My Two Cents: Hiring Coaches With Nebraska Ties

One of the things I’ll never really understand is the complete and utter obsession some fans have with hiring coaches and assistant coaches with some sort of Nebraska tie – a former player, former coach, was born here, did a social studies project on Nebraska in the 5th grade, once drove through on I-80, whatever.

I can understand the concept that maintaining the sacred culture and tradition of the football program is easier (but not absolute) if the person is from here, played/coached here, or “gets” the fabled Nebraska Way.  But it just doesn’t always work out that way.  Steve Pedersen was born and raised in Nebraska, and worked at NU long before he returned to become one of the most hated people in the state.

And this is not necessarily a Nebraska problem.  When Michigan fired Rich Rodriguez, the alumni, fans, and media made it clear that the Wolverines needed to hire a “Michigan Man” who knew and understood the program, the culture, and their proud traditions.  Enter Brady Hoke…

For me, I think the desire to hire somebody with ties to your school stems from safety and comfort.  Let’s face it:  change is scary.  Firing people opens up a Pandora’s box of questions – Who are we going to get?  Will they be worse than what we had?  Will they like us?  Will we like him?  The amount of unknown is overwhelming and can be frightening, so for some fans it makes sense to seek comfort in the arms* of a familiar name or face.  As the old idiom states “better the devil you know then the devil you don’t”.

*There is the start of a break-up/rebound/booty call analogy in that last paragraph.  I’ll let you run with that if you so choose.

This is not to say that certain candidates for Nebraska’s vacant head coaching job (i.e. Frost, Scott) would not (and should not) have a potential advantage because they know the lay of the land and what makes this unique and highly passionate fan base tick.  Certainly, there are advantages to be gained through this – but there are also landmines too.  Any baggage from your previous connections will be waiting for you at your destination.

Call me crazy, but I don’t really care if the coaches we hire are former players.  I care if they can lead a team, coach their position, develop talent, and recruit new talent.  Put it this way:  who do most fans think was the better coach – Barney Cotton (Nebraska native, former Husker player, and UNL grad) or Milt Tenopir (none of the above)?  Exactly.

B1G Reasons for Giving Thanks

As the name implies, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect upon all of the good things in your life and be grateful for what you have.

But what if you are a football team playing in what is widely believed to be the worst Power 5 conference in the country?  What does a team like Indiana, Michigan, or Nebraska have to be thankful for in 2014?

Glad you asked.  I believe that everybody should be able to give thanks for something – even if you sometimes have to dig a little to find anything worthy of your gratitude.

What do the schools of the Big Ten have to be thankful for this football season?  Plenty:

• Illinois:  Remember that time you dressed up like a team that didn’t look like Illinois?  And then you played like a team that didn’t look like Illinois?  That was pretty cool.
  

  “Wee! Nobody knows that we suck!” (photo credit: news-gazette.com)

• Indiana:  You may bewinless in conference play, but you still hold the league’s best non-conference win (at SEC East leading Missouri)
  

  Dear ESPN, Kindly put this in your SEC bias and smoke it.

• Iowa:  Forbes says you can now afford to fire Kirk Ferentz!
  

  My Iowa-born Mom is starting to regret her tattoo. (photo credit: cbssports.com)

• Maryland:  Jim Delany’s check of bailout money did not bounce.  Now you can buy more hideously ugly uniforms to demonstrate the pride you have in your state!
  

  Maryland, we wear these to honor you. (photo credit: lostlettermen.com)

• Michigan:  After failing with Rich Rod and BradyHoke, surely the third time will be the charm, right?  Right?
  

  Troll so hard (image courtesy elevenwarriors.com)

• Michigan State:  The continued employment of BradyHoke is more than enough for Spartan fans.
  

  If I were a Spartan, this would be my PC background.  Kudos to car-memes.com for this one.

• Minnesota:  Your coaching staff eats ice cream bars on the sideline of a frigid, snowy game without giving a single ____ what you think.
  

  “I wanted a Blizzard, not a damn Dilly Bar” (photo credit: athlonsports.com)

• Nebraska:  You never have to face Melvin Gordon again.  And depending on if you are aBo-leaver or aBo-liever, you may be thankful forPelini’s jobstatus as of this weekend.
  

  “I’m sorry I got you fired, Angry Coach” (photo credit: AP)

• Northwestern:  Nobody really has very high expectations for you, so it’s tough to ever have a “down” year.  Plus, Chick-fil-A for everyone!
  

  Nice touch with the Wildcat purple suit, KD (image credit dailycaller.com)

• Ohio State:  The odds are good that Urban Meyer won’t have to shame eat an entire Papa John’s pizza after this year’s Big Ten Championship.
  

  “No garlic butter?!? Why does everything bad happen to me??” (photo credit: USA Today)

• Penn State:  Despite the best efforts of the NCAA and Big Ten refs to screw you over, you can now go to a crappy bowl game (where refs from another conference will probably try to screw you over).
  

  B1G refs be like “Meh, close enough”.  (image credit: @Pauly_G220)

• Purdue:  Be very, very thankful that this guy went to Indiana instead of Purdue.  Plus – you still have that really big drum, which is kinda neat in a totally Purdue sort of way.
  

  The bigger the drum, the bigger the punchline (photo credit: purdue.edu)

• Rutgers:  Instead of getting beat by Houston,Cincy,UCF,andUConn, you now get blown out by Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska!  Welcome to theB1G time!
  

  If you want to be taken seriously when joining a prestigious academic conference, don’t treat your promotional copy like a 2 am text message (image credit: collegiatestadiums.com)

• Wisconsin:  For the next 300+ days, nobody can take away your FREEDOM!!! – even if they wanted that generic, ugly ass trophy.
  

  It’s never good when you need five guys to lift the trophy (photo credit: news.wisc.edu)

• And a bonus for the B1G Boss Man himself, Jim Delany:  Adding Maryland and Rutgers has TOTALLY made the conference stronger and more exciting.  The reputation of the conference is an all time high.
  

  Wait? That’s NOT Jim Delany? The eyebrows always fool me (image credit: muppet.wikia.com)

B1G Power Rankings – Week of 10/20

We’re back for another B1G season!  Throughout the 2014 season, I’ll be ranking the Big Ten schools 1-14.  To see where your team was ranked last week, click here.  As always, if you think I’m right, wrong, or clinically insane, let me know in the comments.

Prepare to disagree…

1. Michigan State.  Another week, another convincing win.  It will be interesting to see if the Spartans overlook “big brother” Michigan for Ohio State.
2. Ohio State.  For those keeping score at home, in Ohio State’s first games against Rutgers and Maryland, the Buckeyes won by a combined 108 – 41.  Welcome to the neighborhood!
3. Minnesota.  The Gophers needed a late field goal to survive the game with Purdue.  Husker fans would probably like to see me punish Minnesota for that, but let’s wait and see what Nebraska does with Purdue first.
4. Nebraska.  So much for the history of close games in the Battle for NU.  The red NU (wearing all white) overcame a slow first half to completely dominate the purple NU (wearing all black) in the second half.
5. Wisconsin.  I was tempted to put Maryland in the #5 spot, but I can’t punish the Badgers for being idle.  That said, Wisconsin will need to take care of the Terps to keep this post (or more higher).
6. Maryland.  The Terps beat Iowa in a classic “not as close as the final score indicates” game.  I’m not sure they’re the sixth best team in this league, but I’m also not sure they’re worse than anybody below them.
7. 

   (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   Iowa.  Are the Hawkeyes a contender for the West title?  They’re off this week before starting a five week tour of the West where 5-0 (or possibly 4-1) could get them to Indy.

8. Northwestern.  As the second half of the Nebraska game proved, Northwestern doesn’t have upper tier talent.  But as the first half showed, the Wildcats can play good against anybody.  Their remaining conference road is probably the easiest of any West school.
9. Rutgers.  After getting smacked around by Ohio State, Rutgers faces Nebraska for the first time since the 1920’s.  Clearly revenge will be on the Scarlet Knights’ minds when they roll into Lincoln.
10. Purdue.  Their 1-3 conference record doesn’t show it, but the Boilermakers are likely the most improved team in the conference.  After playing 3-0 Minnesota to a one point loss, it will be interesting to see what they do with an extra week to prepare for Nebraska.
11. Penn State.  Ohio State is putting up big points against everybody in October.  Can Penn State avoid the blowout – or possibly pull off a home upset?  Probably not, but I’ve been wrong before.
12. Michigan.  Can the wounded Wolverines regain some lost pride and upset their little brother?  This is one of the two games left on the schedule that can save Brady Hoke’s job.
13. Indiana.  Can the Hoosiers get to a bowl game?  They need to find three wins against a schedule of Michigan, Penn State, Rutgers, Ohio State, and Purdue.  It’s doable, they’ll need to get hot.
14. Illinois.  The best sign that you’re the bottom of the league?  It’s October and speculation on your next coach has already started.

B1G Power Rankings – Week of 10/13

We’re back for another B1G season!  Throughout the 2014 season, I’ll be ranking the Big Ten schools 1-14.  To see where your team was ranked last week, click here.  As always, if you think I’m right, wrong, or clinically insane, let me know in the comments.

Prepare to disagree…

1. Michigan State.  The Spartans did what the top team is supposed to do:  win.  I’m not real sure what to make of Purdue hanging 31 on Michigan State, but we’ll let that slide.
2. Ohio State.  It’s really too bad that Ohio State was off this week.  If they would have traded bye weeks with Penn State, the weekend’s Big Ten schedule would have been composed only of “original” Big Ten teams as Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers were all off.  But since the conference struggles with scheduling, I’m not that surprised.
3. Minnesota.  By knocking off the Wildcats, Minnesota has claimed the title of “Surprise team in the West”.  I expect the Gophers to hold that title for the rest of the month (Purdue this week and at Illinois), before a grueling November schedule hits.  Until then, let’s reward the Gophers with the #3 spot.
4. Nebraska.  This is a critical game in Nebraska’s season.  Coming off of a loss and a bye week, Nebraska needs to beat Northwestern to stay in the hunt for the division title.  But this series is known for close, competitive games (a cumulative difference of 1 point in the last three meetings).  The edge might be if Nebraska has home field advantage in Evanston like they did in 2012.
5. Wisconsin.  The Badgers took care of Illinois and are rewarded with a week off before welcoming both of the new schools to the league.  This is about the time where Wisconsin really starts to hit stride.
   

   (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6. Northwestern.  Admittedly, I am probably punishing Northwestern a little too much for a seven point loss to Minnesota, but I’m just not sure what to make of Northwestern.  The “Battle for NU” should be a close, competitive game.
7. Rutgers.  Rutgers enters into the hazing portion of their Big Ten initiation tour with their next three games at Ohio State, at Nebraska, and against Wisconsin.  This is where Rutgers can validate this relatively high ranking or watch it plummet.
8. Iowa.  I still maintain that Iowa v. Maryland sounds more like a December 30th bowl game than a Big Ten Conference clash.  The Hawkeyes are in need of a good challenge, and I think the Terps could provide it.
9. Maryland.  Let’s see how Maryland reacts to their first conference smack down as they host Iowa.  This is one of those games that helps provide clarity in the middle of the pack.
10. Purdue.  It may seem strange to promote the Boilermakers after giving up 45 in a loss, but in a head-to-head match up with any of the schools below, I’d probably pick Purdue.
11. Penn State.  A loss to Michigan really hurts.  Yeah, Penn State probably got screwed by the refs on another call.  (That sound you hear is Husker fans still bitter over 1982 muttering “karma”).  Regardless, these are the games that Penn State needs to win.
12. Indiana.  Bad news: the Hoosiers get beat up by Iowa.  Worse news:  they play Michigan State this weekend.  Worst news:  on Monday, they lost their starting QB for the season.  How long until basketball season?
13. Michigan.  A much-needed win should calm the fires over the bye week (until Sparty drops gasoline over everything).  Although I’m not a fan of the show, I appreciated Michigan’s QB corps showing their excitement for the return of “The Walking Dead”, by limping around for three hours Saturday night.
14. Illinois.  Simply put, the Illini are the worst team in this league.  For my money, it’s not even close.




B1G Power Rankings – Week of 10/6

We’re back for another B1G season!  Throughout the 2014 season, I’ll be ranking the Big Ten schools 1-14.  To see where your team was ranked last week, click here.  As always, if you think I’m right, wrong, or clinically insane, let me know in the comments.

Prepare to disagree…

1. Michigan State.  The Spartans had an excellent game plan against Nebraska and executed it very well for two or three quarters before they got bored and almost lost the game.  Still, I didn’t any reason to knock them from the top spot.  Sparty probably won’t be challenged for the rest of the month.
2. Ohio State.  Hello, Maryland.  To welcome you to the league, we’d like to light up your scoreboard with 52 points.  The Bucks get a week off to prepare for the other B1G newbies.
3. Nebraska.  It seems odd to move a team up in the rankings when they a) lost and b) looked poor for most of the game in doing so.  In theory, I agree, but it helps that the team in front of them (Wisconsin) lost to a team that is not as good at Michigan State.  The Huskers also get a week off to prepare for the NU-NU grudge match.
4. Minnesota.  Minnesota’s lone loss (a 30-7 beating at TCU) looks a lot better after TCU knocked off Oklahoma.  The game with Northwestern should provide some clarity as to which West division upstart is a legitimate threat.
5. Northwestern.  So let’s get this straight:  the Wildcats allow Melvin Gordon to rush for 259 and a touchdown, and they still win?  If Northwestern is going to contend for the West title, they’ll earn it in their next three games (at Minnesota, Nebraska, at Iowa).  Get past those and they can coast to Indy.
6. Rutgers.  I’m still not real sure what to make of Rutgers.  Four of their six games have been decided by a touchdown or less, which means they are a few bounces away from 6-0 or 2-4.  The game with Ohio State in two weeks should provide some answers.
7. Maryland.  TheTerps got thumpedgood by Ohio State – probably out of anger inspired by Maryland’s ugly uniforms.  They get to lick their wounds for a week before taking on the Hawkeyes.
   

   Maryland, the Big Ten has a strict dress code. These things are clearly in violation. (image via Washington Post)

8. Wisconsin.  So let’s get this straight:  Melvin Gordon rushes for 259 yards and a touchdown and they lose?  Look for the Badgers to take out some frustrations against Illinois.  And considering how bad the Illini rush defense is, don’t be surprised to see Gordon put up 300 yards.
9. Iowa.  Having successfully defeated the bye week, Iowa turns their attention towards the Hoosiers.  The loser will definitely find themselves in the double digits of these rankings.
10. Penn State.  For a team with the depth issues that Penn State has, a bye week is a welcome chance to rest and heal.  Unfortunately, their schedule has them off, at Michigan, and off again before six straight games to end the season.  That is rough.
11. Purdue.  Look at you, Purdue!  Last year you had to wait until late November before you won a conference game.  If you could play Illinois every week you’d make the Rose Bowl!
12. Indiana.  It’s Hoosiers v. Hawkeyes in the battle of “which team is a potential cellar dweller”.
13. Michigan.  I’m not sure what is more surprising:  that Michigan almost won, that Brady Hoke is still employed, or that the Wolverines made it through a game without any scandals.
14. Illinois.  Having lost to Purdue, Illinois’ best chance for a conference win will be hoping that Penn State is so beat up on Nov. 22 that they can steal a W.  Until then, I’m not seeing much hope for the Illini.

B1G Power Rankings – Week of 9/29

We’re back for another B1G season!  Throughout the 2014 season, I’ll be ranking the Big Ten schools 1-14.  In case you missed my pre-conference season predictions, click here.  As always, if you think I’m right, wrong, or clinically insane, let me know in the comments.

Prepare to disagree…

1. Michigan State.  The Spartans crushed three inferior non-conference opponents and lost to a top 5 team by 19 points.  That really doesn’t tell me how good they are, but I still think they are the class of the conference.
2. Ohio State.  I’ll admit that the Buckeyes are ranked this high partially based on reputation.  Another part is the sweet take down of a fan by their strength coach.  But since that former Buckeye linebacker has exhausted his eligibility, we should learn a lot about this team when they travel to Maryland to officially welcome the Terps to the league.
3. Wisconsin.  Much like Michigan State, we really don’t know too much about the Badgers.  They too have beaten up the non-con opponents they should beat and barely lost to a top 15 team.  But with Wisconsin, they may not be tested until the end of October.
4. Nebraska.  Yeah, the Huskers are probably too low, but I’ve been underwhelmed with the teams they have played.  Don’t worry, the Huskers will have every opportunity to make a big jump Saturday night in East Lansing.
5. Maryland.  Kudos to the Terrapins on being the first B1G expansion team to win their debut since Penn State.  Granted, it was against Indiana, but it still counts.  To go 2-0, they’ll need to beat Ohio State at home.
6. Minnesota.  A lot of attention has been paid to Michigan practically giving away tickets to watch the Gophers, as well as the tire fire surround that program.  Meanwhile, few are giving credit to Minnesota for going into Ann Arbor and taking care of business.  That is what teams in the upper half of the conference are supposed to do.
   

   “You are looking live at the Big House in Ann Arbor, MI”

7. Iowa.  Like the Gophers, Iowa faced a struggling team on the road in a stadium that was below capacity.  But beating Purdue by two touchdowns is not as impressive to me.
8. Northwestern.  Raise your hand if you saw the 29-6 win over Penn State coming.  No, seriously.  Are the Wildcats going to rally from a 1-2 start to put together a strong season?  Well…let’s wait until after they play Wisconsin before making any declarations.
9. Penn State.  Bad news:  with a bye week coming up, the Nitany Lions have to chew on that Northwestern loss for two weeks.  Good news:  Penn State’s next opponent is Michigan, so they probably can take most of this week off.
10. Rutgers.  I feel like I have Rutgers too low as their only loss was by three points at Penn State in their conference debut.  We probably won’t learn too much until October 18 (at Ohio State) as the Scarlet Knights do not play anybody the next two weeks.  Oops…my bad.  Rutgers hosts Michigan this week.  Same difference.
11. Indiana.  Who is this team?  Are they the ones who beat a ranked SEC team (even if it was Missouri)?  Or are they the ones who lost their conference opener by three touchdowns?
12. Purdue.  Once again, the Boilermakers again find themselves in their familiar 12th place slot.  The good news is there are now 14 teams in the conference.  So they’ve got that going for them.  Of course, losing to Illinois next week will change that in a hurry.
13. Michigan.  What a rough week for the Wolverines.  First the buy two Cokes, get two tickets promotion made the program a national laughingstock.  Then, they look bad at home against Minnesota.  Now, there are big questions about Brady Hoke putting his players in risk.  If Hoke is still employed on November 1, (they host Michigan State on 10/25) it will be a minor miracle.
14. Illinois.  With all that said, why aren’t the Wolverines in last place?  Like Michigan, Illinois is a bad team with a coach unlikely to be employed in 2015.  But here is the key difference:  Michigan has enough talent on their roster to squeak out a win on athleticism alone.  Illinois is rather devoid of talent – especially at the skill positions – and their defense is giving up an average of 35 points a game.