Husker perspective on Aggie football...

[leardriver]

Link to Article

Personally, I believe there are significant differences between Sherman and Callahan. We better hope so. Still, it's interesting to see what the competition thinks of our coaching change.

Bill, '67
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"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal." Janet Reno

[Deep Maroon]

Paper thin drivel. I got to the bottom and expected a page 2. I am sure any of us on AgTimes.com could whip up a blog on something like "Why would you hire a guy you passed on the first time?" or "Beware of nomads who hail from the midwest" or "Why hand over the reins of a storied program like Nowledge University to someone who has never been a head coach...at any level?"

[aglaw01]

One thing this guy would never admit to is that Nebraska's talent is shoddy at best, and likely will be for the foreseeable future. With Prop. 48 gone, so is Nebraska football. Funny how he mentions the LAST year of the Sherman Green Bay era, but not the others. Whatever...

[mpaul]

I think any objective observer of college football and football generally knew that Callahan was a disaster of a hire from the start. First, he was not their first, second, or even third choice, if I remember. Second, Pederson disregarded 50 years of NU football tradition when he showed Solich the door, throwing the culture of the program into complete disarray. Third, they had a well-established system that they just chunked.

About the only thing in common is that they were both NFL head coaches. Evern there, one had consistent success, the other was hired by Al Davis. 'Nuff said.
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An insane deer... Paper... Taco meat.

[KJN86]

[4um]

[Ag1985]

Callahan was an obvious misfit, a desperate choice of last resort.

Sherman is a good fit and a first-tier choice. No comparison.

However, I do acknowledge some concern about the "West Coast" offense. It seems so '80s. What other good college team is running it?

[rainag]

cal I believe as well as oregon state. I will be a difficult task for the QBs but it will be very good for the offensive players.

[rtank87]

Nebraska has been recruiting.. I keep hearing that John Blake is a great recruiter. Stoops had a lot of success with the OU talent he assembled. I have talked with a couple players from tu now in NFL that told me their grandma and mom are still mad at them for not going with John Blake.

[rtank87]

Husker people should compare Fran to Callahan. Coming in and not adapting to fan base or culture. That is the issue not NFL versus College. imo

[TraderAg]

We'll have the last laugh when it all shakes out on the field.

I think Pellini will probably do a good job and embrace their traditions, as Sherman will.

I just happen to think Sherman is a proven HC, whereas Pellini isn't.

You really never know how a coordinator will make that transition to ultimate taskmaster from being merely a cog.
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Bullish on Aggie Sports!!

[Shelby]

I'm not sure why anyone would be upset about this article. I think the writer makes some credible points.

There will most likely be some growing pains while installing the West Coast O. I've seen it argued that this O does not fit in college ball due to the limited practice time.

And while we're all hopeful this will turn out to be a great staff, clearly one third of our current staff are the ones who evaluated, recruited, developed, and coached the train wreck at Nebraska.

I can certainly understand a Husker fan's opinion.

[jamey]

I don't know that's it's possible to take an entire NFL offense and place it in the college ranks due to time constraints but any scheme can be trimmed down and simplified

[RevrndAg79]

And there, again, the comparison might be apt between Callahan and Fran. Was Callahan too stubborn to adapt his coaching style from the NFL with all its practice time available (and more mature and motivated personnel [$])?

Although I will say this, even Nebraska fans should recognize that their offense was more diverse and put up some good numbers - especially with their 05, 06 QB and our current grad. assistant.

I think with Rossley and Sherman's son-in-law working with our QB's, we have a chance to pick some version of the West Coast offense up a bit more quickly.

Besides, the West Coast offense is more a philosophy than a single scheme and set of plays. You adapt it to your personnel. If you have the big back and good runners, you run more and add more play action. Then, the quick, short passes just set your running game up all the more.

If you have great receivers, you spread the field and try to hit quick passes to receivers in space, or more of the bubble screens and spread offense-type stuff to get more one-on-one match-ups with your bigger, faster WR's on smaller DB's. One broken tackle and good things are going to happen.

So we'll have to wait and see what a Sherman-led offense will look like. Sherman's biggest challenge, but also perhaps his own personal best strength, is going to be coaching the O-line up to pass protect better and be more successful zone blockers on the run.

Another comparison between Callahan and Fran was that both seemed to recruit and place their best athletes on offense. It was the collapse of the defenses at schools with very proud defensive traditions that doomed both guys - although the rejections or aloofness toward the history and traditions of the programs certainly didn't help both guys.

[76Ag]

We will just have to wait and see, won't we?
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I'd rather be a Texas Aggie...

[Cotton79]

Good points, Rev, but this one really nails it:

[spanielboy]

[EdEarlDodd]

[Agdad78]

Concerning the article itself, if I had an agenda, or if I had a complaint, I could turn Mother Theresa's good works into a what a "load of uselessness" slant. (And there are people on this site that could put me to shame on doing this, too...)

Sure, everything he wrote has a certain amount of validity to it. Especially if each is taken seperately. Callahan was a jerk and Fran was aloof. Both thought they could win their way. Neither got the enire package of the team right.

You pick Sherman's last year at GB...they just had a rash of very key injuries. The players didn't give up on him. Callahan was universally hated in Oakland. The fans, the players and Al Davis...(Well, two out of three ain't bad... ) Ask Lechler...

Sherman is nothing even similar to Callahan. The situation in CS is not similar to Nebraska. The expectations are entirely different within the fan bases. The history is different. This is a guy tarked about what Osbourne saw coming and looking to comfort himself with a comparison to another school. It ain't all Callahan's fault that Nebraska dipped so far. It's rules that go against their previous strengths that play a significant role. Now they have to decide if they will cheat like ou to get back...instead of the legal working the system they used to do...

There are questions to be answered in CS. To some, maybe it is the first loss or worse, the first 3 and out. Maybe it is the first year of Big 12 play and the '09 recruiting class. The rebuild is not nearly as formidable as the one Fran faced, so I believe there is hope earlier...

But ultimately, the W's and L's will tell the story.
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We can think all we want, we can suggest all we want, we can surmise all we want, we can prognosticate all we want, but ultimately, those boys have got to suit up and play the game.

['69er]

[Big Bucks]

Dang, I hate to agree with jamey on anything, but I made his exact point to some buddies of mine as a point of concern I had and they just shrugged it off and put on the maroon glasses. I do think it's an issue.
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Uva Uvam Vivendo Varia Fit

[EdEarlDodd]

I read somewhere ... from an NFL coach, I believe ... that the spread can be very simple if it is boiled down to a few running and a few passing plays.

There was also an article on Callahan, when he was first coaching at NU about how complicated the play book was for the QB to learn.

[MechAg94]

As I have heard, a simple play book is exactly what Tech does and they seem to do very well on offense.


I agree with others. It wasn't the offense, but the defensive performance that really got under people's skin.

For Fran, Defense started the pot banging, but I think for some it was the inconsistency of the offense (Fran's offense) that put the nail in the coffin. At least one person I know who didn't like the bad mouthing of Fran saw the tu game and agreed with the sentiment of "Where was this all year?".
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['69er]

[EdEarlDodd]

From wikipedia ... west coast offense ...

[jamey]