[Husker] Two "what if" scenarios...

[Mike Jaixen]

It gets very dangerous when you generalize about an
entire fanbase, though I think now it's safe to say
that most Husker fans are hoping the Bill Callahan era
is in it's final days.  That's not a universal
opinion...but I'm fairly confident it's a majority
opinion now.

Two months ago, that wasn't the case.  Fans tolerated
poor play at Wake Forest (in a win), but as the season
spun downhill, fans quickly realized that the promises
made over the past few years were largely being
unfulfilled.  Callahan did accept responsibility early
on, but after the Missouri and Oklahoma State
meltdowns, but fans expected some sort of explanation
or some sort of adjustments at some point.  I really
think fans might have been more accepting of this
season if we were playing true freshmen (guys like
Patrick Witt, Roy Helu, Quentin Castille, Menolik
Holt, Niles Paul, Prince Amakurama, etc.), but when
the team was being exposed on both sides of the ball
week after week, fans simply ran out of patience.

Then, when some changes were finally made (attacking
defense against Texas; replacing Sam Keller with Joe
Ganz), the sudden results raised questios as to why
some of these changes weren't tried earlier when
things began to go downhill.

I think Callahan's responses in recent weeks haven't
changed people's opinions, but rather solifified them.
 In fairness to Callahan, I think he's simply been
trying to defend himself with some of these
statements, not so much to retain his job at Nebraska,
but to set the stage for his next coaching job.

Actions speak louder than words, and making some sort
of adjustments in early October might have not only
changed the outcome of this season, but might also
have changed fans opinions.

--- David Strong <gbrlist at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 
> 1.  "What if Tom does not fire Bill Callahan?"
> 
> It is my impression that BC is so poorly thought of,
> so genuinely disliked, throughout Husker Nation,
> that the backlash would be great and many would feel
> betrayed by TO.  I live in North Carolina so I go by
> my own feelings, the feelings that I hear when I
> talk to my Nebraska buds back in Omaha, comments
> from readers of various Husker web sites, and what I
> read in the news articles mostly from the Journal
> Star.  For example, the A&M fans interviewed after
> the game who said things like "we don't like our
> coach, but you people HATE your coach", so they must
> have been getting an earful in Lincoln.  All of this
> makes me feel that my opening sentence is true, but
> what about others much closer to the program than I?
>  Is this the general feeling or is it something
> else?
> 
> 2.  "What if Bill had displayed an entirely
> different attitude?"
> 
> I can't help feeling that if BC had displayed some
> humility and accepted some responsibility for this
> season, things could be different.  Instead of the
> "I've done an excellent job", "the system is great",
> "It's the defense's fault and that's not my area",
> "I developed these players and they are only good
> because of me"  (these are NOT direct quotes of
> course)...what if he had said something like "I've
> learned a lot the last few years and I made some bad
> mistakes this year.  I feel terrible about our lack
> of success but I think I have learned enough to be
> able to address it and now know enough about college
> football, Nebraska football, and what will work that
> I will be able to turn this around." I think
> Nebraska people, really any people, are much more
> willing to accept, forgive, and give someone another
> chance with an attitude like that.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> Dave
> 
>
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Mike Jaixen
Blog: http://huskermike.blogspot.com


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