Steven M. Sipple: At NU, you win doing it the right way
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Turns out, this Tom Osborne guy is a demanding boss, albeit one with compassion.
He says he dislikes sitting in judgment of anyone. He never envisioned firing anyone. He has never been fired himself.
But he came close.
We interrupt Nebraska’s second national search for a football coach in the past four years to relive a thought-provoking bit of Osborne lore. It was 1976, four years into his exalted tenure as Husker head coach. His first four teams went 9-2-1, 9-3, 10-2 and 9-3-1.
The 1976 team ended the season with a 27-24 victory against Texas Tech in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. It seemed a rather mundane triumph at the time.
Hindsight shows it was gigantic.
“That evening, one of the regents got me aside and said, ‘I’m glad you won tonight because if you hadn’t, you would’ve been fired,’” Osborne recalled Saturday.
Yes, fired despite a 76 percent winning percentage.
“Yet that was the nature of the deal here,” he said.
Still is.
Always will be.
Nebraska football forever will be about “More Than Winning.” You do things the right way, the Nebraska way. But you’d better win consistently along the way.
Osborne, Nebraska’s interim athletic director, made that clear in announcing the firing of Bill Callahan and his staff. The second week into his new job, with the Huskers sporting a 4-4 record, Osborne laid out some ultra-challenging parameters for Callahan and Company:
Run the table for the rest of the season, and you’ll be welcomed back.
Win three of the last four games, and maybe things will work out for you.
Split the last four, and prepare for discouraging news.
So, Nebraska’s 1-3 record down the stretch basically left Osborne with no choice.
In the end, the coaches knew exactly where they stood.
“It isn’t all about winning and believe me, I understand that,” Osborne said. “But if you lose a fairly large number of games by a significant margin, and you have reasonably good players — which I think we have — that means there may be some systemic issues, some underlying issues.”
Here’s the issue in a nutshell: Not only did Callahan’s teams lose too often, the Huskers too often lost in embarrassing fashion.
By essentially telling Callahan he had to run the table to ensure his employment at Nebraska into 2008, Osborne applied intense pressure, especially considering the Huskers were underdogs in each of the final four contests.
Interestingly, Steve Pederson and Osborne sent the same message; they just expressed themselves differently. Pederson, in announcing Frank Solich’s firing following the 2003 season, addressed the media in a manner that sounded like he was prepared by a PR firm. He was slick. Unlike Pederson’s announcement of Solich’s dismissal, Osborne said nothing about the program “gravitating toward mediocrity,” but those parameters he outlined spoke volumes.
Osborne spoke from the heart. He doesn’t need a PR firm. A search firm? Yeah, maybe.
Osborne spoke from experience — not as an athletic director, but as a former coach who understands the inherent pain and pressure of the coaching profession.
Osborne obviously has a big heart. But he also retains high expectations for the program. Parity? That’s an excuse for other schools. At least that was the impression Osborne left Saturday.
Hear that Bo? Turner?
You knew Bo Pelini would be contacted. You have to figure Turner Gill eventually will be contacted. After that, well, stay tuned.
Nebraska ties would be nice for the next head coach, Osborne said, but aren’t a prerequisite.
This much is certain: The next Husker head coach had better be prepared to make in-state recruiting a focus. Callahan came up short in that area.
“We’re going to look hard in the state and find out every player we think can play,” Osborne said. “I think these guys (Callahan’s staff) did a pretty good job recruiting, but a lot of the focus was national. If we have lost some of the state’s high school coaches along the way, we’ll try to get them back. Because where you start is in Nebraska. That’s got to be your base. Then you get the best players you can from other places.”
Osborne speaks of a return to the Nebraska way — with walk-ons as a foundation. And without the baloney of national recruiting rankings.
He would like a quarterback who can run for first downs, if necessary, and a coach who understands Nebraska’s football identity — an identity that has temporarily disappeared.
Osborne obviously longs for the days when teams used to despise playing Nebraska, “because they felt it for two or three weeks afterward. And I’m not saying we go back to running the wishbone or running 30 options a game. I’m just talking about how you play. You have to play with intensity.”
It remains a fundamental expectation for Nebraska football.
Still is.
Always will be.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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