Cali Wolverine

December 4th, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^

This guy is a ridiculously good coach, and succeeds in a place that makes Lincoln look like NYC. USC tried to hire him 3 times...and he said no (leading to Carroll, Kiffin and Sark). Riley is going to kill it at Nebraska, and I would say he is probably now in the Top 3 of best BIG coaches with Dantonio and Meyers. Unless we get Harbaugh, I am fearful Nebraska may be hard to beat as far as which school hired the better coach.

Joined: 01/13/2013

MGoPoints: 21755

WolvinLA2

December 4th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^

I follow the Pac-12 quite closely, and I don't see this as much of a hire.  I'm not sure he really said no to USC 3 times - it's possible before the Carroll hire since USC wasn't as great of a job yet, and he might have said no during the Kiffin hire because of all the sanctions, but why would he have said no to USC a year ago only to take the Nebraska job this year?  

Mike Riley reminds me of Brady Hoke in that he's a great guy that his players and other coaches love, and everyone talks about how great of a coach he is.  And he's certainly a good coach, but has never really been able to get over the hump.  He's put together a lot of solid teams, but no really great ones and a few downright bad ones (including this year).  

That's just not a very inspiring hire if you ask me.

Joined: 11/13/2009

MGoPoints: 58191

Cali Wolverine

December 4th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^

Trust me...he was offered the job twice and his interest was gaged before USC hired Sark. Why Lincoln over USC? Because Riley is a great coach, but an odd bird, that prefers the quieter Corvalis/Lincoln to Los Angeles. If the BIG sleeps on Riley, they are going to find out pretty quickly how good a coach he is. I will eat crow on here if not, but I think he will have Nebraska rolling in a few years.

Joined: 01/13/2013

MGoPoints: 21755

WolvinLA2

December 4th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^

I don't think Nebraska will be a bust with him, but will be do better than Pelini did?  Because he never did better than that at Oregon St, when a lot of those years the Pac 12 is as bad or worse than the Big Ten is now.  If Nebraska was coming off consecutive 5-7 seasons and needed someone to get them to "good" then Mike Riley would be a good hire.  But they have been a 9-to-10 win team for half a decade looking to get over the hump and Riley has never been able to do that.  

He has never coached in a conference championship game or a major bowl game and has never been able to recruit with the big boys.  Clearly Nebraska isn't OK with 9-3 and I see no evidence why Mike Riley is more likely to get them above that.

Joined: 11/13/2009

MGoPoints: 58191

Tater

December 4th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^

I hope poaching coaches from other schools is a trend.  If Michigan can't get JH, I would love to see them talk Chris Petersen into leaving Washington.  His salary started at $3.2 million and escalates to $4 million over five years.  Or, of course, talking Dan Mullen into leaving MSU.  

Joined: 08/13/2008

MGoPoints: 30584

Moe

December 4th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^

He's a 93-79 head coach in college.  That's the guy you want running your program?  A guy who's best record in 14 years is 9-4?  But they will get NFL prospects at least, so they can be happy about that.  This is all about having the opposite of Pelini, not having the best coach available.

Joined: 10/24/2014

MGoPoints: 17624

carlos spicywiener

December 4th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^

That's the thing - Riley's talent development accolades are a little more significant of a factor than "now they'll get NFL players" he was the guy finding and developing them.

Oregon St is an absolute talent wasteland, yet they keep turning players no one else looks at into NFL players...Jordan Poyer, Quiz Rodgers, Bilentikoff winner & 1st rounder Brandin Cooks...and many more.

My point is he found and developed them out of nowhere. It's a gamble that he'll do better on a bigger stage.

Nebraska went and found the one guy who would find recruiting at Nebraska as a step up.

I think it's interesting, if not a home run. This isn't brady hoke.

Joined: 05/03/2014

MGoPoints: 25160

beardog07

December 4th, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^

Home run?! What are you smoking?  Nebraska is one of the most succesful football programs of not only the modern era but all-time, and they go out and hire a guy who has demonstrated nothing but mediocrity - with a large sample size too.  They fire a consistently good coach because they want to become elite, and this is who they get? So glad I'm not a NU fan.

Developing NFL talent every once in awhile is only one peice of the puzzle with winning college football games. 

Joined: 10/12/2008

MGoPoints: 914

APBlue

December 4th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

According to this page 

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/number-of-nfl-players-by-college/2014/, 

you're wrong.  Nebraska has turned out more NFL players than Oregon St.  

To be fair to Carlos Spicyweiner, these are not separated by date.  Some of these players may pre-date Bo Pelini.  

Conversely, I doubt any of these players pre-date Mike Riley at Oregon St.  I think he's been there since '03.  

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 22020

Brodie

December 4th, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^

Nebraska hired a 61 year old who has never coached east of Colorado at the college level and who Oregon State fans felt was doing less with more by retaining poor assistents. Plus, doesn't he run an offense that is a totally poot fit for their personnel? Will he coach long enough to oversee that transition?

Joined: 11/19/2008

MGoPoints: 10713

Mr. Yost

December 4th, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^

It was about not having enough wins to earn the right to be a douche.

They went and got a guy that they think will win just as much as Pelini, but will be far less of an embarrassment.

*so yes, it was about wins, but it was the fact that Pelini didn't win enough to behave the way he behaved. But IMO, it wasn't that he didn't win enough for the Huskers if he was just "normal."

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

EGD

December 4th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^

I had that coming.  

It's true that Nuss didn't perform a Mattison 2011 miracle with our offense.  But he had a consistent record of success at his earlier stops, and I really don't think one disappointing year is enough to say he "failed" here.  Regardless, we are talking about Oregon State: it's not exactly the premiere job in the country.  As a Pac-12 job in the Pacific NW, though, it seems like a good place for Nuss to get his feet wet as a HC.

Joined: 09/16/2009

MGoPoints: 35199

Argyle

December 4th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^

That's a surprise. Riley had opportunities to skip town for USC but stayed, content with life in rainy Corvalis. Maybe he thought OSU would want to make a change given another disappointing season. Either way, good coach. Not a threat.

Joined: 09/26/2009

MGoPoints: 1314