OMAHA — They needed more eggs.

When Tom Osborne shows up to a Big Red Breakfast, the chefs must have quicker hands.

About 350 people packed a convention room at a Holiday Inn on Friday morning to hear and look adoringly upon a Husker legend.

And when Nebraska’s interim athletic director — a tag he gained  Tuesday — got up to speak, the people stood, clapped, believed.

Be careful, Osborne told them. He appreciates the flattery, but he can’t just wave a magic wand and turn around the fortunes of the Nebraska football program.

“I sense people think, ‘Well, he’s back there now and it’s going to be OK again.’ That’s a little scary for me because I’ve been gone for 10 years and those players I had aren’t there,” Osborne said. “I’m now in a position where I’m not going to call the plays, I’m not in a position to recruit the guys. My job is to serve those (coaches). If hard decisions have to be made, I’ll try to make them in what I feel is in the best long-term interest of Nebraska.

“It’s always dicey, because you don’t have a crystal ball.”

In a talk that lasted an hour, Osborne put his dry humor on display often. He talked about Husker history a great while. “The reason I’m doing that is I don’t want to talk about today,” he joked.

Several times he told the crowd there are no quick fixes.

“I’m very supportive of these guys that are coaching there now,” he said. “We’ll try to do everything we can these last five games to have players play well, coaches coach well, and then we’ll evaluate along those lines.”

Since taking over the AD position, Osborne has gone to two practices. He said he doesn’t want to be “meddlesome,” but an invitation to watch was extended and so he attended.

On Thursday night, Osborne spoke with Husker players.

“I told them the reason the athletic director change was made was not because of your play on the field. That was not the reason for it. Don’t put that on yourselves. You have enough on yourselves now. Just go out and play hard.”

Steve Pederson was fired Monday, but Chancellor Harvey Perlman said it was because of “management” issues, not because of a poor football season.

With the Huskers 4-3 and facing a tough remaining schedule, many are wondering if Husker coach Bill Callahan could be out the door soon.

Osborne said he would wait until the end of the season then evaluate the coaches.

Pay no attention to those cyberspace rumors about any coaches being fired in midseason.

“What the heck good would it do if you got rid of the coaching staff now? Who would coach them?” Osborne said. “You can’t do that. And I’m not suggesting that’s even in the thought process.”

A fan asked Osborne what criteria he would use to evaluate the coaches.

“Certainly, you have to look at wins and losses, what fans will tolerate. If we begin to lose our fans, you have no support. You have to realize that football carries most of the (athletic department’s) financial load, so you have to look at that. … You have to look at chemistry. … You can’t question these (coaches) on effort. They’re working real hard. You can’t question them that they know football. They know football.”

Osborne said he could relate well to the pressure the current coaches are feeling. The former Husker coach said there were some years in the ’70s when he felt he was just a loss or two from being fired.

After one bowl win, a university regent came up to him and said he was glad the Huskers won, otherwise Osborne would have been gone.

“I like Bill Callahan. I like these coaches. I sat with them the other day and said, ‘I was where you are right now,’” Osborne said. “The thing fans can do best is be supportive. I talked to one of the coaches the other day. He said, ‘There’s just been so much negativism, the booing, the constant drumbeat of bad they are.’

“He said, ‘It’s hard to get on (players) in practice. If you jump on them, they go down further. We just try to prop them up.’”

Usually, some people get up and leave for work or some other activity at these breakfasts, but hardly anyone stirred before Osborne had finished.

When he was done speaking, another standing ovation came.

The custom of the Big Red Breakfast is for the guest to review game film from the previous week after talking, but no such thing happened this time.

“There isn’t any film,” Osborne joked. “We burned it.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.