Finding Osborne's successor as AD an important matter

Much of the recent discussion of Nebraska football is centered on the present and future of the program under second-year head coach Bo Pelini. The reasons why most of us see the future as bright is because of Pelini and his staff developing the players they recruit the right way along with his relational skills with the players and the Husker fan base.

What is just as important, however, and I know this decision is off in the distance but very important nonetheless, is to find a suitable replacement for Tom Osborne – the legendary former Husker head coach and current athletic director. When Osborne replaced Steve Pederson in October 2007, he was labeled as the “interim athletic director.”

Osborne later had the interim tag lifted and signed his contract until July 2010. Osborne also once indicated that he would hold the position until he felt the program was on solid footing. The Huskers appear headed in that direction but in order to maintain that direction, it vitally important to make sure Osborne’s successor is the right guy so as to avoid a repeat of the Pederson fiasco. That means don’t just blindly give it to someone just because there are Nebraskans.

The names that have come up in the recent past are former Husker players Ed Stewart and Dave Rimington. Stewart, who starred as a linebacker in the early-to-mid 1990s, works for the Big 12 Conference as Assistant Commissioner for Football and Student Services. Rimington, who is widely considered the best center in college football history, is President of the Boomer Esiason Foundation, a non-profit foundation that focuses on research to cure cystic fibrosis so he is definitely experienced in fund raising.

There’s no doubt that either one would make a good choice on the surface but the question is would they be interested?Remember when Pederson was hired, he was viewed as the anti-Bill Byrne. Pederson was a native Nebraskan. He was going to make football priority No. 1 whereas Byrne tried to appeal to all sports. Which is fine to a point but football is the bell cow of every athletic program followed closely by men’s basketball.

Heck, I bought into Pederson being the right guy but when he fostered a culture of disconnect Husker Nation might as well have been Husker “alien-Nation.” I had the chance to meet Bryne several times when I was in college working as a reporter for the Daily Nebraskan and production assistant for KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln. I didn’t always agree with his decisions as AD but in talking to him I at least felt like he was a good person.

Again, I can’t think of any negatives to bringing in Stewart or Rimington as Osborne’s successor. Maybe even Turner Gill. The crux of the matter that is whoever Osborne’s successor is in the future, the decision needs to be the right one. Whoever that person is does not necessarily need to be from Nebraska but there are a few common denominators that person must have that are lockstep with Osborne. For one, that person has to be a unifier and someone people can trust.

With Pederson, you could not trust him further than you could throw him. Pederson will go down as the man who gutted Husker football of all the things that made the program unique.Pederson cut all links to the Bob Devaney-Tom Osborne era when he fired Frank Solich, who had played for Devaney and was Osborne's hand-picked successor in 1997. Perhaps, you could argue that Solich was not the ultimate answer to get the Huskers to the promised land but the program did not need the reconstructive surgery attempt the Bill Callahan era brought.

The Callahan era not only brought a level of mediocrity of a 27-22 record but two seasons without making it to a bowl game. We don’t need to go into how Pederson alienated the fan base and those who work for him because it has been discussed ad nausea. Pederson was notorious for just glossing over the problems of the program. Nebraskans are real people who want straight answers.

Again, I know that finding a successor to Osborne is off in the distance but whoever that person is needs to be the right one so the program can maintain the traction it has regained.