[Husker] Bandwagon???

[Pat Gaule]

Lee wrote:

>I am a Football fan first, Baseball second and pay little attention to other 
>sports except to see the scores and who is in the Top 25.
>
>I cannot help but read about all the other sports that are excelling at NU 
>under SP as AD.
>
>Is it right to hold his feet to the fire about Football when other programs 
>are excelling?
>  
>
Please tell me what Steve Pederson had to do with any of this success?  
Baseball and volleyball were excelling well before Stevey came to town.  
I don't think women's soccer was in bad shape either.  Basketball has 
continued to be mediocre under his reign (I don't think many people care 
about that one as much).  The resurgence of the baseball team, starting 
with the hire of Dave Van Horn and continuing with the construction of 
Haymarket Park, all happened when Byrne was the Athletic Director.

In fact, one of the major knocks on Byrne was that he cared too much 
about these "other" sports, and "let the football team slip under his 
reign."  (I guess these people often forget that we won 3 national 
titles in 4 years right after he came on board).

>Looking back to where this problem started probably should not be laid at 
>the feet of SP but at the feet of Bill Byrne and TO. When Tom stepped down 
>there was no search for a new Head Coach. Perhaps if Byrne had not acceded 
>to the TO recommendation that FS take his place TO would have stayed on for 
>a another year or two. 
>
That's probably what Steve Pederson would have done if he was the 
Athletic Director, because it's the absolute dumbest thing to suggest 
from a PR standpoint.  It's a slap in the face to one of the greatest 
college coaches of all-time, a man we were absolutely blessed to have on 
our sidelines.  After that 25 year run, Tom Osborne *deserved* to pick 
his successor, just like Devaney before him.  If something like that 
ever came out, it would have alienated and split up our fanbase every 
bit as much as Solich's firing did.

Finally, considering Solich went 58-19 in 6 seasons, I don't exactly 
consider Osborne's choice to be the wrong one.  So I find this whole 
conversation irrelevant, probably along with many others on this list.

>Then again I do not think Byrne cared because his 
>sights were set on moving to Texas.
>
>
>  
>

Yea, that makes sense.  Back in 1997, Bill Byrne was already "mailing it 
in" because he knew he would get a job offer 5 years later.  Where 
exactly did you pull that theory out of?