This seems a little foolish considering we don’t even have a President of the University hired yet. But what the heck…
Let’s go back to when I talked to Frost back when he was in Orlando and we were looking for an AD. “Does the AD really matter” was a question I had, and the answer was a resounding “yes”. Who your boss is is a really big deal. So trying to figure out who the AD is when his boss isn’t permanently hired yet is tough. It will bring new people into the fold and have some people not as interested.
I am also getting a little more light on the discord between Alberts and whatever else. We put a little info on it from our article yesterday that can be found here:
But to add more to what was said there, I can tell you that Alberts and the interim President Kabourek weren’t quite on the same page. While it was a young relationship, you could start to see where there may be some trouble. It is no secret that the stadium project funding was falling a bit short, and I thought that much of that was due to donors not knowing whether to contribute to Trev or 1890. People that were interested in helping athletics didn’t know where to put their money. It became a pissing match. What I mentioned briefly in the above article, but didn’t know it went further, was that our interim President is really pushing academic recruiting and upgrades. Remember this article:
So if we are going to be recruiting high ACT scores like 5 star athletes, educational buildings and money to academics by the person that pulls donor purse strings may not align with what Alberts was trying to do. Trev was already fighting for donations from people who wanted to help athletics between him and 1890, now he’s fighting for the general donations from an Interim President as well. In the Johnny Manziel documentary, an A&M spokesperson talks about how athletics can help drive education. They even have someone mention “it wasn’t difficult recruiting professors here when Johnny Football was playing”. Then take into account this quote from Trev:
And let’s be honest, donors having to decide between education, NIL, and athletics here in Nebraska will not be an issue at A&M. The Aggies rank 2nd behind Oregon and their NIKE money for donations to the athletic program. The big dreams and aspirations Trev has won’t be an issue down there. There is plenty of money to go to education AND athletics. Everything is bigger in Texas.
I still think this move may come back to haunt him. Maybe i’m wishing that. But even though this is considered a promotion by many national pundits, I don’t think the situation is better down there than it is in Lincoln. Expectations are realistic here and if he thinks meddling and donor/trustee issues are happening in Lincoln, multiply it by 10 down there. Enough, here is who I have been hearing about and who I think may be a good fit:
Mack Rhoades – Baylor Athletic Director
People are paranoid Rhule will leave, so why not throw out the guy that hired him at Baylor? He navigated the scandal great, and we could really throw it in Trev’s face that we replaced him with a CFP committee member (Trev has been jockeying for that spot). That said, Waco is a bit frustrated with him after sticking with Aranda.
John Cook – Nebraska Head Volleyball Coach
This one makes sense from an internal standpoint, but i’d like him to at least get one more national title before he leaves the court. And of course we need an AD before that could happen.
Jamie Pollard – Iowa State Athletic Director
This is my favorite as of right now. Pollard would have been selected if not for Alberts already being within the University of Nebraska as he was basically runner-up last go around. Iowa State has the same level of donors, probably less politics, but he has the experience to talk about what has worked elsewhere. Alberts actually referenced Pollard less than a week ago for what he is doing at Iowa State to create alternate revenue streams due to money going outside the athletic department due to NIL. But would he work with Hoiberg since our basketball team seems to finally be clicking?
Ed Stewart – USC Senior Associate Athletic Director
A graduate of Nebraska, I think this one may be a long shot. We have tried the old player as coach, we’ve tried the old player as AD, I think we need some outside perspective despite me thinking he would do great in this role.
Garth Glissman – SEC Associate Commissioner for Men’s Basketball
This one is getting some run because people think he was close to getting the job last go around. I still don’t see it on my end here. I have the utmost respect for this dude and want him back at Nebraska in some capacity, just look at his ascension from being basketball coach at Parkview Christian to working in the NBA. But Nebraska needs a strong person in this role that knows what to expect and what has worked. My fear with a hire like this is it would just be someone that the powers that created this mess can just push around. Horrible analogy here because Glissman is no Eichorst, but that’s why that dude was hired. While Glissman wouldn’t be that big of a loser, that’s what I think would try to happen to him.
Bruce Rasmussen – Former Creighton Bluejays AD
Rasmussen retired in 2021, but if we just can’t find the right guy right away, maybe he could be a good filler for us for a year or two? We can’t just put Osborne in the role again. This seems a little far-fetched but who knows.
Del Conte – Athletic Director Texas
Not happening.
Travis Goff – Athletic Director Kansas
He brought in Leipold and is finding more and more ways to get more teams relevant.
Summary:
I think we need someone strong that knows how to orchestrate the dynamics of board members as well as donors and boosters. I think we will get a clearer picture on this stuff in the next 30 days but these are the names i’ve heard so far.
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We need someone that wont medal in what other coaches are doing. Bring in money, hold the teams accountable and that’s it. Let the coaches run there own program and give them what ever they need to succeed.
Agreed, tough to do sometimes I suppose.
You (or someone) should write a history of Nebraska Football beginning with Osborne’s retirement. I’d like to know who and how everything has been bungled so badly, and if it’s been the same group mucking things up for the last 25 years. The problem right now is that fans/alum don’t know exactly who or what is responsible so we don’t know where to throw support or opposition.
The regular media that covers sports are sycophants who work as a promotional arm of Husker Athletics in order to preserve their access. We could really use the actual story of what has been going on down there for a change.
Been reading your thoughts since you showed up at that other website many years ago. Thanks for keeping it real.
That would be pretty fun to read, I’m not sure I have the bandwidth for that. There’s something that I feel has been slowly unraveling for our football program. And to your point, we have no idea what that is.
What’s interesting is I was on a message board where I was speaking about some of the issues going on in the football program and with the coaches and it basically got me kicked off for saying it. Fast-forward to all of the stuff coming out now that the coach is gone and people were mad that no one said anything while it was happening, and I had to point that some were (like myself) we just got kicked off of where we were for saying it.
I want Trev to come out and say what the deal is. He may think he’s hurting his alma-mater but it would help us in the long run. I just don’t anticipate that happening.