Ran into an old boss at work this morning who played football at Oregon State....

ColoradoHusk

ColoradoHusk

Donor
in the 1980's. I was going to say something about Riley, but I thought better against it, because he's got bigger things on his mind. Unsolicited by me, he said to me "Hey, I am sorry that Riley isn't doing well for Nebraska. I didn't think it was a good hire at the time, and I don't understand why a program like Nebraska would hire him in the first place. Don't get me wrong, Riley is a nice guy, but he's not a great coach."

We chatted for a couple minutes in the hallway, and then he ended it with "Banker is not a good defensive coordinator. We had been trying to get ride of him for a long time." I just replied "Yeah, I don't know what Banker is trying to do out there."

I just thought this was an interesting perspective. I know this isn't the first time we have heard this chatter from Oregon State fans/alums. This was a guy who played football at Oregon State, so he knows his stuff. It's almost like he felt sorry for me, in that I (as a Husker fan) have to deal with Riley now. The most telling part to me was the way he interjected "He's a nice guy". When we keep on hearing that about Riley, it tells me that they struggle to find other positives about Riley, so they always fall back on "well, he's a nice guy".

 
Fans don't always have nice/rational opinions on their old coaches. NU fans need only look so far as the nearest mirror on that one
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zoogs said:
Fans don't always have nice/rational opinions on their old coaches. NU fans need only look so far as the nearest mirror on that one
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Well, this guy is one of the most rational guys I know. He played for Oregon State in the 1980's when they were terrible, and he's not a crazy/irrational fan. He is a basic, level-headed alumni of Oregon State, who just shared with me some of his thoughts on Riley.

 
Bowfin said:
Does this former Oregon State player / boss know that Nebraska has an almost 5-0 record and was only three plays away from starting a new dynasty????
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It doesn't matter, Nebraska is 2-3. Winning those games close still tells the same story as the losses. NU just isn't very good. That's evidenced by who the losses are to, and who those teams have lost to this season.

It's not like we're out there competing with Bama, LSU, Florida State, etc.

It's effin Illinois, a 3-2 BYU, and a Miami team that got spanked by Cincy.

 
So hypothetically and I say a big HYPOTHETICALLY if we would have knocked down the hail mary, not thrown the INT in OT, or if Devine catches the third down pass. Would everyone still be calling for Riley's job if he was 5-0

 
Waterloohusker26 said:
So hypothetically and I say a big HYPOTHETICALLY if we would have knocked down the hail mary, not thrown the INT in OT, or if Devine catches the third down pass. Would everyone still be calling for Riley's job if he was 5-0
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Let's say that happened. I would have been glad that NU won 13-7, but I still would have been thinking "What the heck was Langsdorf doing passing the ball 31 times in that wind?". The Illinois game wouldn't have given me a lot of confidence even if NU won. That is a team that Nebraska should be blowing out, and not allowing to stick around until the final gun.

 
First of all the guy never played for Mike Riley so his opinion is not a first hand account of his coaching ability. I don't know if Riley was a good hire or not, but it happened and we will live with what ever transpires for at least 3 years IMO.

FWIW I was sitting in the Boise airport bar in July and struck up a conversation with a guy in his 50's with a OSU polo on. He said he was acquainted with MR as they had some mutual friends. Said he was a great guy and great coach. But, that he was getting a little heat lately about his teams. Was actually surprised he took the Nebraska Job.

 
NUinID said:
First of all the guy never played for Mike Riley so his opinion is not a first hand account of his coaching ability. I don't know if Riley was a good hire or not, but it happened and we will live with what ever transpires for at least 3 years IMO.

FWIW I was sitting in the Boise airport bar in July and struck up a conversation with a guy in his 50's with a OSU polo on. He said he was acquainted with MR as they had some mutual friends. Said he was a great guy and great coach. But, that he was getting a little heat lately about his teams. Was actually surprised he took the Nebraska Job.
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Surprised he took it or surprised he was offered it?

 
So, this guy played for OSU when they were horrendously bad and he's criticizing the coach who came in and made OSU at least somewhat relevant on the college football landscape?

"Yeah, I played on a really bad football team and probably wasn't that great of a player myself. But, let me tell you about how he's not a great coach..."

I don't think that means he "knows his stuff" more than anyone else, honestly.

 
Enhance89 said:
So, this guy played for OSU when they were horrendously bad and he's criticizing the coach who came in and made OSU at least somewhat relevant on the college football landscape?

"Yeah, I played on a really bad football team and probably wasn't that great of a player myself. But, let me tell you about how he's not a great coach..."

I don't think that means he "knows his stuff" more than anyone else, honestly.
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So a guy who may not have great physical tools to be a great football player can't have great knowledge of the game and a team itself? If that were true then only the best football players of all time would make the best coaches.

This guy's main point is "he has been okay for Oregon State, but I don't think he is the type of coach that would be a good fit for Nebraska, and Nebraska should be able to bring in a better coach."

 
Wait, people are doubting this conversation happened? Why? It's all the same kind of stuff we've already heard about Riley & Banker.

I don't doubt for a second this happened, probably nearly as ColoradoHusk described.

I just thought it was amusing that such a conversation happened, and we got a new thread out of it, from someone who's vocally not a fan of this coaching staff. Irony, and all that.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Waterloohusker26 said:
So hypothetically and I say a big HYPOTHETICALLY if we would have knocked down the hail mary, not thrown the INT in OT, or if Devine catches the third down pass. Would everyone still be calling for Riley's job if he was 5-0
Click to expand...
Let's say that happened. I would have been glad that NU won 13-7, but I still would have been thinking "What the heck was Langsdorf doing passing the ball 31 times in that wind?". The Illinois game wouldn't have given me a lot of confidence even if NU won. That is a team that Nebraska should be blowing out, and not allowing to stick around until the final gun.
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That's actually a really good question... Everyone could be pissed for the same reasons.

1) BYU, I'd still be upset with the way we played in the 2nd & 4th Quarters. ( I believe) I'd also just be happy with the win.

2) Miami, I'd be truly wondering what the deal was with the SLOW, SLOW, SLOW start. As it occurred, in my mind I was thinking that it was jet lag, first road game...then we started hitting our stride. Obviously that game, I would've been thrilled with the win. I was happy with the comeback though.

3) Illinois, I think it would be hard pressed to find a lot of joy with the win either. Most of the people who want MR canned already (NOT ME) Would still be complaining (rightfully so) about the constant deep balls, lack of establishing the run...

So I'd say in my unbiased opinion, if we held on vs BYU and finished the comeback vs Miami and still beat Illinois... Folks wouldn't be talking about his job. They would be wondering about the things I outlined above. Asking questions like, why can't we get penalties fixed, why aren't we running the ball... Obviously the losses fueled the fire. Folks are lying if they say they'd have their pitchforks out if we were 5-0.

 
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