Giving a coach the boot after 3 'Riley-esque' seasons? yay or nay, depending on what?

Red_Payne

Red_Payne

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Do you think Saban would be canned from 'Bama if he put together three similar seasons, starting from '18 thru '20, that we've seen the past three seasons? It would be tough to fire such an accomplished coach, yet Idk if their organization would stand for the blowouts and a loss to a G5 opponent. If his recruiting slips, is that a factor? What if he's still pulling in top-5 classes; do you risk it?

Would OSU keep Urban around if they were put in a similar situation? What about Swinney, Peterson, or Patterson at Clem., Wash. & TCU?

I don't bring up the question to defend Riley; he's a couple tiers bellow those names, and I'm on par with letting him go after season's end (as I don't foresee a major improvement incoming).

I ask because, if we do happen to hire Scott Frost OR a Head Coach the fan base is in consensus with (would prob. have to be a big name hire, if not Frost), and they put together 3 years similar to what we've seen thus far, do we give them the boot, as well; or do we afford them more time because of their reputation? What factors play a role?

 
Riley's age and Scott Frost's success are the reasons for the short leash. If Riley was under ~55 years old and Frost's record was .500, Riley would has 1-3 more years depending on his records.

Why give him time to right the ship just so he can retire anyway?

 
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Saban and Meyers both have a history of success as coaches which means they have given people reason to believe they can turn it around and be successful again. This is not true for Riley and therefore there is no reason to believe he can. You cannot compare the three. You cannot compare their time at their respective schools to Riley's time at Nebraska. Just my opinion. 

 
Saban & Urb have built up equity at their current stops.  If their first 3 years at their current stops were anywhere close to Riley’s they might not have lasted.  Riley has no equity built up here so he shouldn’t get a pass. If Frost comes in and poops his pants like Riley has he might not last either and maybe shouldn’t.  Nebraska shouldn’t be a program that settles for the current product no matter the coach.

 
Typically, I would have a problem with it.  You can't build on three recruiting classes.  But with that said, I think Riley is done.  His lack of emotion on the sideline tells the story for me.  Sure, Osborne wasn't emotion, but Riley used to be.  He looked like he had given up while at OSU and he looks the same now.  

 
southernoregonhusker said:
Typically, I would have a problem with it.  You can't build on three recruiting classes.  But with that said, I think Riley is done.  His lack of emotion on the sideline tells the story for me.  Sure, Osborne wasn't emotion, but Riley used to be.  He looked like he had given up while at OSU and he looks the same now.  
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The comparison to Osborne that many like to use is a real head scratcher for me.  If you go back and watch Osborne games, you see a coach who is extremely intense and invested in what is going on.   Tom was anything but calm, he had a hurricane inside him which allowed him to get the best out of young players.  They respected him and just looking at him got the point across.  He could coach without raising his voice.  Riley is only TO like on the very surface.  If you scratch that you find a completely different man.  He's a man with zero intensity and little pure desire to be the best.  Watching him on sidelines is like watching a coach about to fall asleep.  It's just an apples and oranges comparison when you get down to it.

 
Your question can be answered in three letters, NIU!  Losing to them was a deal breaker in year 3.  Your program is not improving when in year 3 you lose to a MAC team.  Saban lost to Rajun Cajuns in his first year, but that was a complete rebuild at that point.  So bad losses do happen, but only when your in a total program turnaround.  

I think we gave Riley a benfit of the doubt in year one when he did lose alot of games.  I think we expected better, and last year was some mild improvement, but still didnt compete against top tier teams.  This season, game 1, we almost didn't beat Arky St.  Then go and basically lay a huge duck egg in Oregon for a half.  Losing to NIU was just a deal breaker.  Oregon loss, was doable.  NIU loss was not.  I think at the end of the day, it was that lone loss that sealed his fate.  If we were 4-3 right now, competed at home against Wisky and Ohio St, I think most or at least 50% of the fan base would have some sort of positive outlook at least for one more year.  We didn't do that.  All of this "soul searching" in the last two weeks coming from within this program makes me sick.  All of a sudden when you job is on the line, your revamping lineups, doing more experiments in practice with different players and now coaching up some players, shows you what kind of a joke Eichorst was, and a fraud that this staff is overall.  This was like they were here just housesitting.

 
Down 17-7. With a few seconds left in the half, NU throws a pass instead of kicking the FG??!!!Somehow they get 1 second left on the clock. Line up to kick and the OL false starts. 

....

Defense doesn't want to fill gaps verse Wisc. Rather dive at a guy. 

Cant line up correctly. Outflanked.

its crap like that. Coaching 101 mistakes. No killer instinct. missed tackles galore. No pressure on the QB. Wilbon starting verse OSU. Same running play. No imagination. Toss sweep? Weak Oline. Backups better than starters. 60 pound advantage on the Oline verse NIU...let's not run at them. 

I wanted MR to win big in Lincoln (as I do all the NU coaches) but it's time to say goodbye. He won't win here. He's lost or already knows he's gone after the season. Bring in someone who can be fundamentally sound and get every ounce of the talent here. 

 
There just isn't much belief that Mike is going to be the guy to turn it around. We haven't seen it here, and we didn't see it at Oregon State.*

Plus he'll be 65 next year, even if he does turn it around what kind of future does Nebraska have with Mike Riley? Vs what kind of future does Nebraska have with Frost or Campbell etc.? Thus the short leash.

*Would like to say Riley had a really good run from 2003-2009 by Oregon State standards. Didn't want to completely diminish his coaching career.

 
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skers44 said:
As soon as you compared Riley to Saban i stopped reading, the reality is that Alabama will be REALLY good as long as Saban is there
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I didn't compare Riley to Saban; in fact I specifically said:

Red_Payne said:
I don't bring up the question to defend Riley; he's a couple tiers bellow those names, and I'm on par with letting him go after season's end (as I don't foresee a major improvement incoming).

I ask because, if we do happen to hire Scott Frost OR a Head Coach the fan base is in consensus with (would prob. have to be a big name hire, if not Frost), and they put together 3 years similar to what we've seen thus far, do we give them the boot, as well; or do we afford them more time because of their reputation? What factors play a role?
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The question was brought up because I wanted to know if elite coaches had a longer leash if they, for whatever reason, put together 1-poor, 1-mediocre, and 1-very poor season in a row?

and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, if we hired Frost or a big name HC everyone was happy with; would we afford them an extra year if they put together three sub-par seasons riddled with blowouts and losses to pedestrian programs.

 
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Red_Payne said:
I didn't compare Riley to Saban; in fact I specifically said:

The question was brought up because I wanted to know if elite coaches had a longer leash if they, for whatever reason, put together 1-poor, 1-mediocre, and 1-very poor season in a row?

and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, if we hired Frost or a big name HC everyone was happy with; would we afford them an extra year if they put together three sub-par seasons riddled with blowouts and losses to pedestrian programs.
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Well there's a reason those coaches are paid well and have ridiculous buyouts -- they don't have very many bad seasons like we've had under Mike Riley. Maybe once in a blue moon according to their standards.

 
Pedro Guerrero said:
Saban & Urb have built up equity at their current stops.  If their first 3 years at their current stops were anywhere close to Riley’s they might not have lasted.  Riley has no equity built up here so he shouldn’t get a pass. If Frost comes in and poops his pants like Riley has he might not last either and maybe shouldn’t.  Nebraska shouldn’t be a program that settles for the current product no matter the coach.
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This is the reason it will be really hard to hire a new coach.   Why would Frost want to come when some fans, like you, are already stating he'll be fired too if he doesn't magically win the championship within a couple/three years?    

Two seasons and 3 games in and the Fire Riley crowd was marching in the streets.   There were a third of fans who wanted him fired the day he was hired.  I can understand being doubtful and even critical of the hire but once the opinion was stated, then move on to support the team and coach, whatever his name is.  We are Husker football fans, not HC Riley Coached football fans.  

The team and program need our full support and encouragement no matter who the coach is or isn't.  I am very disappointed in the team's performance and Riley is largely responsible for that but the players and his coaches and staff bear responsibility as well.  

The mindset by so many fans is that Nebraska's football team just needs the right guy calling the plays and aligning up the defense and "eureka!!!" we playing for the national title.   This program is FAR FAR FAR from being championship calibler.   The next coach will have to be a tremendous recruiter and a player magnet.   Anything short of that and he will have similar results to Riley, Callahan, Solich and Pelini (I believe Riley has more championship teams than the other three combined??).    Osborne was given 23 seasons to win a title and about 8 years to get the team over the hump of OU and that was after taking over a team with good talent, depth and a couiple national titles and a heisman trophy winner on the roster.  

Whether Frost would dare to risk his entire future career on the 'undying' support of Husker fans who will cheerfully burn him at the stake after the second 4 TD loss  in year two is a very difficult question.  Solich had Osborne to give him some cover for a couple seasons although Tom failed to support him as time went on and I think this was unfair.   Tom should have helped him recruit and be involved on some level 'publicly although it did appear that Tom and Solich were not getting along well at that time.  Now we have an unknown outsider with no fan appeal as AD hired by a President Greene (basically nobody in Nebraska alumna base knows or cares about really).  Who will shield Frost when he needs some cover when things don't go blazingly well right from the start?    Ronnie Greene?    Not a chance.  The Governor?   Former Senator Bob Kerry and Ben Nelson?   LOL   There is nobody folks!

If we don't hire Frost (I would not want to bet my money on that happening because Frost is hopefully smarter than that), then the next coach will be no better than the one we have now in all likelihood.   The next one better have thick skin (Mike surely has it as he could have lashed out plenty of times already) and better have lots of patience.   He's gong to need a lot of luck and more time than 24 months.  

'   

 
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