[Husker] Sadler gets contract extension

[jon johnston]

Pederson wasn't fired solely because he hired a coach that wasn't  
succesful. I won't go into the gaffs like the protracted coaching  
search because I think they're noise beyond the central problem of  
Pederson's tenure. So is the whole Frank Solich affair.

That problem was that he created an environment in which the core of  
the athletic department could no longer function. When high-profile  
long term employees, such as Paul Meyers, leave a department it says  
something about the guy that's running the place. You include the  
lower level employees that were out-right fired with no reasons given,  
and you get a deeper idea of what was wrong. Those things might be  
expected or commonplace in private organizations, but not in an  
educational institution. It'd be interesting to find out the number of  
people who transferred out of the athletic department to other  
departments within the University to escape the work environment.

This isn't about a failed coach. This is about a failed administrator.  
What he did didn't work. That's why he was fired.

He did uphold the academics and the program did not suffer any NCAA  
violations. I'll give him that. But I would theorize that these are  
core values within the department, that the organization upheld those  
ideals. In other words, given enough time those things would have  
eroded as well. Building the Osborne complex is something that would  
have been expected had anyone run that department - as a base  
requirement of being the administrator. The same with balancing the  
budget and increasing revenues.

He created a Tunnel Walk that fans hated. In fact, the guy was so  
disliked he couldn't walk on a football field without being booed by  
his own constituents. There has been a (perhaps romanticized)  
connection between Nebraska football and the fans for many, many  
years, even beyond the Devaney years, and that connection was placed  
in stasis during Pederson's reign. Perhaps Pederson's greatest  
accomplishment was that he reminded us that our beloved football team  
is supposed to have a soul.

Jon Johnston
http://www.cornnation.com

On Apr 2, 2008, at 10:19 PM, Don Mares wrote:

> Let's not forget we were all singing Pederson's praises when the  
> nebraska boy first arrived here much like we are now with Pelini.
>
> Pelini will lose a couple games before its all said and done also.
>
> Pederson built the Osborne complex, balanced the budget, increased  
> revenues and exposure, created husker nation, gave us the tunnel  
> walk and upheld the tradition of academic all americans.  There were  
> no major ncaa violations during his tenure and he enhanced many  
> programs we all take for granted.
>
> He hired a coach that didn't get the job done.  If he had hired a  
> winner, we'd still be talking about how brilliant he is.
>
> Don
>
> On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 9:59 PM, jon johnston  
> <jon.johnston at gmail.com> wrote:
> Let's not kid ourselves. Steve Pederson disemboweled the athletic  
> program. Some day the stories will come out in full.
>
> There wasn't much else besides Doc Sadler he did right.
>
>
> Jon Johnston
> http://www.cornnation.com
>
> On Apr 2, 2008, at 9:53 PM, Bob Beach wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Jaixen"  
> <mikejaixen at yahoo.com>
> To: <husker at tssi.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 5:00 PM
> Subject: [Husker] Sadler gets contract extension
>
>
> Goodness knows I've been critical of the former
> athletic director, but one thing he did right was hire
> Doc Sadler.  No question he's done a great job with
> the basketball program, and today, Tom Osborne gave
> Sadler a 2 year contract extension through 2014.
>
>
>
>   Steve Pederson did many things right with the athletic program.   
> He just messed up football and that is the cardinal sin of all time.
>
>
> Bob Beach
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> Note:  Comcast has been bouncing a lot of list traffic recently.   
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>
> jon johnston
> jon.johnston at gmail.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Note:  Comcast has been bouncing a lot of list traffic recently.   
> The problem appears to be on their end.
>

jon johnston
jon.johnston at gmail.com