At Long Last Our Husker Nation Nightmare is Over

I'll agree with Harvey Perlman that there's no joy in seeing Steve Pederson go. It would be far better had Steve done the kind of job everyone expected of him when he took the job. Unfortunately, after the last four years, I think it was something that had to be done.

I couldn't agree more with Steve Sipple's column yesterday (Pederson Brought About His Own Timely Demise). Pederson seemed like somebody who was determined to leave his own stamp on Nebraska football and that met making dramatic changes. I don't believe the firing of Solich was about a feared slide in mediocrity. It was Pederson wanting to make his mark regardless of whether it was the right thing to do at the right time. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have gotten rid of Solich, but it's hard to convince a new coach to come in and take the reins when you fire someone for going 9-3. Perhaps it was the right move, but it wasn't the right time.

So with Osborne back at the helm, the question becomes what will happen to Callahan. I agree with Hers that something needs to be done defensively and I assumed that this would be Cosgrove's last year. Reading some of the statements coming from Osborne and Callahan, however, I'm beginning to think we might have a whole new coaching staff next year.

First, when asked how he'd feel about Osborne returning as AD, Callahan made this statement before the Osborne was officially announced as interim AD:

I would welcome anyone who’s going to be in that leadership position and be my immediate supervisor. I’ve got tremendous respect for whoever’s at the helm.

Translation: They could give the job to Chimpy to the Retarded Chimp and I'd have to respect because he's my boss. Notably absent is anything about respecting Osborne for who he is and what he's done for the state and the Nebraska football program.

Then there's Osborne's remarks about his aspirations for the job:

I've spent the majority of my life working with the athletic department at the university and I want to do what I can at this point to continue in the pursuit of excellence that has been previously established.

Sounds a little like Tom saying the pursuit of excellence has been lacking of late.

And no one is being very kind to Pederson. Perlman had this to say when asked what Pederson's biggest flaw was as AD:

I don’t think I want to go there. My instinct tells me at this point Steve was not the best person to lead this program into the future and I think we ought to leave it at that.

And then Osborne had this to say prior to accepting the Interim AD position:

I feel bad about it. I thought Steve would do really well.

When the best thing TO can say about you is that he thought you'd do really well, you're having a bad go of things.

At any rate, Steve Pederson was clearly not the man for the job. It should be an interesting off-season.