Osborne Deserves Credit For Timing
7 comments so far
April 6, 2007 by
Later this year will mark the tenth anniversary of when Tom Osborne announced his retirement as head football coach of Nebraska. It came as a shock to many fans that Osborne would walk away when he was seemingly on top of his game. Health concerns were cited and no doubt were legitimate, but it's not hard to imagine many in his situation that might have chosen differently. We seem reminded of this almost annually with Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden as they seem to be a pair that might have stayed around too long.
Michael Jordan probably got it right the first time he left basketball. He walked away as its best player and reigning champion. His first return was wildly successful, but he was not truly the same player he had been earlier in his career. Jordan version 1.0 could attack the basket with superb hang time, balance, and agility, allowing him to draw contact as he flipped in layups. Jordan 2.0 found a new weapon with a devastating turnaround fade away jumper and benefited from obscenely friendly officiating based on his reputation. Jordan would retire again, only to return yet again. In his last incarnation, Jordan was a mere shell of his former self and frankly, it was hard to watch.
When I look at Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, I see some of the same things (minus the early retirements). If Bowden had retired on the heels of the 1999 season, he could have walked away without a chink in his armor and on top of the college football world. If he'd retired even a year ago, he would have left as a reigning ACC champion. But it seems likely that 2006 was merely a glimpse of what's to come in Tallahassee - mediocre football. The same things could probably be said about Joe Paterno, where 1994 might have been the right year to exit.
As much as Nebraska fans continue to feel the absence of Osborne, we can be grateful we've been spared watching him disintegrate. Who's to say that six more years of Tom Osborne wouldn't have played out exactly the way the Solich era did? Imagine if for the sake of his health, Osborne delegated more and as a result had the same six-year record including losing seven games in 2002. The man we all revere would then be hearing the same second-guessing and criticism now heard in State College or Tallahassee.
Maybe Nebraska would be better off today if Osborne had overseen the Husker program's "gravitation to mediocrity". Let's face it, it had to be much easier for Ron Prince to follow Bill Snyder at Kansas State in the wake of two losing seasons. Imagine if Prince was hired at the end of Snyder's streak of 11-win seasons. Both Solich and Callahan have had to live in the shadow of a college football icon. That may be why so many Nebraska fans take a half-empty view of the program since he left rather than half-full. If I had a nickel for every time I heard an NU fan claim that we played for the national championship every year under Osborne, I'd be a rich man. Never mind that the Huskers actually ended up in "only" six national championship games in his twenty-five seasons as head coach.
K-State fans would have loved to have played in the Big 12 championship game and the Cotton Bowl last season, even if they'd taken a pair of losses. In Lincoln, any prestige of playing in those games was overshadowed by the losses in them.
Personally, I'm grateful that a Husker hero was able to walk away a champion. I can't erase the memory of Michael Jordan's mediocrity in a Washington Wizards uniform, but thankfully I didn't have to endure seeing Dr. Tom lose the Independence Bowl.
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andrew Apr 06 07
Steve,
Well put, although I believe both Joe and Bobby will leave with careers everyone will dream of having.
Paterno has things going in more then positive direction. He has classes that rival NE recent recruiting success. I don't think Bobby experienced anything more than a fluke season, and Bowden has talent coming out of the woodwork at Florida ST.
I do agree that it is awesome that Dr. Tom has his insane wining percentage, and that it can never be taking away from him.
Ted B Apr 06 07
I don't think, by any stretch of the imagination, that Osborne would have overseen the fall that Solich did. In fact, I think Osborne would have won another National Championship in 1999. He definitely wouldn't have gotten blown out by Colorado in 2001 or Kansas State in 2003.
Don A Apr 06 07
Very, very unlikely that 98-2003 would have been the same under Osborne. It was apparent from the first game of 98 that something was different. Granted, they'd lost a lot of talent from 97, but they lacked any fire.
And I don't believe that it was a coincidence that the first non-winning season in 40-some years came in 02, during year 5 post-Osborne. Without Eric Crouch, it would have happened sooner.
Gregory Apr 07 07
Steve, you "provocatuer"! You ask the quintessential Nebraska question. What if he stayed?
He retired at age 60, some 12 or 13 years removed from his quad-bypass and if I recall, he felt a reminder of that, late summer of '97. Compared to Paterno and "Bobby B", he'd still have to be coaching 5 years into future. So he's only 71 now? I thought he was a couple of years older.
I think it starts with his quarterback situation, had he stayed in '98. I've always felt that, had Bobby Newcombe not hurt his knee, the team would have kept rollin' in '98, with comparable success to '99. Bobby could pass pretty well, relative to the offense. Osborne's presence would have benefited Bobby, Eric and Turner Gill, too. So really, along with "reloading", Nebraska may have been in just enough better position to fulfil the anticipations of '99, '00 and '01.
Too much responsibility was put on Eric to make plays. Osborne had a knack for highlighting other positions against different opponents. The wingback and tightends, for example. The I-Back quality dropped off somewhat, as each year went by.
Also, would Charlie McBride have retired after '99? If so, would Osborne have replaced him with Bolz?
Looking back, the breakthough, was a breakthrough of confidence. Tommie ignited it. The other players then caught it. Keep in mind, that Osborne was a noted "coaches Coach". I think that sheer confidence, along with continued solid recruiting, (especially QB's and I-B's) would have kept the "run", running, well into the 2000's.
Steve Apr 08 07
Greg,
While we'll never know how things would have gone under Osborne, I think it's unfair to Solich to subtract the injuries that plagued the Huskers in 1998. Beyond just Newcombe, there were bodies dropping everywhere. We definitely saw some growing pains in '98 (e.g. getting plays called in time) but without lineman and quarterbacks, that team became pretty ordinary. Of course, my thought is that in order to remain at NU (and in good health) Osborne would have had to be "CEO" versus the offensive coordinator. So you could still have those growing pains with Tom being a spectator.
It's hard to believe that Tom's name alone might not have brought better recruits to Lincoln than Solich was getting. But we all know there are no sure things in recruiting either.
Whether it would have happened in the last decade or in the coming one, no man is immortal. Dr. Tom inevitably would have regressed and he could easily have dragged the program backward with him. I'm grateful not to see Osborne do that.
Bob Apr 11 07
I think the worst decision Osborne ever made was in annointing Solich as his successor. It was obvious in Solich's first year as head coach that his play calling was mediocre. By Solich's last year, he was so unimaginative and predictable that even the people in the stands knew what play Solich would call.
doombob Apr 13 07
Yeah, Solich would call a run up the middle for two downs and then try for a pass or run it again. No adjustments ever. My friends even had a nickname for that run up the middle play: Stuffed Chicken (sometimes Stuffed Chicken @#$%!)