Why was Frank Solich fired?

knapplc said:
Never Skerd said:
SS made the BCS National Title game, then was fired on a "mediocre" season which was a 9 win season- now you guys consider Bo the VERY VERY right way for posting- yes- a 9 win season. There could be significant psychological studies done about this SS case.
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I take it you're new to football. You could stand to bone up on what makes a program successful before commenting next time. You clearly have no clue what you're on about here.
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Whoa whoa whoa... Mod attacking poster, hello there!

While I agree that we are better off without Solich, he should not have been fired the year he was... He went to the MNC game, then followed up with a bad 7-7 year.. He wasn't fired there. He got rid of some of the bad coaches that needed to be gone. He brought in people that needed to be there (see Pelini on D) and the team rebounded wonderfully.. If you count the bowl game that team was 10-3, back on it's way up, not on its way down. Obviously this is a horse that has been beateederson.n over and over and over again, but he should NOT have been fired with the changes that he made to make the program better.. It was totally a my way move by pederson.. No way around it.

 
knapplc said:
Never Skerd said:
SS made the BCS National Title game, then was fired on a "mediocre" season which was a 9 win season- now you guys consider Bo the VERY VERY right way for posting- yes- a 9 win season. There could be significant psychological studies done about this SS case.
Click to expand...
I take it you're new to football. You could stand to bone up on what makes a program successful before commenting next time. You clearly have no clue what you're on about here.
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My word...Where the hell did that come from?

 
knapplc said:
Never Skerd said:
SS made the BCS National Title game, then was fired on a "mediocre" season which was a 9 win season- now you guys consider Bo the VERY VERY right way for posting- yes- a 9 win season. There could be significant psychological studies done about this SS case.
Click to expand...
I take it you're new to football. You could stand to bone up on what makes a program successful before commenting next time. You clearly have no clue what you're on about here.
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Deep breaths knapp....deep breaths

 
The only reason Solich had 9 wins in his last year was because of Bo's defense. I don't know about you guys, but I remember seeing a crappy offense being propped up by a good defense.

I think firing Solich was probably the right move, but hiring Callahan was the worst decision ever.

 
Solich's first 3 seasons of success (4 if you count 2001, tho i consider that season the beginning of the end) were mostly due to the talent remaining from the Osborne era. 98 was a mediocre season due to youth, inexperience and some key injuries, new qb etc etc. Remember the 99 and 2000 recruiting classes were not particularly impressive and quite a downfall in the talent coming in. Many scholarships were used up on walk on caliber talent cuz Solich could not "seal the deal" with top notch talent. By the end of 2001 and into the 2002 season, this lack of talent adn depth began to rear it's ugly face. I think some of the older coaches were beginning to struggle with the lack of talent (darlington, bohl, etc.) and the time came for them to go. Solich made the necassary changes after 2002 and 2003 showed a re energized coaching staff and team. Tho 2002 was doomed fromt he get go with a very VERY young team, it meant the 03 shoulda been better. I believe under Solich that what was a veteran 04 team woulda been a top ten team all year long, however that team looked horrible under a new system. Bottome line is we'll never what woulda been under Solich to this day. With Pelini as D.C. i think we woulda been a top 10 team consistently.

 
accountability said:
Solich's first 3 seasons of success (4 if you count 2001, tho i consider that season the beginning of the end) were mostly due to the talent remaining from the Osborne era. 98 was a mediocre season due to youth, inexperience and some key injuries, new qb etc etc. Remember the 99 and 2000 recruiting classes were not particularly impressive and quite a downfall in the talent coming in. Many scholarships were used up on walk on caliber talent cuz Solich could not "seal the deal" with top notch talent. By the end of 2001 and into the 2002 season, this lack of talent adn depth began to rear it's ugly face. I think some of the older coaches were beginning to struggle with the lack of talent (darlington, bohl, etc.) and the time came for them to go. Solich made the necassary changes after 2002 and 2003 showed a re energized coaching staff and team. Tho 2002 was doomed fromt he get go with a very VERY young team, it meant the 03 shoulda been better. I believe under Solich that what was a veteran 04 team woulda been a top ten team all year long, however that team looked horrible under a new system. Bottome line is we'll never what woulda been under Solich to this day. With Pelini as D.C. i think we woulda been a top 10 team consistently.
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Very good summary that squares with comments expressed to me although nothing about improprieties which is just as well if there were none. It's too bad Pedersen didn't ask Solich "What can WE do to improve recruiting?" He didn't seem to have the team concept or mentality though. Strange interlude. Which, I just learned is from Eugene O'Neill's play with this line: "Our lives are strange dark interludes in the electrical display of God the Father!"

 
I think one of the biggest reasons Solich was fired is that when he lost that year, it wasn't even close. Something like 38-10 against KSU, and 2 other 20+ point losses is what did him in.

 
Not a complicated answer. Solich was a first time head coach that wasn't getting the horses in recruiting and he wasn't Pederson's guy. That's it. It's over and done with and Franky ain't coming back!

SUPERBUNNY

 
DelK said:
What is the unvarnished, straight skinny on why Frank Solich was fired?

MOD Edit - corrected confusing thread title.
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1. Going 7-7 in 2002 (including a$$-whoopings at Penn St and AMES, IA and losing -at home- vs. Ok St. for the first time since 1961)

2. All three losses in 2003 were lopsided: Texas, Kansas St and Mizzou

3. Aging staff; several of which no longer went on the road to recruit over the last few years

3A. A few bad hires. Well one in particular: DC Craig Bohl, who replaced Charlie McBride and then got booted after 2002

4. Poor game planner; DeAngelo Evans who played under both Oz and FS said this: "With Osborne, football was chess. With Solich it was checkers." Say what you want about Evans, but he's right.

5. Felt a sense of entitlement at NU. Remember him complaining after the '98 season about being at the Holiday Bowl? That's what 3 losses gets your team.

6. Poor communicator. Every hear one of his sound bites during games? 60 seconds of saying nothing but cliches and empty statements. Enough to make top recruits cancel their visit.

7. Steve Pederson. With the sourness of 2002 not entirely washed away by 2003, SP got trigger-happy. Why? He wanted to greatly lessen the emphasis of walk-ons and make NU a "destination" school for blue chips. Problem is we have corn, cows, pigs and lots of dirt roads rather than mountains, oceans, or both.

Now... While I realize we are much better off now, FS probably did deserve at least one more year. It would have been a matter of time before he was canned anyway, but getting fired after going 9-3 made NU quite unattractive to anyone but an egotistical NFL coach looking for a gig.

 
The reason Frank Solich was fired was because he took a few too many years before firing Craig Bohl.

Solich wasn't the offensive genius that Osborne was. But it was the defense that crashed after Charlie McBride left which led to Solich's demise.

 
Hercules said:
The reason Frank Solich was fired was because he took a few too many years before firing Craig Bohl.

Solich wasn't the offensive genius that Osborne was. But it was the defense that crashed after Charlie McBride left which led to Solich's demise.
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I appreciate all the responses but just now wish I had a ten dollar bill for all the wishes that Coach Osborne would retire so Coach Solich could take over the team. Remember? LOL.

And NOW, I remember grumbling to any would listen that Osborne had taken a national championship team and turned it into a pretty good team. I embarrass myself.

 
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DelK said:
I appreciate all the responses but just now wish I had a ten dollar bill for all the wishes that Coach Osborne would retire so Coach Solich could take over the team. Remember? LOL.

And NOW, I remember grumbling to any would listen that Osborne had taken a national championship team and turned it into a pretty good team. I embarrass myself.
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Ummmm.... what? Nobody was hoping that Osborne would retire in favor of Frank. The whole state was in shock when TO announced his retirement in 1997. Nobody wanted him to go, everyone wanted to see the ship keep sailing right along.

 
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