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Frank Solich (offical thread)

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There's a movement gaining momentum to bring Frank back to Lincoln and honor him in some way at a game. I'm all for it - Frankie is a Husker to his very bones. He would get a HUGE ovation if he were to come back.

Frank's ouster from Nebraska was a mixed bag. On one hand, he had let recruiting slip, he was allowing the team to atrophy, and he basically squandered all the momentum we had in the late 90s. At the time of his termination, I saw some wisdom in the move. He was not the coach we needed moving forward. Frank is a great position coach, and one of the best running backs coaches in the country (or, he was ten years ago), but as a Head Coach... he's not what we needed at Nebraska. Osborne hand-picked him as his successor, based on his abilities, general respect from other coaches on staff, and his loyalty to the program. But in hindsight, he wasn't the man for the job.

That said, I would love to see Frank come back for a game, get presented with some silly honorarium, and bask in the grand ovation he would get. He was a Husker for nearly 30 years. The guy earned it.
 
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knapplc;2092532; said:
There's a movement gaining momentum to bring Frank back to Lincoln and honor him in some way at a game. I'm all for it - Frankie is a Husker to his very bones. He would get a HUGE ovation if he were to come back.

Frank's ouster from Nebraska was a mixed bag. On one hand, he had let recruiting slip, he was allowing the team to atrophy, and he basically squandered all the momentum we had in the late 90s. At the time of his termination, I saw some wisdom in the move. He was not the coach we needed moving forward. Frank is a great position coach, and one of the best running backs coaches in the country (or, he was ten years ago), but as a Head Coach... he's not what we needed at Nebraska. Osborne hand-picked him as his successor, based on his abilities, general respect from other coaches on staff, and his loyalty to the program. But in hindsight, he wasn't the man for the job.

That said, I would love to see Frank come back for a game, get presented with some silly honorarium, and bask in the grand ovation he would get. He was a Husker for nearly 30 years. The guy earned it.
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Wasn't he 9-3 in his last year there? How did his succesor do?
 
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Well... maybe after he retires. He's busy on Saturdays still.

Honestly, he's doing a heck of a job in Athens. To the degree that some FredOU kids are getting uppity.

This is a big deal.

Previously, they would have been like, "Ohio State Sucks, we don't even have a football team, because we don't care about that stuff"

"Yeah, you do"

"Oh, whatever, let's go to the Pub"
 
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How much of Solich's recruiting troubles at Nebraska were a result of the restrictions that Texas forced on them when the Big 12 was formed--in particular, the limits on the partial qualifier types that were Osborne's bread and butter during the earlier part of the decade?

The Big 12 started in 1996, and Solich's first season was '98. It would appear that Solich didn't let recruiting slip so much as that he simply couldn't recruit the way Osborne.

Agree with AKAK, that he's doing a hell of a job at FredOU. When he does leave, they'll be back to watching Ohio State games in bars.
 
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Tlangs;2092539; said:
Wasn't he 9-3 in his last year there? How did his succesor do?
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He was 9-3, got fired, Pelini took over as interim coach for the 2003 Alamo Bowl, we won, and finished the season 10-3.

Franks termination was a mess. There were some things rumored to be happening off the field that helped usher him out the door, rumors of infidelity with staffers, coeds, you name it. None of it has ever seen the light of day of course, but that's out there.

Frank was fired by Steve Pederson, perhaps the most hated man in the history of Nebraska Athletics. I can't think of anyone, even Bill Callahan or Kevin Cosgrove, whom Husker fans revile more, and more universally. There was rumored to be bad blood between Pederson and Solich, but again, never proven. Pederson definitely ganked up the whole process with the firing of Solich. Solich went 7-7 in 2002, the first time since 1968 that Nebraska had won less than nine games in a season. That would have been the time to fire Solich and come out of it looking respectable. But, for whatever reason, Pederson allowed Solich to stay, much of the staff that had stayed on after Osborne retired was made to fall on their swords, and Solich rebuilt the staff. 2003 was a far better year, but it wasn't enough to save Solich's job, and Pederson unceremoniously canned him.

This was, of course, a disaster. No coach wants to work for a guy who's going to fire a 9-3 predecessor. Urban Meyer was rumored to be Pederson's top choice to replace Solich, but it was never proven until Meyer gave an interview to the Omaha World Herald last April:

Q: One last Nebraska question ? in late 2003, NU fired its coach, Frank Solich. You were coaching at Utah. Was there any part of you that perhaps thought about looking at the job?

UM: ?We actually were contacted by a third party. Not directly. I remember thinking about it. I had such great respect for Solich ? he's an Ohio guy who's a good friend of mine ? and I didn't agree with everything that went down. He won 10 games that year, right? That was alarming to me. I'm a coach, and whenever I see that happening to a coach, I think there's got to be something behind Door No. 1 to fire him after he won 10 games. I remember having great respect for the school but being concerned about what happened ? and why it happened. If 10 games isn't good enough, I'm not sure what is.?
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LINK

You may not remember the absolutely disastrous coaching search that ensued after Frank's termination. It was embarrassing, and it was frequent national news. After getting turned down by Meyer, Pederson went through a bevy of alternatives, most notably Houston Nutt, whom he famously (to the horror of Nebraska Fans across the globe) courted by sending a private plane to Little Rock to pick him up, and while the plane sat idling on the tarmac at Little Rock National Airport, Nutt leveraged the situation into a large contract extension.

Further embarrassment ensued with other coaches across the country. Bill Callahan, terminated by the Oakland Raiders on 12/31/03, was hired by Steve Pederson on 1/9/04, nearly six weeks to the day after Solich was fired.

Callahan was, as you likely remember, an absolute disaster. I'm not going to make an already long story longer, but suffice it to say that you could hardly have found a worse fit as a head coach at Nebraska than Bill Callahan.

It's hard to say what would have happened had Pederson not been our AD at the time of Solich's termination. Frank was failing in some aspects of his job at Nebraska, and he needed to be spurred along. I don't entirely disagree with his termination, but it was done at the wrong time, in the wrong way, and it was overall a terrible result for the Huskers.

I'm glad Frank has found a home in Athens, and I wish him well. His time at Nebraska was still some of the best times in my memory.
 
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ORD_Buckeye;2092570; said:
How much of Solich's recruiting troubles at Nebraska were a result of the restrictions that Texas forced on them when the Big 12 was formed--in particular, the limits on the partial qualifier types that were Osborne's bread and butter during the earlier part of the decade?

The Big 12 started in 1996, and Solich's first season was '98. It would appear that Solich didn't let recruiting slip so much as that he simply couldn't recruit the way Osborne.

Agree with AKAK, that he's doing a hell of a job at FredOU. When he does leave, they'll be back to watching Ohio State games in bars.
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Frank's recruiting troubles were largely due to Frank's efforts. He didn't put enough focus on recruiting. Further, while he's a great Position Coach, he's not the most impressive Head Coach, and when you're going up against other great coaches, he's not the best living-room closer in the land.

Texas' push to limit partial-qualifiers was not the downfall of Nebraska recruiting. It didn't help, but it didn't shut it down, either. We didn't have enough partial-qualifiers so that it made a tremendous impact.
 
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knapplc;2092575; said:
Frank's recruiting troubles were largely due to Frank's efforts. He didn't put enough focus on recruiting. Further, while he's a great Position Coach, he's not the most impressive Head Coach, and when you're going up against other great coaches, he's not the best living-room closer in the land.

Texas' push to limit partial-qualifiers was not the downfall of Nebraska recruiting. It didn't help, but it didn't shut it down, either. We didn't have enough partial-qualifiers so that it made a tremendous impact.
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I know this. Frank was the last guy to beat at top ten opponent, if I'm not mistaken.

His playcalling had gotten stagnant. Jam-al "OH MY" Lord wasn't cutting it. Bo's D was as responsible for that last nine win season.

As far as Petey....1620 the Zone parlayed that into the three greatest characters in sports radio history...

The Vision: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeE4K9Tn3wo"]Steve Pederson/Bill Callahan parody - YouTube[/ame]

The Voice: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwEOcE7ggqs"]2008 1620 Va-Tech Parody - YouTube[/ame]

And Bill in New York: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW7Xe9NcFsE&feature=related"]Bill in New York Calls into the Show - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Pelini beat #6 Missouri last year, if that's what you're talking about. Certainly Callahan never did, and didn't come close.

Callahan was an abomination. Frank was letting things slip, but Lord grant me 1,000 years of Frank-like "mediocrity" before we have another four years of Callahan-Era madness.
 
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4. FRANK SOLICH — 173
3884826.jpg


Ohio (2005-present): 115-82

Nebraska (1998-2003): 58-19

It would’ve been easy for Solich to step away from the head coaching spotlight after fans grew discontent with his tenure at Nebraska. All the criticism was a little unfair considering he was replacing the legendary Tom Osborne. Despite three seasons with double-digit wins, Solich was fired in 2003 after the end of his sixth year with the Huskers. He had been coaching at Nebraska since 1979 when he was in charge of the freshmen. Solich was promoted to running backs coach in 1983 and he remained in that position until taking over for Osborne. After spending a year away from the game, he resurfaced as the head coach of the Ohio Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference. While not coaching in front of as many eyes in the MAC, Solich has turned Ohio into the one of the MAC’s best programs. Under Solich’s guidance, Ohio has appeared in 11 bowl games and has won its last three.

Just sayin': He probably doesn't get the recognition he deserves, etc.
 
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ScriptOhio said:


4. FRANK SOLICH — 173
3884826.jpg


Ohio (2005-present): 115-82

Nebraska (1998-2003): 58-19

It would’ve been easy for Solich to step away from the head coaching spotlight after fans grew discontent with his tenure at Nebraska. All the criticism was a little unfair considering he was replacing the legendary Tom Osborne. Despite three seasons with double-digit wins, Solich was fired in 2003 after the end of his sixth year with the Huskers. He had been coaching at Nebraska since 1979 when he was in charge of the freshmen. Solich was promoted to running backs coach in 1983 and he remained in that position until taking over for Osborne. After spending a year away from the game, he resurfaced as the head coach of the Ohio Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference. While not coaching in front of as many eyes in the MAC, Solich has turned Ohio into the one of the MAC’s best programs. Under Solich’s guidance, Ohio has appeared in 11 bowl games and has won its last three.

Just sayin': He probably doesn't get the recognition he deserves, etc.
Click to expand...


Yeah, how have things been going for Nebraska since firing him?
 
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ScriptOhio said:


4. FRANK SOLICH — 173
3884826.jpg


Ohio (2005-present): 115-82

Nebraska (1998-2003): 58-19

It would’ve been easy for Solich to step away from the head coaching spotlight after fans grew discontent with his tenure at Nebraska. All the criticism was a little unfair considering he was replacing the legendary Tom Osborne. Despite three seasons with double-digit wins, Solich was fired in 2003 after the end of his sixth year with the Huskers. He had been coaching at Nebraska since 1979 when he was in charge of the freshmen. Solich was promoted to running backs coach in 1983 and he remained in that position until taking over for Osborne. After spending a year away from the game, he resurfaced as the head coach of the Ohio Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference. While not coaching in front of as many eyes in the MAC, Solich has turned Ohio into the one of the MAC’s best programs. Under Solich’s guidance, Ohio has appeared in 11 bowl games and has won its last three.

Just sayin': He probably doesn't get the recognition he deserves, etc.
Click to expand...

7 wins this year and he passes Peden for most wins in OU history.
 
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