OT: Legendary Nebraska Coach/AD Tom Osborne to retire
Jan. 1 as athletic director, with a successor yet to be named per several Nebraska sources.
Press conference at 11 am CT
His 255-49-3 record gave him the best winning percentage (83.6%) among active Division 1-A coaches at the time of his retirement and the fifth-best of all time. His teams won 13 Conference Championships or Co-Championships and played in 25 bowl games. During his last five seasons, the Huskers went 60-3 and won 3 NC's or co-NC's.
The Hall of Fame football coach took over as the interim athletic director on Oct. 16, 2007. Two months later, on Dec. 20, 2007, Perlman announced the word “interim” had been removed from Osborne’s title.
Osborne and Perlman were instrumental in leading Nebraska's entry to the Big Ten.
EDIT: No open, public search for a replacement to be held. Working with consultant who helped hire AD at Michigan and new Big XII commissioner.
http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=205697841
September 26th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
Does that mean Nebraska gets to win the coaches' national championship this year?
September 26th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^
Does Fulmer get to vote in the Coaches' Poll this year?
September 26th, 2012 at 2:09 PM ^
that guys was such a douche. he is probably the only reason i still cannot root for peyton manning despite how good a qb (and likely a good guy) he is
September 26th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
Thank you... This is one of my all-time favorite MGoBlog comments.
September 26th, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^
Damn it, Wahoo, you beat me to it! =D
September 26th, 2012 at 1:31 PM ^
Does that mean Nebraska gets to win the coaches' national championship this year?
No. This year they win the athletic director's national championship.
September 26th, 2012 at 12:21 PM ^
If memory serves that's the standard "going away gift" that Osborne has recieved in the past.
September 26th, 2012 at 12:21 PM ^
September 26th, 2012 at 1:48 PM ^
More importantly, his mother's.
September 26th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^
on a stellar career. I will never forget driving across Nebraska and seeing thousands of "Osbone for Congress" signs from one end of the state to the other. The man is loved there, as he should be. A legend.
September 26th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^
Nebraska can be the first ever "National Champion" to go 9-4.
September 26th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
Osborne was a class act. Not fond of the '97 thing as others on this board will beat to death, but a class act nonethless.
September 27th, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
Who was so classy as to not kick Lawrenece Phillips off the team after he played Mike Tyson Knockout on his girlfriend?
Here's his classy quote from back then:
On Monday, Osborne said, "It's not as though Lawrence is an angry young man all the time and a threat to society. But there are occasions every four to five months where he becomes a little explosive."
Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1007153/index.htm
September 26th, 2012 at 1:08 PM ^
September 26th, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^
I am tempted to call my family in NE to see if all flags are at half-staff over the news
September 26th, 2012 at 1:34 PM ^
I remember reading that he said this once:
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season."
I believe that, at least in the Big Eight (later, the Big XII, of course) he either ran the table or had one loss in almost 20 of his 25 seasons, and overall, had six or seven one loss seasons, I think. I would call it convincing.
He's given a lifetime of service to the University Of Nebraska, provided the Cornhuskers with three national championships and thirteen conference championships, and been coach of the year eight times in his conference. He has also won the Jim Thorpe award for lifetime achievement and was ESPN's coach of the decade for the 1990s despite not making it all the way through the decade in this capacity. That was all before serving as Nebraska's athletic director and spending some time in Congress.
Definitely, a full, accomplished career.
September 26th, 2012 at 2:01 PM ^
I hear "Tom Osborne" and "retirement," and I suddenly feel like throwing something
September 26th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
...at Gary Danielson....and kicking Scott Frost in the groin.
September 26th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
Goodbye Pelini...Raback It
September 26th, 2012 at 7:32 PM ^
John L. is available after this year!
September 26th, 2012 at 3:48 PM ^
Tom Osborne is a class act all the way, he has done much for college athletics and the University of Nebraska and the State of Nebraska as well.
His teams were well coached, disciplined and played clean tough football, because of guys like him Bo, Bear Bryant, John McKay, and a few others who made college football the great game it is today.
I wish him well in his future endeavours and much happiness for him and his family.
Thanks for your contibutions to the game we love so much Dr. Tom!
Good luck and Godspeed on your journey down Retirement Lane.
September 26th, 2012 at 2:29 PM ^
Nice try Tom, but that will only work once in your career.
September 26th, 2012 at 2:59 PM ^
I hate Tom Osborne. Good riddance ya jackass.
September 26th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^
Tom Osborne is a terrific guy. I wish him a great and rewarding future.
I've always liked Nebraska's program, and he only made it better. The fact that he led Nebraska to the Big Ten speaks volumes for his smarts and strength of character.
September 26th, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^
Terrific Guy? Do you know him?
September 26th, 2012 at 4:39 PM ^
One thing Osborne was known for is that he never cursed or used foul language. Being able to exercise that kind of self-restraint while still achieveing the high level of success says a lot about a man.
September 26th, 2012 at 6:00 PM ^
Did it say a lot about Joe Paterno?
September 26th, 2012 at 7:44 PM ^
September 26th, 2012 at 7:58 PM ^
Yeah? How about Jim Tressel?
September 26th, 2012 at 10:54 PM ^
Oh I get it, so we should assume the worst about him until we have reason to believe otherwise? Got it.
September 26th, 2012 at 11:43 PM ^
Of course not. We just shouldn't assume the best.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:48 PM ^
Did you know Bo? Did you know Oosterbaan? Did you know Neil Armstrong? How about the last politician or author or musician you complimented when they retired or died, how well did you know them?
There's nothing wrong with calling Osborne a class act or terrific guy. Most of what the public know about the guy points to that being the case; for a public figure, that's usually the standard society goes by.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:57 PM ^
No, I didn't know any of those people, which is exactly why I'm not calling them terrific guys.
September 26th, 2012 at 9:15 PM ^
I don't think we need to justify our opinions of public figures with personal interaction, Ghost, but Osborne was a 25 year coach of Nebraska, with great athletic history of his own, including NFL; no seasons fewer than 9 wins, several NCs, maybe a dozen titles in the Big 8, yet under all the pressure of a big time football program, he remained a gentleman.
I always admired that. And I liked the way he handled the transition to the Big Ten, I thought that was very classy and typical of his style.
I've read a lot about him and the Nebraska program over many years, and have heard him speak on a variety of subjects.
So to a degree, yes, I think I can justifiably say that he's a terrific guy.
I had personal interaction with Bo when he first got to UM, and later Mo, and a few of the coaches on Carr's 1997 staff. I liked them all a great deal, too.
September 26th, 2012 at 3:21 PM ^
has yet to be repeated in BCS NC play so far so hats off to him! Still hate them for 1997 though lol.
September 26th, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^
This is off topic and I didn't want to create a thread for this, but DAMN this has been a slow week on the board. Normally there are a lot of threads posted daily, but not this week. I know it's a bye week and M just lost again, but still, it's weird.
September 26th, 2012 at 4:27 PM ^
September 26th, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
I'm over '97. Since then, their program had its mediocre years like ours did under Carr and then completely tanked like ours did under Rich Rod, so it's hard for me to keep holding the split title against them when the path they've followed in the years since is so similar to ours.
Tom Osborne is a class act. It's partly because of him and the standard he set there that Nebraska was such an excellent addition to the Big Ten. Hats off to him on a great career. Even though he never coached in the Big Ten, I hope the league is planning on honoring him in some way.
September 26th, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^
Class act? Do you know him?
September 26th, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
I don't know anything about the man. What do you know? I never liked Nebraska for 1997, but that was a while ago.
September 26th, 2012 at 5:38 PM ^
September 26th, 2012 at 8:09 PM ^
Uh oh. Who's going to keep Huskers out of jail now?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1007153/inde…
September 26th, 2012 at 11:21 PM ^
But did you know him personally?
September 26th, 2012 at 10:21 PM ^
But as a Michigan grad and season ticket holder, who once lived in Nebraska in the 90s.... All I have to say is that any institution would be lucky to have Tom as their AD, Coach, or Congressman. The people of Nebraska have been quick to realize and have kept him around for about 40 years. Screw what some article from SI 15 years ago says, the people have spoken and he is truly a class act.