Callahan: Silently admitting they screwed up 2004

In Sunday's Omaha paper, Rich Kaipust discusses the aftermath of 2004 with Bill Callahan, Jay Norvell, Tim Cassiday, and Steve Pederson. While Callahan doesn't want to come out and say it, it's pretty obvious that they realize that they failed in 2004. You can see it in how they are doing everything completely different this year, whether it be closing practices to the media, no scrimmages or depth charts, or even in how they teach. Even the coaching assignments are changed, with Phil Elmassian giving up the safeties to Bill Busch.

Our intrepid athletic director, though, refuses to admit that his coaches didn't do well last year: "Remember this, he only inherited what he had. He inherited what the situation was at hand." He probably wants to point the blame at Frank Solich, but perhaps he's admitting that the die for disharmony in 2004 was cast with his coaching search/circus.

What does this mean? Well, I take this as an optimistic sign; they know they messed up and aren't too stubborn to change. On the other hand, Callahan has screwed up his last 2 attempts to remake a program (Oakland 2003, Nebraska 2004)...