[Husker] Sadler gets contract extension

[Pat Gaule]

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.
> 

Puh-leeaze.  He who doesn't deserve to have his name mentioned by me was 
the worst thing that ever happened to the UNL athletic department, and 
anyone who thinks otherwise is guilty of revising history.

The Osborne complex may have been built under his reign of terror, but 
you completely neglect to mention all the controversey that surrounded 
its construction, which ranged from Tom Osborne feeling betrayed and 
wanting to take his name off the project to a rather pathetic inability 
to raise enough money to pay for its construction.

I'm glad that we're giving him credit for "balancing the budget" since 
UNL's athletic department has frequently been in dire straits throughout 
its history...oh wait, it's pretty much always been one of the most 
succesful athletic department in the country.  It's one of the few that 
is actually self-sufficient without having to dip into the rest of the 
university's coffers.  I suppose we should also give him credit for not 
getting arrested while he was in office?

I have to wonder why anyone wants to give him credit for coining a hokey 
cliche like "Husker Nation."  He may have come up with some slick 
marketing term that appealed to the masses, but he sure as hell didn't 
create the Husker fanbase.  That was forged years ago, and has been in a 
constant revival since the Bobfather landed in Lincoln over 45 years 
ago.  He who shall not be mentioned did nothing but divide the fanbase 
during his entire reign of terror.

As far as increasing "exposure", he certainly did a great job at making 
us the laughing stock of the college football world during:

*  His pathetic excuse for a coaching search that came on the heels of 
firing a 9-3 coach
* The time he backed out of a nationally televised game with Houston so 
we could play 1-AA Maine at home
*  The time the "Touchdown Club" sent out a letter that requested 
everyone send him a thank you note for the great job he was doing 
because his ego needed a boost
*  The time he hired his buddy William DeLeo as a "management 
consultant" and paid him $15,000/month + expenses to "streamline operations"
*  The time he signed Callahan to a multi-year contract extension right 
before the 2007 season tanked

***(I think there's a 50+ page thread on Huskerpedia detailing his 
crimes if you want even more examples of the wonderful exposure he 
provided for UNL)

As far as "creating the tunnel walk"...that's news to me.  All I 
remember about his involvement with the Tunnel Walk was the complete 
abomination of Computer Generated Imagery that disgraced the 
HuskerVision screens for every home game in 2007 until Tom Osborne took 
over and replaced it with a much simpler version that nearly everyone 
liked.  Not surprisingly, there was an article on huskers.com about how 
much he who shall not be mentioned enjoyed this year's tunnel walk, 
while the vast majority of the fanbase simply thought it was awful.

As far as "enhancing many programs we all take for granted", would you 
mind providing specific examples?  The only programs he had any direct 
involvement with were football and basketball.  While Doc Saddler was 
certainly a great hire, let's not forget that nothing was done until 
Barry Collier (outside of Callahan, the 2nd worst coach at UNL during 
this decade), voluntarily resigned.  The programs that were most 
succesful under his tenure (Baseball, Volleyball and Women's Basketball) 
were not handled by any coaches he hired.

The only good thing this guy did was become so arrogant as to sign a 
contract extension for Callahan.  Thankfully, his arrogance cost him his 
job.

Seriously...I hate brining all this up again, but I'm never going to 
listen to any garbage about all the good that this man did.  He was a 
cancer to UNL and I am glad he is gone.