Though Nebraska athletic director Tom
Osborne has no immediate plans to step aside, it doesn’t stop speculation on
who will succeed the 74-year old who was a legendary Husker football head coach
from 1973-1997, during which time he compiled a 255-49-3 overall record,
piloting Nebraska to three National championships.
University Chancellor Harvey Pearlman
has admitted past mistakes, notably the Steve Pederson debacle (2002-2007). Osborne
took over as interim athletic director in October 2007 after Pederson was fired.
Osborne later had the tag lifted.
Pearlman recently said in an Omaha World
Herald story that when Osborne decides to retire, he'll do a nation-wide search
for the next Nebraska AD. That statement is significant because there are two
people within the athletic department, Jeff Jamrog (assistant athletic director
for football) and Paul Myers (associate athletic director of development), that
are also believed to be potential successors to Osborne.
Jamrog is a former walk on (three year
letter winner) that compiled 66 tackles, 13 for a loss and eight sacks as a
senior. Myers has a sentimental favorite notion in him. It was Meyers’ brief departure from the department in
October that added a significant subplot to the Pederson saga, and it was his
return only four weeks later that was met with jubilance by some major donors. Now, some of those
contributors are in tune that Meyers would be a fine choice to follow Osborne
as Nebraska’s AD.
If Osborne has his
druthers, based on past experience, he’ll push for the in-house candidate like
he did in hand-picking Frank Solich to be his success. Osborne also gave a
Pederson a strong recommendation as AD. When Osborne he replaced the deposed
Pederson in 2007, he dismissed Bill Callahan at the end of the season as
football head coach and hired then former Husker defensive coordinator Bo
Pelini. When Osborne dismissed Mike Anderson as Husker baseball coach, he hired
Nebraska legend Darin Erstad. The only head coaching hire Osborne made that did
not involve Nebraska ties was Tim Miles as men’s basketball head coach to replace
Doc Sadler.
Pearlman might be
publically saying he will conduct a national search but you can bet Osborne
will strongly recommend Jamrog or Meyers. I just don’t
see Dr. Tom handing the keys to his Rolls Royce to somebody without spending a
lot of time with the person first. He has his whole life vested in it.
However, national searches or in-house
hires come with no guarantees and before anyone rants about “keeping it in the
family,” just remember that after Bill Byrne left as Nebraska athletic director
in 2002 for Texas A&M, many Nebraskans viewed Pederson as the ideal hire.
Pederson had 2 ½ years of experience as Nebraska’s Associate Athletic Director
as well as Director of Football Operations. Plus, he was a North Platte, Neb.,
native.
At the time, the hire made sense but
would have known that five years later he would become the most loathed man in
the state. If anything, he made Nebraskans long for the Byrne era.
It’s just so hard to tell what you’re
getting, as everything seemed to point in the right direction for us, but just
happened to be in the wrong direction. I’m no Pederson fan or apologist by any
means, but he worked right under our own roof for so long, yet we didn’t really
know the guy as well as we thought.
Most people will point to Pederson’s
firing of Frank Solich and subsequent hiring of Callahan as the beginning of
his demise which is true to a degree but it was not the ultimate reason why he
got fired. Pederson’s management style as it pertained to those working under
him as well as his arrogance with the Husker fan base was the reason he got
fired. Pederson probably would have survived the Callahan hire if not for his
poor management skills.
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