[personal] [Husker] Buffs and 'Cats

[Duane Feldman]

I posted this on Husker Illustrated and don't want to recreate the message, so:

I mentally signed on for five years. BC doesn't need to win a national title in that time, but reaching the level from before he started is a reasonable goal (10-3). He needs to do that within the five years to keep my patience. Winning at a 75% clip (Solich's career W/L rate and his final season rate) seems "reasonable" to me and I'll accept that as the standard to reach at least once during the five years.  If he can achieve this, then we can look longer to see if 75% long-term is a reasonable expectation.

Some speak of the patience we showed Devaney and Osborne when they were coming under fire. There is a difference between having patience with someone who was winning close to 80% and annually ranked in the top ten versus having patience with a 60% winning percentage and constantly flirting with the top 25 (and believe me, we are out of the top 25 if we lose this weekend).

You haven't heard me criticize BC (ever) and I won't during this five year period. Still, I'm not above stating MY requirements to maintain patience beyond that.

Of the coaches who have won a national title in the last 10 years, I think only Mack Brown and Tom Osborne took five years or longer to win their first NC and both had early records better than BC's (IIRC Carroll(2NC's?), Stoops(2), Meyer, Tressel, Davis(2?), and Carr all won their first NC in three years or less). Add Fulmer to the list if you want to go back 12 years.

Five years is enough to determine potential success. So define the level of success you wish to live with.

Coz is a different matter. If BC determines a change here is neccessary to reach 75%, so be it. BC must live with the results of his decisions.  Furthermore, I'm not sure that creating the worst defense in the history of Nebraska football justifies five years of patience either.  We'll see where we are at the end of the year.

Duane Feldman



----- Original Message ----
From: Skylar Dodds sklarbodds at cox.net


Am I 100% sold on Callahan?  No.  But I am more than willing to see what he
can do for the next 4-5 years, I think he's earned that.  Coz?  Well...not
so much.  I realize some of the blame comes back to Callahan on that one, as
it is his job to hire quality coordinators as well, but I'll give a HC a
little more rope there as he 'tries someone out' for the job.

--
Skylar