[Husker] Josh Williams problems et al

[William E. Laughlin]

Bob Beach: It is very hard to get to the bottom of everything.  You can do everything you know to do but you just can't catch everything.  TO had his problems as well.  Shall we start with Lawrence Phillips and Christian Peter?  With Lawrence Phillips background he should have had at least been questionable.
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Agree, but TO started coaching in 1973; Peters & Phillips incidents you cite were in 1995. That's over 20 years before the S--- hit the fan. (Yes there were other incidents in between but none maybe as prominent.) I think with Phillips (apologies because I know this has been endlessly discussed) TO saw a huge upside and thought he could work with the downside. 

I think the reason NU had far fewer off-field incidents than a lot of other high-profile college FB teams is the attention TO paid to character during the recruiting process. Any more than that, you'd have to ask him what he did and how he made the difference. 

I don't really expect you to agree with me here, because in reading your posts over the years, you don't seem to consider Osborne that special, nor the Devaney-Osborne years all that exceptional. I think most people reading this List would disagree !!

I'm looking forward to reading the Jason Peters book to gain some insight on what went on during the last few years.
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Bob: I would be shocked, literally shocked, if Pelini is here any length of time and never has a problem with more than one recruit/player.  It is just the way society is.  And, with the pressure to win it you have to recruit talent or at least attempt to.
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Never said he wouldn't, didn't mean to imply zero problems. But I would be willing to bet there will be fewer incidents. 

Ironically, the "win-at-all-costs" mentality you've imputed to NU, if indeed were the prime directive behind coaching and recruiting, would almost GUARANTEE a huge number of the type of off-field problems we are discussing !  Since it isn't now, nor wasn't the reigning philosophy behind the TO years, I think we'll see far fewer incidents under Pelini, especially if he has conversations regarding potential players with TO, or attempts to learn some of the off-field philosophy from TO while the two are together at NU. Just my opinion.

Bill Laughlin
Wichita, KS