National pundits agree

Pete Fiutak of College Football News has weighed in:

Nebraska, ready to make everything all better? Want to push the back button on the DVR and try this whole thing over again? One name: Paul Johnson. He has his Navy team at 4-2 with the nation’s number one rushing offense. He’s taken a program that’s unable to get any appreciable D-I talent and molded it into a disciplined mini-juggernaut that’s gone to four straight bowl games with a 39-17 since 2002. Again, he's doing this with a different level of athlete. Nebraska, I’m begging you. Pull down your drawers and flash a big, fat vertical smile to the spread offense, realize that you actually had it right all along, and go back to running the option. Don’t be afraid of the wishbone. Go back to what you do best, and you’ll scare the bejeebers out of the rest of the Big 12.

And www.coacheshotseat.com has PJ running #1 for the soon-to-be open NU job.

Who will be the next head football coach at Nebraska?
1. Paul Johnson - 10-1: One of the best coaches in the game and a guy that has proved that he can win at every level and can run any offense that fits the players he is presented with. He had a passing attack as an offensive coordinator at Hawaii, he won championships at Georgia Southern, and he has made Navy a competitive football program, which is next to impossible with the type of players he has to recruit to Annapolis. Johnson would more than likely put in an option running attack in Lincoln, and he would reestablish the Nebraska identity as a smash-mouth football program. Johnson is one of the coaches that the other Big 12 coaches would hate to see in Lincoln.

2. Jim Grobe - 15-1: Probably should have been hired the last time Nebraska was looking for a head coach, and in the interim 4 years he has proved his worth and ability even more. What he has done at Wake Forest is next to incredible, and like Johnson this guy can coach the game of football. He is a good recruiter and his personality fits the Nebraska people to a tee. Understated, modest, but will also field a team that will take no quarter from anyone. Grobe is another one of those coaches that other coaches in the Big 12 would not like to see in Lincoln.

3. Bo Pelini - 20-1: A former Nebraska assistant that has proved he knows how to coach defense at the highest level of the game. The thing with Pelini is if he can be an effective head coach, and there is only one way to find that out, and the question is if Nebraska would be willing to take a chance on a guy that has never sat in Hot Seat. Pelini understands well the expectations at a place like Nebraska, and he would embrace the Husker fan base which would be a big change from the current coaching staff. Can Nebraska afford to take a chance on Pelini? Tom Osborne was an assistant on the Husker staff when he was the made head coach at Nebraska. Enough said.

4. Bronco Mendenhall - 40-1: One of the bright young lights in the coaching business, his personality would fit in well on the plains of Nebraska. Mendenhall has done a good job of turning the BYU program around, and he will certainly be someone that will be considered for big-time jobs in the near future. Bronco would embrace the opportunity coach at a place like Nebraska, and no doubt he would put a winning team on the field week in and week out. This would be an outside of the box hire, but a guy that would win big in Lincoln.

5. Joe Glenn - 50-1: One of the top coaches in the game, Glenn has gotten caught up in the difficulty of coaching at a place like Wyoming. Glenn won one I-AA National Championship at Montana and was a runner-up in another. His approach to the game mirrors Coach Osborne's in many ways, and he was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. If Glenn had taken another job instead of Wyoming, at a place where the opportunity to win games is greater, he would be on the top of Nebraska wish list right now. Glenn would fit well at Nebraska, and he would win big.

6. Turner Gill - 75-1: A legendary QB for the Cornhuskers, Turner Gill understands the Nebraska football program inside out, and no doubt he will get an interview from Tom Osborne. Coach Gill seems to have the Buffalo program turning around, and if he can keep that program moving up, he will be up for a number of jobs in the coming years. Hiring Gill would be a big chance for Nebraska, because there would be tremendous pressure on him to restore the program pretty quickly, and the people making this decision need to decide if this is a position for a guy that has never been a head coach at his level before. Gill would be an innovative and trail-blazing hire by Nebraska, and he will certainly be a serious candidate for the job.



The real problem for Nebraska is that there is not an obvious perfect hire for the Cornhuskers. The decision on the new coach must be driven by the idea that hiring someone that fits in well in Nebraska is the most important thing, once basic coaching competency is established. Bill Callahan was just a terrible hire for the Cornhuskers, and we have no doubt that Coach Osborne will be looking to bring someone to Lincoln that has all of the following characteristics:



1. Integrity beyond reproach

2. Understands the demands of coaching at place like Nebraska

3. Wants to stay at Nebraska for a long time and make this his last job

4. Is committed to reestablishing Nebraska's football identity as a hard-working, over-achieving, championship goal-setting, and winning football program

5. Fits in with the fans of the Nebraska football program.


Since a few of us here at Coaches Hot Seat have had the opportunity to spend some time in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska over the years, we would like to say a few things about the Nebraska fans and people of that state. They are the truest of the true, the steadiest you will ever find, and when you get right down to it, the people of Nebraska are some of the best you will meet anywhere. It says a lot about just what kind of men Pederson and Callahan really are, to have the Cornhusker fans turn against them so vehemently. The Nebraska job is a terrific opportunity for some coach out there, and for that coach that is lucky enough to get that job, if he embraces all that Nebraska is he will come to realize he has got one of the best jobs in the land.