Why have NU's Big 3 Men's Sports failed so miserably?

[TGHusker]

Many of our men's sports have done well this year:  wrestling, T&F, Gymnastics.  Women's Volleyball, basketball, and softball all shined as well. 

However, the 'Big 3"  Football, Basketball, Baseball performed at near historically low levels - in regards to wining %.  

So how did we get into this fix  :dunno      I've added a poll of some reason I have thought of but you may have other reasons why our 3 major sports were so down this year. 

My thought:  Poor ADs and AD turnover.  There hasn't been consistency at the top and the athletic dept has suffered.  One AD fired a 9-10 win football coach, while another seemed to treat it

as a part time gig (after hiring Frost).   I think Trev will correct this problem long term but he is having to deal with the fall out of past blunders.

I don't think it is hiring bad coaches.  I think all 3 coaches should be able to bring us to a point of respectability.   I think basketball will be the most difficult sport of the 3 of becoming a consistent winning program.  I think Frost will get it turned around next season - his inexperience and lack of humility to make changes kept him from wining at this level.   I am shocked by negative turn of the baseball team.  But Bolt is too good of a coach for this to develop into a trend. 

https://www.si.com/college/nebraska/football/nebraska-big-3-mens-sports-complete-worst-year-since-eisenhower#gid=ci02a1e58320002709&pid=mens-big-3-top-10-worst

There aren't many years that have been worse for the big three men's sports at Nebraska.

Football missed the postseason for a fifth consecutive year and was three games out from fifth in the division. Basketball took some preseason NCAA Tournament hype and turned that into last place in the Big Ten. And baseball, coming off a league title in 2021, beat themselves most nights and missed out on the league tournament in Omaha.

But believe it or not, this wasn't the worst year ever for the trio. For the next worst, you'd have to go back more than 60 years.

The big three men's sports for NU finished with records of 3-9 (football), 10-22 (basketball) and 23-30 (baseball). That adds up to a combined winning percentage of .371. That is one of the worst win percentages in the history of the athletic program.

Among years in which all three sports were played in their entirety, the 2021-22 year is the fourth worst. The three worse are 1941-42, 1938-39, and 1959-60.

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

Hard for me to point to one reason for 3 different situations. Baseball was disappointing, but Bolt had our best season in 15 years last year - and sometimes baseball is funny like that - Mississippi St won the CWS last year and are sitting at home just like us. Frost thought he was good enough to copy and paste his program building formula at a school nothing like Nebraska, and it wasn't until year 4 that he had a boss tell him he needs some help. Like Frost, Hoiberg tried to use a formula that worked for him, but it appears the college game had caught up to him while he was away for 5+ seasons. To summarize, Bolt the jury is still out, tough season but I won't ignore what happened last year, could just be flukey baseball stuff. Football and Basketball "struggle adjusting" is probably the closest to the truth. Flat out refusing to adjust until they had a decent boss might be even closer to the truth...

 

[Red Five]

Hard for me to point to one reason for 3 different situations. Baseball was disappointing, but Bolt had our best season in 15 years last year - and sometimes baseball is funny like that - Mississippi St won the CWS last year and are sitting at home just like us. Frost thought he was good enough to copy and paste his program building formula at a school nothing like Nebraska, and it wasn't until year 4 that he had a boss tell him he needs some help. Like Frost, Hoiberg tried to use a formula that worked for him, but it appears the college game had caught up to him while he was away for 5+ seasons. To summarize, Bolt the jury is still out, tough season but I won't ignore what happened last year, could just be flukey baseball stuff. Football and Basketball "struggle adjusting" is probably the closest to the truth. Flat out refusing to adjust until they had a decent boss might be even closer to the truth...

This is a good summary.

I'd also add if the previous AD didn't hand out extensions (and thus buyouts) like candy that 2 of the 3 coaches wouldn't be a Nebraska next year.

 

[gossamorharpy]

I voted for poor AD as the main reason.  Seems as if lack of accountability and inability to build out supporting functions and resources at a winning level in 2021 was not there.

If I look at all 3, I think I'd say I was most disappointed at the basketball flop.  Yeah, Frosty's stubbornness in rolling with his buddies, most of which were under-qualified from day 1, is incredibly frustrating.  Guy has said endlessly this is his dream job and wouldn't want to go any where else yet didn't act that way.  That being said, basketball was such an utter disappointment.  Unlike football and baseball, I'm of the belief you can actually turn around a program in a year or 2 if you have the talent.  We're most likely going to have a guy drafted top 20, maybe top 15, in a sport where one elite guy can truly carry a team moreso than the other sports and we were dead last in the big10, inexcusable.  

 

[Cdog923]

Inept, lazy leadership in two of them, complete roster overhaul on the other.

 

[suh_fan93]

In Football it seems we've had some guys who were good and even a few worthy of the next level but imo just not enough of 'those' kind of guys especially minus a few up front.  Then add Frost and co into the equation.  Now he has a new staff but does he have time?

Same with Hoiberg's teams who have had 'some' talent (McGowens obviously) but most definitely not enough.  I remember his time in Chicago did not go so well in the press or with fans.

 

[TGHusker]

In Football it seems we've had some guys who were good and even a few worthy of the next level but imo just not enough of 'those' kind of guys especially minus a few up front.  Then add Frost and co into the equation.  Now he has a new staff but does he have time?

Same with Hoiberg's teams who have had 'some' talent (McGowens obviously) but most definitely not enough.  I remember his time in Chicago did not go so well in the press or with fans.

Yes, I think Hoiberg's seat is hotter than Scott's.   As bad as 3-9 was, at least the FB team was competitive and he made drastic changes in the off season as we all know. I think SF will turn it around but I don't know how Hoiberg makes any headway in the tough Big 10 basketball conference. 

 

[runningblind]

Yes, I think Hoiberg's seat is hotter than Scott's.   As bad as 3-9 was, at least the FB team was competitive and he made drastic changes in the off season as we all know. I think SF will turn it around but I don't know how Hoiberg makes any headway in the tough Big 10 basketball conference. 

I think you have to look at who drives revenue at the school and historical precedence, which means football should have higher expectations.  A .500 record again gets Frost shown the door (and rightly so), but a .500 record in basketball, or close to it, is definitely enough to keep Hoiberg.  Less than .500 and they both probably need to go. 

 

[TGHusker]

I think you have to look at who drives revenue at the school and historical precedence, which means football should have higher expectations.  A .500 record again gets Frost shown the door (and rightly so), but a .500 record in basketball, or close to it, is definitely enough to keep Hoiberg.  Less than .500 and they both probably need to go. 

I agree with your point.  I think Scott will exceed 500 next season.  I'm thinking 7-8 wins - so give me one of these :koolaid2:    But, I'm also cautiously optimistic in that  we fans are now all Missourians -"Show Me" on the field.

Hoiberg  - I don't think he gets to 500.  Another "but monkey": But, I don't follow NU Basketball as closely so maybe he gets a couple of guys who turns the team around and they catch fire.  But there really isn't any easy route through the Big 10 basketball landscape. He seemed to have lost the team this past season until Trev got involved - they then went on a 3 game win streak.   Who will they be next season? :dunno

 

[whateveritis1224]

Of the three, Baseballs season feels more like an outlier than the norm. Too many losses in one score games. Too many games where the clutch play evaded the (hit, defense, or pitching). The ball was dropped too many times and games against the lower rung of the B1G flittered away.

Football was kind of in the same situation too, but there's more years of evidence against Frost than Bolt. I'm confident that they'll make a bowl game this year with the changes on the offensive staff and the guys they've pulled in on defense (equal to if not better than the ones who left in the portal). Only downside is that there's no Domann, but I think the other players already in the system or who transferred in can step in to replace the other players.

Basketball I have no clue on. They definitely seem to be focusing more on defense with a few of the transfer players brought in (Alabama and SMU dude), but the main issue seems to be the long stretches of games year over year where there is a combination of a scoring drought that leads to the defense not working either. (Creighton last year, Iowa) Maybe it just ends up working, but of the three, Basketball is the one who's probably going to have a similar season/record as next year.

I think the main reason for the issues is that Bill Moos was too hands off in places where he needed to be hands on. This is notable on the Football side where, for better or worse (mostly worse), Frost was given carte blance to do whatever he wanted. I think things would have gone better if Alberts was the one who hired him (i.e. the school hired Alberts in 2017 instead of Moos). He needed some of the freedom, but he also needed a guiding hand to help him at running a program at a place like Nebraska.

Basketball, though, I think is a wrong fit that wasn't known until they brought in Hoiberg. I think its because Hoiberg was ahead of the fold with transfers at ISU before he left for the NBA and everyone caught up, but also the Big 10 is a different league than the Big 12. Not so much the strength, just the differing styles of play.

 

[MyBloodIsRed16]

I think once you get to the top of sports you want it to be cyclical, because you have been there before.  Sometimes it takes one school longer than others.  Just think about schools in the Big that have never really been there.  In almost any sport.  Take Purdue for instance, they have 3 national championships across all men's and women's sports.  Mens golf in the 60's, women's basketball in 99 and then women's golf in 2010.  They have had pretty good basketball teams over the years but never get it done.  Their crowning achievement in football was making it to the Rose Bowl with Drew Brees.  As for the Huskers its obviously been some bad decision making with coaching hires.  Basketball has never been good so I don't know why anyone expects anything.  Need to get a coach who can recruit and use NIL to their advantage.  Two really good players can change a basketball team.  Baseball across any league is fickle.  You can win the world series one year and be trash the next.  It'll all come around boys don't worry.  The football team will start to win again and then magically all the other sports will do well too.

 

[RichardHangslow]

I blame the parents for letting their kids run around in texas gear and oregon gear and what not. Now if you are from there and live here that is different but home grown kids need to have it repeatedly hammered into their heads that Nebraska is the only team worth rooting for. AMEN!

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Football is a different animal than the other two imo.  NU still is a legacy, all time top ten power school and before Frost has only had about 3 losing seasons in about half a century and lots of sustained excellence.  9 win seasons in 12 game seasons was the norm / minimum de facto.  The why NU is in this fb disaster is complicated and been discussed and debated ad nauseam.  
 

Getting at the root cause might help to fix things but no agreement seems possible.  Better coaching is paramount imo.  Frost seems to be able to lure widely regarded talent at some positions anyway.  So far, one Cinderella season in Orlando out is six as HC.  He’s no longer a rookie in his 7th year as head man and fifth in the same school and conference.  If he’s learning on the job, it’s time he become a pro not just apprentice.  How many games can we honestly say Frost has ‘out coached’ his opponent?  Dam few, if any. I don’t recall any but maybe a couple.   The Big Ten is big league ball with good programs and players generally.  It’s time to play Husker football, not just remember the decades by gone and accept wannabe status. 
 

Basketball - Neb has never been good by any standard on a national scale.  Imo Fred Hoiberg is the best, most highly regarded HC in school history.  I see no reason to even think about change there. If Fred can’t make fans happy, end the sport.  
 

Baseball has had a few fairly successful years historically speaking but mediocre might be an apt description generally.  It’s not a big sport around the Great Plains and recruiting is tough without real scholarships and now NIL bucks.  Weather is a factor with Feb March season etc.  can’t change those things.  Van Horn was a big name coach but couldn’t keep him. Bolt probably as good as the next one you can get.  Leave things alone, imo.  Facilities are great.