FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

I wonder if more DIII fans are watching this press conference more than DI (buffalo) fans.

Maybe not but I was amused to find out that about 10% of their viewers were watching it through the player directly embedded on our site. Surely other D-III fans were watching it on UB's site directly.

[oldsju67]

Thinking about it is about as far as it would likely have gone.  I don't see anyway in God's creation that a program like Nebraska hires a DIII coach regardless of how successfull they may have been or how qualified they may be.

Why not?  Notre Dame hired a high school coach...

[jknezek]

I hope the fans in Buffalo don't confuse Lance winning championships in Whitewater with Lance building championships in Whitewater. What I mean by that is, as we already know Lance took over a program that was already built to win...it just needed someone to put them over the top. The situation is a little different in Buffalo. I'm not sure if the Bulls are built to win right away, I'm guessing they are not looking at their record last season.

So, I hope their fan base/alumni don't lose patience with him if he's not winning national championships in his first few years....because that would insane to think that. Hopefully they don't turn on him too soon if everything he touches doesn't turn to gold right away, like the ESPN piece portrays. It may take a little time for Buffalo to get to where Lance envisions.

Lance will definitely have a huge (new) challenge ahead of him building a contending team.

The bolded part, absolutely. It's a huge difference and one of the reasons I'm so interested in watching this develop. Building is harder than maintaining, though neither is easy. Buffalo isn't a zero, like it was when Gil arrived. It's a decent MAC program. The MAC East just stunk this year. Absolutely pitiful. With the league down, LL has a chance right away to make noise. It will be interesting to see if he can.

[jknezek]

Thinking about it is about as far as it would likely have gone.  I don't see anyway in God's creation that a program like Nebraska hires a DIII coach regardless of how successfull they may have been or how qualified they may be.

Why not?  Notre Dame hired a high school coach...

Different age for big time college sports. Plus it didn't work out well. I would say the better analogy was when Ohio State hired the Sweater Vest. A big time college program hiring a champion FCS coach was somewhat shocking. The fact that it mostly worked out was very impressive. The latest big time FCS coach to move went to Wyoming, not exactly Ohio State...

[emma17]

Thinking about it is about as far as it would likely have gone.  I don't see anyway in God's creation that a program like Nebraska hires a DIII coach regardless of how successfull they may have been or how qualified they may be.

Why not?  Notre Dame hired a high school coach...

That's right.  Although that didn't turn out so great, the point is people, especially the competitive type, don't put restrictions on what they can accomplish. 
The logical side of Lance surely would have said there's no chance Nebraska would hire him now, but we are emotional beings. 

Anyway, I think the recent days must have been one heck of an emotional roller coaster for Lance.  I'm thrilled for him and his family to have a new challenge and opportunity. 
   

[02 Warhawk]

Thinking about it is about as far as it would likely have gone.  I don't see anyway in God's creation that a program like Nebraska hires a DIII coach regardless of how successfull they may have been or how qualified they may be.

Why not?  Notre Dame hired a high school coach...

That's right.  Although that didn't turn out so great, the point is people, especially the competitive type, don't put restrictions on what they can accomplish. 
The logical side of Lance surely would have said there's no chance Nebraska would hire him now, but we are emotional beings. 

Anyway, I think the recent days must have been one heck of an emotional roller coaster for Lance.  I'm thrilled for him and his family to have a new challenge and opportunity. 
   

Absolutely...being a fan of Northern Ill, I'm going to have a hard time rooting for them when they play Buffalo now

[bleedpurple]

Lance may not have BUILT the UW-W program, but let's be honest, Lance did more than maintain it. We were built to win but let's not underestimate what Lance helped us accomplish.

Remember, Mount Union was the big bad D-III monster. What is their record against the rest of D-III since we came along? What is their record against us since Lance came along?

And now we have beaten them 5 of the last 6 time we have played them.That's not a maintenance program. That's a pretty significant ascension in itself.

[02 Warhawk]

Lance may not have BUILT the UW-W program, but let's be honest, Lance did more than maintain it. We were built to win but let's not underestimate what Lance helped us accomplish.

Remember, Mount Union was the big bad D-III monster. What is their record against the rest of D-III since we came along? What is their record against us since Lance came along?

And now we have beaten them 5 of the last 6 time we have played them.That's not a maintenance program. That's a pretty significant ascension in itself.

Oh no.....I'm not at all underestimating what Lance did...I'm just saying the state of the program when he took over Whitewater is much different than what he's taking over at Buffalo.

[hazzben]

Lance is pure class and one of the best FB coaches in the country at any level.  This situation is not terribly different from last season at NDSU when Craig Bohl was selected to be the new coach at Wyoming in the middle of their playoff run....that turned out ok for them with another title.

I wish I was thrilled that Lance was coming to Missoula to be the new coach at Montana, but we were too slow (and still playing) to get him here.  I do know he had a great deal of interest and the Griz would have been dominant at the FCS level with him.

Don't fret Redtooth, we all know St. Glen is on his way to Montana if Nebraska somehow doesn't hire him!!!

I can assure you that will not happen.....keep him there, I would hate to have to find another team to like in FCS.  I'm surprised that lance didn't wait for Nebraska...the AD there is a good friend of his.

There is no way Nebraska hires a DIII coach, regardless of how celebrated. The fan base would lose their minds...

That'll be his next position.

No, no it won't. If the next hire for Nebraska doesn't pan out and there's an opening, Eichorst won't be around as AD to fill it with his buddy LL.

I think Eichorst made the right move. The Pelini Plateau wasn't gonna change anytime soon. But you only get one shot at hiring an HC at a school like Nebraska. This was a high risk, high reward move by Eichorst. The jury's out on whether it was the right one, we need to see who they land and how he does. But again, if they're in the market again in 4-5 years, and LL lands the job, I doubt it's because Eichorst has the privilege of hiring him.

Unless of course they hire someone who does really well, and then gets hired by Alabama or something. In which case, I'd love to see LL on the sidelines for Nebraska 

[oldsju67]

Thinking about it is about as far as it would likely have gone.  I don't see anyway in God's creation that a program like Nebraska hires a DIII coach regardless of how successfull they may have been or how qualified they may be.

Why not?  Notre Dame hired a high school coach...

Different age for big time college sports. Plus it didn't work out well. I would say the better analogy was when Ohio State hired the Sweater Vest. A big time college program hiring a champion FCS coach was somewhat shocking. The fact that it mostly worked out was very impressive. The latest big time FCS coach to move went to Wyoming, not exactly Ohio State...

I don't know..never say never!!! 

[Bombers798891]

Re: LL at Nebraska

Assuming he had success at UB, and the job opens up at Nebraska relatively soon (far from a given) here's something I wonder: Nebraska's AD pretty emphatically stated that not only is the vision for the school  competing with national-caliber opponents, but that he believes the school has everything they need to be competitive at that level.

I'm not saying LL would shy away from a challenge like that, but it's also hard to look at the Big 10's recent track record in that regard and say that those are realistic expectations for a school like Nebraska, which has not lost fewer than four games in a season since 2003 (a streak which would likely continue if the job were to be open again in a few years) Sure, the Nebraska job would be really appealing to LL, but it could also be the type of job where the expectations far exceed what's realistically possible, even for a coach of his caliber. That's not a great situation to be in for a coach.

[ExTartanPlayer]

I'm not saying LL would shy away from a challenge like that, but it's also hard to look at the Big 10's recent track record in that regard and say that those are realistic expectations for a school like Nebraska, which has not lost fewer than four games in a season since 2003 (a streak which would likely continue if the job were to be open again in a few years) Sure, the Nebraska job would be really appealing to LL, but it could also be the type of job where the expectations far exceed what's realistically possible, even for a coach of his caliber. That's not a great situation to be in for a coach.

Had a couple of fascinating conversations with friends about this yesterday (Pelini's firing at Nebraska, that is) and would love to get some opinions from the D3boards folk on this matter.  To my knowledge, there were no serious academic or disciplinary issues that merited a firing, and let's also pretend, for a moment, that Pelini's prickly personality is not factored into the decision - solely the onfield product (wins and losses) since we're assuming that the program is "clean" (or as clean as any D1 program can be).

On one hand:

Nebraska is currently 9-3 and bowl-bound again.
Nebraska has finished with 9+ wins every season under Pelini.
Pelini's record at Nebraska is 67-27 (.712 winning percentage).

How many coaches can claim the above?  Seven straight seasons with a bowl game and nine-plus wins to start their tenure at a particular school?  Let's also remember that Nebraska, despite a strong tradition, was in quite a bit of turmoil when Pelini took over.  Check out Osborne's first six years at Nebraska - he was going 9-3 almost every year.  Was it really worth running this guy out of town?  Oh, another note...if the excuse is that Nebraska couldn't compete with the SEC or something of that ilk, Pelini's Huskers beat Georgia in a bowl game last year.

On the other:

Nebraska has lost exactly four games every season (until this one) under Pelini.
Scheduling today is a little different (more "guarantee" games to pad win totals in non-league play), so that winning % isn't directly comparable to Osborne.
No real "progress" - the program was pretty stagnant in that 9-win territory.

So basically, they've been firmly locked into "good" territory - never dipping below nine wins - without ever seriously challenging for a national title and generally hovering in the #15-25 spot in the rankings.  This year was not necessarily a sign of progress, but nor was their any slippage...I guess if you really think that your program's identity is "yearly national championship contender" then you fire a guy like Pelini, but how many programs can realistically aspire to that?  Four?  Five?

Now, the really hilarious part.  The same AD who just signed his pink slip extended him through 2019 after last season.  So six straight seasons of 9-4 and 10-4 was enough to get an extension, but 9-3 in year seven - the same exact product he'd been putting on the field as before - meant it was time for the pink slip?

[KitchenSink]

Makes you think there was something else behind the scenes, Tartan.

[wally_wabash]

Imagine the emotions Lance is going through in the decision process.  Perhaps around the same day he agrees to the Buffalo job, the opening at Nebraska is announced.  Not only is the AD a serious connection, but Lance coached in Nebraska and his wife is from Nebraska.   

I imagine it looks something like this. 

[hazzben]

@ExTartanPlayer

Pelini was 25-24 against above .500 teams. 40-2 against teams that finished below .500. His records were consistently inflated by feasting on weaker teams. But he'd also lose at least one game a year to team they shouldn't have (ISU, Northwestern, etc.).

Under Pelini, the Huskers were 8-17 against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25 and lost a number of those in blowouts on the biggest stage. He's also 2-9 against the Top 10. They also had zero conference titles, zero top 10 finishes, zero BCS bowl appearances. To be honest though, it was the way they lost in such glorious fashion that really did it. To quote Eichorst "We didn't win the games that mattered most." Added in was his volatile sideline demeanor and the fact that he wasn't real gracious with the media or his bosses.

And sure, Osborne reeled off a lot of 9-3 campaigns, but those were the days of 12 games seasons. 9 wins in the 70's is not the same as 9 wins in 2014, with 13 and often 14 games seasons. The amazing thing about Osborne's numbers is that never finishing with fewer than 9 wins would look more like never finishing with fewer than 11 wins in todays football (with FCS patsies and all that).

All that being said, Pelini was one of the most misunderstood coaches in all of college football. He ran a squeaky clean program and did right the ship after the Callahan disaster. More than that, his assistants and current/former players absolutely love him. There's been unanimous support from the current guys via social media. Some of the scuttlebutt out of Lincoln is that it was either fire his OC, DC or both, or he'd have to go. And that Pelini bit the bullet himself. If that's true, and it sounds about right for Pelini, I've got a lot of respect for that.

The hard thing is the timing. Eichorst just extended him. The year to fire him was last year after the Iowa loss and the leaked audio of him going off on Nebraska fans and media. But it was Eichorst's first year on the job and Osborne probably still backed Pelini pretty strongly. Hard to pull the trigger year one like that.

Again, this all comes down to the guy Eichorst hires to replace Pelini. If his typical season is 9-10 wins, with a few 11+ win campaigns and a few conference titles, I think he's golden. People in Lincoln do realize it's not 1995 anymore. If it's more 4 losses every season, or worse (Michigan proves you can get worse by firing a guy you're not satisfied with!), it's a disaster. Granted, the new guy will almost undoubtedly have more decorum.