Former Nebraska football great Grant Wistrom was known for going hard after quarterbacks whether it was as a Cornhusker, a St. Louis Ram or Seattle Seahawk.
He tackles his duties with the Grant Wistrom Foundation with equal vigor. While in Lincoln this past weekend, he shared plenty of thoughts about the current regime of head coach Bo Pelini and athletic director Tom Osborne, who was Wistrom’s coach as a Husker. Wistrom also shared plenty of thoughts on the former regime of head coach Bill Callahan and athletic director Steve Pederson. Wistrom chatted with Lincoln Journal Star reporter Brian Christopherson:
About Bo Pelini: "I'm a fan, man. I'm excited. You know what; I don't care if we win the Big 12 championship every year or a national championship. I'm just glad to see the guys playing hard again. I think that's all we can ask for, just guys out there that take pride in wearing the N on their helmets, Blackshirts out there playing every down. It's all a credit to him and this coaching staff. He was playing with the same guys last year that were there the year before pretty much, and the product was just completely different on the field. That's just all a change in attitude and mentality in the program, and that's due to him."
Playing defense is all about attitude, Wistrom said. "You've got to have a good scheme and you got to have good coaches implementing the scheme. But you can have the best defense called, but if you have guys out there that aren't playing hard, it's going to break down. If you got guys out there playing hard, you can have the wrong defense called and you can overcome that."
Wistrom said 2007 was really painful to watch for someone who played on some of the best Husker defenses around. During games that season, his wife would ask him why he was so angry.
His answer: "I and about 140 other guys spent four years of our lives building up the best business in America. At the time we were the best college football program. ... And then some other people come in and take it over and run it into the ground. What would you do? How would you feel? ... That's how I felt.
"We dedicated four years of our lives to building up the best football program in the country. And in just a matter of years, it went downhill. There's not just one reason for it. I'm sure it was one of any number of things, and everything's cyclical in college football. But just the rate of the slide was kind of astounding to me. But I also think the turnaround has been just as impressive."
I tell fellow Nebraska alums and others that Wistrom is in a select company of my favorite all-time Huskers. I absolutely adore the passion with which he played.
Yes, it is easy for us as fans to say we stunk but to hear a former player, especially one of Wistrom’s caliber say it carries a lot of weight. Husker fans have gone round-in-round about how much Frank Solick, Craig Bohl, Bill Callahan and Kevin Cosgrove brought the program down.
Well, they all played a role. Solich had his share of success but was not a whole lot better than Callahan on relating to players. Keep in mind; we had plenty of uninspired efforts in 2002 with Solich as head coach and Bohl as defensive coordinator. However, Solich had the fortitude to get rid of Bohl whereas had Callahan remained, there was no way he would have gotten rid of Cosgrove.
Callahan and Cosgrove recognized the importance of recruiting but had nary a clue on developing the talent they acquired.
Here's hoping Bo stays a long time and the Huskers return to the top soon.
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