I had this planned for the bye week, but i’m hearing we should probably get a statement in the next 72 hours. If we get one, all is well in Husker land. If it’s radio silent… not good.
So I want to start this post out by again stating that I think one of the biggest issues that have led to where we are today is our continuous turnover. I understand that Solich was coming off a 7-7 season and you made the decision before his 2003 campaign, the team had quit on Callahan and I get that, I agree that you can’t keep Bo around if he continually calls his boss a pussy to other employees and his team, I get that Riley went 4-8 in his third season… All of those can be warranted based on how you look at them. But at some point it’s not because we are a coaching carousel, that is looking at the back half of the situation. The actual reason is because we haven’t made the right hire.
Bo was the closest thing to the right hire that we have made this century, and when Perlman decides it’s time to kick Osborne to the curb and insert Eichorst, well just add that to the carousel and reasons we are in this putrid state of Husker football. I’m not sure Bo, Riley, or even Frost were the wrong hires, but we gotta give it all we have.
I have stated many times that if I were AD, I would want to be giving everything that I knew was possible with my resources to the head coach of the football team before I pulled the plug on him and moved on. If not, it’s really a me issue and not coaching issue, right? If I was capable of giving more but I wasn’t, that was an AD problem. Conversely, if I was giving every resource our budget and constraints offered and the coach wasn’t getting it done, it is definitely time to move on. That has been my whole frustration with a couple of the “failures” that led to Frost’s hiring.
The first example is with Bo Pelini and his staff. Terry Joseph had come to Nebraska as defensive backs coach from Tennessee, and was completely shocked that to go on the road recruiting he had to drive an hour to Omaha, get to the airport an hour early to go through TSA, and fly commercial to get somewhere hopefully close to where his recruit he was visiting was, and then rent a car to drive to the final destination. “If I were still at Tennessee i’d probably be in front of the recruit before we are even taking off from the Omaha airport.” That was a huge issue at a school like Nebraska that has to recruit at a greater radius than schools like Tennessee. Around the 2012-2013 seasons, Bo and Jeff Jamrog made a presentation to high level boosters stating that if we wanted to get over the hump we needed booster dollars for some additions to help recruiting behind the scenes and private jets to fly direct from Lincoln to the destination on high recruiting weeks/weekends. The idea was shut down, and that’s where this idea first started getting in my head of doing everything possible as an AD. What if all of a sudden Bo starts getting some top 15 classes strung together because they are able to get in front of recruits more frequently?
We then fire Bo and bring in Riley. And to my surprise, what Bo was told no to just a couple years prior, was given to Riley and his staff. They hired guys like Todd McShane and Ryan Gunderson to take care of all the things Bo wanted. And it really dawned on me… the “hump” we were wanting Bo to get over when he made this presentation was winning a conference title. After all, he had played for 3 conference titles in 5 seasons when he asked for it. What if instead of starting all over we just gave him what he wanted to see if it worked?
So Riley is given things that Bo didn’t get, but I still have to bring up to people that think Riley sucked some of the things that he was told when he was here. First, and i’ve made mention of this, his strength staff tried doing the Husker Power circuit right when they showed up:
https://247sports.com/college/nebraska/Article/I-cant-feel-my-body-36831265/
The strength staff then were told what they could or couldn’t do by administration in fear of issues coming down. While that was just one of many things that happened, the culmination of all of it was what happened before the 2017 season that I detailed on the other site to give me some credibility that I knew what was going on behind the scenes. Essentially, administration saw that Bob Diaco was available, and Billy Devaney who was our NFL guy we hired said we were better suited for a 3-4. Diaco ran a 3-4, but moreover he had been a head coach before, so if we were looking to move on from Riley we could bring someone from our own family up. Mike Riley was forced to then call Mark Banker while he was on the road to let him know he was fired, and hire a guy he really had no familiarity with. To let you know how far off that was, Nebraska’s scoring offense was 74th in 2016, while our scoring defense was 30th. Defense was not the problem, but that’s what our administration forced. I bring that up just to let people know if administratively you aren’t giving all you can, or even worse forcing things on coaches they don’t want, well it can lead to this.
So in 2017 we are looking at Frost, and we fire Eichorst in an effort to make whoever would take the job feel better about the situation. It would be their AD so you aren’t being hired by someone who wouldn’t be there. Make no mistake about it, Moos was hired because Frost was on board. By the time we pulled the trigger on the hiring, UCF was 5-0 and we had our “3rd party helpers” head down to Orlando after our Friday game with Illinois to watch UCF take down Memphis in an OT thriller. The magical run for Frost and UCF continued, and the decision got easier each Saturday.
Frost reached out to Osborne and asked if he would get the help he needed, to which TO responded “now you will” in reference to Eichorst being gone and Harvey Perlman retired. Fast-forward to Frost being hired, and one of the first workouts they do is the circuit that Mark Philipp and Riley’s staff were told not to do. They complete it and send two kids to the hospital, and the response isn’t “don’t do that anymore” like what our previous staff received, it was “this is how out of shape we are!” In no other world can you send kids to the hospital and have it be their fault unless administration is on board. Go deeper and when you realize Frost wanted to have morning practices so he had the entire administration switch classes into the afternoon for the football squad to have practices in the morning so their testosterone was higher, and you see where i’m going with the support. It’s there. At the very least it’s more than any other coach has ever received.
Trev is going to make sure he’s given everything
I bring those situations up to just let everyone know that this staff is getting the most from the administration that any coaching staff has received this century. But Trev is going to let Frost stay here if he thinks there are things that he isn’t giving that could help the situation.
However, with that said, Alberts has had to have some tough conversations with people when he came here. If you remember, many people were upset when Frost brought his entire staff with him. I wasn’t one of those people, I thought being comfortable with who you are going to run a multi-million dollar team with is paramount. And let’s be real, most people were mad he was bringing his defensive staff not offense. Just like with Riley, defense isn’t the problem, turns out offensive coaching is the issue.
But what I did personally take issue with is the fact that he brought everyone here and just basically doubled their salary. Our strength coach doesn’t need to go from $175,000 to $375,000 and on down the list. What bugged me was he hired this staff with a Power 5 budget with the constraints of a Power 5 stigma. Now that he was going to Nebraska, guys that didn’t want to head to UCF such as P5 head coaches that were fired and would be looking for coordinator jobs are now available to you. But we didn’t do that, and just increased everyone’s pay. There’s no way at UCF he hired a P5 staff on every single hire. There were people available that weren’t available before.
So those are the things Trev is taking a look at, and you’ve already seen some movement with those things and guys like Gerrod Lambrecht. Whether Alberts comes to the realization they are giving everything they can to Frost or not, the reality is Frost is getting much more than any other coach has received this century, and doing so at a lesser success rate on the football field. I think Alberts can help Frost see the light to restructure some things and maybe make things for the better. It reminds me a bit of one of the high school teams I helped coach. One of the positions I coached had a kid that signed with Nebraska, another went D1 in baseball, and the backup ended up going to Nebraska as well he was just younger at the time. I remember coming in and telling the head coach that our starters and backup get it, but the others just don’t seem to be getting it at all. He responded with “maybe you’re a shitty communicator? Not really that uncommon for the D1 guys to make you right all the time as a coach, it’s more important for the ones with lesser talent.” That has resonated with me to this day. If you aren’t getting the right direction or communication from your leader, that leader needs to step up and give you the direction you need to be successful.
Elephant in the room, is he better if Martinez is gone?
This has been wildly circulating. And after that Purdue performance, rightfully so. And Alberts basically has to decide if this is the case. As I posted on twitter the other day, don’t be so quick to jump to the conclusion that we are better without Martinez:
Not only do we lose, but we lose to bad teams. I have been at a practice or two, and Smothers is McCaffrey 2.0 as of now. I remember on the other site when people were clamoring for LM to start, I had to tell them he isn’t a QB and he isn’t ready. Smothers isn’t either, and there’s a reason we march an unhealthy Martinez out there every Saturday.
So what does Alberts do? Does he say “ya I think we are close everywhere but QB”? Our OL has been pretty bad, and you lose 4 super covid seniors on defense in Dismuke, Domann, Williams, and Stille. On top of that, you could lose Damion Daniels and Cam Taylor-Britt. So even if we are better without Martinez at QB, what happens if our team as a whole takes a step back?
Alberts doesn’t have a crystal ball to know those answers
He has no clue the answers to if we will be better without Martinez. But he does know our schedule is easier next year. The question becomes what keeps him around. My problem is if you keep him and we go 6-6 in year 5 as our best record, is that progress and you keep him?
Most will say yes, so if that isn’t progress in Alberts’ eyes, it is probably time to move on because we are having the worst recruiting class in history happen before our eyes. Most recruiting classes are finished before the season even starts, so the 2023 class will be mostly solidified before we even play a game next year. With that said, we will be trying to recruit 2023 players with 4 straight losing seasons with this staff (if we lose one of our last 3 and 5th losing season overall). What can kill you more than anything is back to back poor recruiting classes, and we could head that way. Further, you basically have to extend him.
Most people sit and quote that it is this bad because of what Frost inherited. But my answer is always the same, if there was poor culture or bad players, please just quit playing them. And that excuse goes out the window when your own players transfer out. But what really irks me is the “we finally look like a B1G team” while we are on the verge of our worst conference finish and worst record in 50 years.
So our line was the problem, even tough our only draft picks were inherited Riley guys that played on the line in the first few years? And let’s be real, we beat Fleck in year 1 and have lost 3 in a row to them, was everything ok for us year 1 but worse in years 2-4? Was year 4 with Frost still worse than what Bielema inherited year 1 at Illinois to beat us? Why did Mel Tucker take over in a Covid year and finish dead last in the conference, only to use the transfer portal to his advantage in year 2 and now he’s sitting on top of the east with a Heisman candidate? It’s not worse at Nebraska than anywhere else. People just say that to try and figure out what’s going on. But every metric is we are worse in year 4 of this staff than we have been with any other staff this century.
The buyout
Many people mention the buyout, and this tweet sucks…
Keep in mind we are not paying any past football coaches, we paid out a lump sum. But the reality is when you pay coaches what we do and have a carousel, this will happen. Which is why I like continuity. But as one person said it best to me, “is retaining mediocrity worse for us than failing to move on to avoid lack of continuity?” It’s a happy medium.
Trust me, for the people that write the checks, the 20 million doesn’t matter. And Frosts extension made it so the buyout is actually 2.5 million per year the final two years instead of 5 million. But the extension is important, because if Alberts sticks with Frost after this year, he more than likely has to be extended. So there’s more money out of your pocket if you stick with him another year if you have to buy him out in 2023.
Basically it comes down to this, Alberts has to stick with him and extend him, and then pray to God that it works. Or he needs to move on since there is no better time than now to bring in a new coach.
Who would want this job?
Ummm…. everyone. People like to say “if we fire Frost who would want the job” as if that’s an issue. Quite honestly, firing Frost would be the most warranted firing we’ve had if you look at record and results. That won’t be a tough sell. Further, with a new facility coming, it would allow that coach to see the plans and tweak whatever he thought may be needed. Not get stuck with what was made for a staff that isn’t here anymore. Remember when we made the facility for Callahan, the first thing people said was “now it’s not big enough for Pelini and the walk-on program because Callahan wanted a smaller roster.” Don’t let us go down that path with a new coach. And we will if we wait until after the 2022 season.
Our fan base, NIL status, resources, and tradition make this a very attractive job. It’s not top 10, but it’s certainly top 25. Don’t be like the jilted girlfriend that thinks they aren’t good enough. We have a lot to offer.
Don’t fire a coach when LSU and USC have openings!
If you are one of these morons, please stop. Texas, Auburn, and Tennessee were all looking last year, and Kansas still got Leipold who everyone thought would be a great fit here. Florida State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Washington were looking before that, Baylor still got Aranda, Rutgers still got Schiano, Sparty still got Mel Tucker. You get my point but one last one, on November 29, 2015, Iowa State hired Matt Cambell. On December 1st, 2015, Georgia hired Kirby Smart. On the same day Campbell was hired, Virginia Tech hired Fuente. There are always going to be positions open that are looked at as better than Nebraska, if you go down the list you’ll see it every year. Failing to fire because of what other people have open is a losing battle. And there will always be good candidates out there.
What would I do if I were Alberts?
All my opinion, but i’m still not on fire him yet. He goes 3-9 absolutely he needs to go, but 4-8 gets dicey for what Alberts does. If i’m TA I walk in and say “well what do you think” and I let Frost talk. Hopefully he says he’s making a couple coaching moves, and while i’m not sure if Martinez is the problem, if he says we are moving on from him I at least know he sees issues and wants to remedy things.
I think our issues are bigger than Martinez or one or two coaches, but he would need to illustrate to me he’s identified them. For those of you wondering, we will 100% be getting a QB in the transfer portal this year, bet the mortgage on that one.
This will be a bit on both sides of the fence, but i’m not sure Frost can get it done here. And you can get tickets for #5 ranked Ohio State at home for 20 dollars on SeatGeek right now. Not exactly how the scalpers drew up the 2021 season. While my decision wouldn’t be based on the last 3 games, those last 3 games will make for a long offseason if you go 0-3. If we can win one Alberts has a leg to stand on for keeping him. If we lose all 3, that means we lost 6 in a row to end the season and our last win was October 2nd. Further, we will finish dead last in our division for the first time ever. That’s a hard sell.
7-7 year with Solich
Good call I switched that.
If it’s radio silent… not good.
not good for who?
I would really love it for frost to see some changes are needed and he stays.. does he have the humility yet? That is the big question.
I think if we don’t hear anything it’s not good for Frost and his staff.
Like always great write up and for the most part i agree. If Frost goes 1-2 to finish the season it means most likely he beat either Wisc or Iowa which can be something to build on. If they go 0-3 and get boat raced then the decision becomes easier. I also like the idea of TA walking into Frosts office and letting SF start talking. As for recruiting, this years class is going to be bad, if he gets several guys from the portal i assume they will need to sit a year unless they are a grad transfer or juco?
One free transfer now without sitting a year.
Yep, that’s how Tucker built what he did.
Ya, I just don’t know if 1-2 down the stretch and 4-8 overall makes me all that happy with the overall coaching in the first four years. But I think Alberts can point to beating someone we hadn’t.
when you lay it all out like that, it is no wonder we have been a walking disaster for 20 years. Hard to believe this happened after 30 plus years of continuity and success unrivaled anywhere. I am not sure of another Blue Blood program that has been down for so long but its obvious why it has happened?? I think we have zero shot against tOSU in even keeping it close…Wisconsin looks iffy as they are all of a sudden rounding into form with a nasty, nasty defense…if Adrian isnt healthy, I see us struggling mightily to score against them…that leaves Iowa…we can beat them…hopefully we play tough, get at least one win and Trev keeps Scott (selfishly speaking..I want Trev and Scott to team up and lead us back to glory…corny I know?!?!).
Like the “let Frost talk”. Sounds like Trev and Frost meet on a weekly basis. I wonder how in-depth those conversations are? When Trev talks with Frost it should be in an interview fashion. Asking pointed questions about the staff, players, on and off field performance of players and coaches.
Regardless of these last three games, if Frost comes back and says no changes on the coaching staff is needed, then the decision for Trev becomes a little easier.
Thanks for that shot of truth serum this Friday morning. If you need me I’ll be at the liquor store.
Thanks again for your hard work again. This to me is one of your best pieces of work. It really made me think and helped me form where my head is at with the current state of Husker Football. You said it, as an AD you would give whatever you could to HCSF to support him. That is what a leader,CEO and facilitator should do. There are many decisions and comments that Frost has made that I did not like or disagreed with. In his role, how could he not have a backup QB ready to play? As the leader of his team he should give all of his players the support and best opportunity to win football games. He said that in the spring he would evaluate the position and if he needed to hit the portal or not. After he made the decision, which I did not agree with at the time just based on Smother’s throwing mechanics which look similar to LM and HH’s rawness(is that a word?) it made me believe that he had a plan and believed he could play those two guys or Masker if AM was injured. So presently we are now playing an injured AM because our head coach feels his evaluation was either wrong, didn’t like the QB’s in the portal or the quarterbacks on the depth chart behind AM got worse since the spring. This is why I’m frustrated with Frost. He didn’t give these super seniors, or the rest of the players the support they need. At the very least he could change the scheme to support his players whether it be blocking schemes, change in tempo, personnel, etc.
If he stays he almost certainly has to change something. The popular choice from most folks seems to be that the changes would happen on the offensive coaching staff. If he stayed and this played out with staff changes, do you think he looks at offensive coaches he is familiar with from his past coaching stops or more likely former Huskers?
It gives me hope that you think we can get a good coach if Frost is fired. Do you agree with Rival’s prediction of O’Brien?
I don’t know if I agree with O’Brien, but I have some trauma from Callahan. We don’t want someone looking at this as a stop gap.
I think he absolutely will look at guys he’s familiar with, I just don’t think he will break his MO on that.
If we go 1-2 to finish the year and Frost is retained, I’m saying the minimum should be 8 wins, with next year’s schedule. I’m over making excuses and accepting (very) substandard results. Win or gtfo.
If a change is made, O’Brien would be good, I think. I was impressed with what he did at PSU. Who knows though, if he’s wanting to get back to the league, and will bounce as soon as possible,then probably not the guy for us.
Matt Campbell would probably still be my #1 choice. I appreciate his demeanor and it appears that his staff does a great job of coaching players up. He also doesn’t appear to have a wandering eye, always looking for the next best opportunity.
Ya, I think what scares me is retain him then people think bowl game year 5 is “good enough”.
Good write up on a lot of topics. I agree with the majority and don’t want to reply to too much. I just think its sad you even have to give space to some of the topics above but that’s the world we live in now.
When I look back at all the coaching hires we made, I obviously think TO had the best perspective in terms of his hire. I believe the main reason he went with Bo was because Bo had time at Nebraska, had a plan for how he would assemble his coaching staff which involved coaches with ties to Bo and coaches with ties to Nebraska (Cotton, Brown, Sanders, etc.). If we remember, TO actually recruited a small town NE linebacker for that 08 class that Bo had to agree to take on and in a lot of ways I think it was a test to see how committed you are to making sure things start with Nebraska then expand outwards. I was quite frustrated with Bo for a lot of reasons but one of them was how he progressively moved away from that approach to a point where we were not offering kids who went on to start multiple years at Iowa or slow playing kids who got pissed and went to Stanford. Frost came in as a local guy and we’ve seen a lot of the same. As you’ve pointed out extensively, major communication issues in Omaha have set us back, but its not like this staff came in with a plan for how they would win locally and regionally. They just assumed Frost’s name and history with a couple faces like Ruud and Held would make it work.
So with that said, I think the biggest failure we have when hiring coaches is that we focus too much on who the head coach is and not at how that coach plans to assemble his staff and build his team. Use Bielema as an example. He grew up in IL though that’s about the extent of his connections there. He has ties to IA, WI and the Big 10. He took the perspective that UI have underachieved largely because they aren’t winning in state. He got that job by articulating a plan to hire an Illinois focused staff that would make Urbana a destination for down state kids then go aggressively into Chicago and St. Louis where they can win more battles. He kept Lovie’s ace recruiter with St. Louis ties. If you look back at each of our staffs, I just don’t see a staff set up to win anything more than a media cycle. I’m firmly in the fire Frost camp for a number of reasons but I don’t want him out just to hire another coach who isn’t Frost. I’m glad we have Trev because I think he’s someone who gets it and knows what to look for in this hire. Instead of showing pictures of OL and saying we look like a Big 10 team, lets hire some coaches who can get our guys to play like a Big 10 team (disciplined and physical). Find guys who can install a base system, recruit to it and develop within it all while having flexibility to your system that allows for subtle adjustments over time and which doesn’t collapse with the loss of 1 or 2 assistants.
Thanks, SSO, for another fine write up. I know that takes work as well as deep knowledge, and wonder how you find the time to do so much.
DJ, wow, great reply, all the things I would have said if you hadn’t .
I would only add that, barring a miracle finish to this season, TA better be prepared to fire Frost soon after the loss to Iowa.
It really only took me 30 minutes or so. Traveling for work it’s either this or lay in the hotel bed so I enjoy doing this stuff.
Great stuff. Only disagree with keeping him now. I’m out. He came in 0-6 and I think he is going out 0-6.
It’s been exactly my contention that in 20+ years we haven’t had a better shot at having a real coaching search coupled with pairing the incoming staff with an AD and athletic department that is 100% in support of the football program. I understand people’s reticence to let the Frost era go as the legacy runs deep but in my opinion its time to move on. Sounds like it is going to be a real interesting 72 hours.
I am only saying keep him now because I don’t know what our options are. If a guy like Gary Patterson is all in it makes your decision a bit easier.
Understand. No idea who is on that list but I’d love to know.
That’s the biggest thing, everyone saying we should or shouldn’t move on right now with no idea who we could get doesn’t have all the information. We throw out names we think would be good options but we don’t know if they are viable. You can’t get rid of Frost and get a Riley-like hire. We won’t, but you get where i’m going with it.
I stated this on another site… and this was before the loss to Purdue
I believe that the ONLY way Trev grants Scott one more year is IF Trev feels there are still systems and structures that he can address that will help Scott, but more importantly IF Scott agrees to some specific conditions.
IMHO Alberts likely sees that he would need to take a more “hands-on” approach than he (or any AD) would prefer. But that is what would be required to assure Frost is guided towards AND follows through on necessary changes/improvements.
Alberts being more involved would mean some difficult changes for Frost… including but not limited to:
1. Replacing specific members of Frost’s staff; mainly on the offensive side.
2. Instilling a different culture than what Frost has instilled over his four years. Burn that “no fear of failure” slogan/mindset.
3. Relinquish play calling duties and/or roster management/utilization
4. Demonstrate discipline, accountability and attention to detail, and then hold everyone (players AND coaches) to a high standard of excellence.
5. Demonstrate player AND coach development/improvement using measurable individual development plans.
6. Get some serious Leadership Development education/training where Alberts will be required to continually meet with Frost on this specific topic; to monitor and measure Frost’s progress.
If this all sounds a bit “much” I would argue that this is the price (investment) that must be paid if Alberts decides to keep Frost.
All of this would come AFTER Alberts assesses the likelihood of Frost (and most importantly the program) benefiting from keeping Frost, AND Frost being able/willing to commit to it.
Good post, can’t say I disagree with any of it.
Who wouldn’t want to coach here?! Great salary and if in year 4 you have your worst record (%) we can justify it as progress bc you played a second year coach to overtime.
I’m just frustrated with the excuses. If we’re going to keep him just come out and say we’re rolling with it and give him a lifelong contract and end the speculation. Then we can just all know that we’ve accepted 3-9, 4-8 (likely) in year 4 and we’re Rutgers. Or make the switch and end the speculation.
I’m actually fine with both bc I have complete apathy towards husker football at this point.
I just got a bottle of that lebron tequila ‘lobos’ and I’m going to have a drink now.
Go big red. Beat the bucks.
I’d agree. “who wouldn’t want to coach here” or “why do it when LSU and USC have an opening” is either not knowing the landscape of college football, trying to figure ways to scare people into keeping someone, or both. As I stated, this would be the most warranted firing of a coach this century. All coaches would understand. Just look at it from the other angle, if he goes 3-9 or 4-8 and we keep him or extend him, that will be viewed far “worse” than keeping him in the coaches eyes. The articles will come out “anyone else would have been fired”.
Can’t believe anyone would even consider keeping Frost at this juncture, even if he wins 2 more games.
I hear ya. I just want to know our options at this point. I like to let the season play out. But if i’m Alberts i’m making my calls this past week to gauge interest, especially after a probably loss today.
Thank you for the great article, really enjoy reading your work, Could you clarify for me what you mean in the first paragraph by “all is well in Huskerland”?
Thank you.
Sorry, just was typing that paragraph from Frosts perspective. They will either come out and support him, or be radio silent and I think he will be gone.
Thank you for the great article, really enjoy reading your thoughts. Could you clarify for me what you mean in the first paragraph, “all is well in Husker land”?
Thanks
I don’t get the comment
If we get a statement in 72 hrs all is good, if not it’s bad
Does that mean you expect some sort of extension and vote of confidence in the next few days?
What you day is good could be bad in the eyes of other fans
I believe they will come out in support if there is some by Monday.
I wonder what it would take to pry Kyle Whittingham out of Provo?
That would be an unreal hire, but not sure if that’s feasible or not.
I agree with huge amount of coaching turnover isn’t beneficial. But I also have no problem with churning the coaches over if it warrants it.
Maybe due to the fact that we had 2 coaches – Devaney/Osborne for 35 years – we’ve become a little jaded thinking we’re a place that deserves these constant long-tenured successful coaches constantly. Where in reality I think many big-name schools have a lot of turnover before landing on the right coach/fit. Now there probably was more patience decades ago for coaches, and in society in general, but I don’t see us as so unique today that we aren’t going to be like other major programs recently who either:
a) keep firing coaches until they find the right one
b) have a coach leave for somewhere else
I’d rather keep going through coaches every few years, pay good $ for a 3-4 year contract then renew only if they perform. For me personally, you’d have to win 2/3 last games for me to CONSIDER keeping him. 4 straight losing seasons for me will NEVER be acceptable to keep a coach.
Even if we win two of these games, I personally have a hard time with the “making progress” argument. Because in Frost’s 1st year, we finished 4-2 and lost close games to Iowa and Ohio St. But that didn’t transition into any success the following year.
I agree. Whoever that was that said “keeping less than mediocre football coaches to avoid lack of continuity could be worse” is spot on in my opinion.
Now we wait. Another infuriating loss. This team brings the intensity to play tOSU to the wire but then lays down under the bus wheels against Illinois, Minny and Purdue. It’s insane.
I find it amusing that people often say we play down to the opposition when we lose to an Illinois, yet never seem to acknowledge teams like Michigan, OSU and OU may look past us. Anyone think those three teams had their most spirited practices during Nebraska Week? (The senior OU fans were probably pretty enthused for this year’s game, but most of the players weren’t even born when the OU-NU rivalry existed.)
Before anyone comes unglued by my comments, I love the fact we didn’t have any lopsided losses on national tv like we have suffered so many times over the past 20 years. That is some progress. But as long as we can’t beat the mediocre to bad teams I can’t get too excited with close losses to very good teams. Did anyone really feel like we were going to win today’s game when we had the ball down by 6 in the 4th quarter? Me neither.
That’s a good point. We definitely aren’t Nebraska anymore in peoples eyes so they may just be looking past us.
That’s my thing. Ohio State, Mich State, Oklahoma, Michigan, all games i’m not mad about. Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue…. you can’t lose those and then tell us we are improving.
Callahan was too bullheaded to change when he obviously needed to fire his DC and that wasn’t even the side of ball he effectively “coordinated.” If he would have made that change I think he might have coached here many years, even though he was an insufferable jerk. (But at least he wasn’t dumb enough to insult his AD like Pelini.)
Frost has a much tougher, nearly impossible task. He needs a new offensive staff and that involves the side of ball he effectively “coordinates.” Can he fire himself from offensive duties and just be a CEO? Of course not. Added to that impossibility the special teams are probably easily the worst in the past 50 years or more and will require a huge renovation project that he can’t come close to implementing,
Frost needs to go and if his Husker buddy Alberts won’t do the job he will soon enough be seeking another job, too. What a mess.
Ya, pretty difficult for Frost. Basically have to get rid of coaches and possibly your QB. Further, you have to hold on to the coaches you want like Fisher. What happens if we lose 6 defensive starters, Fisher, and are starting a brand new QB while losing Toure?
I guess…at the end of the day (in my best Pelini voice)…it boils down to whom Trev thinks he can get to replace Frost.
If we’re sitting here on November 7 and Trev has no ideas, then keeping Frost is almost a fait accompli.
My guess? Frost gets his “vote of confidence” later today or Monday…after he and Trev have their regular Sunday meeting.
Yeah, it’s weird right now. Not making a statement by now kind of feels like not a good sign for Frost. But I don’t know, my gut just feels like Alberts isn’t going to do anything this year.
Is there something that could happen the rest of the year that would change his mind either way? I just feel like he wants to keep him, and was waiting for us to beat Ohio St, Wiscy, or Iowa so he could come out and give a vote of confidence to better justify keeping him.
No proof or source, just my guess.
Just went and donated because this is about the only place where I can go to get Husker information that doesn’t drive me insane. I just can’t read one more person tell me how “close” we are. I’m trying to figure out what changes can be made next year with a team where the offense is the main problem, and the person who calls the plays, designs the offense, and chooses who plays on offense remains. Will changing other offensive staff really help? We likely lose a ton of talent, with no real talent coming in. Our offense will be dependent on a QB who isn’t on the roster yet. Our schedule gets “easier” yet we barely beat any of the “easy” teams on our schedule this year. I just heard Damon say on the radio our main issue is what happens between coaches and players Mon-Fri, not what is called on game day. If Frost remains, which I honestly think happens even if he does go 3-9, can you tell me what change can be made that will actually lead to better results on the field? Otherwise, I don’t know if I can watch this same thing unfold again week after week for another entire year.
Frost has the difficult task of getting assistants here while he has one year to prove himself. And we lose a ton of Covid seniors on defense and more than likely our four year starting QB.
Thank you for the donation too!
It’s official. He’ll be back in 2022. So excited (sarc)
Surprised, but … GBR!
Who you like coming in as coaches?.
Tough to say at this point. I do know they have a former HC showing extreme interest so it’s always good to have experience like that. Wouldn’t be shocked if Busch moved into special teams role, but that’s 50/50. My curiosity will be if Frost hires the assistants or gets an OC and lets him go after guys.
I think Trev was judging Frost on 4 months and not 4 years.
Spot on. He was looking at what he could see and not guess what happened before.