Forget the possibility of direct ex-coach interference for the moment.
If there are indeed talent deficiencies on this team (there are), and some starters who probably shouldn't have been starters (yep), and some potentially better players who had been overlooked (those, too), along with a bunch of young, unproven entities, and the new staff begins to make those in-season evaluations and adjustments, it means some veteran players will be losing their entitlement and possibly riding the bench.
They will understandably hate this change. They liked it better before. With the other coach.
So now you have veteran "leaders" with a reason to undermine the coaches judgement. They could be cool about it. Or not. They could create a toxic environment without intending to. The fact is, the team still needs them.
If they need a shoulder to cry on, or someone to validate their anger, the ex-coaching staff is not likely to talk them out of it.
If some in the ex-coaching staff are thin-skinned and retribution-minded, they might enjoy making a toxic stew of Nebraska football.
Who are we kidding? Of course they would.
Not saying they are.
But given the chance to give a final speech to his team, and to send the young men he led into an uncertain future, Bo Pelini suggested it would be wiser to work at McDonald's than play for the c**t who fired him. The c**t who will still be there next season. According to Bo, there was no one else who believed in these players, certainly not the fans and the state that Bo blamed for everything. It wasn't clear if he wanted them to win the Holiday Bowl.
Even if this miserable little prick isn't actively sabotaging the team, his legacy lives on.
I had hoped Mike Riley would fix everything immediately. I thought it was going to be Morning in America again.
It might not be that simple.
I remain extremely curious about the rest of this season, and already looking forward to next year, when some of the talent returns, some of it doesn't, and some of it arrives fresh and melodrama free.