The wife and I were at an Art and Culinary festival today and happened to sit down by 3 couples where all 3 of the men had on big, red Nebraska hats. I casually mentioned I was from Corvallis and an Oregon State fan. Of course, they perked up and all wanted to know about their new coach. I was very polite and told them they hired one of the nicest guys in college football and they wouldn't have to worry about him embarrassing them on the sidelines or in the media like Pellini did. I really didn't want to get into the football aspect of it, because we all know I have a very biased view. They kept pressing me so I finally said, what I can tell you is that he's never had a season with fewer than 4 losses at any level in is entire head coaching career. One of them immediately got defensive and started bashing Oregon State and how hard it was to recruit there, how bad our facilities are, how much better the caliber of athlete Nebraska has, the 3 national titles they have, and how NOBODY has the facilities and money Nebraska does.
Before I could open my mouth, the other two stepped in and reminded the guy I was talking about Riley's entire career, not just at OSU, and they acknowledged there are schools such as whoregon and Oklahoma State that have a lot more money than Nebraska and while their facilities are top notch, it's hard to say how they compare to every other school in the NCAA. Then they dropped this with all seriousness; "we've been season ticket holders and big donors for years; if he thinks 4 losses are acceptable here, he's got a big surprise coming! 4 losses may get him fired after one year!"
We had some other real good general conversation about college football in general, Nebraska, OSU, etc., and they were some very nice guys, but what stood out to me was how dead serious they and their wives were that 9 wins is an unacceptable season at Nebraska and if Riley doesn't deliver at least 10 wins, EVERY YEAR, he won't last. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will he and the staff be able to deliver with a higher profile school? It's definitely possible. But one thing I do know is the fans seem to be highly skeptical and they have no intentions of cutting him or anyone else on his staff, any slack.
Before I could open my mouth, the other two stepped in and reminded the guy I was talking about Riley's entire career, not just at OSU, and they acknowledged there are schools such as whoregon and Oklahoma State that have a lot more money than Nebraska and while their facilities are top notch, it's hard to say how they compare to every other school in the NCAA. Then they dropped this with all seriousness; "we've been season ticket holders and big donors for years; if he thinks 4 losses are acceptable here, he's got a big surprise coming! 4 losses may get him fired after one year!"
We had some other real good general conversation about college football in general, Nebraska, OSU, etc., and they were some very nice guys, but what stood out to me was how dead serious they and their wives were that 9 wins is an unacceptable season at Nebraska and if Riley doesn't deliver at least 10 wins, EVERY YEAR, he won't last. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will he and the staff be able to deliver with a higher profile school? It's definitely possible. But one thing I do know is the fans seem to be highly skeptical and they have no intentions of cutting him or anyone else on his staff, any slack.
