The End of an Error: Nebraska Surrenders To The Rest of the Big XII

On Thanksgiving Weekend four years ago, Steve Pederson stood in front of a statewide television audience and announced that he was ending the 42 year Devaney-Osborne-Solich era, claiming that Nebraska would not surrender the Big XII conference. Since that fateful day, Steve Pederson bungled his way through a coaching search filled with names that have since been fired or are in serious danger of being fired (or both!): Al Saunders (out as the KC Chiefs offensive coordinator and now in trouble with the Redskins), Dave Wannstedt (fired from Dolphins, and struggling at Pitt), Houston Nutt (reportedly coaching his final game at Arkansas today), and reportedly Chuck Amato (fired by North Carolina State). Oh yes, and Bill Callahan, fired by the Oakland Raiders.

Today, Nebraska took the field wearing the "Surrender White" uniform (white jersey with white pants) from the 1991 Citrus Bowl and the 2002 7-7 season. And promptly surrendered to one of the worst teams in the Big XII, the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado only beat one Big XII North team this season: Nebraska.

Today's 65-51 football loss (yes, that's not a basketball score) finalized the second losing season for the Huskers since 1962. In Bill Callahan's four seasons at Nebraska, Nebraska has gone 5-6, 8-4, 9-5, and now 5-7. Today's game featured yet more "WTF" play-calling from Bill Callahan, as Nebraska goes into a cold and snowy Boulder and plays aerial circus with a leaky defense. Just like at Kansas, Nebraska abandoned the running game, and put the game on the shoulders of Joe Ganz. And after Ganz was injured at the end of the first half, that game plan spelled disaster for the Huskers as Ganz was erratic the rest of the game, getting picked off three times down the stretch and misfiring badly at other times. Oh yes, the CozBohl "Bend and Break" defense was successful in holding Colorado (10th worst offense in the Big XII) under 525 yards and 70 points.

Now Husker fans wait for tomorrow's meeting between Bill Callahan and athletic director Tom Osborne, widely assuming that Osborne will be dismissing Callahan. As I said yesterday at CornNation, while the meeting is tomorrow, I don't expect the dismissal to occur until Monday. Osborne won't steal attention away from tomorrow's Nebraska-Creighton basketball game in Omaha and won't make the same mistakes that Pederson made four years ago. When he acts, the players will be informed before the media is called in. (Not that the rumor mill might take hold before then...)

UPDATE: Tom Osborne has scheduled a press conference has been announced for 9:30 am this moring.

Enough has been said about Bill Callahan and Kevin Cosgrove at this point that it shouldn't be necessary to discuss them further. Hopefully we won't hear anything more about threating phone calls or any other stupidness. I don't believe that these coaches intended to have things work out this way, and the families of these coaches are going to be uprooted as they move on to other jobs. There's no need to make this any rougher than it already is.

It didn't work out. Let's all agree on that, leave it at that, and move on.

Let's Start a Husker Fight!

If you ever want to start a fight between Husker fans, there's one name that's almost guaranteed to bring up a disagreement:

Frank Solich.

Depending on your perspective, he was either the most horrific head coach ever to coach at a BCS conference football program, or the victim of an egotisical megalomaniac. If you get enough people in a room, chances are you'll find at least one person with one of those divergent positions. Sure, names like "Steve Pederson" may have larger negative connotations, but vastly fewer defenders.

I'll be honest here... I fall firmly in the "victim of a megalomaniac" camp. So I was pleased to see that Solich got a five year extension at Ohio. He's got a winning record after three seasons, being bowl eligible in two of his three seasons at a school that previously hadn't been to a bowl game since 1968.

But when the news came out, I didn't plan to comment on it. We need to move on from the whole Solich debate. So I was rather disappointed to see that the Journal-Star is rehashing the whole debate in their new book "The Path to Pelini."

Maybe there's something new in the book... but the blog entry to promote it doesn't say much. We all know that Houston Nutt turned down a job offer from Nebraska. The Chuck Amato story isn't new either. But Steve Sipple says

"It's always interesting looking back to Steve Pederson's coaching search in late 2003 and early 2004."

Maybe if there were something new here. Maybe if you have to bring it up again because you need to tell the story about how Nebraska got into the mess they found themselves in last season.

But to say it's "always interesting"? Maybe if you like to raise people's blood pressure. Maybe if you like to start arguments that can't be won. Believe me, I've tried. It doesn't go anywhere.

Maybe in a few years, Husker fans will be able to look back at the last four years as the "dark ages" of Nebraska football. Names like Steve Pederson, Bill Callahan, and Kevin Cosgrove hopefully will be reduced to punchlines, much like Oklahoma fans view Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake.

But until then, rehashing it just to rehash it doesn't serve any purpose.

Fire Steve Pederson

(Update October 7, 2007: It's Time to Pull The Plug on Steve Pederson...)

Bill Callahan should NOT be fired.

He is in year 2 of a monumental transition. It is not going well, and I'm doubtful that he is the answer as Nebraska's head coach. But, we're only in year 2 of his run. Some of the holes in this year's team may start filling themselves next season, especially on the offensive line. But however cathartic the firing might be, the next question is, who would replace him?

Several names have already been brought up. Joe Glenn at Wyoming. Monte Kiffin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Barney Cotton at Iowa State. I'll throw out Marvin Sanders at North Carolina as well. As much as I like Frank Solich, he'd be a poor choice; there is still a large contingent of Husker fans who despise him. Many of them actually blamed him for yesterday's debacle.

But the decision as to who would replace Bill Callahan doesn't belong to the fans. It's the responsibility of the athletic director.

The person currently filling that position has experience in coaching searches. His process was roundly criticized and lampooned 2 years ago. Fox's Jimmy Johnson quipped that a dozen NFL guys received raises thanks to Steve. At least 3 of Pederson's candidates are already in hot water and in danger of losing their current job: Dave Wannstedt (who might get fired for the 2nd time), Houston Nutt, and Chuck Amato.

Steve Pederson is a divisive figure in this state. Named last year as Nebraska's Enemy of the State by Sports Illustrated, fundraising for the Osborne Complex has stalled since his last coaching change. I don't doubt that Pederson loves the University and the athletic program, but it's obvious a change is necessary.

Hopefully, Steve will do the right think and resign. But if he doesn't, fire Steve Pederson.