Interesting Barry Alvarez anecdote from Shatel

Yeah, but Alverez was allowed to rebuild Wisconsin -- and did a hell of a job. Then he had a series of up and down seasons familiar to most schools not named Nebraska. Every legacy program got bit by the newly competitive, specialized and scientific nature of recruiting. Every program had bumps as they adjusted and retooled. The question for Solich and any coach coming here is whether they'd be allowed to ride out a downward trend, or if they're the blame of the downward trend.

Here's Alverez's record at Wisconsin. As good as it is, Nebraska fans would have sh#t bricks around season six -- Frank's last season -- and missed a second wave of success.



http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u13/Blorpo/Screen%20shot%202016-10-27%20at%2010.49.08%20AM.png

 
Cdog923 said:
BigRedBuster said:
How about if we would have hired him as AD instead of Peterson???

Things that make you go...Hmmmmmm......
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He was still full-fledged coaching at that point. We possibly could have lured him here instead of TO in 08, maybe?
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Perlman was brought kicking and screaming to the decision to hire TO. At that point in '07, he couldn't fight TO's selection. I doubt he would have gone for Alvarez or any other choice if given the latitude.
What's always been interesting to me is that Perlman expressed more regret and reticence about firing pederson, a guy who truly maintained a terrible culture, than he did about Frank, who even if flawed, ran a clean, healthy program.

It's so odd.

 
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If Alvarez had become Nebraska's coach in 1998 we could have had his DC coaching here. Wouldn't that have been a treat?

 
cm husker said:
mel4red said:
VectorVictor said:
ColoradoHusk said:
VectorVictor said:
Damn...just think of how things could have been had Alvarez come down here instead.
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There was never the right timing, so I won't spend too much time thinking about it.
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Had Dr. Tom not promised the HC gig...we could have conceivably had both Barry and Frank on the same sideline for us.
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Or both been gone to Wiscy. Fate's a b***h !
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And then TO stays on a few more years and either Gill or Bohl take over as HC. A lot of fun alternate histories to play out.

Would have been interesting to see how long TO could have sustained the consistency of 10+ wins as the Big 12 era matured.
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Both of those would have been disasters. I would rather of had Frank as HC than either of them. And of course Alvarez over any of them.

 
BigRedBuster said:
Guy Chamberlin said:
Most coaches posting Frank Solich's numbers at Nebraska would be considered a success. I don't see Barry Alverez doing any better or worse at the job.

Once Alverez rebuilt Wisconsin, he posted the same kind of W/L records people hung around Frank's neck.
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A more interesting discussion would have been if TO would have allowed Alvarez to clean house and hire a new young and energetic staff that possibly would have kept recruiting going.

I'm thinking....no. TO was pretty committed to those guys. At the point of his retirement, it was to a fault.
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You are correct, but that is part of coaching, these guys go through so much together that it isn't easy to tell family that they have passed their expiration date and that they are no longer needed at said university.

 
AFhusker said:
BigRedBuster said:
Guy Chamberlin said:
Most coaches posting Frank Solich's numbers at Nebraska would be considered a success. I don't see Barry Alverez doing any better or worse at the job.

Once Alverez rebuilt Wisconsin, he posted the same kind of W/L records people hung around Frank's neck.
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A more interesting discussion would have been if TO would have allowed Alvarez to clean house and hire a new young and energetic staff that possibly would have kept recruiting going.

I'm thinking....no. TO was pretty committed to those guys. At the point of his retirement, it was to a fault.
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You are correct, but that is part of coaching, these guys go through so much together that it isn't easy to tell family that they have passed their expiration date and that they are no longer needed at said university.
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Yeah...I absolutely love TO and think he is an amazing coach and person. But, this was a huge mistake he thrust on Solich or anyone that was going to take over. He basically forced Solich to be the bad guy and replace all those guys who were well past their primes and Nebraska football legends. He should have gone to those guys and said...."Look, I'm retiring and the fair thing to do for Solich is to allow him to hire his own staff. We have had a good ride but it's his program now and we all need to support his decisions on the staff".

Solich was very well known in the coaching ranks and respected. He could have brought in a very good staff that was young, energetic and good recruiters.

 
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I often wondered what it would have been like if TO had moved to AD, and Frank had coached under him. It sure served TO well, to coach under Bob D.

GBR!!!

 
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