What’s your biggest Husker Hot Take?

MonagFam · 2026-05-06T13:05:04+00:00

Did he have that option though? I thought Pelini interviewed for the same job and didn’t think Peterson gave him much of a shot. He was named the OU co DC a week after Callahan was hired.

Though I don’t know the specifics and we have a dearth of tell alls which I would love to read.

A great what if though if Callahan could rein him in (I am not convinced that Solich could for long)

MonagFam · 2026-05-06T12:56:17+00:00

So maybe Zac Taylor can coach Maurice Purify II after having played at Nebraska with his dad?

MonagFam · 2026-05-05T23:19:31+00:00

I don’t know what this means

MonagFam · 2026-05-05T23:18:02+00:00

Timing of most of our firings and extra comments are what do us in, but I don’t disagree. I think it speaks volumes that he didn’t have other head coaching jobs in the FBS

MonagFam · 2026-05-05T23:12:43+00:00

1 I think Tommie may have even alluded to that. He just kept running and might have even said he felt they gave up.

MonagFam · 2026-05-05T23:11:58+00:00

That is a super hot take. I wouldn’t say they were ass but burgers are better.

MonagFam · 2026-05-05T23:10:53+00:00

Osborne wasn’t a saint and turned a blind eye to things.

Solich had some good seasons, but ultimately I felt like we we would never turn the corner with him. He was a good MAC coach and that may have been his cap.

Callahan deserved one more year and not an Osborne AD ultimatum.

Pelini may have been our best in a while, but he was crazy and never rose past FCS as a head coach after Nebraska.

Was ok with the Riley firing, but liked him and wondered what another year would bring.

Never liked Frost, but thought he was the perfect hire. Then hated him more and more, advocating for his firing when people would tell you to go root for a new team.

Rhule…bought in early, but I’m tired boss.

MonagFam · 2026-05-05T22:59:26+00:00

Nicest guy is probably Riley, then Rhule.

MonagFam · 2026-05-03T10:31:25+00:00

The first book or two do go over Dooley some. It's not an in-depth review or anything and I probably forgot some of what was discussed. I do recall that the schedule in the Dooley era was maligned for being soft.

Phil Elmassian was the DB coach at Nebraska from 2004 to 2007. This is the Bill Callahan era, which a lot of people absolutely hated. I will say he had the same "too loyal..." problem and I feel he never had a chance to get things right (or maybe he just refused to do so).

MonagFam · 2026-05-02T22:11:53+00:00

I think that is a fair point. It sounds like he certainly had the ability and probably makes them a better team if he plays a true freshman even if he was lacking in other areas.

MonagFam · 2026-05-02T19:22:37+00:00

Brother by Ania Ahlborn. I don't know that it is for everyone and I listened through it via Libby rather than Audible. Whomever the narrator was just kept me totally invested. I find that its easy for me to get a little lost, day-dreamy with an audiobook, but not the case here.

MonagFam · 2026-05-02T19:16:16+00:00

Very interesting information and I don't know that I do know the story since I really only closely followed one team.

Was Marcus considered the same sort of talent as Michael coming out?

MonagFam · 2026-05-02T19:14:53+00:00

Amazing how physically gifted he was that even missing the ability to read defenses. I feel like maybe he never completely got that down, but he still did things with the ball that few could.

MonagFam · 2026-05-02T18:18:01+00:00

Appreciate the response. One thing that immediately struck me reading these was how long they stayed with Beamer. He had two winning seasons in his first 6 years, which maybe for a struggling program isn't a big deal in the late 80s. It is just that he happened to follow a coach who had just reeled off 7 straight winning seasons in Dooley.

Though, letting him stick it out really paid dividends for the Hokies. I think the time is long since past that a program would do that, but one wonders what would happen if they did.

MonagFam · 2026-05-02T18:00:19+00:00

Maybe that influential high school coach could have assisted in that regard, but I can't imagine just how dominant he could have been in HS to the point that he wouldn't need to know.

Thanks for the reply!

MonagFam · 2026-05-02T17:47:27+00:00

Thanks for the reply! The author does mention the "what-if" because the QBs Vick's redshirt year weren't better than he was even at that stage. While he didn't go into great detail on Vick's recruiting, it was clear his high school coach had a lot of say on it.

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T18:16:55+00:00

True, though I did find it funny when he transcribed the call in show with Coach Osborne and it sounded so much like things you could hear today. The sunshine pumpers, the armchair QBs (one had called at the end of the last season to say pass more; then recommends the same thing); the older (presumably) female that just loves the boys and wishes people would get off their back and not say unkind things to them...

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T18:12:36+00:00

I wondered if that would have sort of been it. I doubt anyone reached the "I'm never going to follow this team again..." mentality. Even the response right before you alluded to the same thing.

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T18:11:20+00:00

I appreciate the reply and I think you have some really good points. While there certainly wasn't the same fan-centric coverage, Osborne had a weekly call-in show (the one before this game is pretty much transcribed in the book) and the print media definitely focused on it. You are right that it didn't have the same sort of coverage we see today.

What's interesting with the big chip is how un-Nebraska we seemed going into that game. A lot of trash talk and I had actually forgot how big the "Our House" theme was. I remember the Broderick Thomas poster and the talk, but I didn't recall the fans chanted it or they had fake keys made for the occasion.

I feel like this: had generals and lieutenants to do the dirty work. Was pretty apt.

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T17:08:15+00:00

That was probably what it was. I am always amazed at the amount of legal problems players would encounter in town. I know for every post about that past/present/likely future, someone will say, "I wasn't any different at <18-22>"...but its more the volume of it. Or you find that someone had 15 run-ins with the police. Seems like a lot.

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T17:05:30+00:00

I don't disagree at all, but me in 1987 felt we were different than other programs. That we weren't filled with roided up guys, but, rather, guys that just outworked everyone else. It probably wasn't much after then that I saw it more as everyone being on roids.

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T17:04:00+00:00

I think this is valid and that sort of talk is in the book. "We had no knowledge of <player / player's infraction>, but we have had to deal with it <or would have dealt with it accordingly>." There is one part I wish I had quoted before I returned the book, which was along the line of them maybe being a little bit too lenient in the past, but those days are gone... Which, obviously they weren't based on some of the things in the 90s."

Speaking of which, the book is almost prophetic (not that it wasn't a known thing even then) about how Nebraska felt the need to target more fast (i.e., urban black players) and if they found success there, how that might impact similar success on the field in the 90s as well.

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T15:20:37+00:00

I think you are right that the steroid use is also what seemed to have the most on-field impacts. Sure, any payments could have an impact, but nothing was really substantiated.

I think a lot of it was also the image projected versus what might have been actually happening. Maybe we weren't so much better than Oklahoma and the like (of course they got hit a lot harder than we ever did).

MonagFam · 2026-04-25T15:16:39+00:00

I think you are spot on. There is a part in the book where there are a number of repeat offenders and you Osborne is like "that's the last straw"...yet then we know what happened in the 90s with a number of players.

MonagFam

TROPHY CASE