[Husker] old subject

[weldoc at juno.com]

I guess I don't have to worry about Bob Beach chiming in on this, since
he more or less has said all he wants to say regarding the Solich firing,
and it is so old that it's not worth commenting on any more  :)

Being an "outsider" now, living in Kansas, I perhaps don't have the daily
contact with the Omaha-Lincoln press and the rumor mill. But I don't
recall hearing how bad of a person Frank was, outside of a rumored
problem with alcohol and possible marital infidelity. Other problems ?
Never have heard of any. (For some, in this day and age, these character
flaws have become a badge of courage, a sign of adult maturity.)

The issue that bothered me most was that Frank never had that season to
prove his coaching management ability once he divested himself of
play-calling. But let's not re-hash that, since the new coach has this
well at hand.  :)

I think the thing that still smarts is the method of the firing. I was in
Dallas at the time Landry was let go, and the only thing that softened it
was a) there was no hand-picked successor issue, and b) "Jimmah" won a
Super Bowl a few short years later. That erased a lot of the pain down in
Big D. This hasn't happened in Lincoln -- a Big 12 championship or a
national championship.

It's harder to like change, or to accept it, as you get older. To some of
us, we weren't convinced that wholesale change was needed. Younger folks
like change; it's exciting, something completely new. Well, NU has never
beat to that drum as far as I can recall. Until now. And the sweeping
changes haven't produced starkly-improved results, either. I KNOW this
has been discussed endlessly before. Well, here's the crucial season
coming up.

The other thing that is tough to live with is SP's glib slickness.
Fortunately I don't have to WORK TO AVOID seeing his picture or his
newsclips on the local media. Bill Byrne made a lot of people upset with
some of his improvements, but this guy, having NU roots, comes across to
some folks as a "sellout."  I don't "hate him," but I certainly don't
have to like him, and I don't trust him completely, other than to try to
make a name for himself. I'm not Machiavellian enough to let this all
slide if the "results" seem to justify it. 

Apart from that, I do hope BC has a breakout season this year. I hold no
grudges against him. I think the jury is still out, however, as to
whether a college QB can learn enough of the WCO playbook quickly enough
(1 year with Keller) to have it make the difference we are looking for.

Bill Laughlin
Wichita, KS
Class of '75