I'm going to break tradition here and, rather than use my video element to support my blog, I'm going to do it the other way around (mainly because I did the video first and boy what a pain in the butt it was). Anyway, hopefully I can pull this off better than Bill Callahan as head football coach at tradition-rich Nebraska.
This college football season has been downright awkward for me. My boyhood team, Nebraska, has sunk to an all-time low as far as I am (and most Nebraska fans are) concerned, sitting at 4-5 overall and 1-4 in the Big 12. One freakin' victory in what is honestly a down year for the Big 12 Conference.
At the same time, Kansas is having an amazing football season. I've spent most of the last 12 months or so holding a grudge against Mark Mangino for how last season went down following a bowl victory in 2005. Yet, now that the Jayhawks are 8-0 and ranked eighth in every poll that matters, my school spirit is urging me to rally behind this year's team. Plus, eight is my favorite number.
This Saturday the two teams will meet right down the street from my house at Memorial Stadium and I'm a little frightened of what I'm probably going to see (maybe because Halloween is coming up). I've already asked to cover the game for the Kansan, rather than sit in the stands as a fan because I'm pretty sure I'll need a buffer for my emotions.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to share that luxury with my fellow members of Husker Nation.
When former Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson was fired two weeks ago and former coach Tom Osborne was brought back as interim athletic director Joe Posnanski wrote an excellent column about the state of Nebraska football. What made the column so great was that Joe expressed what Husker football is all about and gave a voice to everything Nebraska fans have thought and felt during the Bill Callahan era.
When Callahan was hired, I too was taken by surprise, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. After witnessing Miami manhandle Nebraska in the 2002 Rose Bowl, I agreed that it was about time to put the option offense to rest. The magic of the option was that it didn't require the best athletes and Nebraska was able to parlay that to three National Championships under Osborne, but that magic was obviously fading under Osborne's successor, Frank Solich.
I thought having a former NFL coach in Callahan with a pro-style offense was a smart move for Nebraska. Not many college coaches could look their recruits in the eyes and say, "I've seen what it takes to reach the NFL and I can help you get there." When Callahan started to sign the highly-rated recruits Solich wasn't, my confidence grew.
In the fourth year of the Callahan era, though, my confidence is shot and my distaste for Mangino has shifted to Callahan. I've had to stomach a 77-10 embarrassment against Texas Tech and a 5-6 record in 2004. In 2005, I stood numb in the stands at Kansas' Memorial Stadium as my fellow students charged the field and tore down the goal posts in celebration of Kansas' 40-15 victory over Nebraska. Last year the Huskers went 9-5, winning the Big 12 North and playing in the Cotton Bowl, so I expected great things this year. Instead, Nebraska is 4-5 (including blowouts at the hands of USC, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M at home and a fourth at Missouri) and currently on a four-game losing skid. Callahan has underachieved, his staff has underachieved and so have his highly-rated recruits.
I don't blame the players. They had the potential, but Callahan hasn't helped them take the next step. As Jason King wrote for Yahoo! Sports, Callahan rarely makes his team practice in full pads or on Mondays. In addition, he's walled off former Cornhuskers from the program.
Former Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor has come to Callahan's defense, but I get the feeling few others will. There's no excuse for treating college athletes like professionals and not utilizing the alumni at Nebraska to strengthen the program.
I think (and hope) it's a foregone conclusion that Callahan won't be back next season. In fact, if Nebraska somehow wins two more games and is invited to a bowl game, he should be fired at the end of the regular season anyway. There's no use in prolonging an all-important coaching search any longer than necessary.
(If and) When that day comes, Nebraska should look no farther than the last good defensive coordinator it had: LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini.
Now in charge of one of the most daunting defenses in the nation, Pelini was the defensive coordinator at Nebraska during Solich's last season and was promoted to interim head coach when Solich was fired prior to the Alamo Bowl in 2003. King, covering this story from top to bottom, wrote a feature on Pelini and documented how he won over Husker Nation in just one season.
He was just what Nebraska needed after Solich was fired and shame on Pederson for letting him get away. With Pederson gone, Pelini might be willing to return to Lincoln. One thing is for sure: Money won't be an obstacle. But if the Cornhuskers can't lure Pelini back, a strong second option is former Nebraska quarterback Turner Gill.
Gill is in his second season as the head coach at the University of Buffalo and played under Osborne. In Gill's first season, the Bulls set a school record for points in a season since moving up to Division 1. This season Buffalo is 4-5 after going 2-10 last season. Those records might not be striking, but midway through 2003, the program was on an 18-game losing streak and considered one of the worst in the country. If nothing else, Gill has shaken that distinction and turned Buffalo into a competitive team in the Mid-American Conference.
Having played at Nebraska under Osborne, Gill knows all about Nebraska tradition and he'll be sure to take advantage of all the resources he'd be exposed to. Whether Osborne sticks around or not, he would certainly never deny Gill help if he needed it. And considering how he's turned Buffalo around, Gill obviously knows how to get the most out of his recruits. He's an overachiever.
I think the one thing Nebraska can't do, though, is panic and try to revert to the option. Callahan has spent the last four years replacing option-style athletes with West Coast offense-style players. To go through another drastic transition in such a short period of time would be devastating. In addition to the players already in the system being unaccustomed to the option, the players Callahan has been recruiting aren't either, so the odds of Nebraska retaining those commitments would be slim, as would its odds of having enough time to find option-style players in this year's recruiting class.
And that's the most aggravating thing about what's happened to Nebraska football. It's the end of October and the Cornhuskers will be in town in six days, but all I'm concerned with is what's going to happen come winter. Nebraska fans shouldn't have to worry that far into the future.