Posted on 12/01/2014 7:47:21 AM PST by Loud Mime
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Bo Pelini was fired on Sunday, ending the seven-year run of the polarizing figure as Nebraska's football coach.
"We weren't good enough in the games that mattered," athletic director Shawn Eichorst said in his meeting with the media that lasted nearly 35 minutes. "I didn't see that changing at the end of the day."
Eichorst said he will not use a search firm to assist him in finding the next coach.
"This isn't a day of celebration for me," he said. "We've got a lot of good, young people in our program who are hurting."
Eichorst said he would not comment during the search on the people involved or the process. He declined to say if he would value Nebraska ties or head-coaching experience in a candidate.
"I've seen people spend a lot of money and not do a lot of winning," he said. "We're going to get it right."
Money will not be an issue, he said.
"Nebraska has everything it needs to be successful at the highest level."
Nebraska assistant Barney Cotton will serve as interim coach in the Huskers' bowl games. Other assistants have also been asked to stay under Cotton.
Eichorst met with Pelini for 20 minutes in the athletic director's office on Saturday morning. Eichorst described the talk as professional and cordial.
"I think we gave coach, ample resources and ample support," Eichorst said. "We didn't meet expectations, both on and off the field."
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
9 - 3 won’t get it done in Husker Nation.
I don’t know if the Cornhusker’s faults were from the coach or from the players. Recruiting is important, but how does a coach tell players that Nebraska is a better place to live than all the other powerhouses?
It’s going to take a giant of the game like a Saban or Urban Meyer to make a program like Nebraska nationally competitive again. I could say the same for Michigan, but there is a massive aura around the program in the midwest that could make it easier for a good up and comer to win there.
It would take a sales pitch of massive scale to pull enough top talent to Nebraska over the southern and west coast schools.
Pelini is a very good coach, and he’ll find a home soon.
Nebraska is a great place to live. OK we don't have Disneyland, we don't have the ocean, and we don't even have traffic jams, but we have a GREAT standard of living. Maybe not exactly what some kids are looking for, but we also have the BEST fans in the nation. Nebraska is a great institution, and a great school for academics as well as athletics. We build young men and women, not just athletes.
Recruits come to Nebraska because it is all that, and more.
There is no place like Nebraska......
Good people in Nebraska, I know that personally. But I’m an adult. Get my drift?
“Pelini is owed $7.65 million by Nebraska on his contract, extended after last season through February 2019. Nebraska’s assistants are under contract through January 2016.”
Never coached before? I think the guy that hired him for that amount of money should be fired....
On the other hand, alot of Big Ten Teams like, Illinois, would love to have 9 and 3 seasons...year after year...
Bottom line, they will end up spending more money...for a lot less in a coach.
What we have are incredible facilities, a fan base that's second to none and a record of success for over 40 years. Insulting the fan base (which Pelini has done) is never a good thing. Bo's tenure at Nebr has been fraught with outbursts that have taunted and embarrassed the university and the fans. If you're going to behave like that, then you'd better be winning the important games, otherwise, we can hire any coach to win the same nine games he's won every year.
Nonsense. During the Osborne days, all the top OL went to Nebraska.
The days of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s are gone though. You just can’t roll out the wishbone and run over people anymore. Scores of 84-0 are long gone.
Adapt or die.
The game has changed a lot since Nebraska’s salad days. The move to the Big Innumerate was probably a mistake in terms of football, diminishing ties to Texas based talent in exchange for. . .? The biggest change of course is TV. No longer is it a “traditional power game of the week” national telecast environment. Nebraska is living in the past.
Don’t forget Cabela’s.
That could be a big problem for Nebraska in this coaching search. What coach would want to go there when you have to win in double-digits every year just to keep your job? The Cornhuskers might find out that the rest of the football world doesn't hold them in the same esteem that they hold themselves. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall a who's who of college coaches lining up to apply the last two times they were looking for a coach.
Pretty hard to keep em home on the farm when the kids come to say Florida State during a snowstorm back in Lincoln and get off and are wisked off to the Gulf beaches and some young lovelies in bikini’s for a pig roast.
Then they go home to snow up to their rear ends.
You are correct in that Nebraska is a real fine place,
But were you a very good player in High School and had a chance to go to U.S.C. or Florida State or Iowa, the choice is usually pretty easy.
You can’t have our coach.
It took Minnesota years to finally find a decent coach.
Jerry Kill has the gophers improving quickly.
Did Nebraska think all of the Big Ten were pushovers? There are a few good teams.
Pellini is a world-class jerk who didn’t get along with the AD, university president or key boosters. Seems to be very little uproar among those constituencies; they decided “Bo had to go” a long time ago, and recent embarrassments on the field gave them an excuse to pull the trigger.
From what I’ve read, Pellini had a better record in his first seven years than any coach in Nebraska history, including Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney—two football legends. But when you antagonize everyone from the janitor to the guys who write the big checks, even a great won-loss record won’t save your job.
Pellini’s buyout is $7 million, so he can take another coaching job at his leisure. If he wants to go back to being a DC, I’m sure Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M would be glad to hire him.
One final thought: since Pellini burned practically every bridge at Nebraska, it may be harder for him to find another major head coaching job. The world of college ADs is very tight; they all know each other and they all talk. Running an athletic program in a power conference is tough enough without having a high maintenance coach who pisses off the wrong people on a recurring basis. But for programs that are down on their luck, they may be willing to give Pellini a shot, figuring that a winning record may be worth the headaches that come with Bo.
It wasn’t just the W-L record, it was how nubs won and lost. They got blown out in several big games. Other games they had to rally (still a win, except Nebraskans weren’t used to playing catch-up), some losses against underdogs, and then some miraculous wins like McNeese and the NW Hail Mary. This was a far cry from the nu of old
My experiences in sports are fun. One day I had to give a coach a ride to the airport. He told me how changing jobs from Los Angeles (with all the hollywood stars and such) to Kansas (snow and no stars) didn’t land well with one family member.
I think that recruiting players isn’t much different.
I’ve been to 49 states and every one is fantastic in its own right. But it would be hard to get me to move to many full time.
Kids on spring break go to Florida then go home and forever remember the fun they had as a kid. Then retire to Florida when old.
Few with the chance move to St. Paul in winter.
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