Coaches as divided as NU fans

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They're Nebraska football coaching legends, a couple of the sharpest defensive minds to grace the Husker sideline.

One coach remains confused, hurt and angry by recent changes in Husker football kingdom.

The other coach sounds energized, unmistakably optimistic, eager to move forward.

Interviewed separately late last week, their disparate feelings seemed to represent the current state of Husker Nation. Some fans insist too many good people were wronged by unnecessary coaching changes. Other fans are excited about the program's future and confident in the new staff. Still other fans remain in flux, unable to grasp exactly how they feel.

Monte Kiffin disagrees with the coaching changes made at Nebraska. Why fire a coach with a 9-3 record? he asks. And don't try to tell Kiffin the program was headed in the wrong direction.

Charlie McBride says he "felt empty"when Frank Solich was fired Nov. 29. Nevertheless, McBride says Bill Callahan was "the best choice they could've made" to replace Solich.

McBride, who retired as Nebraska defensive coordinator following the 1999 season, says it's time for Husker Nation to unite and rally around the new coaching regime.

"Why people try to disrupt things is beyond me,"says McBride, enjoying retirement in the Phoenix area. "Everybody wants a good program, right? What's done is done. Everybody needs to get behind Bill Callahan and Steve Pederson and get with it."

Some people - people such as Kiffin - won't jump on the Big Red bandwagon just because they're told it's the right thing to do.

Make no mistake, Kiffin, a former Nebraska player and defensive coordinator, wants nothing but the best for his alma mater. Yet he makes no bones about his displeasure over Solich's firing. Furthermore, Kiffin's miffed that he still hasn't heard from Pederson, the Husker athletic director.

Kiffin called Pederson's office a few days after Nebraska defeated Michigan State in the Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl. Kiffin says he wanted to endorse Bo Pelini for the Huskers' head coaching position.

Pelini did a remarkable job of holding together the program after Solich's firing. Nebraska played one of its better games of the season in the bowl game, and Kiffin thought Pelini deserved a chance to take over the job. Remember, it was Kiffin who recommended Pelini for the Husker defensive coordinator position.

Never mind Pederson's feelings regarding Pelini as Nebraska head coach. They don't matter now. Callahan looks to be an excellent hire.

The point here is, Kiffin deserved a return call from the AD.

It's curious thatPederson chose not to return Kiffin's call. After all, this is the athletic director who arrived at Nebraska and immediately preached the importance of embracing Big Red tradition. Well, few names in Husker gridiron history resonate as loudly as Kiffin's.

Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman apparently recognized Kiffin's clout, because Perlman returned Kiffin's call within two hours.

Kiffin, now defensive coordinator for the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is "old school."He holds tightly to Nebraska program tradition.

Indeed, Kiffin recalls Nebraska's 6-4 seasons in 1967 and 1968. A fledgling Husker assistant back then, Kiffin remembers Big Red fans "wanting to run Bob Devaney out of town."

"If he's fired, we don't hear about him leading Nebraska to two national championships, and we don't hear of Tom Osborne,"Kiffin said, referring to another young Husker assistant back then who would go on to achieve a degree of fame.

If Devaney and his staff had been fired, we may not have heard of Monte Kiffin, the Lexington native who rose up in the Big Red ranks and eventually became the architect of the NFL's top-ranked defense in 2002, a unit that led the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl crown.

A recent caller to Pederson's weekly radio show warned the AD that Husker Nation is divided right now. Fan feelings are hard to gauge. But it clearly doesn't help fans' morale when fellas such as Kiffin and Osborne voice their misgivings about recent program changes. Both are pillars of the program, massive bridges to the past.

Pederson's correct about at least one thing:Change is difficult, more difficult for some than others.

Of course, time heals many wounds. Just wait until August, when preseason prediction magazines hit the newsstands, when the boys of fall begin preseason camp, when football fever runs rampant. Some fans who've jumped off the Big Red bandwagon will rush to jump back on.

They should be welcomed back with open arms, for it's their passion for the program that led to their anger and dismay in the first place.

McBride understands why some Husker loyalists remain hurt.

But now it's time to forge ahead.

"Iwent to a couple of parties recently, and everyone seems to be back on the (Husker) bandwagon,"McBride said. He then paused. "There are maybe a few people still moaning and groaning."

They need to stop, he said.

"If they don't stop, they're just going to hurt the program, and then where are you at?"McBride asked. "Winning has been Nebraska's tradition, and these new coaches are capable of doing that."

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