So what has been going on with Nebraska football since Thanksgiving? Oh, not much, just firing of Coach Riley, the hiring of our Nebraska’s own Scott Frost from the University of Central Florida and basically the home run hire of the year by new Athletic Director Bill Moos.
First let us review the firing of Mike Riley. At first blush, the hiring of Coach Riley was out of the blue and very surprising. I knew of Riley, I knew of his tenure at Oregon State and I certainly knew of his tenure in the NFL and the Ryan Leaf saga and how Riley never had any success in the NFL. I knew of his background of turning down his alma mater Alabama for a head coaching job over a decade ago and I knew that he had turned down the University of Southern California before they hired Pete Carroll. I knew he had always won with less at OSU.
I talked myself into the fact that he needed a new scene, a new place with better facilities, more toys, more money and the attractiveness of a better environment. Shawn Eichorst went after Riley right away and knew what he wanted, the exact opposite of Bo Pelini. This could work I thought, but it’s going to be a transition because Riley relies on NFL type quarterbacks and wanted to throw the ball downfield. He came in with a link to California and a west coast vibe that should help recruiting. He started the “Calibraska” movement, he brought in big time recruits and honestly was one of the nicest people you have ever been around.
The problem with all of that, in hindsight, is that Mike Riley may just no longer be a very good football coach. Shawn Eichorst tried to have too much influence over the coach. Assistant coaches were hired that may not have been what Riley wanted and people were added to help with recruiting that may have been less helpful that what Riley needed. The other thing, Riley simply never embraced the physical style of the Big Ten and in the course of three seasons reduced the once mighty Big Red into a pool of blood as other programs treaded over the Huskers like a pebble on the Audubon.
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Enter Bill Moos into the picture. I believe he gave Riley the chance to right things, but when the snowball rolls down hill and the coach has nothing to stop it with, it just got uglier and uglier. I won’t bore you with a rewind of the entire season, but let us just say it was possibly the worst season since the Eisenhower administration. Go ahead kids, Google that name and see what comes up. It was that long ago.
Bill Moos has handled everything he has done at Nebraska like a seasoned veteran, but more importantly, he leaves no doubt about the direction that he wants, the people he wants to work with and the ultimate goal of this state’s football team. It just so happened to coincide with Scott Frost becoming the hottest young coach in college football and being available.
Whatever the process it was to convince Frost to come home, it was worth it for Moos. It was worth it for the state of Nebraska. Scott may have been ready earlier for the job, but Nebraska wasn’t. It could have happened that Frost would miss his best chance to become the coach at Nebraska and stay at UCF. Moos didn’t let that stop him from going after Coach Frost and in the end, he got the man that would fit the requirements to be the next head coach at Nebraska.
Let’s face it, Nebraska had tried other methods since they fired Frank Solich so many years ago. Bill Callahan came from the NFL, no dice. Bo Pelini had coached here as an assistant, but wasn’t built for the grind that is 24/7 Nebraska football. Mike Riley had all the experience you wanted, but didn’t have the chops to grind it out here either.
Scott Frost is the right man for the job. He has played at Nebraska. He won with Nebraska. He left, went to the NFL, went on to work in his coaching career away from Nebraska. He found his way starting at Northern Iowa, became an offensive coordinator at Oregon, and worked his way into the head coaching job at UCF. Everywhere he stopped, the common theme was winning. Scott Frost is a winner.
Frost not only is a winner, but he wins the way that Nebraska fans want to win. His motto of hard work, being physical and going fast are music to Husker fan’s ears. Husker fans want their team to resemble their lives. Hard working, hard playing, hardened people that love each other, have passion for the state and will defend their way of life to anyone that dares step up to the plate to challenge it. Frost is confident, a little cocky, seemingly arrogant, but it is not grandiose and after you get to know him, it’s because he believes in what he is doing and the way to do it. Nebraskans by in large know what they want and great many of them know how to get it and Frost embodies that idea for a great many of the fans.
For the first time in probably 16 years, Nebraska fans have a purpose to come together again. Too often the last three coaching hires left people wondering if that was the best that Nebraska could do? Husker fans want to be united. Coach Frost is the person that will unite them.
Coach Frost will run an offense that isn’t quite what some fans want, but I can guarantee, if he wins, the type of offense he runs will be of little concern. College football has changed a lot since Tom Osborne retired and for the first time since Osborne left, Nebraska has a coach that is on the cutting edge of offense in college football. The defense will need to be adjusted and it’s likely that Nebraska is two or three seasons away from competing for a Big Ten title. I’ve argued that with all the changes in college football, it would be better to go with a younger set of knowledge, Frost certainly fits that bill.
I know and Nebraska fans know that the run in the 90’s won’t probably ever return. At this point though, I think Nebraska fans have seen enough the last 16 years to be patient with Coach Frost. It feels like he is going to continue to win. This time it feels like he will help Nebraska win. It feels like a rebirth of something we all have wanted to see for a long time.
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ON WITH THE REWIND…
Our previous score prediction for the Iowa game was Nebraska 34 – Iowa 30. The actual score was Iowa 56 Nebraska 14. It pains me to type that. Nebraska for all intents and purposes threw in the towel in this game. Iowa could have scored 90 if they wanted to bad enough. It was time for the season to mercifully end. And it did.
Quick Notes:
Coach Frost has put a shot of adrenaline back into Husker Nation…. I feel it in my bones. I feel it every time I open up Twitter or log into a Husker recruiting website. Fans and recruits feel the rush of a great young coach landing at his home job in a premier program in a premier conference. I can’t help but feel like Nebraska football is on its way back up. It feels good boys and girls…no, it feels great!
GBR!!
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