Why Turner Gill will be named head coach in 18 days

Of course I haven't posted in months and what would pull me out of blog hibernation? Nebraska football of course. I would really feel like I was "piling on" or jumping on the "bash callahan" bandwagon right now except I have been saying all of this since late November of 2003. When the prince of darkness, Steve Pederson, decided to shake up the biggest football powerhouse of the last half century. You know, just cause.

I was furious, Pederson came off like a hot shot east coast CEO who had no problem dumping Solich and his staff in just five minutes. All of whom had bled husker red for decades and decades. And then to watch the horrific and embarrassing month long search where Pederson learned that nobody really wanted the job. Well except one lousy coach who had also recently become unemployed, Bill Callahan. It was like Pederson was making it up as he went, change everything, get NFL style recruits because Callahan was you know...from the NFL, get it, get it!? "This is our guy of the future", Pederson proclaimed sitting next to Callahan who looked like he would rather be eating lunch at the local Denny's "whatever you say Steve, just make sure my check clears, I could really use the cash" Callahan was probably thinking. I'm not sure if Callahan could even point Lincoln out on a map if you had asked him and this was our guy?

I never bought it, Callahan was about the 33rd guy on the list and to have Pederson sit there and tell you he was the #1 choice made you laugh. Except Pederson had already convinced the only two people he needed to, himself and Bill. I never understood the "West Coast" offense, what was so special? Football is just passing, blocking, running and catching, no matter what offense you run. The key is to exploit and execute. I just could never buy that a bunch of braniacs had all these nifty plays that were so clever, they were unstoppable. Bullshit. You could see the first season, how confused our players were. In Callahan's warped mind at night he could see each play he masterfully drew up, each one going for a perfect touchdown. But each Saturday, Huskers ran around before each snap like madmen for a quarterback scramble out of bounds for a loss or a two yard off tackle run. Things only worked in Callahan's head and he never had the ability to adapt or get his players to understand.

The biggest problem is that football stopped being fun in Lincoln. The players already under the stresses of college and football in general now had a hugely complicated playbook to learn, and one that they just never understood. Things weren't fun anymore and things haven't changed from that first year. Hell, the two middle mediocre years have to be attributed to a lousy Big 12 north. Would our record have been so positive if Missouri, Kansas and Colorado had teams in 2005 & 2006 like they do now? Doubt it. Callahan has yet to win a big game, has racked up so many negative "firsts" for the Husker dynasty, that you can't even list them all here. He is done, there is no doubt, the day after the Colorado game, T.O. will announce the news, it's a foregone conclusion.

What happens after that I feel is also a foregone conclusion as well except right now its just rumor speculation and nobody really believes it. Except they should. On Monday morning, November 26th, T.O. will stroll out in front of reporters with his old buddy by his side, Turner Gill, to announce the next football coach at Nebraska. My guess is Gill will skip the suit and tie and adorn his old red & white sideline gear. Just to remind people that he isn't just the next Husker coach, he is a Husker, period. Nobody had to show him where Lincoln was on a map, nobody had to grab a shirt and hat from the gift shop to give him to wear. "I'm good, I had some stuff in my closet" he'll probably tell them before he steps into the spotlight. You can't restore the order without someone who remembers exactly what the order looked and felt like.

I adore Tom Osborne. He IS Nebraska football, he gets it, he gets our state, our philosophy, he gets football, he gets winning, he gets character and leadership. During the 90s when the run and gun passing offense was the new sheriff is town, Osborne made guys like Spurrier and Manning look silly. "Throw the ball all over the field, go ahead, I'm going to just be over here running that old option" he'd smirk from the sideline. Perlman brought in T.O. for only one reason, to hire the next football coach at Nebraska. It's his decision and his decision alone, there will be no committee, he will make his decision and then step aside, for his work here will be done. He knows tradition is what makes Husker nation tick, he knows the players under Callahan just don't get it and that's a big problem. Osborne and the '97 team spoke and gave speeches to the current team before the Oklahoma State game, the halftime score was 38-0, apparently nobody was inspired. On his first day, T.O.'s first line of business was to reach out to former players, to stop by, be role models, help restore the order. He has already decided in his mind that he will reach out to another former player very soon.

Osborne has already said numerous times that Gill was one of the players he was the closest to during his decades on the sidelines. Gill was a great on field general who felt all the success yet heartache of the close calls in the early 80s. He was right there by T.O.'s side during the glorious 90s as quarterback coach of Frazier, Frost, and Crouch. He sucked it up and stayed on for one year for the good of the team in 2004 as receivers coach. Callahan wanted one tie to the past and Gill sacrificed and took one for the team. He's gone on to take the VERY worst coaching job in Division I, at Buffalo and is one win away this season from wracking up half the number of wins Buffalo accumulated in the seven years before him, TOTAL.

He gets it. And Osborne knows it. Gill was being groomed to take the reigns after Solich, the order was already set up in Osborne's mind. Things obviously didn't work out how he thought, but restoring the order means more than what people think it does. All you have to do is think about it, why wouldn't Osborne turn to his protege of the last 25 years. A guy who has learned everything he knows from T.O. and is proving himself to be a really great coach at a program that was THE worst in college football. The writing is on the wall, just turn the black light on and you'll see, it's there, we just have to wait 18 days. See you then.