And the winner is …

— The annual N Club golf tournament drew about 80 golfers to Wilderness Ridge Golf Course on Friday. We’ll call that tournament A.

 — The first Nebraska Football Player Reunion “Fun The Original Husker Way” golf outing drew about 105 former players to HiMark Golf Course on Friday. That’s tournament B.

There is grumbling beyond the type that comes from too many Memorial Stadium hot dogs.

Plenty of former Nebraska players feel disenchanted with the football program , which has bid farewell to almost every legacy established by Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne.

 Many of those dyspeptic players took part in tournament B.

Changes in the NU football program have been fast and furious since Frank Solich was fired in 2003. Osborne’s hand-picked successor and two groups of assistant coaches also were dismissed in two years. In the last five years, the same time that Steve Pederson has been athletic director, dozens of NU football staff members, from strength guru Boyd Epley to trainer Doak Ostergard, are also gone.

The harrumphs increased since Nebraska hasn’t won a conference title, a national title or played for one since the drastic changes in personnel.

 On Friday, Osborne, who went to tournament B, handed out a sheet to the former players explaining Nebraska’s incredible football record from 1962 to 2003. During the Devaney-Osborne-Solich years, Nebraska won five national titles, played in 13 national title games, posted an 82 percent winning percentage (best in the nation), 40 winning seasons and 35 consecutive bowl games.

 “Win and the grumbling goes away,” said former Husker and current Carolina Panther Mike Rucker, who went to tournament B. “We’re all for getting some championship rings and fans lining the streets from the airport to the stadium when the team comes back from winning a national championship.”

Mike Minter, his Nebraska and Carolina teammate, agreed.

“Controversy? I guess somebody thought there was, but I didn’t know anything about it,” he said. “We want to see Nebraska back on top. We want to stay in touch with teammates. That’s all I know.”

Rucker said he was asked by a couple of media types about who he supported. “I support Nebraska,” he said.

Mitch Krenk, head of the N Club and tournament A, chimed: “We all want the same thing and maybe this will help us get together more often, create a network of support and help the university more.”

Former Husker and NFL player Chris Dishman, spokesman for tournament B,  said:

“As Coach Osborne said to our group this morning, we need to stay positive to support the university.  That’s what’s going on here. It’s been portrayed in some media as a big protest and it was never that.

“We honored Doak, too. He is a friend to all of us.” Ostergard was let go without public explanation after 18 years as a trainer for the football team.

Dishman added:“We got together to talk, visit and set up some things in the future, like tailgating, setting up a business-help network, which the university can’t endorse.”

If you are keeping score at home: Tournament B drew Osborne, who said he was invited there first. Tournament A drew current coach Bill Callahan.

— Former NU All-America  outside linebackers Trev Alberts and Broderick Thomas went to B.

— Offensive lineman Will Shields, a former NU standout and a 12-time Pro Bowler with the Kansas City Chiefs, and Husker great Jeff Kinney attended A.

— Former Huskers Jerry Murtaugh and Steve Warren, former NU assistant coach Milt Tenopir and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers went to both (AB positive?).

Ostergard explained it well.

“These guys, all the players, the coaches and some staff are the people who make the program,” he said. “People put their heart and soul into the program.

“Some guys didn’t feel connected to the program they help build. The best-case scenario is that all those guys feel connected again,” he said.

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or at khambleton@journalstar.com.