Nebraska today if Osborne won in 2006?

I actually wonder what if Tom Osborne had coached longer than he had. Sure, 25 seasons as a head coach is a lot and he had more seasons as an assistant...but he retired at age 60. Nick Saban is 68.

Imagine what Nebraska would be if he had hung around for maybe 5-10 years longer. Nebraska was THE program during the last years of his tenure and it seemed like his teams were finally able to break through the ceiling against the teams of Miami, Florida, etc. 

 
308_Husker said:
I actually wonder what if Tom Osborne had coached longer than he had. Sure, 25 seasons as a head coach is a lot and he had more seasons as an assistant...but he retired at age 60. Nick Saban is 68.

Imagine what Nebraska would be if he had hung around for maybe 5-10 years longer. Nebraska was THE program during the last years of his tenure and it seemed like his teams were finally able to break through the ceiling against the teams of Miami, Florida, etc. 
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This has always been my 'wonder'.  If he had the energy to campaign for congress and become a congressman, why did he leave that which he knew to do something outside of his element?   I think he easily wins 2-3 more NC if he had coached 7-10 more years.   I think the Eric Crouch years could have been different - winning the NC in 2001 and 1999 weren't outside of the realm of possibility- with a Tom coached, developed and recruited team.  Frank was a good coach, but he wasn't near Tom's quality of coaching.  Ifs and buts and candy and nuts.

 
NUinID said:
Al Papik is who TO wanted to be AD.  You have to remember that Deveney was loved by all but when he left as AD and BB took over the Athletic department was a mess infrastructure wise and deep in dept.  Deveney had neglected a lot his last few years and was moving on autopilot. 

Bill Byrne gets a bad rap from a lot of people as "Dollar Bill", but he made a lot of tough choices and presided over basically a high water mark for Nebraska athletics 
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Devaney was a world class head coach.  But sometimes a person's skills don't translate as well in the next position up.  I don't know enough about the goings on in the athletic dept to know whether Devaney was a good AD or not.  

It's sort of like the skill set difference between the entrepreneur who starts and company and the CEO who runs an established company.  Sometimes the entrepreneur doesn't do too well at running the company he founded ten years before.   So there's that. 

 
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TGHusker said:
This has always been my 'wonder'.  If he had the energy to campaign for congress and become a congressman, why did he leave that which he knew to do something outside of his element?  
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He had promised Frank that he would retire and Frank could have the job.  That's the short answer but that's pretty much it.

 
TGHusker said:
This has always been my 'wonder'.  If he had the energy to campaign for congress and become a congressman, why did he leave that which he knew to do something outside of his element?   I think he easily wins 2-3 more NC if he had coached 7-10 more years.   I think the Eric Crouch years could have been different - winning the NC in 2001 and 1999 weren't outside of the realm of possibility- with a Tom coached, developed and recruited team.  Frank was a good coach, but he wasn't near Tom's quality of coaching.  Ifs and buts and candy and nuts.
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As was said already, TO had promised Frank the job.  He actually stayed 1 year longer than originally planned.  He was going to retire after the 96 season.  There were other things involved also. 

1. He thought he owed it to his wife to quit and spend time with her. 

2. He had already had heart bypass surgery about 7-8 years earlier.  He truly thought he was going to be in declining health.  Which didn't happen as you can see he is 87 and still going pretty well. 

When you are a type A personality like TO was, you can't just shut it off.  He basically ran for congress because he was board. 

I think within a couple years after he retired he regretted doing it.  I think if he would have had a do over he probably wouldn't have retired and then he would have coached another 5-10 years. 

 
hastingshusker said:
Wasn't there something about Frank taking another job and TO stepped aside so it would be Frank? I thought there was something about it needing to be done to keep Frank around.
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Frank was in the hunt for the Minnesota job after the 1996 season, and might have been offered it (can't exactly remember because Glen Mason ended up getting the job).  At that point, Frank probably brought up the Nebraska job with Osborne, and TO informed Frank's intention to retire after the 1997 season.  All of those years kind of blend together for me.  Too much drinking during college. 

 
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