Jeff Dec 03 07

Turner Gill is not Tom Osborne's son! In fact, Turner Gill's coaching record as a coordinator speaks for itself: 3 national titles & a position coach to a heisman trophy winner. Also, Tom Osborne dedicated an entire chapter in his book to Turner Gill " the greatest field general I have ever seen" or something like that. Coach of the year as a head coach and a recruiter par excellence! You people have it all wrong, I mean you got it twisted. Tom Osborne did not make Turner Gill (the son), Turner Gill (the son) made the ego laden doctor (doctor of tomfoolery). Tom Osborne made the "white" decision! One last thing? What was Bo Pelini's stats as a coordinator against amicable teams, not mediocre one's? Thanks!

Rob Dec 03 07

Get a life Jeff!

Steve Dec 03 07

Give me a break!

doombob Dec 03 07

Sounds like Jeff is buying into the radio talk show hosts' preferred method of operation. Tie a controversial statement with a vague fact, and you've got lots of angry callers - advertisers love all those impressions!

Larry Dec 03 07

I'm sorry that Turner Gill was not hired as NU head coach. I believe he is the best "man". Jeff, you are saying Turner Gill is the best football coach for the job. You may be correct. No one knows for certain. I hope you can find players or coaches who have been associated with Tom Osborne. I have never read or heard of one who has called him unfair or a racist.

buffalo bob Dec 03 07

I wouldn't be suprised if Turner Gill & Co. don't aggressively persue a game against Nebraska. With the team Buffalo Gill has returning they would be a good match up for the Cornhuskers next season. Boy - would that game have a few sub-plots !

Gerald Dec 03 07

Steve:

You are justifying Nebraska passing over Turner Gill for a guy who has FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS A DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR (and even then he was only co - coordinator at Oklahoma). Claiming that he has Bob Stoops' resume is just not true, especially when you consider what Bob Stoops did at Kansas State, and that Stoops has a much better reputation as a recruiter (it is no coincidence that KSU fell apart not long after he left).

And you are making the same justifications in doing so that is always made for passing over black candidates, including that maybe Gill can take the job later after he has proven himself, they will have another shot at Gill but they won't have another shot at Pelini, and it really is better for Gill not to have to be bothered with such a pressure situation anyway. JUST MAYBE if you Nebraska folks weren't making the same excuses as Colorado did when the passed up Bob Simmons for Rick Neuheisel and Alabama did when they passed up Sylvester Croom for Mike Shula and in virtually every other situation you can name, I would give you five minutes of consideration (even then you would have to deal with the fact that even claiming that Pelini is more qualified than Gill or had Bob Stoops track record is simply not true, but we would at least get that far). As it is, your logic isn't worth five minutes.

Pardon me, but when are people going to start taking responsibility for the fact that this same idiotic logic is why it is actually easier for a black person to get a head coaching job in the NFL than in college, and why the only head coaching jobs that blacks get in college are low profile jobs like Stanford, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Northwestern, Wake Forest, Mississippi State, and oh yeah Buffalo?

And let us go back to Turner Gill. The guy came along ten years early and never got a shot at the NFL because he was black. (Do not pretend that the black QBs playing in the NFL now are any better than Gill was.) And now he is stuck coaching Buffalo.

You know what? Gill is being punished for his loyalty to the Nebraska program. When Bob Stoops was hired for the Oklahoma job, he tried to lure Turner Gill as his offensive coordinator. Gill turned him down. If Gill had accepted, he would have won those Big 12 and national titles at Oklahoma and would have been a head coach long ago. And by the way ... this was AFTER Gill had been passed over for the offensive coordinator position TWICE after Tom Osborne retired. Frank Solich was his own offensive coordinator initially, and then hired Barney Cotton. Remember? And then he was passed over for the head coaching job when Frank Solich was fired, and Bill Callahan was brought in. And Bill Callahan not only passed him over for the offensive coordinator position, but moved him to wide receiver coach.

Gill throws his hat into the ring for various positions, but no one gives him the time of day. Finally he leaves Nebraska to take advantage of the NFL (gasp!) affirmative action program for coaches. From there he is hired at the worst program in Division I - A, one that really wasn't even successful as a Division I - AA program. Take a look at their records since 1999: 0 - 11, 2 - 9, 3 - 8, 1 - 11, 1 - 11, 2 - 9, 1 - 10, and 2 - 10. They were so bad that when he was hired the Buffalo newspaper stated that if Gill couldn't turn the program around, they might as well drop football because having a football program in Buffalo, New York is unviable. So, er, yeah, of course he is going to get coach of the year for going 5 - 7, especially when you consider that 4 of their losses were "paycheck games" to major college teams. If they had played other mid - major teams instead of 4 major college opponents, they'd be going to a bowl game this year.

By the way: the only reason why Buffalo hired Turner Gill to begin with just happened to be the fact that Buffalo has one of the few black athletics directors at I - A programs. Hmmm ...

Again, this is how Nebraska treated one of its own who showed its program nothing but loyalty ... kicking him aside to hire first Cotton, then Callahan, and now Pelini. Keep in mind that when Solich was hired and Solich refused to promote him to offensive coordinator, Gill was going to leave the program then. But Dr. Osborne and the Nebraska folk sweet - talked him and gave him a nominal raise plus the meaningless title of "assistant head coach" plus promises that he would be next in line or whatever.

Please. Turner Gill should disassociate himself from Osborne and the Nebraska program after this. They have done nothing but use him and string him along to recruit players. And all of those so - called fans of his that were just fine with him winning them football games and recruiting players are now saying ... "Well, he is qualified but not the most qualified ... he is just not the right guy right now ... maybe he will get another shot down the line or another shot someplace else ..." please. And the hilarious thing that some folk are saying: "Well if Tom chose Bo over Turner he must know something we don't." Another guy said "Well Turner Gill is too laid back and we need Pelini to light a fire under the team." Excuse me, but was Osborne a fiery personality? Of course not. This is just the way that college football does business, and Nebraska is no different from anybody else.

DeShawn Dec 03 07

yes Gerald, its only because TG is black. couldn't be any other reason.

Gerald Dec 03 07

Steve:

First off, Osborne hardly broke racial barriers by playing Gill. Not when Vince Evans and Warren Moon had already won Rose Bowls. And oh yeah, Homer Jordan had won a national title at Clemson, and oh yeah this fellow named J. C. Watts at Oklahoma. By the way, both Jordan and Watts won national titles BY BEATING NEBRASKA. And of course, Oklahoma was heavily recruiting Gill, seeing him as the next Watts. When you consider that Missouri had a black QB running the veer in the 70s, Osborne was actually late to the party.

The reason why Gill was never a coordinator was because he turned down other opportunities to stay at a program that refused to promote him to one. Again, he is being punished for being loyal to Nebraska. He should have left Nebraska a long time ago. If he hadn't left Nebraska when he did, he wouldn't be a head coach now, and would probably have never been one. That is why I am saying that the fellow should never look back.

What did Stoops do that Pelini didn't? Stoops was more experienced. That is precisely the same excuse that you are using against Gill, right? That 5 years as a coordinator trumps two years as a head coach? Well Stoops had been a coordinator for 8 years before OU hired him. And again, Pelini coached much better talent at Oklahoma and LSU than Stoops had at Kansas State. Stoops' defenses at Florida, where he had the type of talent that Pelini had at LSU, was better.

"If Gill continues to shine at Buffalo and Pelini fails and Osborne is still AD, you can bet that Gill will get an offer (that is, if some other school hasn't already snapped him up)."

What you fail to realize is that is what they all say all the time. The black candidate always finishes #2, and they always say "well, if he proves himself AND the guy that we hired fails, THEN we will give him a shot." That is making the black candidate jump through more hoops, holding him to a higher standard, and in a lot of cases moving the bar so that it never gets met.

"I realize that any time a black candidate is passed over for a white one, you can presume that race played a part. To say it's a stretch that race is involved here is an understatement." Well excuse me for participating in "profiling" here, but if it walks like a duck, flies like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. A former player, longtime assistant, and current head coach gets passed for a coordinator who was at the school for one season. If it was a one - time occurrence, maybe. But it happens time and time again all over college football. And as I stated earlier, it has happened to Turner Gill before right at Nebraska when they failed to promote him to coordinator three times. Come to think of it, has Nebraska ever had a black coordinator? Nope.

Now do not think that I am picking on Nebraska. You guys are no worse than any of the other schools. I was just hoping that you guys would be better. But as it is, business as usual is no surprise. I just want you to admit that business as usual is what it is.

Now just so you know, Bo Pelini is an excellent coach that will do well at Nebraska. That is not the point. The point is that of the excellent coaches who will do well, the white ones get hired and the black ones do not.

The upshot is that in a two or three years everyone will have forgotten all this because Pelini will be winning 10 or 11 games a year, while Gill will still be at Buffalo, because the same dynamics that caused him to be passed over all those times at Nebraska are in place everywhere else. That is why this tired "well if he was any good someone else would have hired him" business is just nonsense. Gill should just go back to the NFL, where THANKS TO THEIR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAM his chances of getting a head coaching job are far higher.

ze bop Dec 03 07

I really think it came down to the defense issue; beyond that, it was probably a toss up in TO's mind.

I've been impressed with Turner's, what can I say, 'fire', in the few media interviews he's done lately. I had been lulled into the idea that he was kind of 'soft'--touchy feely, stoic. He's not what I would call a bada$$ like BOP though.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to see BO as our HC; ecstatic even!

I think, as a candidate, Turner could have been more ideal as a Nebraska guy, but again, I think OZ wanted the Stoops type thing.

I don't buy into any race angle on the decision.

ze bop Dec 03 07

O.k., now that I've read Gerald's excellent remarks I will say that, yes, there is systemic racism in society in general and sports in particular.

Racism might have entered into Bo getting chosen over Turner, but I think it was UNAWARE or semi aware racism.

I obviously don't know enough about Turner's qualifications for HC--or OC--but I went from feeling he wasn't qualified(experienced enough) in the beginning to thinking he just could be the best guy for the job.

I read somewhere early on that OZ didn't think Turner was ready for the NE HC job, but you can make a valid argument that he is just as ready as BO. Again, I think OZ really wanted a defensive guy, BO is probably one of the top 5 guys in the country(rdgless of only being a DC for 5 years) and what he has done at LSU is very impressive.

Do black coaching candidates get the shaft? Yes. Did Turner get the shaft because he's black? Maybe.

BTW, Dorrell is an HC at a high profile school(maybe not anymore) as is TY Wellington(ham?).
Also, Calli had Norvell as his OC, who he had a long term relationship with. I know the numbers of black HCs are ridiculously low and that's gotta change.
As far as recruiting goes, I could see a black HC as a definite advantage in black recruit's homes and maybe a disadvantage in white homes. Well, most fb players are black in case someone hasn't noticed.
They want to reenergize the walk-on program at NE and, quite frankly, I'm not so sure a black head coach would go over so well in rural NE. I know that sounds bad, but I think it's true--I have close relatives in rural NE and though racism is somewhat less these days, it's THERE!(don't mean to offend anyone).

Forever Red! Dec 03 07

It really amazes me that people who constantly b!#@h about there being to much racism in this world are the ones that like to create it.

Again I will go back to something I said from the beginning, Gill is an very humble guy, and he has always cared about the people around him. The people in Buffalo love him, they begged him to stay and keep their program growing, we haven't heard Gill speak about this coaching situation, so with that said,

WHO THE HELL SAID THAT HE EVEN WANTED THE JOB?

Get a freak'n life and quit creating racism!!!
Turner is no more qualified for this job then Pelini. God you irritate me. It's always a damn race issue. When the hell did this great nation become such a group of over sensitive wussy's! I'm pretty damn sure that how ever many years ago Santa Clause came around he didn't sit in his comfy little house at the North Pole and say to himself, "ya now what, I really hate women and I want to do everything I can to offend them so I beleive my catch phrase will be HO HO HO!!!" Now the women around the world would like him to say HA HA HA. ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!!

Every decision made in this country isn't based upon wether your black, white, female, male, gay, straight, hancapped.........etc!!!! Beleive it or not there is a chance you could be LESS QUALIFIED!!!!

If you feel like you need to sit in your little corner in the room and cry because you think somebody offened you, or passed you over because you feel as if though you are different, then so be it. But don't drag me into it. I on the other hand, when I feel wronged, go out and try that much harder to prove to everybody that I am the guy they thought I wasn't, I don't run home to my mommy's shoulder and cry my eye's out.

Pelini was the "white" hire.
What a joke. You my friend should find a hobby and maybe something more constructive to do with your life.

I'm sure I have offended somebody, the fact that I used explanation points scared some people, so if BRN feels it necessary to delete this post I will hold nothing against you.

Have a great day!

Forever Red! Dec 03 07

I would like to add one more thing.........

I just emailed Mike'L Severe on 1620 The Zone and presented this question to him. If anybody know's Mike'L at all, you know that he is the first one to point it out if he thinks race is an issue. I have argued with him before on this issue. In short he said that this hire was made because of our need for a defensive minded coach and nothing more!!! If you think race had anything to do with it your a .......

End of story. If you would like to here it you can go to www.1620thezone.com and listen to the last segment on the pod cast.

Once again, Have a great day!

ze bop Dec 03 07

"...Nebraska is coming off a season in which they finished #11 in total offense..."

Calli certainly has some unique qualities: how many coaches can have the #11 offense in the country and still get blown out in six games--one in which you scored 51 points?

Maybe only Calli could do that!

ze bop Dec 03 07

"....If anybody know's Mike'L at all, you know that he is the first one to point it out if he thinks race is an issue...."

Such as: "I'm black and I'm proud, and you're white and you're g@y..."

:)

ze bop Dec 03 07

"....If anybody know's Mike'L at all, you know that he is the first one to point it out if he thinks race is an issue...."

Such as: "I'm black and I'm proud, and you're white and you're g@y..."

:)

Forever Red! Dec 03 07

@ze bop

That's good stuff! That would be the Mike'L I refer to.

ze bop Dec 03 07

FR,
I think they do a pretty good job covering racial issues on that show.

If you've got Sirius, check out, "Make It Plain", Sirius Left. It's very good.

gobigred Dec 03 07

FR,
I heard them talk about that this afternoon on 1620 and your right. If Mike'L doesnt think racism was an issue when hiring Pelini, it most likely wasn't.

cvldfg Dec 04 07

What I've learned over the years when it comes to race and sports is that it is becoming almost non-existent. When race is brought up, especially when no one else is talking about it, it's usually the creation of someone who makes race an issue with everything in their life. Now, to impugn the character of a man, such as, Dr. Tom Osborne is way out of line and that person loses all credibility with me.

Bugeatr Dec 04 07

I have mixed feelings about Turner not being named HC but I think there's more to the story here. TO needs to hire someone to replace him in the next couple years. Turner doesn't like all of the travel that HC'ing jobs require. It wouldn't surprise me if TO brings Turner in to be his replacement.

WAHusker Dec 04 07

I am a huge fan of Turner Gill, both as the player he was for NU and as the classy man that he continues to be today. I am proud of the job Turner has done at Buffalo. I also agree with some of the comments that Solich's decision to be his own offensive coordinator delayed some of Turner's development. As assistant head coach, the knock against him was that he hadn't called the plays for an offense. That's a legitimate consideration when looking at candidates for a head coaching position. However, this was a person that I believed was being groomed to become the next HC for NU. Indeed, that might have been the case if Solich had been more successful. Unfortunately, Frank was not a good closer in recruiting and his teams dropped off in success as a result. That led NU to Bill Callahan. Former AD Steve Pederson's decision making was clearly off track as evidenced by the team's record under Callahan and the firing of both of them. At that point it should have been the same question of Gill vs. Pelini and the issue would have been the same -- Pelini had run a defense and made the calls while Gill had not had that opportunity on the offense. With either decision, I believe you could have had one as HC and the other as a coordinator and the program would have been in great hands.
Today, the question is more one of need. Osborne noted the need for defense. He is a man of his word and that word makes sense. Nebraska put 51 on Colorado and lost. That should never happen. Pelini has demonstrated his success with defenses at the highest levels of college football. Turner has shown remarkable success at improving a team that was at the bottom of Division I, but playing in a mid-major conference. I believe in Turner Gill. I also recognize that it's a big step up from the MAC to the Big XII. Jim Tressel spent years at Youngstown State winning Div. II championships before moving up to Ohio State.
Bottom line here is that we all should respect the work that Turner has done, pull for him to achieve even greater success and cheer as he does because he will. I've already heard his name mentioned for the Washington State opening. But we should not turn this into a race-based issue. That demeans the success Turner has achieved through his own hard work and the character that he demonstrates every day.

ze bop Dec 04 07

The ESPN Gameday crew spent a considerable amount of time last Sat. on the underrepresentation of African Americans as HCs in the NCAA: something like 6 out of 120 in division I fb.

Yeah, there's racism, but as I said way above, I don't think it's overt, but is an undercurrent in decision making processes.

I couldn't say how much OZ is effected by that, but I don't think it is alot.

Gerald Dec 04 07

cvldfg: All right then, what do you attribute the lack of black coaches to if not racism? Blacks being inherently deficient morally, intellectually, or socially? While you are at it, explain the fact that there were no black coaches at all in the NFL or major college football not that long ago, but there are a few in the NCAA and plenty in the NFL now. So, did blacks make stunning moral, intellectual, and social leaps in that short amount of time? (Good thing I am a creationist, because if evolution were progressing that quickly we would have a problem on our hands!) If so, why did blacks make the stunning social, moral, and intellectual developments required to be more qualified for NFL jobs than college jobs?
Please. The reason why there are more black coaches in the NFL, head coaches AND coordinators, is because the NFL has an affirmative action program and the college game does not. By the way ... I oppose affirmative action, I really do. I would rather affirmative action not exist so that people would be forced to confront the situation as it really is.

ze bop: "I couldn't say how much OZ is effected by that, but I don't think it is alot."

That is the rub. It does not take a lot. The choice was not between Turner Gill and some 2 - 9 high school coach with a drinking problem. It was between two highly qualified coaches, either of whom would have been an excellent choice. So there was no compelling reason to pick Gill. That is the situation that you face when you are talking about an elite plane where there are far more qualified applicants than there are people to fill them. If there weren't that many qualified candidates or if there were many more positions to fill, then black candidates would have to be hired out of necessity.

That is really what happened with black quarterbacks in the NFL. It was not some racial watershed thing. Because of expansion, free agency, and the salary cap, etc. teams were unable to build good offensive lines that could handle the faster more complex defenses, so in order to be an effective NFL QB you had to be able to scramble. Now of course, there have always been white QBs that can scramble as well as black QBs that cannot, and vice versa. But because teams were able to build good lines, they were able to play white QBs regardless of their ability to scramble, so there was no need for black QBs no matter how they played. But once the minimum requirement shrank to having to be able to move around in the pocket and throw accurately on a designed roll - out in order to deal with these speed pass rushers, that explains why Michael Vick was the #1 overall draft pick only a little over ten years after Turner Gill - a superior QB to Vick - had to go play in Canada.

The thing that really stinks with Gill is that with there being so many qualified candidates out there, you need every edge that you can get. In most cases, it is pretty much the only way that you are going to get a job. Well, being a star QB and a personal friend of the AD ... that is the edge that usually gets the guy the job. Instead, the job goes to AN OHIO STATE GRAD THAT HAD ONLY SPENT NINE MONTHS IN LINCOLN.

As it is, unless Gill absolutely dominates the MAC at a program that shouldn't even have a scholarship football program in the first place (let alone at the I - A level) he is going to be stuck there for awhile. That is why these people who are claiming "you know, when you think about it, Tom Osborne did Gill a favor, he was acting in his best interests!" are so off base. (Again, this was the EXACT SAME THING they said five years ago when Sly Croom was passed over. Funny that there are all these people in positions of power that are such personal loving friends of these people that they all act in the same, loving, benevolent fashion.) The reality is that people really only get one shot and another opportunity like it never comes back around. When Gill finally does move up, it will probably be something like the Syracuse job, or the Oklahoma State situation (a longtime loser that was still under heavy sanctions) that Bob Simmons had to go into when he was passed up in favor of Rick Neuheisel, or Sylvester Croom having to go to Mississippi State (wow, another longtime loser that was under heavy sanctions).

Steve: One final thing. You say "name one thing that Bob Stoops has done that Bo Pelini hasn't. Well, I could say the same thing about the excellent Florida defensive coordinator Charles Strong. He carried Lou Holtz's South Carolina program with his recruiting and coaching, left for Florida when Holtz made his son his presumptive heir apparent, South Carolina fell apart, and last season Florida won the national title based mostly on his defense. Strong's only job offer to date has been VANDERBILT. He has not had a serious interview for a job in three years. Hmmm ...

Gerald Dec 04 07

One parting shot fellas:

Do not get me wrong. I am not saying that Nebraska is a bad program, that its fans are bad people, or that Tom Osborne is a bad guy. Quite the contrary. I am an SEC guy primarily, but I am a huge option fan and rooted for Nebraska in the 80s and 90s. Always have preferred them to Oklahoma. Cannot say why.

I think that a lot of you all were presuming that I was saying that Tom Osborne and the Nebraska nation were bad people or something. Well, that is not the case. It would be easier if it were, if we could just pretend that these were all a bunch of Klu Klux Klansmen or something. But it isn't. And that is what makes it so difficult to accept. But the truth is that good people do not always do good things ... sometimes they do bad things. Now I am not saying that refusing to hire Turner Gill was some great evil. If anything, his decision to basically look the other way in the Lawrence Phillips case ... THAT was far worse than not hiring Gill.

So good people do "not so good" things every now and then. Good people do BAD things every now and then. But none of us are perfect. No one is perfect but God. Even Jesus Christ said to call no one good but the Father! That is why I have no issue with believing that Tom Osborne made the wrong choice in this matter (and in the matter of Phillips) without considering him to be some monster or someone with flawed character. If he did do the wrong thing, it was at most a sin, and the man that says that he never sins is a liar. We all do wrong, especially me! So the fact that we are all sinners is why we need Jesus Christ to save us from our sins.

So if any of you have not done so, I strongly you to accept salvation through Jesus Christ right now by following the process on this link: http://healthelandgeneraldocuments.wordpress.com/2007/04/13/the-three-step-salvation-plan/

So I bid you all good bye, good fortune, and not to let the many games that Bo Pelini will certainly win you fellows cause you to lose your humility :-0 :-)!

ze bop Dec 05 07

Gerald,

I respect and agree with most of your remarks. But, you're almost saying that OZ should've gone with Turner BECAUSE he's black and not exclusively for his qualifications, 'good people do bad things', etc.

Again, I don't know who's more qualified overall, but BO P IS the more qualified DEFENSIVE guy--one of the best, in fact-- and that's what OZ was leaning towards, which makes alot of sense.

ze bop Dec 05 07

O.K., the Jesus stuff is a bit uncalled for, though I HAVE sinned, Lord knows I HAVE......:)

Gerald Dec 05 07

ze bob:

Oh well, I promised not to return, and failed to keep it. Oh well. That makes me a liar. See why I need Jesus Christ? Keeping Jesus Christ out of it ... why? You do realize that in the early church, there was no division in their mindset between spiritual and secular ... no compartmentalization. The early church recognized that God was in everything and that every thing, every issue, could be related to God in some way. That was a key reason why the Roman Empire so persecuted the Christians. As a matter of fact, this mindset dominated Christian thinking for most of its existence. "Secularism", then, the notion that we should be spiritual in certain aspects but not in others, is a rather recent invention, and not one that was invented by Christians either. Study the writings of Sir Isaac Newton, for instance: everything he did was dominated by God and his attempts to understand Him. His attempts to understand creation was what motivated him to become a scientist in the first place. Why do we not know this? Secularists that control the educational system and the media. And now they are taking an even more radical stand, with Richard Dawkins actually claiming that Newton wasn't much of a scientist because Newton was a Christian. So while I certainly respect - indeed INSIST - on the separation of church and state and respecting the beliefs of others, I must say that there is no issue where God is not directly relevant to.

Incidentally, I never said that Osborne should hire Gill because he is black. That is reverse racism, which to me is worse than the original kind, because it responds against evil not with righteousness but more evil. Instead, my position is that Gill is more qualified. Being a coordinator 1. under two proven and very capable coaches and 2. at Oklahoma and LSU, two programs that recruit themselves is not the same as being your own guy at Nebraska. Look, you aren't going to compete with the programs like Texas, Ohio State, Florida, USC, LSU, etc. at Nebraska. If you try to go after the same type of athletes that they do, you will wind up getting guys that are highly rated that the other elite programs back off and don't want. (Notre Dame has been having that problem for years.) I saw an article that said Nebraska had dozens of 4 and 5 star recruits where Kansas had 1 or 2. And you see the result. To win big at Nebraska, you have to know how which players to recruit (start by staying away from the Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Texas rejects and neverminds), how to develop your own talent in - state, and how to run a scheme on both sides of the ball that allows you to consistently beat programs that will ALWAYS have players with more natural ability, and that includes not only programs like USC, Ohio State, and the SEC and Florida schools out of conference but Oklahoma and Texas in the conference.

I am not convinced that Pelini, with his background being in the NFL, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, and one season coaching pretty good (but not elite) talent at Nebraska, can do it either in terms of recruiting or his scheme, and especially if he can do it on the offensive side of the ball. What is Pelini saying ... that he wants to run a multiple offense with maybe some read option? Fine. So are Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio State, LSU, and Florida. Except that those teams are generally going to have better athletes than you are going to be able to bring to Lincoln, Nebraska.

Now because Gill played at Nebraska, and was an assistant there for so long, and furthermore was an excellent recruiter. He knows what players to go after, how to develop them with that famous "system" that Osborne and Devaney built, how to tweak and modify it to keep up with what the competition is doing, etc. There is no evidence that Pelini with his one season at Nebraska and the rest of his career spent somewhere else knows how to do this. The only question with Gill is whether he can lead and run a program.

Frank Solich had every advantage that Gill did and more, and failed that test. That is why I can understand the desire to go outside of the program, the fear that Gill may be another Solich. See, there are about 12 top jobs in college football, jobs where you are expected to contend with the elite every year. At 10 of those schools, you can get talent that is comparable to the other elite programs. But at 2 of those schools you do not. Nebraska is one of those 2 schools, Notre Dame is the other. I have little doubt that Pelini would succeed at the other 10. I also have little doubt that Pelini would succeed at school with lesser expectations that wants to win consistently and make a run every now and then, like at a Texas A&M or UCLA. But being a USC program with UCLA talent, a Texas program with Texas A&M talent, a Michigan program with Michigan State talent, etc. THAT is what Pelini is charged with building and running despite having no connection to Nebraska or even a program like it save for one season.

THAT is why I believe that Turner Gill was more qualified. Were Gill and Pelini competing for a job like Florida or Alabama, I say give it to Pelini. But Gill is better prepared to lead in a situation like West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, etc.

So hopefully now that you see where I am coming from, this is REALLY my last missive :-)

Forever Red! Dec 05 07

If we are all children of God, what makes Jesus so special?

Welcome to The BRN Wednesday worship hour.
Here is how it worked last time I visited a church. The rich people sat on one side of the isle and poor on the other. The people that thought they were god's gift to mankind sat up front on the rich side, the poor back stabbers sat up front on the other side. I assume they thought they had a better shot at heaven if they were up front. The balcony was full of all the people that had been s!@t on by those that sat down below. And last but not least, if you had a small child you better have your butt in the back, because if that kid starts acting up you had better get out side now or somebody will throw a bible at you.

My church is the Speed channel on Sunday morning. A lot of great horsepower tv!!!

Now back to our reglular scheduled program..........FOOTBALL!!!!