The "Other" Candidates

I am continually amazed at some of the "other" coaching candidate names my fellow Husker brethren throw out-seemingly from left field. Don't get me wrong, there are some smart people out there that do their homework but some of these names just mystify me.

Turner Gill:
Not surprisingly, Gill's name pops up because of his former association with the program and his obvious affiliation with Tom Osborne. Let's be realistic people. Turner has a whole two years of head coaching experience. And yes he's done some nice things at Buffalo (despite their 4-7 record this year). And let's face it-Buffalo stinks. But Buffalo was probably not in as bad as shape as Navy was when Paul Johnson took over the program. And after Johnson went 2-10 in his first year, he's got five straight winning seasons and five straight bowl games. Hey Turner, thanks for playing but the timing just isn't right. Maybe if you can string together about 5 years of winning seasons at Buffalo and we still need a coach in 2012, we'll come looking for you. As of now, your resume compared to Johnson's is like a Pinto compared to a Porsche.

Bo Pelini:
Most of you know how I feel about the "Schnoz" bringing his gig to Lincoln. Let me ask you Bo lovers a serious question? If this man is such a hot young coaching prospect, why hasn't he gotten a head coaching job yet? We know Paul Johnson gets discriminated against because of the perception of his offense. But Bo doesn't have that problem. So why does it appear he would be about 10th on the list if Les Miles leaves for Michigan? If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is. Meanwhile, LSU fans continue to criticize him for his "soft" defensive coverages and passive schemes. His defense was torched to the tune of nearly 500 yards against a god-awful Ole Miss team yesterday. But forget all that. Being a head coach becomes much less about coaching and more about managing players and staff; making strategic decisions for the program; and being a PR guy as the face of the football team. In other words, you're a CEO. What exactly has Pelini done to make anyone think he could manage a ham sandwich, let alone the football program at the University of Nebraska? Put it this way-some guys are made to be head coaches and some guys are made to be assistant coaches/coordinators. Guess which one Pelini looks like? This is not a job to cut your teeth at and learn how to be a head coach. We need a proven winner and proven commodity and that's not Bo Pelini. And for every "Bob Stoops" reference you throw at me, I've got an Ed Oregeron to throw back. And Pelini's systems seem to thrive on getting the most talented players in the country-something that won't happen at Nebraska. The next coach at Nebraska should prove he can do less with more. And that man is Paul Johnson-not Bo Pelini.

Jim Grobe:
Yes, what Grobe has done at Wake is impressive. There's no denying that. My biggest issue with Grobe is not his ability to do the job. Its that he's 58 years old. Paul Johnson has 8 more years of coaching longevity than Grobe. Call me biased against the elderly if you want. But with all things being equal, Johnson wins on age. Not to mention that Grobe lost twice to the loser we're about to fire.

Randy Edsell:
This one confuses the heck out of me? Why does anyone want Randy Edsell at Nebraska?? Sure he's done some nice things at UCONN. But do your research and you'll find that Paul Johnson's Navy team absolutely ran circles around Edsell's Huskies last year-to the tune of about 618 rushing yards. Edsell was so thoroughly beaten that he actually (I kid you not) dropped Navy from this year's schedule. Now I don't know about you...but it looks like one coach is better than the other. And one coach made the other coach scared to play him again. Certainly we wouldn't want Paul Johnson at Nebraska now, would we? (sarcasm)
Edsell is a Syracuse alum and that's likely where he's headed. His resume can't hold a candle to Paul Johnson's.

Brian Kelly:
Brian Kelly from Cincinnati via Central Michigan via Grand Valley State is an interesting name. He's had success wherever he's been and at 45 is one of the hot young names in college football. My problem with Kelly is he's just like every other hot young coach in the country. He does the same crap and would make Nebraska just another team. With Johnson you have a unique offense that he designed that nobody else in the country can duplicate. With Kelly, we're another Missouri, Kansas, Oregon etc. Sorry, that's not what I want. I want to be different and get our identity of crushing teams to the ground again. Kelly would be a good option for a team looking to do what everyone is already is. And that's fine if you want to go that way. But on the downside-I'd like to see him sustain success at a program. Remember Dennis Franchione? He won everywhere he was and became famous for rebuilding downtrodden programs. But he left before we could see if he could keep them going. Well we know what Franchione is about now. He's about to get fired for a lousy job at Texas A&M.