My
2 Cents
10/7/07
Responses Page 6
David,
I think you only have to read what Turner Gill had to say about what he expected of his players to know what is missing in BC’s coaching style:
In speaking about his expectations for
his team, Gill said: "We are going to be a team where each person
believes in himself, his teammates, his coaches, and the people of this
institution. We will be a family that will dedicate ourselves to excellence,
balance, and growth. It is one of our main goals to make sure that these
young men truly enjoy the college football experience.
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Thanks for that very good commentary, David. Almost parallels the Lord
himself when He said, “What does it profit a man if he gains the
whole world (national championships) but loses his own soul (principles
and reputation).”
GBR!
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The unthinkable. Are some Huskers using the point spread to make some
money. The poor performance is too poor to be normal. It happened in college
basketball some 50+ years ago. Maybe the Ne DA should do some investigation??
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I agree with everything you say !
And the last 3 years HAVE NOT been the worst to be sure...I say much better...00-04
seasons were by far the worst, starting the debacle in Boulder. And I
still watched or listened on the radio to every game I could with desperation
for change... the game at Penn St. was just as painful as it gets....
that Rose Bowl too...which Oregon should have been in but I'm glad we
made it instead of a Buffs team that had 3 losses that year...And 04 was
when the change came so that season doesnt surprise me at all...late coach
signing, no chance to recruit, hiring a new staff, etc....05 was a little
better , 06 tons better...so maybe this year may turn down a little...there's
really only been time for 2 years of solid recruiting efforts after all
the changes...after watching that 9-4 season with FSolich I had a lot
of fellow college football fans exclaiming "wow...how could they
do that ?!?!?! How could they can him"...I said you didnt watch all
the games, that 9-4 record was barely really worthy of .500...the team
was not that good...and defense kept NU afloat..."and you people
just want Solich to stay because you all got us right where you want us,
losing all the time and playing poorly"... I was saying this to CU,
KSU, and KU fans..
Now today that defense would be great...our offense is much more versatile...we
have O-line problems..defense chemistry problems...maybe these kids arent
quite "UP" to the new system..last year's seemed to be...but
our D - line was stellar too...that makes everyone better...there are
problems to be sure but I cant imagine any HUSKER FAN that watched seasons
'00-'04 that wouldnt be delighted with what we have seen in the last 2
1/3 seasons....
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Hello,
I'm an '87 and '92 alum, and got to go to 4 bowl games as a part of the band. Like everyone there, I love Husker football. I live in Kansas City, and moved here in 1999. It's been a pretty bad time to live down here, as I have to put up with Kansas State, Kansas, and now Missouri fans who love to rub salt in the wound, as their teams are finally able to beat up on the "mighty" Huskers.
It really stinks for those of us who live out of state, and it is not acceptable. This Husker team has as much talent as Missouri, but we don't have the coaching. In the past, we defeated spread offenses with a stacked front, punishing QB's for attempting to pass against us. We knocked their receivers down at the line of scrimmage, and blitzed until the QB's just sailed the balls out of bounds to save themselves, ala Peyton Manning in the Jan, 1998 bowl game. The "West-Coast" offense needs a power running game to be effective. Rathman and Craig led the 49ers to all those wins just as much as Joe Montana. And special teams can make a huge difference in games - ask Osborne, Switzer, Beamer and now Prince. Our special teams, and kicking games have been horrible under Callahan. Last year's Auburn game was a joke.
This new staff was put together by Pederson, and it's time for him to go. Pederson doesn't have the football contacts we need to have a great program, as was apparent when he fired Solich and couldn't hire Al Saunders, then tried to paint Nutt as the next best thing, and settled for Callahan, because he called Pederson for the job.
We need a football guru as an A.D. All the schools have learned that football is the key to the money coming into a university, and especially at Nebraska.
I won't be buying tickets or pay-per-view,
or new apparel as long as mediocrity is the plan. I'll let my voice be
heard with my closed wallet.
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Of course you won’t find a person in Lincoln who is thrilled with
the progress of the Huskers at this point in time. When you get so used
to success, it is difficult to regress. I think we would be pitiful fans
if we reveled in the fact that the Huskers aren’t as good as they
once were. However, just because Husker fans may not be thrilled about
the progress of the Huskers doesn’t mean a thing about their quality.
We have carried the title of “Greatest fans in College Football”
for a reason. I can be unhappy with the current state of the Huskers,
and still do all that a fan can to support them. I am at the stadium week
in and week out, cheering for them, giving it my all. Of course Iowa State
fans are happy when they get a win. It doesn’t happen very often.
Any win for Iowa State at this point is progress. That doesn’t mean
that Iowa State fans are somehow vaulted to the forefront of college fan
greatness. There are plenty of Iowa State fans who don’t like it
when Iowa State loses. Heck, I walked with some Iowa State fans who were
mad about the state of their team following there loss to the Huskers
two weeks ago. The difference is that Husker fans love their team so much
that they simply won’t settle for watching their team fall into
the depths of the Big 12. They shouldn’t have to accept the decline
of the Huskers either. The day Husker fans do accept a Husker decline
is the day their quality will match that of Iowa State fans.
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First, I have a minor problem with the ISU fan. There is helluva big difference
in commitment and loyalty and besides if ISU are great fans why accept
the firing of
Dan McCarney? Why build facilities?
Now then. I'm a first time e-mailer to you and a 30+ year fan with no Nebraska ties. It's a very unique program. I'm sure you agree. No doubt, this stinks from the highest level
on down. I was on board for replacing Frank in 2003. As far as Callahan I have never been impressed with him, though if he has success so does the team. Winning & losing is on just a week to week basis. He comes off a distant man to the masses. Now we just extended him 3 more years from the original contract with a raise for basically doing nothing. The program is in the proverbial toilet so to speak. Yes I believe this will be fixed but i have serious doubts it will be by this cast of characters. I believe Callahan should be given a chance to make changes to the staff and if not all bets are off. This fixation with NFL experience has truly back fired and SP should shoulder alot of the responsibility. He owes the fan base some kind of response to the current situation. Craig Bohl lasted 3 years for a reason and in hindsight, Cosgrove makes Bohl look good.
We just spent 60 million on facility improvements
and a well renown staff, yet we get pushed around by lesser talent and
suck wind each week. Buddy Wyatt and Matt Davison finally put the Callahan-Pederson
spin mill to rest. No this can't be fixed on a weekly basis and this loss
and many other things are totally unacceptable. This is not Baylor!! Parity
is not doing us any favors. I can't see any elite program that would stand
for this mess in year 4 with no skins to show for and I sure would like
to know what SPsees in Coach Callahan to give an extension for nothing
and at the moment it's pathetic.
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You’re right on. Being a Nebraska fan in Central California , it
gives me different points of view. I grew up in Omaha , left in 1987 when
I was 15, and have witnessed the rise and fall of an empire. The folks
out here laughed when Callahan was hired, but I still believed. What the
average fan doesn’t know is what makes them the average fan. The
bottom line is that the coaches and players don’t want to lose,
but things don’t work out sometimes. I will still support NU football,
but if there was a change, I would suggest someone like Pat Hill of Fresno
State or Jim Harbaugh of Stanford. Both get the most out of very little.
Seems to me that we have very little. Like the Colonel says “Keep
the Faith”.
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'Interesting thoughts on the "best fans in college football"
business. You bet it's easy to be that way when you're winning. But there's
some flawed logic here in my opinion. The "support them win or lose"
is basically a version a "my country right or wrong." Wrong.
Not every decision our country makes entitles it to blind patriotism or
obedience. The issue for me is motivation and apparent effort. Give me
a team and its coaches that are playing their hearts out each week and
losing and you bet they'll get my support win or lose. But I and many
others don't see that from this team. 'Some isolated examples yes, but
by and large we see lethargy and apathy and a lack of pride and fire.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe these guys are giving their "all" each
and every week. But the facts/results don't seem to support that, including
comments from the players/coaches themselves.
Go Big Red win or lose? You bet...but
you have to have a team pride and attitude that reflects the great team
history that makes this program what it is.
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This 'greatest fan' label is just that -- a label that somebody like Beano
Cook gave us 100 years ago -- and it stuck because one night we gave Washington
a standing 'o' because came into our house and beat a great team.
In other words, and my contention is, great teams make great fans. If you truly consider yourself a great fan then you have a great team. I'll explain.
Most of us unfortunately are human beings not martyrs and saints. We often need that ethereal something like -- positive inspiration from our team -- in order to conjure up greatness in us. That's what sports is all about for the fan. Inspiration. We're not out there to be pulverized and humiliated. Great teams (even if it's the opponent) make us appreciate the potential for our own greatness in some area of our lives.
But suddenly all we see is less than greatness -- even the potential for it. And no one wants to be identified with mediocrity let alone a loser -- not even Iowa State fans. We all want to be great at something. Even if it's handling losing. And we can handle losing as long as within that domain there's hope -- as long as 'there's always next year' as a Cub fan would say. Right now however, there's no hope. Or is there...
We've been dining on steak since 1970. Now, someone has stripped it away and plopped down a plate of raw tofu and a side of rice. But the irony in that analogy is maybe somehow in some anti-beef sacreligious sort of way this stripping away is healthier, is what we need right now as fans. Why? The 'great' fan will be able to figure that out and apply it to their personal life. And it is personal. We when lose we take it personally. Maybe that's our lesson. I honestly don't know. But I do know that I'm glad I live millions of miles away in California -- land of a million distractions. I can't imagine living in Lincoln right now. Whoa nellie!
All I can say is, if you think you truly
are a great fan you're about to find out for certain -- one way or the
other. And that's because this great team of yours is flushing out your
truth -- that's what great teams do. Like I said, great teams make great
fans.
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The Status of Husker Nation
The opinion of the Iowa State fan is really immaterial to our current
situation. The problem with Husker Nation isn't just the fact that we
are playing poorly, it goes back to the dismissal of the Frank Solich
staff ending the Devaney and Osborne era. Solich's teams had one very
bad year, we all know it (2002). But he made adjustments that were needed;
1] surrendering offensive coordinator and play calling duties and 2] bringing
in Bo Pelini, arguably the best defensive coordinator in the country.
These moves righted the ship with a 10-3 record, yes the argument was
there was lack of talent and the shelves were dry, however these new coaches
were never given the chance to recruit for Frank and you cannot tell Husker
Nation that Bo Pelini & Co. wouldn't have been able to recruit the
talent needed to run the program.
The bottom line is this; we are in year four of this transition whether
it was wanted or not and this experiment is not working. It doesn't matter
if you run the west coast offense, the east coast offense, the option,
the spread offense or whatever offense there is out there.....winning
boils down to defense and the ability to shut down your opponent to give
your offense regardless of type to function and get rolling.
The reason coach Osborne was untouchable in the mid 90's wasn't from an
philosophical change in offense, it was changing the defensive philosophy
from the 5-2 to the 4-3 defense with speed. If Steve Pederson was so determined
to make a coaching change in '04, then make the change but keep Turner
Gill and Bo Pelini and keep the old ties to the good ol boys. I will always
support the NU program for I bleed red but those who support the program
must also show or tell the athletic administration that "hey you
dropped the ball, we're made as hell and we're not going to take your
mess anymore".
That's my 2 cents worth.
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I thought Callahan's comments about the current state of college football
and how it is more difficult to win now is right on the mark. The thing
that makes the difference in teams is the coaching. Osborne never had
the great recruiting classes but he coached the hell out of the Nebraska
football team and the Nebraska tradition. I was always proud of the way
Nebraska played in the bowl games when they lost to the great Miami and
Florida State teams in the Orange bowl games because they played there
asses off and never gave up no matter what the score. I just do not see
that out of this team or any of Callahan's previous teams and that is
sad. I will always be a Nebraska fan no matter what and every week I will
believe that Nebraska will win.
GO BIG RED
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