WHAT IF?? Alternative Husker History

[Fru]

What if..... Bo was hired as the HC after his interim HC bowl win in 2003?

This is an excellent one. I’ve often thought about how things would’ve gone if Bo had gotten it in 2003. In some ways it’s kind of amazing it didn’t happen.

So Steve fires Frank with allegedly an NFL head coach waiting in the wings. I believe this was alluded to by Harvey Perlman in an article a while back, he claimed it was going to be a “wow” hire. I think in a later article it was said to be Mike Sherman who was with Green Bay at the time. Obviously doesn’t happen. 
 

So Steve is getting turned down left and right. Zimmer. Houston Nutt. Etc. I believe the search took over 40 days. He clearly had no plan and was caught completely flat footed. Steve had to have known this coaching search was becoming a disaster. He had to have known he made multiple critical mistakes. And the whole time he’s got a young, hot shot, fan favorite, D Coordinator that took over as interim and led the team to an inspired bowl win. Talk about an escape route. 
 

Why wouldn’t Pederson just hire Bo? He could’ve sold it pretty easily. A young NFL defensive assistant, comes to Neb as a savior DC, takes over the head job and becomes the face of Neb’s future. 

If Bo got the job I think he probably keeps most of the staff in place. Recruiting probably doesn’t drop off much, if at all, possibly even improving a bit under the new energy from the Bo hire.

At worst they probably hover in that 7-5ish range with Bo never fully able to get over the hump. At best they could have very well made the 2005 or 2006 B12 Title Game, maybe even have won it in 2006 since OU was pretty pedestrian that year. Bo probably gets poached or given an extension and stays thru the B1G conference change and leaves some time around 2016, give or take. 

 

[JoeHuskers!]

This is an excellent one. I’ve often thought about how things would’ve gone if Bo had gotten it in 2003. In some ways it’s kind of amazing it didn’t happen.

So Steve fires Frank with allegedly an NFL head coach waiting in the wings. I believe this was alluded to by Harvey Perlman in an article a while back, he claimed it was going to be a “wow” hire. I think in a later article it was said to be Mike Sherman who was with Green Bay at the time. Obviously doesn’t happen. 
 

So Steve is getting turned down left and right. Zimmer. Houston Nutt. Etc. I believe the search took over 40 days. He clearly had no plan and was caught completely flat footed. Steve had to have known this coaching search was becoming a disaster. He had to have known he made multiple critical mistakes. And the whole time he’s got a young, hot shot, fan favorite, D Coordinator that took over as interim and led the team to an inspired bowl win. Talk about an escape route. 
 

Why wouldn’t Pederson just hire Bo? He could’ve sold it pretty easily. A young NFL defensive assistant, comes to Neb as a savior DC, takes over the head job and becomes the face of Neb’s future. 

If Bo got the job I think he probably keeps most of the staff in place. Recruiting probably doesn’t drop off much, if at all, possibly even improving a bit under the new energy from the Bo hire.

At worst they probably hover in that 7-5ish range with Bo never fully able to get over the hump. At best they could have very well made the 2005 or 2006 B12 Title Game, maybe even have won it in 2006 since OU was pretty pedestrian that year. Bo probably gets poached or given an extension and stays thru the B1G conference change and leaves some time around 2016, give or take. 

I've thought about this scenario a million times and I really think he could have kept things rolling, the offense wouldn't have fallen off initially like it did with BC, as they would have kept running the same or similar system that the players were recruited for in the first place. Same story with the defense, no Cosgrove era.

 

[Lorewarn]

I've thought about this scenario a million times and I really think he could have kept things rolling, the offense wouldn't have fallen off initially like it did with BC, as they would have kept running the same or similar system that the players were recruited for in the first place. Same story with the defense, no Cosgrove era.

Cosgrove only had one actual bad year, and two really good ones here. Bo getting hired in 2003 is an interesting what if, for sure, especially because our talent level had fallen off a cliff, and a huge part of Bo's eventual immediate success here was that Callahan had stacked the cupboards with a massive amount of talent. 

Bo never cared enough about recruiting for me to believe that he would have been able to maintain or do as well as he did if he started in 2004 with a very subpar roster.

 

[runningblind]

Cosgrove only had one actual bad year, and two really good ones here. Bo getting hired in 2003 is an interesting what if, for sure, especially because our talent level had fallen off a cliff, and a huge part of Bo's eventual immediate success here was that Callahan had stacked the cupboards with a massive amount of talent. 

Bo never cared enough about recruiting for me to believe that he would have been able to maintain or do as well as he did if he started in 2004 with a very subpar roster.

The talent on the roster is what got Bo going yes.  Callahan left talent, and Bo knew how to use it.  For him it was always an issue of restocking, and that led to his downfall.  He was a good coach who could beat similarly talented and worse teams all the time, but when he ran into a superiorly talented team he got his doors blown off because of the dudes on the field in his last 2-3 years. 

 

[I am I]

What if Rex Burkhead catches an isolation pass on the edge in 2009 against texass instead of flat out dropping it for a sure TD? 
 

the sequence of events surrounding that game and thereafter is undersold in mid-2000s. 
if he catches that pass and scores, which he absolutely should have, things may have been different for several seasons 

 

[JoeHuskers!]

Here is another good one.... What if they hired Urban Meyer in 2003?

 

[knapplc]

What if Matt Davison doesn't catch the TD against Missouri in 1997? Does Osborne still retire? Osborne waited until after the regular season, when Nebraska was assured of playing for a share of the national championship, before announcing his retirement. Does he reconsider, knowing the talent he had on the roster, to try for another title in 1998? 

 

[knapplc]

Here is another good one.... What if they hired Urban Meyer in 2003?

Urban said a few years ago that he was never going to take the Nebraska job in 2003. I think it was around the time Frost was hired in 2017 he was talking about the Nebraska job, and he said out loud what a lot of people suspected - nobody wanted to go to a program that would willingly fire a head coach that had just won nine games. It's no accident the guy we ended up hiring (Callahan) wasn't even unemployed when Solich was fired. 

 

[TGHusker]

no Cosgrove era.

That would have been huge.  BC had the O but that defense dropped off a very high cliff on year 4.  It was fine before that for the most part - but as good as Bo's 2003 D.  Perhaps it was Husker Fan over expectation that caused us to distain Cos.

 

[TGHusker]

What if Matt Davison doesn't catch the TD against Missouri in 1997? Does Osborne still retire? Osborne waited until after the regular season, when Nebraska was assured of playing for a share of the national championship, before announcing his retirement. Does he reconsider, knowing the talent he had on the roster, to try for another title in 1998? 

That is a good one.   I bet he stays esp after losing to Texas the year before in 96.   Frank goes on and loses 4 games the next year in 98 - primarily due to sooo many injuries.  So the 1998 outcome is an unfair comparison of the talent available.  The talent on the 98 team can be seen with what happened in 1999- a great team that fumbled 1x to many.  It was truly a NC worthy team. 

To build off of your question - If Matt drops that flea kicker, does he become a less influential person in our history a couple of decades later - persuading Frost to come to Nebraska?  Matt, like Johnny Rogers, has built a cottage industry around 'the catch'.  

 

[Born N Bled Red]

Cosgrove only had one actual bad year, and two really good ones here. Bo getting hired in 2003 is an interesting what if, for sure, especially because our talent level had fallen off a cliff, and a huge part of Bo's eventual immediate success here was that Callahan had stacked the cupboards with a massive amount of talent. 

Bo never cared enough about recruiting for me to believe that he would have been able to maintain or do as well as he did if he started in 2004 with a very subpar roster.

For not caring about recruiting, a lot of his recruits sure did well and are still doing so in the NFL.  :dunno

Bo's immediate success with the defense was inspiring. If he stays maybe we keep both Bullocks brothers for another year and have another rock solid defense and lead the nation in interceptions consecutive years. On the flip side, we probably never land Suh. 

I'm most curious about what the offense would have looked. Would he have stuck with the option and worked to modernize the attack, or still dump it in favor of the spread, or still move toward pro-style? 

We probably never have to square peg round hole problem at QB, and wouldn't have to suffer through the Zack Lee year, but again probably wouldn't have Suh to wreck offenses either. 

Another great question is, would Suh be Suh without the player development he recieved under Pelini?

 

[JoeHuskers!]

Urban said a few years ago that he was never going to take the Nebraska job in 2003. I think it was around the time Frost was hired in 2017 he was talking about the Nebraska job, and he said out loud what a lot of people suspected - nobody wanted to go to a program that would willingly fire a head coach that had just won nine games. It's no accident the guy we ended up hiring (Callahan) wasn't even unemployed when Solich was fired. 

 We are aware of what the reality is/was... this is a "what if" scenario, sir... please play along

 

[Lorewarn]

Another great question is, would Suh be Suh without the player development he recieved under Pelini?

Definitely not. Pelini's strongest strength as a coach was player development, which as you pointed out, results in him putting a good amount of guys into the league. But he was refining average talent into good talent moreso than sharpening great talent into elite talent after Callahan's recruits ran out. Sure, we always had at least one stud difference maker, but there's a correlation between Bo's inherited talent level depleting and his rise in ugly blowout losses.

That 2004 squad would have been the least talented roster he would have had compared to all his years at Nebraska. My only point is that I doubt he'd have similar success with it as he did with Callahan's players and positive momentum forward from there

 

[HuskersNC949597]

Urban said a few years ago that he was never going to take the Nebraska job in 2003. I think it was around the time Frost was hired in 2017 he was talking about the Nebraska job, and he said out loud what a lot of people suspected - nobody wanted to go to a program that would willingly fire a head coach that had just won nine games. It's no accident the guy we ended up hiring (Callahan) wasn't even unemployed when Solich was fired. 

I think Urban even said it publicly back in '03.

 

[Born N Bled Red]

Definitely not. Pelini's strongest strength as a coach was player development, which as you pointed out, results in him putting a good amount of guys into the league. But he was refining average talent into good talent moreso than sharpening great talent into elite talent after Callahan's recruits ran out. Sure, we always had at least one stud difference maker, but there's a correlation between Bo's inherited talent level depleting and his rise in ugly blowout losses.

That 2004 squad would have been the least talented roster he would have had compared to all his years at Nebraska. My only point is that I doubt he'd have similar success with it as he did with Callahan's players and positive momentum forward from there

I agree to an extent, one of the downfalls of "what if.. no Callahan" is that he did bring in many recruits that led to some great success. But thinking of Pelinis years here, which of these studs are Callahans. I know Suh, but honestly I'm too lazy to look up the rest 

Ameer Abdullah, Rex Burkhead, Roy Helu, Niles Paul, Quincy Enunwa, Mike McNeil, Taylor Martinez, Tommy Armstrong, Kenny Bell, De'Mornay Pierson-El, Jordan Westerkamp, Jared Crick, LaVonte David, Will Compton, Larry Asante, Maliek Collins, Randy Gregory, Cethan Carter, Josh Kalu, Stanley Morgan Jr., Josh and Daniel Davis, etc.

I totally agree Callahn recruited well and left the most stocked cupboard of any fired Husker coach, but I still think Pelini recruited better than he was given credit for, especially before Perlman, Eichorst and ESPN began to undermine him and assassinate his character for having an ugly upset face. By the end of his tenure, the negative PR certainly created challenges. He also did himself no favors by refusing to recruit Nebraska kids like Nathan Bazata and Drew Ott. 

But, back to the point, being a first time head coach with full support of the administration, and the shine still on the Nebraska brand, which had certainly began to wear off during the Callahan years, I tend to think his recruiting would be on par, or only slightly worse than Callahan.