Before we get into it, don’t forget we had two posts today! Our Friday toilet reading:
https://herbieshangout.com/2022/09/16/friday-toilet-readings-9-16/
After the game this past Saturday, there was something weird in the air. The October 1st date was well known by everyone, but something was wrong. We had just lost to a team we paid 1.4 million dollars to come play us, and our season seemed lost before September was even over.
You’ve heard people say “Trev Alberts decision wasn’t made because of the loss to Georgia Southern, it was made due to things that led up to that the past 6 months.” I partially agree, but definitely disagree that the game against the Eagles and our record didn’t have a lot to do with it. We were 3-5 in 2020, 3-9 in 2021, and we started 1-2 in 2022 where everyone said the easiest part of the schedule was the beginning. Our record had a lot to do with Trev’s decision. Further, you have Big Noon Kickoff coming to town this week, and what would Trev like the narrative to be? How is Frost going to turn this around? Or how are we going to move forward? This is a chance for our AD to highlight all of the positives Nebraska has, our new facility being built, our fanbase, our rich tradition, etc. Again, control the narrative.
But let’s go back to the comments made about “this decision was made due to events long before the Georgia Southern game.” If you read the “how did we get here section” from my links, you’ll see that I got kicked off another message board because a moderator and a handful of others didn’t like that I was pointing out things we needed to do better or that were problems with our program and/or leadership. Further, if we didn’t clean them up we were going to be in big trouble. While I didn’t think it would be THIS bad, I knew we wouldn’t get to our goal of winning the west and getting to a conference title game. You see, one of the things I don’t like about what’s going to go on the next weeks and months, is people are going to start coming out of the woodworks with things they know. I alluded to things back then that are now coming to light from other radio hosts, but never went too detailed. I was always pressed on that, and could have went further with some of the examples coming out now, but why bury a guy that was leading our current team?
One example is the fact that I told people our communication was awful with recruits, specifically in-state guys. I took it further and said that head coaches of out of state schools were talking to our in-state guys months before they even had any correspondence with our staff. Then we would inevitably get a commitment from some in-state guy that was coming to Nebraska no matter what and the response is “guess the communication wasn’t bad with him, huh?!” And I think that was a crux of some of the problems, our staff was filled with people that didn’t challenge what was going on, and they let it slip while failing to acknowledge that things needed to change. Why tell him it needed to? They were 13-0 doing what they did at UCF.
A huge problem was we had a bunch of guys that came in to coach with Frost because they were his friend. I wouldn’t say they were “yes men”, but they certainly didn’t challenge what was going on. I still remember an assistant saying “if he was from Florida he would have an offer right now.” There was just disconnect, and our assistants were constantly playing catch up because an Omaha kid had already talked to Matt Campbell or Kirk Ferentz for months before even hearing from our head coach. When all of a sudden the assistants changed, and outside guys came in like Joseph, Busch, Applewhite, and Whipple, now that buffer of what was going on was gone. Rumors and things that Alberts was told were going on were validated, and when he thought those things could be a reason for what we were seeing for on the field results, it was time to pay attention to the scores on Saturdays.
So now he had been made aware of what was going on (and I just gave one example, there’s so many), and we start out losing in Ireland. We are tied with North Dakota at half, tied in the 3rd quarter, sneak out a victory. Then lose to a Go5 team, all of those things that Trev saw as deficiencies that could be leading to this were confirmed. So that is where you get the “things from the past 6 months led to this” narrative. That’s fair, but us losing too much due to those things were also a factor.
And i’d also like to bring up something Sam McKewon pointed out today, and that’s the fact that Bill Moos did Frost no favors. When Frost was hired here, he wanted an AD that was going to give him what he wanted and stay out of his way. But looking back, he needed more help and more guide rails to keep him on track. Moos was not the guy that was going to say “hey maybe it’s best if you beat your assistants here.” He wasn’t going to ask Frost “what’s going on in-state recruiting-wise and how can we turn it around?” He was going to let Frost do it his way. McKewon referenced the Maurice Washington situation, and the fact that when that case came down on MW, at B1G media days Frost was asked about it and he said “we are still deciding what to do there”. As SM said, that decision should have been taken out of his hands. You find a way to play without him. You are having Frost send one of his lawyer buddies to help the kid and having Frost decide when or if he should play? There are some things where adults just need to step in.
And i’ve got Maurice Washington stories for days. How about when he was hiding from one of the coaches that was trying to find him for meetings, only to play that Saturday. That’s what gets you distrust amongst the team… the scholarship player or walk-on doing everything right sees you giving favoritism to the guy doing most things wrong and playing him and they say “what’s the point?” And that’s what Alberts is talking about with being a leader of young men and accountability.
Sticking with accountability… how about all of the people who said Riley culture and losing was a reason Frost was having trouble? You sure about that? We actually had 9 wins in Frost’s first 2 seasons with that terrible culture, compared to 7 the last 2.5 seasons. If you thought that was a problem for Frost, the next coach is in big trouble:
Again, no accountability, we just threw that out there about Riley being awful because no one would be able to quantify it was wrong. But the fact is no one was speaking that in 2018 or 2019, in 2022 and year 5 players are actually saying “we have a losing culture”. That’s tough for the coach in 2023.
Last thing on accountability… it started early here. Remember when we sent 2 kids to the hospital with rhabdo, and the response from our staff was “that’s just how out of shape they were”? That doesn’t do anything to build respect with your team. I’d actually argue that it gets them less likely to follow you. The Oregon coach was suspended without pay when that happened, in Nebraska we celebrated it as we are finally working them the way we need to.
We just had a constant barrage of actions that weren’t acceptable for a Power 5 coach and excuses to get the heat off. Scott Frost got more than enough time to right the ship. As a fan now, it’s frustrating to me because 2022 is gone. And if you get someone like Bill O’Brien here, 2023 he will talk about how he’s still building a roster and needing his guys. So we are 2024 away from getting where we want to be.
Nebraska completely squandered the B1G West opportunity we had to win a title. I mentioned it with Bo, it carried through to Riley, and Frost just detonated a nuclear warhead to it. In 2012 Penn State and Ohio State were on probation, we played Wisconsin who was 7-5 and third in the east and lost. The west had not great coaches, and we just couldn’t get it done. We couldn’t figure out how to get to more than 1 conference title game since coming to this conference. Now Minnesota has Fleck, Wisconsin has Chryst, Purdue has Brohm, and we are bringing in USC and UCLA. It won’t get any easier from here on out.
But allow us to do what Trev said and look forward:
Where do we go from here?
I’ve had so many moronic Iowa State and Kansas State fans say how we are not attractive anymore and with the expansion of the CFP it makes it so Big12 is relevant. I made a tweet about this, but I promise you that Oklahoma and Texas aren’t leaving the Big12 because they think it’s relevant. USC and UCLAs administrators didn’t vote to leave the conference because they thought things were stable. Nebraska is in an unreal spot because we are in the B1G, pour the most resources into our program out of any team in our division, and we are still nationally known.
I also made mention that we have made so many hires this century that literally anyone that is feasible has a “like” coach that didn’t work here. Campbell is compared to Riley as if there isn’t 25 years of difference between them and Campbell isn’t 2.5 hours away right now. Chadwell at Coastal Carolina is compared to Frost as a guy that is a Go5 coach that may not work at a Power 5 school.
Every coach is different, and I like what Trev is doing with setting what our values are and who coincides with them. But the key is going to be a program builder and developer. Again, from the last message board that kicked me off, I made mention how awful our strength and conditioning was. Pretty much no one does what we do anymore, and the culmination of that for me was the fact that a masters strength class started out the introduction to the entire course by talking about how you have to innovate and adapt with the times. “Nebraska strength program was innovative and people were trying to catch up in the 80s and 90s, they couldn’t and it resulted in multiple championships for the Huskers. But if you just stick with your old ways and think that was right while neglecting the advancements and studies that have been done, you end up with what Nebraska football is today.” I have the video if anyone doesn’t believe me. We went from S&C pioneers, to the laughing stock 30 years later, all because we are doing the same stuff. Again, that was a course anyone in the nation could take, and that’s how they started it, the football team I know and love as a reference point of what not to be doing.
And it makes sense when you start thinking about it. How come every year we rely on first year players to help us? Think about it this year… Thompson, Palmer, Grant, Allen, Garcia-Castenada, Washington, that’s basically our entire production, first year guys. Defensively Drew, Wynn, Mathis, Hill, we are starting first year players nearly everywhere. And the reason we are having to do that is because the guys that have been around for a while seemingly get worse. Just look at our OL where we start guys that have been here for multiple offseasons… Benhart looks worse, Prochazka gets hurt all the time, Corcoran looks worse, Piper started a game or two as an athletic and big freshman now nowhere to be found.
And to pile on for the last time, i’m not sure i’ve seen a more out of shape team that gets pushed around on both sides of the line of scrimmage than 2022 Nebraska. And that’s where Trev is going from a developmental standpoint, we can’t continually bring in 4 star linemen and have our line look the way it does. Not in year 5 of the weight program. If it takes 6 years to get results from what we do in the offseason we better hope for another Covid year so we can have players that long.
Now some of that is recruiting, and that goes with being a program builder. Along the OL and DL we’ve basically whiffed on 2 straight recruiting classes. And while we haven’t whiffed on the skill positions, all 5 starters on offense (QB, RB, WR, WR, WR) are first year guys. The one guy who isn’t is Vokolek who is injured all of the time. I just get sick of seeing our most explosive players be Wandale Robinson, Samari Toure, and all of these guys that haven’t been slowed down by how we do things.
How to build in the transfer portal era:
I had an interesting conversation with Damon Benning the other day and he was talking on his radio show about how Nebraska used the transfer portal to fill gaps but we had no foundation or identity, so things crumbled. Someone inevitably asked him how Mel Tucker was able to bring in 20 transfer portal guys and it works for him.
“His values and what he believes in never waivered. He had some misses with guys, but they were gone in a hurry. If you are unsure like we were, the portal can be a disaster. Mel Tucker knows what he’s going for.”
I brought this up on that message board I was kicked off of, but if you don’t embrace the transfer portal, you will be screwed because it’s here to stay. I said it’s a negative right now for Nebraska, as we lost our best offensive player to the portal the last 3 years (Spielman, Robinson, Martinez). You lose guys like Rogers, that can’t happen. The portal needs to be a positive. How can we get more Toure, Palmers, etc. and have less Robinson’s transfer out?
Further, you can’t sit here and tell me culture is awful for you when we have the portal. Get rid of it instantly. The portal can make it so guys can leave and be eligible immediately. The new coach is going to have his work cut out for him at certain positions such as OL and DL to completely change that room. But it can be done in a hurry.
My Hot List If I Were Hiring of feasible candidates:
Matt Campbell – I know a lot of people don’t like him, but he’s young, he’s familiar with this geography, has a conference title appearance in the Big12, but most importantly he doesn’t need top of the line recruits to win. We will never be able to outrecruit USC or Ohio State, but Campbell had his Iowa State team play within a touchdown of Clemson. They played 2 top 10 teams in 2020 and lost by a total of 9 points. For this hire I would definitely want an 8-4 or 9-3 type year for the Nebraska fans to get behind it. I truly don’t understand the Riley comparisons, he’s 42 and just got an extension and raise. Mike Riley was almost 70 and getting fired.
Kyle Wittingham – The Utah head coach has a team that always plays hard and the way I would love for Nebraska to play. He’s a bit older, and one of Trev’s points he made was being able to keep up with what the new age college player takes pride in like NIL.
Chris Klieman – Won multiple national titles at North Dakota State and is currently at Kansas State where he’s rebuilding. Klieman has less of a track record in FBS compared to Campbell, so like Campbell I would like to see an 8 or 9 win season to really get on board.
Matt Rhule – This would require him flunking out of the NFL first. But what he did at Temple and then Baylor during rape culture is really impressive. It’s just one of those things on if he wants back to college.
Bill O’Brien – Currently the offensive coordinator at Bama. My hesitation with him is I feel like he needs elite players to do what he wants to do. We will never get Texans and Alabama caliber players. But it’s tough to ignore what he did at Penn State.
Sam Pittman – The Arkansas coach is doing a really great job, my only concern is his age and if we could actually lure him since he is making good money there.
Dave Aranda – Has only been a head coach for a couple years but won a conference title year 2 and has helped Baylor get back on their feet. My hesitation here is the lack of experience.
That’s where i’m at with my coaching wants in order right now. As i’ve said before, this season is going to dictate a lot for Trev. For example, if Matt Campbell goes 5-7 that’s tough to hire him. If we are in on him early and he goes 10-2 all of a sudden he’s probably one of the hottest commodities out there.
I think we need a younger guy that knows how to build a program. While i’ll agree the ceiling isn’t crazy right now for Campbell, his best years are in front of him compared to a guy like Riley.
And that’s where I wonder about a guy like O’Brien… did he really build anything at Penn State? He was there for two years. I think it’s impressive what he did but I can’t really trust him to build something here.
My absolute most important thing is having P5 head coaching experience, and building a program. Which is why I think Campbell is the top of the list for Alberts.
Names i’ve heard who ain’t getting the job:
Mickey Joseph – Unless he plays for a conference title, he isn’t getting the gig. I think people forget that he has only been an FBS coach for 6 years and it’s only been a position coach. Trev just can’t gamble like that.
Urban Meyer – lol
Mark Stoops – Not happening folks
PJ Fleck – See Mark Stoops
Deion Sanders – The fit is not there at all, and zero FBS experience. Also would actually like to see how he is as a coach without a son playing QB for him
Larry Johnson Sr – 70 years old and has never been a head coach before. No go.
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Some eye opening info here and when taken in whole, its no wonder we have floundered the past 5 years. Those that said he was over his head and shouldnt have brought all his buddies here were proven to be correct. I have wondered why our lineman have looked so incredibly stiff and slow…like a body builder that cant bend and twist and play in space?!?! I guess when you have some NFL talent on D line in some years, you can get away with it. To speak about focusing on in state recruits and winning the 500 mile radius for recruits, but to then not get out in front of them ahead of outside coaches is completely irresponsible IMO. I thought the whole MW thing was a bit odd, but it is no wonder the culture on the team was fractured when you play favorites with a guy like that…Seems the only good thing about the last few years is the talent at wr and rb seems to be good as we have had in years and I do believe Trev is the best person to get us through this and am confident he has the vision and stones to do what is necessary. Thank you for all the insight and analysis…helps for us “outsiders” to kind of get a feel for what is happening (or happened) behind the scenes. I hope they play hard against the Sooners…but I fear our O line and D line isnt going to be able to hold up the whole game
I think it’s just crazy all of our guys are first year players. And the longer a linemen is in our strength program the worse they get.
Matt Campbell is a no for me
I’m getting that a lot. Curious as to why? And who would your top guy or two be?
Chris Petersen? Thoughts?
I have a real problem with him based on the Lubick thoughts on him. If he was burned out at Washington how long could he last here?
I think you hire Mickey Joseph if he gets us at least 2nd in the division. Trev will have seen what he is doing behind the scenes. It is actually pretty impressive watching him work this week. I am pulling for him because that is the easy answer, but it is a long shot. Does he have enough talent to actually win some games? I think all the coaches you have on your Hot list will be no better then what Pelini was. Dont get me wrong, I will take that in a minute. It is all just a gamble at this point.
I just don’t think Alberts will take a chance on Joseph, even if he wins, he didn’t build it. And that’s a main priority for Alberts. I don’t think we will have to worry about him getting us second in the division though. We have more issues than just changing the head coach such as defensive scheme, our lines being awful, etc.
Who would be your top two or three guys?
SOS, thank you so much for this piece. One of my favorites and I have enjoyed many of your articles. With a new S&C coach, how will people like me know that we are developing or heading in the right direction.
Secondly, how important is it for the next coach to keep MJ if he isn’t hired?
I appreciate your outlook on the next coach. Do you have any preference for an offensive minded or defensive minded HC?
Good question. It’s pretty easy to see from people willing to have the conversation and don’t have their mind made up that our S/C is pretty bad at this point. The eye test lets me know we aren’t beating anyone down due to our strength or speed, including Georgia Southern or North Dakota. What I always laughed at is when they would give the Top 5 “Husker Power” spring winners, and our 40s were in a point system. I think someone won with 742 points or something, they didn’t say what their time was.
Nowadays good strength coaches are pumping out drills that resonate with the current game today, speed. All we see is weight room working hard videos. Remember how Chris Walker and Damian Jackson were the poster childs for what we were doing? Neither of them ended up playing and both transferred to lower levels. You gotta have your players in the weight room translate to the field.
I thnk Alberts will tell the next coach to take a long look at Joseph. He is a really good coach, just not ready for HC yet.
I would prefer a defensive minded coach for the fact that when we had a good defense in 2021, we were in every single game. Our best teams this century were with a defensive minded coach in Bo. Callahan, RIley, and now Frost, all of them were offensive minded and we were all ready to leap off a building.
Thanks for the reply. In what category would you put Fickell?
Gosh, he’s right there in the Tier 1’s right? What do you think? CFP is no joke for Cincy.
One of your best articles and that’s saying something.
I agree Trev is unlikely to take a chance with Coach Joseph at this time, but I can see how that might eventually work out if he did. Bear with me. From what I can see both are highly intelligent, have a less ego/more service world view and are rightly self-confident. Trev would mentor without being “intrusive”, allowing Mickey to run the show without infringing on his agency. Coach Joseph would process Trev’s input and, where he saw the fit, let it shape his decisions without dictating them. Blue sky opinions to be sure, but I could see Trev and Mickey getting along very well.
I’ve always liked Campbell, he gets a lot done for an Iowa State program that hasn’t enjoyed as much success as they’d like. I can’t endorse or denigrate any of the contenders/pretenders as I don’t know enough. That’s why I read your stuff. lol
Ya, I think my concern is not that Joseph is capable, it’s that he doesn’t have the experience. But how do you get experience? Someone takes a chance. Can Alberts take that chance with this hire? I think it takes Joseph really going above and beyond.
I think his mantra turned off a lot of riley players. He told them when he came in that they were going to learn how to work hard as if they were lazy offending them, there was the mantra of i need my players. Instead of getting those kids to want to play hard for him, he either ran them off or lost their respect. A good coach handles that way better. Then he whiffs in recruiting too much and is hence left with little room for error. Heck im not sure ANY wr hs recruit has panned out. One maybe?
Couple that with numerous other issues like lack of long time experience on the staff leading to continually getting outcoached, botching wandale etc etc
For sure. I’ve always said a good football coach makes football players better. Not a good football coach makes HIS players better. If you aren’t good enough to make other players better if they don’t fit what you do, you might be in over your skis. Especially nowadays in college football.
Right! and excellent write up!
I don’t get the MC hate. If he wins 9, it’s a no brainer. Fits everything Trev is looking for. Is it true Trev had him lined up last year in case frost didn’t agree to the contract restructure?
I really like Campbell. But i’m hearing it all over that he wouldn’t be good enough of a hire here. I hope he gets to the CCG this year to make it 2 of 3 years doing that so there’s really no issue with the fans. We need everyone on board even though we know they won’t be.
many fans feel like we HAVE to have the sure thing. Some guy with proven HC experience and proven wins at a big time level. I think they are scared of risk because they think we’ve failed so much. But campbell is an excellent hire if you take the blinders off and recognize what hes done at 2 programs with low celings. hes taken them as far as they can go for the most part. And besides that, most great hires over the years havent been sure things. You think anybody knew for sure B stoops could be a great HC? He was only a coordinator. How about Dabo? pete carrol had no proof that he could coach college. Heck ryan day and l riley never ran programs, they were just promising coordinators. Urban meyer did great at bowling green and utah, who at the time were weak programs but that didnt keep florida from hiring because he hadnt run a power 5 type program. I could go on and on. Theres not a no risk hire. Campbel would be excellent
Really good comment here.
I would absolutely be estatic if we could somehow lure Pat Fitzgerald away from Northwestern.
Oh I love that. Just don’t think it could happen.
SSO, I will probably add a few posts instead of one long one. In some respects Nick Saban’s record at MSU in the mid to late 90’s does mire Campbell’s at ISU. MSU under Saban 34-21-1, Campbell at ISU, 44-34 so far. When LSU hired Saban, I’m sure some were questioning that hire, but 20 years later Saban has become the top coach in the P5. Naturally that doesn’t mean Campbell can pull off the same thing if he were hired. One thing I have noticed over the many years I have followed CFB is that successful coaches can turnaround programs in a short period of time. In hindsight, Frost was unable to do this in year two which was a sign that things may not go well in the future.
I like that. Tough with the Saban comparison but to your point, Saban and Campbell theoretically have their best days in front of them unlike a Riley.
Thanks as always for the time you put in on the site. Your insight is missed on HM…
What about Dave Clawson. Everyone I have ever spoken to said he is an extremely bright guy who runs a good clean program and does a lot with 2 and 3 stars. I think the mesh offense could work in the B1G if we actually start playing powerfully on the OL… I would assume Ruggiero would come with him?
I thought about him. That’s not a bad call at all.
Overall, I’m not sure who I would favor to become HC. As with you I would prefer a defensive minded HC. Defense wins Championships so the first goal of the new HC would be to get that fixed asap. Based on that, I would favor Aranda or Rhule. Rhule turned around 2 programs very quickly before heading to the NFL. Aranda took Baylor from 2-7 to 12-2 last year. If Aranda has another good season he would be a top candidate for me. Rhule won’t be available unless he gets fired at Carolina. If that occurs at the end of the season that timing doesn’t fit well for getting a new HC in place by early December. Also does Aranda even want to leave Baylor so that could be an issue as well. If not these two not sure who else I would favor. If they bring in Campbell, NU will need a top notch DC and not sure who in the P5 would be a good fit for that position. The good thing is that TA has a few months to vet candidates and not have it turn into a rush job. Finally I hope they can keep MJ and Busch on staff so that recruiting doesn’t fall off a cliff.
I would like to add one other thing. Nobody had any clue Riley was going to leave OU for USC and Kelly for LSU. Could there end up being another big surprise that nobody will know about?
Probably but I think OU to USC and Notre Dame to LSU is pretty similar to Iowa State to Nebraska unfortunately. Oklahoma to Nebraska or Notre Dame to Nebraska just probably won’t happen.
I could get on board with Campbell, he didn’t get to ISU with top 25 recruiting classes so he has shown that he can build a program.. i would still like Aranda..
I love both. Aranda is a long shot in my opinion.
I’ve heard several college football columnists/hosts, who I find fairly credible, say Aranda was a pipe dream for us.
Not that that’s fact, but I think they’re probably right. If he continues well at Baylor, probably will have a bigger fish than our current state that will be after him.
Ya I don’t see Aranda coming here. But you make the call.
The more I think about the it the more I am convinced Trev knew after the first month or so he was going to have to let Frost go. It was just a question of when. I think everything you listed above was like a thorn in Trev’s eye. Frost was not prepared nor would he ever be prepared to build Nebraska back and I think at a fundamental level Trev knew that in his bones. When he sensed the fanbase was no longer fractured after the end of that game he was able to act decisively, like a linebacker seeing a RB hit the hole.
I also think Trev sensed that an opportunity presented itself and there was a clear cut business case why now was the time to strike. When Trev goes on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff this Saturday and presents a program looking forward not back he has already won a huge battle. When he states his case why the next coach at Nebraska can be a contender again it will be another huge win in terms of presenting his case to a national audience. That goodwill/publicity and the money that it generates will come back to the University in spades. It was honestly the perfect time to make the move knowing a national audience would be watching. FOX will want to talk about Nebraska football history, the coaching search, Trev Albers thoughts, the Urban Meyer angle and debate if we can make it back to relevance.
The more I watch Trev the more I realize he’s a shrewd dude. He’s not playing around. He’s playing the long game to make us a national power again. As someone said we are a “sleeping giant” and I think Trev knows he has an opportunity right now to rebuild us again. I would not bet against him.
Top two are still Aranda and Fickell for me but I’m warming to Campbell. Saw him respond about the Nebraska job and his answer was pure class. Character guy. I don’t doubt he would be successful here.
Trev is fucking calculated. I have multiple UNO friends that have it our for him (that I get) but in this instance I think he has a plan. I’m glad I don’t have to make this call. But I also know that regents and the administration told him when he was hired you may be needing to make a football coach hire in the next couple years and he was up for the challenge.
That was about him dropping football and wrestling. However, the athletic dept was in a deep hole. He had to do something and made the unpopular decision.
I think the worst part of our S&C is that we had people knowingly doing exercises with improper technique. Anyone who knows anything in this space knows what that leads to and that’s why adding more cardio last year then having guys lose weight this offseason didn’t translate to better mobility. Its also why we can say we’re using the old Husker Power program and then see results that look nothing like we used to run because we altered it in all the wrong ways. I hope the next coach has an emphasis on balance and core strength which is really what Turley was doing at Stanford, just a more unique approach to it.
I don’t get the hate on Campbell and honestly after the Frost debacle I would hope people realize there’s a lot we don’t see or know about these guys for any of us to have that firm of a position on them. As fans, all we can do is be supportive and hope Trev makes a good hire as there are likely many capable coaches for us to hire because after all we are just fans. Trev just has to do his homework because we can’t be wrong again. In fact, for that reason I’m more open to a high floor kind of coach then try to raise his ceiling with support.
One thing I’d say I like about Aranda, who I don’t think we’ll hire but we should be vetting, is he worked on a staff recently with MJ and BB so he’s likely to keep those guys around. Its important the next staff have good, experienced coaches with knowledge of our region and competition which Aranda does bc of his Wisconsin tenure (which also maybe overlapped with BB?). I like that Campbell, Kleiman and Leipold know the landscape here too and all would be hires we can justify.
I don’t have anything to add except you can write for me if you want lol
High praise and glad we are aligned!
Hey I have a s&c question for you. You mentioned in a post during summer lead up about some Neuro training guy coming to town and helping out with our program. Any word on if that took place, what was the response and did anything change?
That’s a great question. I don’t believe it did. Epley was going to figure out if he could set it up as he was at the clinic as well, but the guy was heading to Stanford or somewhere after that. I need to look into that.
Why do you think Frost didn’t want to change the S&C program? Was it because he went 13-0 at UCF and thought it would eventually work at NU?
I think it’s really tough to change things when you know it worked at one point. He also wanted to do the Oregon speed with Husker Power so that would have been giving up on his vision. The other thing too is firing an Epley disciple in Nebraska may have been tough.
Great stuff.
We’ve had discussion on Campbell in prior threads. I agree with you the comparison to Riley is not that accurate, but I see how the situation is somewhat similar (smaller P5 school coach going to bigger school who didn’t just finish an amazing season).
He’s still not my top choice, but the more time passes I lean more to maybe that’s what we need now. There’s never going to be a sure thing, but I think if fans can get past the lack of glamour, he would be solid. The comment about us needing to focus on how we compare to the B10 west rather than stacking up against OSU/Mich/Penn St I think is very true.
I was OK with firing Solich and Pelini at the time, and still don’t think it was a wrong answer, because I was OK with having certain expectations. I don’t think we have to have low expectations, but there absolutely has to be a shift in how we expect to build our program back to respectability for what the landscape is NOW.
If we want to keep taking some swings and misses, then fans need to be OK with sucking for another 4-5 years when we miss. Campbell or Klieman don’t get me really excited, but at the end of the day, they know the area, have proven to be good developers, and I’d venture to guess that we could be a fairly long-term destination for them. I think right now that would be important to me.
I would be OK with O’brien in certain contexts, but I’d guess if he did really well here he’d be gone in a few anyway, he’d have his sights on a bigger fish with who he’s coached over the years. If we hired Campbell/Klieman, and we moved on from them at some point, I feel like at least they wouldn’t have left the program bare/in an awful spot.
I’m still all for Rhule/Aranda/Whittingham if possible, but not sure if they’re feasible, but have come to accept more if it’s Campbell/Klieman, it may not be sexy or a quick turnaround, but it would probably be solid and steady, which may not be a bad thing right now.
I remember reading from multiple people about how Frost was running the program, and I was hoping it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Heck I saw a report that Frost didn’t show up at times when the Raiola’s were in town.
As for coaches I think Trev needs to aim high, make Urban, Aranda, and even Fitz tell him no. I think Campbell would be a good coach, but he might not be a sexy enough hire for some people. I also think its interesting MJ was named the interim coach, part of me thinks TA is hoping he does well and wins a bunch of games so he can justify hiring him as the head coach.
I think even if only 10% of the things we hear about he HC are true he needed to go. Frustrating as he had everything there for him to do well.
Yes, Alberts needs to make calls to everyone and figure out where we stand and what he likes or doesn’t like about some of them.
After today’s gutless performance I think the whole thing needs to be burned to the ground. I was onboard with keeping Joseph and Applewhite if the next coach wanted them on staff. However it may be best if the entire staff is replaced. The next HC needs a clean slate whomever that may be. The disparity in talent today was ridiculous. I understand we lost several starters on defense from last year but Jesus Christ they shouldn’t be this bad. OU could have hung 70 on them but Venables applied the mercy rule. This defense is worse than the Cosgrove group of 2007 and that’s saying something.