If Riley win six or seven games this year to meet at the trend. And that's a problem.
If he wins 6 this year, he'll probably be brought back for the following year, but if he wins 6 that year too, I'd say he's probably gone. Eichorst might be gone in that situation as well.
Those two are tied together at the hip.
Which leads right back to the argument of how long to keep an underperforming coach.
Nebraska made a name for themselves by keeping coaches for a long time and so many Nebraska fans believe that keeping coaches for a long time has some sort of magic to it.
It doesn't. Keeping Solich and Pelini past 3-4 years was a mistake with both. The damage they did to the program in the last years of their tenure here did great harm to the program. We just kept them both too long.
Alabama on the other hand never keeps a coach that does not win them a national championship... pronto. The longest they have kept a coach that did not win them a national championship since around 1960 was 4 years. During that time they won something like 12 national championships. They demand national championship level coaches. Produce a national championship for us or you're gone.
For the last 18 years Nebraska has had the attitude of "don't worry" if you don't perform we'll keep you anyway. By doing that they take the pressure off of the coaches to win and they send a message loud and clear that Nebraska no longer expects national championship level coaches. That cant go on any longer. We need to send a message loud and clear that we expect our coaches to perform at the highest level or the're gone. If we are not willing to send that message then we might as well tell the whole world that we no longer are dedicated to championship level coaches and a championship level program.
For every Alabama, there are a dozen programs that try the "fire and forget" method to absolutely no avail.
Nebraska should not try to follow the USC/Alabama model.
cm husker
I respect your football knowledge but unfortunately you have fallen into the exact same fairy tale - make believe syndrome as too many Nebraska fans have done over the last 18 years.
Anyone wanting to have a football program that achieves at the highest level would want to study the program that has achieved the greatest success. I am a Nebraska fan but in all due respect Alabama sets the highest standard for winning championships. Their coaching hiring decisions and recruiting program set the high bar. Alabama has won 11 national championships since 1958. That's reality, not make believe - fairy tale. Any program and their athletic directors and decision makers wanting to compete at a championship level would want to have the Wikipedia page of Alabama coaches since 1958 sitting in front of them on their desk at all times. 11 national championships speaks for itself.
How do they do what they do? Your misinterpretation of what they do as "fire and forget" is nonsense and you have totally missed the obvious.
You believe in rewarding coaches with longevity? Alabama sets the standard:
Bear Bryant (who won them 6 national championships) coached at Alabama for 25 years.
Gene Stallings (national championship in 92) coached at Alabama for 7 years.
Nick Saban (4 national championships) has coached at Alabama for 10 years and running.
Alabama supports it's championship coaches with longevity, period. It's what they do with their underperforming coaches that is different from Nebraska.
For 18 years Nebraska has been blindly and dumbly offered longevity to coaches who just simply did not deserve that. Hanging on to underperforming coaches too long is absurd. The later part of their tenures has resulted in great harm to the program. It's killed our standing in the football world and harmed our recruiting badly. Why? Because we have said to the football world and young players that Nebraska is no longer interested in championship level coaching. We are content with mediocrity.
Hubris and fairy tale thinking has caused all of this. The notion that we are somehow "different" from other programs is nonsense. We don't have any special powers and we don't make coaches or players. We compete in the exact same football world as everyone else. The last 18 years has proven that. It's long past time to stop the hubris and fairy tale thinking.
We should expect the highest performance from our coaches. No more excuses. No more fairy tales.