[Husker] (no subject)

[Steve Reichenbach]

> College football had passed Solich by.
> 
> Derek Ryter

That's a funny quote, because if you'd ask me which college coach
it was most often said that "the college game had passed him by",
the answer would be Tom Osborne, far and away.  Perhaps, Derek is
too young to remember the SI article that trumpeted that conclusion
about Osborne in the early 1990's, right before he coached NU to
one of the greatest runs of college football history.

Osborne went through a long learning process that brought him to
the conclusion that recipe for winning was speed and agressiveness
on defense, run the ball first and pass when you must on offense,
and be solid on special teams.  All around him, teams were focused
on the passing game, but Osborne stuck with developing a strong
running game despite all the expers who said the game had passed
him by.  It was an approach that worked pretty well and one that
Solich followed.

Solich has one of the best coaching records in college football.
You don't win 75% of your games by being passed by.  The main
problem under Solich was the unrealistic expectation of fans that
winning 75% of games wasn't good enough --- the same thing that
put Osborne on the hot seat in the late 1970s and again in the
early 1990s.  It was natural that there was a period of transition:
Solich learning about being a head coach, older assistants who didn't
recruit energetically being replaced, bringing in younger coaches
who were talented and energetic.  The last year Solich coached at
NU --- finishing 10-3 finishing with wins at CU and in a bowl game
with a QB that had great heart but wasn't one of NU's better QBs
--- was one of the best coaching results in a long time.  It looks
like Solich is off to a good start at Ohio.

Someone asked what others thought of Callahan.  I thought Pederson
had stumbled from stupidity in firing Solich to incompetence in
looking at Nutt, but then found a great hire in Callahan.  When
Callahan had a meet-and-greet with faculty after his hiring, I was
impressed with his personality.  I thought Callahan made a mistake
in not trying to keep some of the staff, especially, Marvin Sanders
and the defensive coaches, but I thought John Blake was a great hire.
I was not pleased with the defense last year, but the defensive
coaches looked hard at what they were doing and have made great
improvements this year.  I thought the offensive play calling was
inexplicable at times last year, especially not running the ball
against ISU and against CU (in which it seemed that they didn't want
to win the game).  I think Callahan can be obstinate and stubborn,
e.g., not changing the punt return game last year, but he has shown
more willingness to change things this year, e.g., using Glenn in
short yardage situations after earlier in the year dismissing the
red-zone problems.  I thought the staff did not do a good job of making
adjustments last year, but I think they are doing a better job of
that this year.  I think Callahan can be too emotional, e.g., profanity
laced locker room tirades, sideline comments and gestures, but it
doesn't seem so out-of-hand as to be a serious problem yet.  Overall,
I had high hopes for Callahan that he hasn't met.  Certainly, 5-6
was a disapointment for a team coming off a 10-3 record and 3 losses
in the last 4 and consecutive home losses is not satisfactory.  The
offense this year is woeful.  Still, Callahan has had less than 2 years
and it's too soon to tell whether he can get NU back to national
championship, let alone back to where we were with Solich.  Anyone
who is pleased with what has happened since Solich was fired must have
drunk something stronger than koolaid, but anyone who thinks that
Callahan shouldn't get more time isn't being sensible either.

Frankly, I don't understand the animosity towards Solich: a great
career as a player, an assistant coach during the greatest period
of NU success, and a head coach who had an excellent record and
had the program on the upswing with a new staff when he was fired
in the midst of a 10-3 season.  If you're an NU fan, I just don't
understand why Solich would provoke such animosity.  Yet, in the
same message Derek writes: "One downfall that I see is the persistent
whining from the Husker fans." and "And I hear all this pissing and
moaning around Lincoln and cyberspace about how people don't like this
and don't like that."  What a hypocrite.  If he wants sunshine, maybe
he should quit pissing about Solich.