Osborne: Solich's firing did hurt a bit

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BYSTEVEN M. SIPPLE

Tom Osborne said he's "been hurting a little bit during the past week,"upset over the firing of Nebraska football coach Frank Solich.

Osborne, the former Husker head coach who six years ago hand-picked Solich as his successor, was out of the country on personal travel the night of Nov. 29, when Solich was dismissed.

Osborne, in his first public comments since Solich's firing, said Monday that the news caught him completely off guard. Osborne said his son, Mike, informed him of Solich's dismissal via telephone on the night the move occurred.

Speaking to reporters Monday in a conference call from Washington, D.C., Osborne, now Nebraska's 3rd District representative, expressed support for the Husker football program and athletic director Steve Pederson. Osborne said he and his wife, Nancy, still will allow Pederson to name a proposed $40 million athletic building the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex.

"I don't want to do anything that would hurt the program," Osborne said.

Osborne, however, expressed concern about instability on the Nebraska football coaching staff during the past two years, as well as the increased emphasis on winning in major college football.

Nebraska was 7-7 in 2002, its worst record in 41 years. The 59-year-old Solich, an Osborne assistant for 19 years, was fired one day after the Huskers defeated Colorado to finish the 2003 regular season 9-3.

"If you look at football around the country, to get by 41 years without a losing season, with one 7-7 season, is really pretty remarkable," Osborne said. "We maybe have painted ourselves into a little bit of a corner, where expectations are awfully high."

In formally announcing Solich's firing Nov. 30, Pederson said he considered "the overall direction of the program." Pederson, currently in his first year as Husker athletic director, wants the program to be competing for, or gaining on, the national championship on a consistent basis.

Osborne said the movement in college athletics has drifted toward "a very commercial model." He said he always tried to view college athletics as "an adjunct to the educational process," something that helped athletes mature while learning about persistence, tenacity, teamwork and self-sacrifice.

Nowadays, Osborne said, the emphasis clearly is on winning, and there exists ever-increasing pressure on coaches.

"It seems like there's such a need today to fill the stadium, to build facilities, to pay for all the sports," Osborne said.

Osborne noted that he and Nancy initially balked at having their names adorn the Huskers' proposed athletic complex. But the Osbornes acquiesced because they appreciated Pederson's kindness and his vision for the athletic department, Tom Osborne said.

What's more, "Iknew it was important to Frank," Osborne said. "He'd been asking for better facilities for the last five or six years and hadn't gotten them. I thought maybe we could help a little bit in getting that done."

Osborne said he and Pederson never discussed Solich's employment status. The congressman said it would have been impossible for Pederson to reach him last week.

Osborne, however, spoke via telephone Sunday with Pederson and called it "a very good talk."

Osborne refused to second-guess Pederson's decision to fire Solich.

"I'm absolutely convinced that whatever Steve does, he does with the best possible intentions in mind,"Osborne said. "I think he does care about the program, and it's his responsibility."

Osborne took a similar view of Solich's decision to fire three assistants after last season's struggles. Two other assistants retired, and one was reassigned within the athletic department.

Coaching stability had long been a hallmark of the Nebraska football program.

"That stability and loyalty thing has taken a big hit in the last two years,"Osborne said. "It's something that I think really served us well over a long period of time."

Osborne spoke with Solich the night of his dismissal.

"We've had a good relationship,"Osborne said. "I just basically told him I was sorry about the thing and wished him well. That was about it."

Osborne described Solich as being "an outstanding recruiter" and listed some of the players Solich lured to Lincoln, including Irving Fryar, Mike Rozier, Ahman Green, Eric Crouch and brothers Jason and Christian Peter.

Osborne also praised Solich's work as a running backs coach, saying Solich's backs were "always very, very well-schooled and fundamentally sound."

As for Solich's personal qualities, Osborne said, "He was steady. He wasn't going to do something irrational with the press or with public relations. He was good at staying the course."

Osborne added, "I'm not here to second-guess or criticize anybody. I just want to express my appreciation to Frank and the coaches for all they meant to me, and to express my personal sorrow that things have gone in the direction they've gone."

Pederson hasn't asked the 66-year-old Osborne for ideas about Solich's successor, and Osborne declined to throw out names.

"I guess I'm what you'd call a 'has-been,' " Osborne said. "I'm out of the game."

Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@;journalstar.com.