High Quality Coaching Since TO

[innmc]

Whenever they ask TO about how he was successful he would always give credit to the players first and the continuity of his coaching staff.

 

[Doc Fumble]

Osborne was always the main recruiter for his teams.

We had a couple of recruiting coordinators back-in-the-day that coordinated big recruiting hauls. Granted, the coaches, led by TO, got them to commit, but the coordinators organized it.

For those great "Scoring Explosion" teams of the early 80s, Jerry Pettibone was the man. He was later recruited away to be the Asst. Head Coach at Texas A&M.

For those great national championship teams of the 90s, it was Steve Pederson. He used his success in that role to move into an athletic director career.

TO did not subscribe to this method. It's been almost thirty years and he still gives his opinion on what should be done and what should have been done.

But he was also loyal to a fault and supported his former coaches and players. There is no way TO agreed with the way his former QB, Frost, set up his program.

Ironically, it took Trev Alberts casting a wide net and going out and looking nationally for a coach who had the same coaching philosophy that TO had (Matt Rhule) to get the program headed back in the right direction.

 

[Pavlov's Dog]

We had a couple of recruiting coordinators back-in-the-day that coordinated big recruiting hauls. Granted, the coaches, led by TO, got them to commit, but the coordinators organized it.

For those great "Scoring Explosion" teams of the early 80s, Jerry Pettibone was the man. He was later recruited away to be the Asst. Head Coach at Texas A&M.

For those great national championship teams of the 90s, it was Steve Pederson. He used his success in that role to move into an athletic director career.
But he was also loyal to a fault and supported his former coaches and players. There is no way TO agreed with the way his former QB, Frost, set up his program.

Ironically, it took Trev Alberts casting a wide net and going out and looking nationally for a coach who had the same coaching philosophy that TO had (Matt Rhule) to get the program headed back in the right direction.

One's offensive minded, the other is defensive.
One stockpiled the roster with local walk-ons and used the partial qualifier as an opportunity to cherry pick premium talent. The other is building through national recruiting and judicious use of the portal. One just kicked off the team a highly talented offensive player for violations. The other is periodically lambasted for letting LP stay on the team.
I could go on.

 

[Doc Fumble]

 

[Pavlov's Dog]

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[Cigarman]

We had a couple of recruiting coordinators back-in-the-day that coordinated big recruiting hauls. Granted, the coaches, led by TO, got them to commit, but the coordinators organized it.

For those great "Scoring Explosion" teams of the early 80s, Jerry Pettibone was the man. He was later recruited away to be the Asst. Head Coach at Texas A&M.

For those great national championship teams of the 90s, it was Steve Pederson. He used his success in that role to move into an athletic director career.
But he was also loyal to a fault and supported his former coaches and players. There is no way TO agreed with the way his former QB, Frost, set up his program.

Ironically, it took Trev Alberts casting a wide net and going out and looking nationally for a coach who had the same coaching philosophy that TO had (Matt Rhule) to get the program headed back in the right direction.

Pettibone showed Osborne how to recruit. He wasn't here long enough to make a real difference himself. Blake was in that boat as well.

 

[Hunchback Johnny]

Great recruiting personalities are of no consequence any longer. Today it is about identifying talent and then getting the 1890 Initiative to open the wallet and flash the Bennies.

 

[SUHnami]

Fumble avoided the elephant in the room. Why did Solich fail? Great staff when he took over - BUT - I think Frankie didn't have the long term vision it takes to be a great head coach. He was a really good one at Ohio and it appeared to learn from what happened in Lincoln.

Solich in a nutshell
- Given elite assistants 1st season
- Many assistants long in the tooth and didn't love hitting the recruiting trail
- Frank was reluctant to address some of the assistants needing to move on/retire
- Recruiting tanked - the talent level in 2002 was a big problem - I remember several discussion on message boards before that season of people watching practices and saying....uh - we aren't very good
- Frank bends under pressure and fires even long term assistants to bring in Pelini as DC
- You can argue what happened in 2003 set up a long slide - but I agreed with the decision. Just not the absolute disaster of a hiring process that followed thanks to Peddy being completely inept

So we started with a great staff- but Frank was put in a tough spot and didn't really have the stones to put his stamp on things to ensure we staying ahead of the curve especially in recruiting.

Also - I think Frank choked in tight games - he struggled with play calling especially and should have given that over to an OC IMHO.

Frankie wasn't elite level D1A coach. He wasn't the right guy. He couldn't close as a recruiter. Once TO's guys were gone and McBride retired, that was pretty much his downfall.

 

[RED ED]

Fumble avoided the elephant in the room. Why did Solich fail? Great staff when he took over - BUT - I think Frankie didn't have the long term vision it takes to be a great head coach. He was a really good one at Ohio and it appeared to learn from what happened in Lincoln.

Solich in a nutshell
- Given elite assistants 1st season
- Many assistants long in the tooth and didn't love hitting the recruiting trail
- Frank was reluctant to address some of the assistants needing to move on/retire
- Recruiting tanked - the talent level in 2002 was a big problem - I remember several discussion on message boards before that season of people watching practices and saying....uh - we aren't very good
- Frank bends under pressure and fires even long term assistants to bring in Pelini as DC
- You can argue what happened in 2003 set up a long slide - but I agreed with the decision. Just not the absolute disaster of a hiring process that followed thanks to Peddy being completely inept

So we started with a great staff- but Frank was put in a tough spot and didn't really have the stones to put his stamp on things to ensure we staying ahead of the curve especially in recruiting.

Also - I think Frank choked in tight games - he struggled with play calling especially and should have given that over to an OC IMHO.

Ok 1,2,3,and 4 all contradict each other

 

[Jimbosc]

Ok 1,2,3,and 4 all contradict each other

Doesn't mean they are wrong in terms of telling what happened. My understanding was the assistants were to be kept ONE SEASON - not indefinitely. But if T.O. was influencing things - which he probably was - that didn't exactly give Frank much leeway to change. Hence the contradiction. Hard to argue those assistants were not elite. They bigger question is if Frank could have maintained recruiting by making changes. We don't know because clearly recruiting DID TANK and Frank wasn't given a chance to see if his changes would stick after 1 season. Mostly because of the blowouts during 2003 making boosters panic and put the pressure on Peddy to make a change at HC.

 

[Uenth]

Doesn't mean they are wrong in terms of telling what happened. My understanding was the assistants were to be kept ONE SEASON - not indefinitely. But if T.O. was influencing things - which he probably was - that didn't exactly give Frank much leeway to change. Hence the contradiction. Hard to argue those assistants were not elite. They bigger question is if Frank could have maintained recruiting by making changes. We don't know because clearly recruiting DID TANK and Frank wasn't given a chance to see if his changes would stick after 1 season. Mostly because of the blowouts during 2003 making boosters panic and put the pressure on Peddy to make a change at HC.

I know part of the deal when he was given the HC gig was that all TO's assistants would be retained. I understand why as it was a well oiled machine; but, it certainly cramps the new coach's style should FS have had plans of hiring his own staff.

 

[Pavlov's Dog]

Was it a well-oiled machine or was it a group of older coaches who had achieved all they wanted? I like my coaches young and hungry. When it fell apart I don't remember top national programs fighting over their services. They WERE great, the world was changing. With CFB and cable, everybody was on TV almost every week. We used to get some priority when there wasn't so many options. Partial Qualifiers ended. Kids weren't interested in 3 yards of dust, they wanted high flying action. The ground was shifting under the Husker's feet and we weren't very nimble. Then we threw the baby out with the bathwater and out of desperation hired Callahan.

 

[Uenth]

Was it a well-oiled machine or was it a group of older coaches who had achieved all they wanted? I like my coaches young and hungry. When it fell apart I don't remember top national programs fighting over their services. They WERE great, the world was changing. With CFB and cable, everybody was on TV almost every week. We used to get some priority when there wasn't so many options. Partial Qualifiers ended. Kids weren't interested in 3 yards of dust, they wanted high flying action. The ground was shifting under the Husker's feet and we weren't very nimble. Then we threw the baby out with the bathwater and out of desperation hired Callahan.

I read that Osborne understood things were changing and he was smart enough to get out while the getting was good. Can't say as I blame him one whit.

 

[Uenth]

Here's a summary of what Osborne said upon retirement:

• Player Transfers:
  Osborne viewed the ease with which players can transfer to multiple schools during their careers as detrimental to the integrity of college sports, especially when driven by financial incentives.
• NCAA Authority:
  Osborne expressed that the NCAA's authority has diminished, leading him to believe a separate governing body might be needed to enforce rules and ensure fairness.
• Revenue Sharing and Collectives:
  He anticipates that the proposed revenue sharing and collective models could lead to a widening gap between the top programs and others, potentially straining the system, according to a YouTube clip.

I'd say he nailed it pretty much!

 

[Husker99]

Great recruiting personalities are of no consequence any longer. Today it is about identifying talent and then getting the 1890 Initiative to open the wallet and flash the Bennies.

Identifying talent is certainly important as is getting them an NIL deal they'll like to get them to sign.

However, you're forgetting coaching and development. I'm guessing just about all these 4 and 5 star players think they're NFL material and ready. The number of players coming out of high school that could realistically make the jump right to the NFL is (I'm estimating) maybe 2-3 players out of the thousand or so available in a given recruiting class. This is why coaching and development is so crucial. Without C&D, even the best players coming out of high school will often fail to make it to the League.