Oh woe is me...Pederson Gets an Extension

It was about 3:00 when the e-mail from Husker Dave arrived to taunt me with the news of Steve Pederson's contract extension, with the message to "hail Steve Pederson". I'm surprised it took that long...after all, the news broke earlier in the morning.

If you can really call it news, that is.

Frankly, the only way Steve Pederson's contract would have been news was if the announcement was that Pederson wasn't being retained. Let's be realistic for a moment...did anyone REALLY expect Harvey Perlman to suddenly change his mind about Pederson? His contract was up, and Perlman has stood behind Pederson ever since he hired him nearly 5 years ago.

It wasn't so much a question of if...but when. And today made perfect sense to make the announcement since much of the local sports media were down in San Antonio for Big XII media day. Sports talk shows were booked solid with interviews with coaches and players, leaving nearly no time to rehash the entire pro-Pederson/anti-Pederson debate.

Needless to say, I'm not distraught over Pederson getting an extension. I fully expected it. In fact, my response to Dave was that the only thing this changes is that it'll cost more to buy his contract out. (heh heh!)

I could rehash the debate and issue a rebuttal to the reasons for extending Pederson's contract, but that's not worthwhile. Instead, I'll try to put some hope into Pederson's statements to the World-Herald today:'

In the eyes of many fans, Pederson's image has yet to fully recover.

Pederson said Monday he'd like to see progress in "moving forward together."

"I want to make sure that we do everything possible to make everybody feel part of this," he said.

"You know in this job not everybody's going to agree with everything you do, but what you hope they know is you're doing what you believe is in the best interest of the university and our athletic department."'

I've heard this talk a few times before, and it's been empty words in the past. Perhaps this time it's different. We can hope...as it's time for peace for Husker Nation. Way past time.

In the meantime, next up is a contract extension for Bill Callahan. His contract situation was similar to Pederson, and it's time to either extend his contract or fire him. And if Gary Pinkel is worthy of a contract extension, Bill Callahan certainly deserves one.