Bruce Read. Fired

Savage Husker said:
Heard Gary Sharp make multiple references how Read "stole" money from the university. He was facetious, but I think mentioned how Read packed-it-in often during practice, implying he was rarely around.

I think we all know Read was worthless, but did anyone catch any recent quotes to spur Sharp's comments?

Also, Benning added more to that day he spoke with Banker where Banker kept erasing his defense and couldn't communicate his philosophy...It was interesting to hear the two reactions he received from Riley and then Banker when McMullen quit.

The end of the first segment and entire second segment was insightful. 
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I posted this in the Fall Camp thread, which is I assume what you're looking for:

RedDenver said:
OWH report:

Lightbourn said Nebraska's specialists wouldn't stay for the entire practice under previous special teams coordinator Bruce Read, but now, they stick around until the end. Lightbourn said NU specialists used to practice for a half-hour, then leave. Incidentally, Read would, too — he often greeted reporters while walking to his car well before practice was over. 
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:facepalm: is right. If he was really only sticking around for a half hour of practice, he shouldn't have even been retained for a second year...

 
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Lightbourn wasn't in Lincoln the previous year, so a charitable read for Read is that he already knew he was canned and had checked out.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
So Read knew he was going to be fired before the season started?
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What we saw on the field is all starting to make more sense now.  Barely practicing, leaving early, mentally checked out...it's all coming together now. It does beg the question, where was Riley through all of this. I would've sent him packing mid season and replaced him with a water boy (or any message board poster).

 
RedDenver said:
Do we know when these practices Lightbourn was talking about occurred? Maybe this was towards the end of the season.
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That's being pretty nice to Read.

I would think that a coach who was working with a True Freshman punter, who was thrown into the job after a surprising death to the returning punter, might want to spend extra time with the kid.

 
I have a friend that was a D1 Punter...he said they would go out at the start of practice, punt about 15 minutes, jog for about 15 minutes then go in and lift/watch ESPN...then they had to come out for the last 15 minutes of practice.  But, they didn't get to leave.  And trust me, my friend would have left if he could have!  But yeah, they couldn't leave early.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
That's being pretty nice to Read.

I would think that a coach who was working with a True Freshman punter, who was thrown into the job after a surprising death to the returning punter, might want to spend extra time with the kid.
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Maybe we can stop blaming his bad punts on the death of a guy he didn't know.

 
teachercd said:
Maybe we can stop blaming his bad punts on the death of a guy he didn't know.
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...even if he didn't know him, that's one helluva situation to go into. He finds out just before fall camp that he's likely the starter. That's not that huge of a deal. 

Hearing about how great Sam was all season could easily put a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

I'm not saying everyone would feel that pressure, but to say that shouldn't be a factor is a bit preposterous.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I understand that Riley wants to trust his assistant coaches, especially Read, but why wasn't Riley being more demanding with Read?
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I think it's a fair question to ask. On one hand, Coach Riley has a lot on his plate. On the other, he had to have known how Read spent his time and what the ST unit was up to during practice. I find it hard to believe he didn't.

 
Enhance89 said:
I think it's a fair question to ask. On one hand, Coach Riley has a lot on his plate. On the other, he had to have known how Read spent his time and what the ST unit was up to during practice. I find it hard to believe he didn't.
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Its a little damning either way. He either knew and did nothing (that we are aware of anyway) or didn't know and should've. But I'll give him a pass since the problem has since been corrected. Just seems like with the ST problems we were having that something was awry and had to be high on the list of the HC

 
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I think everyone here has learned that there is a lot of information Riley shares between the lines. With no insider knowledge, I believed last fall there were hints in Riley's quotes that may suggest Read was done somewhere mid-season, or at the least his exit interview was being arranged.

For someone to be paid 450k for 30 minutes of work per day, that is stealing.

Benning also mentioned there was an assistant coach he ended up being more or less "stuck with" because the target he wanted was tied up with too high of a buyout.

I really dislike Riley bringing Banker and Read along if they were as dead of weight at Corvallis as they were here, but I do give him credit for replacing those friends. (Or as I said a couple weeks back, should be giving Billy Devaney big credit)

 
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