread is what we want then why not get a Coach from Oregon, who played for Nebraska, and has more experience with this system?  It’s hard to make the case that Scott Frost, at the moment, was not a better qualified candidate than Coach Beck to take this offense to that vision. . .

If there was anyone else besides Dr. Osborne in charge of the whole thing I would be well past the worried stage at this point.  Look this staff put everything into getting Jordan Diggs, and had no back up plan.  The result?  Lost the guy, and the staff was forced to scramble.  Same for Peat.  They put everything into trying to get him, make no mistake about that.  Get people to this campus.  If you have 56 officials to give out, get them out there.  Be aggressive in promoting the program.  Simply put we are in an era where Freshmen and Sophmores do play.  However at Nebraska they do not play.  Tyler Moore commits a false start penalty at Wisconsin?  Banished for weeks.  Aaron Green?  Does anybody feel that we got everything out of him that we could have?  That we burned a season for nothing?  I wondered at times during last season how he would’ve looked at Baylor (for example) or another Big 12 school because somebody would’ve found a way to use him. From a rankings standpoint there was not a whole lot of difference between Aaron Green and De’Anthony Thomas.  But De’Anthony Thomas makes the field at Oregon (a better program than us right now).  He gets to commit errors in his first ever game, and he got to fight through it, learn the game as the season went on, made the mental transition form Freshman to Sophmore, and he vindicates this by earning his stripes in The Rose Bowl.  Our guys just disappear, in some cases for the rest of the season.  We are going to have to find a way to put playmakers on the field and let them work through it.  Braylon Heard.  Now he moves to CB.  If the CB’s we had on the roster were developing you can rest assured that he would not be moving from IB.  But this move should be a big warning flag that there are some serious issues with the Secondary.  You don’t make this move if you are not scrambling to address something.  Didn’t we move a WR to CB last year?  This year an IB?  That is coaching.  That is evaluation of talent and position coaches not getting the job done.  God Bless the walk on’s, but the scholarship players that this staff has brought in over the past few years has not lived up to its expectations and this is why the walk on’s figured so prominetly, especially last year. . .

The program is stuck.  It does not have the Coaching Staff to develop players as big time programs should.  Let’s take Alabama, the difference in the Coaching Staff at Alabama and Nebraska is night and day.  Coach Saban really goes out of his way to get the best position coaches he can.  Coach Pelini does not.  This is a big part in player development while they are at your program.  And again where are we going to get out players?  California?  Texas?  Louisiana?  Ohio?  Where?  The Dakota’s?  Mountain West?  I question the ability of this coaching staff to develop this recruiting class.  They have a spotty record so far and there is little reason to believe that anything will change.  Coach Pelini did a great job with Coach Callahan’s players but his record with his players is not as stellar.  I just don’t know how we get better at this point.  We will win 8 or 9 games, and have a hard time with the big names on the schedule for the time being until this Coaching Staff realizes that there are some things that it is doing that must be changed.  This is not a manifesto to fire everyone and burn down the Osborne Complex.  But people, there are some strategic issues that need to be addressed moving forward if you want to win 10 games (not needing 14 games to do it), get a Conference Title and a spot in a BCS Game.  If you just want to win 8 or 9 games and have games like Michigan and Wisconsin happen, then we should not change a thing. . .

@James a lot of words.  Full of contradictions.  Looking only at a half empty glass.  I’m sorry you are so depressed.

Ohio? Texas? West Coast? Missori? Florida? We can’t recruit from there?  Better take a look at the recruit list again.

So full of holes in your case…or full of something…e.g., Tyler Moore:  FR.  replaced INJURED starter.  Starter HEALED.

Shall I go on?  Only way to make you happy is to cancel all the scholly’s, fire all the coaches, fire Osbourne, fire Perlman, tear down the stadium, and rebuild from scratch.  Good luck wishing that.

James Moore,

I agree with tons of what you are saying here.  Spot on about Pelini.  I feel that he hires guys he knows because he is a young coach and doesn’t want experience coming in.  He wants to be the experienced one.  I think he may feel threatened by anyone that might know more about football than him.  He doesn’t want to lose ‘control’ of his program.  Don’t get me wrong.  I feel that he is a good coach, but I think he is making some big mistakes based on ego.
As far as who might be the player in this class that surprises??? I bet it’s going to be one of the walk-ons.

James,
I am convinced that the 2012 season will be make or break for Coach Pelini and his crew. Most eyes will be on the defensive coach now that mad Carl is gone.
2012 will be an interesting season for sure.

It took Dr. Tom 20yrs to win a national championship after taking over a program that had just won 2 championships.  Bo Pelini took over a program that just finished it worst 4yr span under Callasham in 40yrs.

I have to remind people about Bo’s decisions to hire coaches could go a little deeper than, ” He wants to be the expirienced one.” His decisions are not his alone and would not be made that way if that was the excuse he gave. I find it much more likley that Bo is trying to build a foundation. A foundation that promotes within and preaches unity and loyalty above all else. The Husker faithful are a very loyal bunch, we should have a staff that is as well. Who knows it may lead to players who are great at their spot comming back here to teach other classes how to do what he did.

James brings up some issues that I’ve had issue with myself and have spoken about many times on this blog. Don’t mean to be a wet blanket but…he is dead right about most of this, especially the coaching and hiring of people unqualified to do the job or inexperienced at best. That’s nepatism by most peoples definition. Like hiring family instead of the most qualified guy to do the job. Bo needed to, and had a chance to go out and get the best out there and believe me, we can afford it. Why not a dedicated QB coach? Why not have a dedicated full time recruiting specialist? We profit almost 3 million dollars a MONTH…I think we could have went out and got several people that were proven commodities at the time. If you look at the coaches that have been hired away in college football since the Bo hires, it’s astounding. Gus Malzon for example went to Arkansas State of all places. Wisconsins OC got hired away, as did their offensive line coach…do you think we could have used that guy right about now? Wisconsins OL is where we used to be. Heck, Mike Leach would have been interesting. All kinds of guys that would have been great hires, if it wasn’t for Bo’s ego, or wanting coaches he knows, or who knows him, or once coached with him. Show me a system where hiring like that has worked to it’s benefit? There are none. A program of this level is not a proving ground for young coaches. Bo thinks it is. That’s a problem as I see it. We will pay a hefty price for it too. We already are. Unless you’re happy with 8-9 wins a season and getting blown out a few times a year. I really do like Bo and I still think it was a good hire, but a risky one in that he himself had no Head Coaching experience. He quite obviously is not a very good program manager and it shows. Why, after 4 years, are there such huge holes at certain positions? These could have been addressed before they became problems. Why aren’t we getting the top recruits? We are one of the winningest programs ever! Perhaps a lack of salesmanship? Ya think?
I really do think it is because he doesn’t want to get shown up and can’t have anyone who might be better than he. If we had got someone who can really coach and recruit, where would we be now? Getting Peat? Other 5 stars? Yep.
I think Pelini is a great defensive coach and I like that, having a ferocous defense. I really do. And yes, defense wins championships. But it’s offense that gets you there. And those games that get you there are won in the trenches folks. We need a dominating defense and offensive line first and formost.
On the up side, we did bring in 5, 4 star OL guys in the last 2 years and I think Tyler Moore will turn out to be better than Peat would have been. We have brought in some really good D line guys too, some really good linebackers, and some skill players that I’m really excited about so there is hope of course for our team. Maybe if Armstrong takes over we can use Martinez in more of a running type of thing because the guy can flat out move. When he gets open, no one can catch him. That’s a huge weapon we need to take more advantage of. Jamal Turner can still be an awesome Bobby Newcombe type player if developed right, as can Aaron Green (a true 5 star by most services - the first since Marlon Lucky). Tommy Armstrong is a real deal gamer type dude who wants to be here, Westerkamp can flat out fly and catch anything that comes his way, and our defensive line and linebacking crew is something I look forward to seeing. Go watch the tape on Afalava - he’s mean! Gobs of upcoming talent there. And, if Mohomid Seasay turns out to be what everyone is thinking he will, the future of that postion group looks better as well. It won’t make that much difference in the defensive backfield if the defensive line is dominating like we have in the recent past.
So I think there is a lot to be excited about Nebraska football moving forward but the things James brings up are valid concerns that frankly, sometimes are the things that tip the scales when it comes time for big time talent to decide on us or for us to win those close games and championship games. Seldom does inferior talent beat superior talent, so talent matters and there IS a correlation to recruiting and winning.
But…you have to admit…in the last few years, had things gone a little different at certain times, we would have won, among other things,  2 conference tittles and probably been in a BCS game or 2. We’ve been close. Very close to being right where we want to be. And what would have happened if Taylor not got hurt in 2010…the season where we started out on fire…we were playing football like we haven’t seen around here in a decade. Hard to know, but we were close to National Championship level play. We need to change the “what if’s” to did happens, and that’s where Bos coaching and program management mistakes are biting us in the ass. Making these dumb coaching and program decisions are the difference between us sitting back, frustrated and saying “what if”, like we are now, to celebrating victory on the big stage.

Recruiting thread.  Good class.  Chillax, Bo’s got this.

The comparisons to what Tom Osborne did and what today’s environment is like are completely useless. That was a totally different time and not applicable to todays day and age. Bo does not have 20 years to win a NC like Dr Tom did. He will be gone long before that. And gone are the days when we have 105 scholorships to give out and can dominate a region. Today, frankly, if you want to play for all the marbles, you have to be able to get the top guys. It’s as simple as that. And the only way to attract those kinds of guys is star power in your coaches who also happen to be great recruiters, which is nothing but salesmanship frankly. Nick Saben is the blueprint. We have to have a big name coach, or coaches, that can go out and haul in lots of 4 and 5 star athletes and get them to come to Nebraska. It’s that simple. Corey Raymond, Ross Els, Tim Beck and Rich Whateverhisnameis aint gonna cut it guys. I’m sure they are wonderful people, but they are not what will get us to the promised land. That’s what we don’t have now, star power and name recognition with recruits. The last time we were relavent thos HS seniors were todlers. That is why Urban Meyer can come in and put together a top 5 recruiting class in 2 months. We don’t have that. If Bo would have went out and got a Dana Holgerson, a Gus Malzon, a Rich Rodriguez, or even a Mike Leach for example, we’d be there too. And they don’t seem to have the coaching experience and skill, not yet anyways to overcome the lack of player talent we bring in here.
If we stay on the path we’re on, and I think we will, and Bo is actually building a foundation with these guys, it’s going to be several years most likely, and lots of heartbreak, before we see anything like the Nebraska we used to be. I hope I’m wrong, and I can’t wait to see how some of these guys turn out but it’s pretty clear where we are at this point. And that’s not dominate.

PE,
Your obvious distain for Pelini aside, there are multiple universities that still promote from within and are a factor in football. One I can think of is Penn State. Sure they now have hired outside after the scandal, however prior to that nearly every coach was promoted from within and they were a factor. You can not expect a team to dominate every single season. If they did then this sport would no longer be productive. Who would watch a sport where the same team won the title every year? Yes, you can still be dominant without winning a title, as LSU was this year. However, if we were doing that you would still be screaming, fire the coach, because he wouldn’t be able to bring home the championship.  Promoting from within has been effective with Boise State as well as they have gone 73-6 since 2006 with a head coach that was promoted from Offensive Coordinator on a failing team. His current O coord and D coord are promoted from within as well. And he has done all of this while never passing a rank of 55 with his recruiting class. About hiring coordinators with no experience. Alabama just hired an offensive coordinator who has only been coaching since 2001. And Urban Meyer just hired a first time assistant offensive coordinator. The point of the matter is that you disagree with it. That is fine disagree with it, but don’t say it isn’t possible just because you don’t like it. I could continue to give examples of systems that work and you could give examples of why ours won’t. The simple point is that only time will tell. I do know one thing for sure though, if we keep playing involuntary games os Round Robin with our coaching staff we will keep taking steps back instead of forward.

You are making certain assumptions that are just flat out wrong. I don’t have disdain for Pelini. I said it was a good hire. But to attract the top recruits we need some star power. Seldom does a team hire no names iand it works out. Yes thise are good examples, especially the Boise State example. But that’s only one and in fact have a fantastic coach…Pelini is far from Peterson. The other examples you gave all have a high profile HC so don’t neccessarily need star power in their assistants…we do.
We have a solid class coming in for sure and I can’t wait to see how some of these guys do, but did you notice, we lost out of teh really top guys this year. The only 5 star guy we’ve gotten lately was Green last year and he was a 4 star by some boards. before that, as i said was marlon Lucky and how long ago was that? The fact remains that there is a definate correlation to recruiting and winning.

You are taking what you want out my post and leaving the rest behind. My point was that you don’t always need star power in order to make a consistantly winning team, example the Broncos never having a class ranked higher than 55. You mention Marlon Lucky as our last solid 5 star recruit. He carried for 2,393 yds in 515 carries in the 4 years he played at Nebraska. While Joel Makovicka earned 1447 yds with a 5.9 yard average as a walk on and a Fullback. I don’t think we need the five sar recruits. I think we need what works best for us. I think these guys can work out quite well. I like the walk-on fullback we picked up this year. He is only 5’11” and 220 or something but he looks like he is going to be a fast hard hitting machine. If we could incorporate these hard hitters a bit more it may open up the outside for some of the smaller faster guys we picked up last year.

Recruiting is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the problems with this team…and us winning big things. BTW…your promoting from within is really a stupid point mentioning Penn State…they haven’t played for anything in a long while. Walk on’s are great but they won’t get us to the promissed land. We do need 5 star recruits, and a lot of 4 stars if we are to compete in todays environment. The walk ons are great, but if the coaching staff does not know how to develop players, it’s a mute point, and so far, their record has been spotty in regards to that.
there are no systems where promoting from within work…when was the last time someone won a championship with that going on?

PE:  TO gambled on Bo becoming a good HC and I personally believe that he is learning and getting better ever year. Unfortunately, we do not have the same time to develop good HC’s like they did back when TO was coaching.  I agree with a lot of what you are saying and I want what you want.  Have you read the OWH article where BO was interviewed?  That article shows that he is willing to make the necessary changes and he seems to finally get it about getting more info to the fans, etc.  Actually, I had to read the article 3 times because this is the first time he actually opened up to the press and us fans.  To me that is wonderful.

Lastly, back in the late 70’s I was on the band wagon to get rid of TO and hire someone better qualified.  I know that it is really hard to compare the two but what I learned was that us huskers fans have a hard time with losing games and think we are entitled to a undefeated season and national championships every year.  As fans were spoiled by having a great team.  Because of my mistakes with TO I’m ready to give BO more time to turn our program back to what it used to be.  We are on our way. 

BO, you have my complete support but please give Brion a chance next season.  ha ha ha ha

didn’t we have a fullback in the ‘60’s who was under 5’8”?  Frank something or other I think.

The only program that promotes from within that I’m aware of, and is successful is Boise state. Penn state isn’t relative anymore.  I just think that if we are to play for nc’s then we’ll have to be competing with the programs who do have the big name coaches and do get the 5stars and 4stars. You have to stay with the times.
I just don’ see us competing at the highest level the way things are now, and Bo had a perfect opportunity to hire some firepower and didn’t. We could of used it. Short of that, I think he needs to create the position of qb coach and go out and find the best money can buy. Then he needs to do the same with a recruiting coordinator…make it a full time position. Washington just hired a d line coach away from cal that is one of the best recruiters in the country….why couldn’t we have done that? Washington ended up with a better class than we did because of it and will for some time to come.  That is what m talking about. That ‘s doing it smart.  Has Ross els ever even been considered a good recruiter? So we are leaving that tremendously important role up to an unknown with hardly any experience in recruiting? That’s not how you build a winner.

Man

We have a BUNCH of absolute geniuses here…we should just hire people who commented on this thread to coach at Nebraska…they have it all figured out without being in a single meeting or knowing any of the coaches…or knowing how well any of the coaches recruit!

Amazing use of the crystal ball.

Stop talking out of your arses people.  You don’t know what happens in the Nebraska coaching circles and therefore you have no base from which to make accusations from or from which to shout at perceived deficiencies.

Support the Huskers through thick and perceived thin.  Stop being whiny babies and let’s get to work.

Dkdevine…Nope, your the only genius here.  Your absolutely right.  We should have no right to give our OPINIONS here.  Just you can right?  Sorry bloggers,  we all have to give up on having an opinion because Dkdevine is throwing out the ‘N’ on the red flag and replacing it with the yellow sickle and hammer.

You’d be correct if I gave my opinion.  Nice try though…evidently, you have thin skin.

dkdevine:  I don’t think HF1 is being thin skinned but he is just stating what these blogs are all about:  speaking our opinions.  We do have some whiny babies on these blogs but I try to ignore them and you are also right about that none of us really knows what the NU coaches are doing.  We’re just stating our opinions.  My response was about how easily I jumped on the “Fire TO” back in the 1970’s and now that I look back I should of support TO.  That is all I’m saying about BO,  support BO and the huskers through thick and thin.

It just seems that people tent to overlook the fact that Dr. Osborne got some of the most talented athletes in the country year after year to come here.  It seems that there are people who believe that Dr. Osborne assembled his teams from spare body parts, WD 40, some ball bearings and just magically made outstanding football teams out of thin dust.  Dr. Osborne brought in top shelf talent and for those who would disagree just look at the NFL Players that came of the 1/2 Depth Charts between 94-99 (for example and I go up to 1999 because this was a class he selected and put together).  He evaluated them and had the program and Position Coaches in place to maximize all of their abilities.  But those teams were by far the most talented teams of that stretch.  And those were teams with Grade A material, and that is one important reason for their dominance.  Why is it that the 1996 team started out ranked in the Top 5 of Preseason Polls with only 7 Starters returning?  It was because the program was stocked with with talent.  The depth of athleticism was staggering throughout the program and this was a primary factor during Dr. Osborne’s tenure.  We didn’t have teams lacking for talent during Dr. Osborne’s tenure here. . .

There are those who mention the idea of building a culture and hiring from within.  Fine idea and it is a worthy objective to pursue.  Let’s take a deeper look for a moment.  Well does a anyone want to compare Position Coaches or Coordinators from Dr. Osborne’s teams with Coach Pelini?  Does anyone see a Coach Tenopir?  Anyone think that Coach Cotton is the second coming of Coach Tenopir?  How about Coach McBride?  You can’t compare the staffs.  Dr. Osborne’s were simply better, by miles and miles.  And that was perhaps was the most decisive factor of our success under Dr. Osborne.  You could rest assured that his Coaching Staff was guaranteed to get maximum development from everyone who passed through their unit.  The comparisons that some make for comparing staffs and that Dr. Osborne’s blueprint is the one for Coach Pelini to follow must take into account that Dr. Osborne’s staff were simply more qualified and better at what they did current to our current staff. . .

Walk On’s.  Look when a Walk On made it to the 1/2 Depth Chart, let’s use Jared Tomich, it was a completely different situation then compared to now.  Tomich had to work his way up the depth chart that had NFL-talent stockpiled.  For a Walk On to make it to the top of that chart was the ultimate vindication of the Walk On Program.  It kept the Scholarship player and the more accoladed individual on his toes and accountable for his merit on a day in, day out basis.  This is simply not the case today.  Our Walk On’s today are getting their opportunity because many scholarship players that this staff has brought in are either (1) not panning out, or (2) their Position Coaches are not doing their job properly.  But our Walk On Program today is only covering up for the shortcoming that the current Coaching Staff is making in talent evaluation and player development. . .

Finally, does anyone see Coach Pelini having the strategic adroitness as Dr. Osborne?  Dr. Osborne changed from a balanced attack to an Option I Attack to take advantage of The Triplets.  In the early 1990’s he gave up the 5-2 for a pressure 4-3 to be more competitve with the Miami’s and Florida State’s of the world.  That takes a gigantic amount of reflection, intellectual fortitude, and tremendous knowledge of the game to do so.  I mentioned above that Coach Pelini is a very young Coach with a long, long ways to go.  This is not a manifesto to fire him.  But the comparisons between Dr. Osborne’s career (losing 6 times to Oklahoma before win 1, the difficulties between 87-92, and ultimately winning the big ones) and Coach Pelini’s are not accurate and not a likely harbinger of things to come.  Coach Pelini’s path will be his own, and one that will bear the results of the choices he chooses to make.  We need to bring in better athletic talents and better football players. . .

We’re stuck, for the moment.  To win 10 games (not needing 14 to do it), play in a Conference Championship Game, or make a BCS Bowl we will need better horses.  Dr. Osborne had some very good ones, and Coach Pelini will need to get some too.  I guess if I had to wrap it up I would pose the following questions.  When did you feel better about the status of the program and the direction we were hearing in?  After the win over Arizona in The Holiday Bowl or this past January against South Carolina?

James Moore,
The reason that the 1996 team was ranked in the top 5 after returning 7 starters was because they DOMINATED the sport the year before winning every game by at least 2 touchdowns, most by more than 40 points. Even when returning 7 starters, if your coaching staff is mostly in tact, you would have to rank that team in the top 5. In 1978 Coack Tenopir had exactly 4 years of experience with the huskers and he was the OL coach. No one knew who he was. This was coach Osbourne’s 5th year as HC. You can not compare the height of someone’s career to the beginning of someone else’s. The point being made was that as you build unity with coaches and players you all progress as a team, as they did in the early days. As for the walk on program, you say that it used to keep players on their toes and now shows how bad players are. Don’t you see how you are explaining one thing two different ways? The glass is half full James. Say it, the glass is half full. As for the position coaches failing, I don’t understand how you could come to that conclusion. Alex Henry was a walk on and I really don’t think that his coach failed in order for him to make it there. I am not comparing Bo’s mental dexterity to Tom’s. I don’t know those things and to insinuate is only anly insulting. However, I do thing that Dr. O is still there, sure in a lesser capacity, but he is still there. I couldn’t agree with you more in the fact that Bo is a young coach and has a long way to go. I just think we should try to keep enjoying the ride. I think that we have some good horses and I think we are continuing to get them. Putting so much emphasis on star power can sometimes lead to spots in your vision. Don’t look at the stars too much James, and remember the cup is half full.

Here is the bottom line about Bo and Tom.  Tom holds Bo to the same standards that he was held to.  Win 9 games or more each year and your job is secure.  Win 8…your fired(unless there are some extreme circumstances).  That is the bottom line.  Tom struggled with Bowl games all the time.  I remember people, including myself, saying that Tom couldn’t win the big games.  Tom knows that Bo is taking heat right now and he is okay with that.  So as long as Bo is winning 9 games per year then he will never be fired.  With all that said, Bo is a great coach for being so inexperienced.  With that, the only thing holding Bo back from winning more games is Bo himself.  I think he is making rookie coaching mistakes with all the young hires.  I do not like it and that is MY opinion.  Nebraska makes enough money from football to hire coaches with more experience. Even if they do rotate out.  Rotating coaches have less to do with bring in good talent than a winning record does.