The swift, sad decline of Kansas head coach Mark Mangino is more than just another tawdry tale of a coach who prodded, poked and pushed the wrong football players in his seven-year tenure at KU. And it's about much more than merely his weight.

The investigation into Mangino's behavior – and his presumed firing, the way he's hacking away at former players and their parents (and the way they're hacking away at him) - is a cautionary tale that deserves a little perspective. A little tough talk, as I'm sure Mangino would term it.

The recap is this: Mangino is like hundreds of college coaches in every division, in every sport, of both genders, and all ages: He uses words – apparently cruel ones – to get the attention of his players. The physical stuff – what little of it there is in this case – is merely a logical extension of his verbal abuse. You don't arrive in someone's face, after all, by silence service.

Mangino threatens. He cajoles. He curses. He brays. He molds like a punk-rock potter would handle bricks of mud and hay. Maybe you've played for a man or woman like this. Maybe you know someone. Maybe you are that person.

Like most angry people, Mangino blames the whistle-blowers - the outspoken players, some of whom were quite good at KU – for bitterness. He blames their parents for failing their children before they arrived on Mangino's doorstep. Never mind that Mangino readily admitted, at the Big 12 Media Days, to recruiting “tough” kids with an “edge,” which means he's fully aware – and always has been – of the risks his style involved. You can't offer Pandora a full-ride scholarship and expect her box to come with a chastity belt.

But, in the face of allegations, Mangino's sheer refusal to admit any wrong – legal tactic? – and unequivocally blameshift deserves a strong rebuttal that, again, goes for any Big 12 coach – Nebraska's included – who may indulge such notions.

Sure, kids have changed. Parents have changed. The money has changed. The scrutiny has changed. Most importantly, athletic directors have changed. They're businessmen. They raise money, press hands and kiss the feet of rich boosters. When you move and sit in the worlds of men and women who barely lift an eyebrow to summon a phalanx of aides to their side, you learn to loathe the cajoler. The world is a colder place for the domineer. Fewer willing souls to dominate.

But, you know, some things haven't changed. Namely: People rarely forget a personal slight or insult. And parents never forget the insults levied at their children. What – you think one imperfect man's notion of “character-building” can ultimately get in the way of blood? Child, please. Since when? On which day? In which sliver of a minute in an hour?

That time, to a rational person, does not exist. But a coach – or any leader with great responsibility – is not always rational. Primordial forces and all that. Delusions – of grandeur, of whatever – are reasonably necessary in college sports. You have to be a little mad – figuratively (and doubly so!) - to drive a bunch of kids toward a championship. Madness lends itself to audacity, audacity to conscience-crossing cruelty. Ever stepped outside yourself in your worst, most rage-filled moment? Did you ever just know it was gonna hurt the intended target in a personal way? The id running amok.

You think of military/political leaders, best to worst. Admired to reviled. But the line between Hannibal and, oh, Nero is thin, practically indistinct, even as their legacies are magnified in opposite directions amidst historians. In their own days, both struck their chords in Rome. The first was exiled, the latter, a suicide case. History's master strategist and decadent fool both arrived at the same port of life.

Their other bond was, according to most historical records, a shared taste for cruelty.

I think some coaches walk around presuming their victories and rare compliments make up for the hours and hours in which they've run down some kid for running out of bounds, or making a bust on a play.

In the short term, sure, OK, maybe. The burning current underneath? That's not how human nature works. There's a reason Solomon writes so many Biblical verses about the proper use of your yap.

Here's a lovely lesson from Proverbs 25:28: “A man without self control is like a city broken into and left without walls.”

In the long run: Negative Reinforcement. Does. Not. Work. Anger. Does. Not. Work. It doesn't. Write it on a chalkboard 1,000 times. If, as a coach, you don't negate that prospect of fear with heavier doses of love and encouragement, the chain of success will always – always! - break down.

Maybe not in the first generation of players. Maybe not in a coach's entire career. But it will somewhere. In families. In the workplace. Rage, contempt and plain old-fashioned pissiness is the root of so many basic-now-endemic American problems. It threatens to ruin our political system, for one thing. The next smile I see from a politician on TV that isn't rueful, gloating, sarcastic or masking ideologue rage will be the first in some time.

Some coaches think their stentorian bellow is, I dunno, something to behold. They think their constant display of anger is almost virtuous, and reflective of their desire, their passion, their competitiveness. Mangino seems like a smart enough man to have considered all of that, and a driven enough man to thought through none of it. Like a lot of blue collar folks, Mangino seemed only to glance at his methods for fear of losing the ferocity of vision it takes to win. That he rationalizes it with the Brooklyn Bridge analogy – the rest of the Big 12 does it, why not me? - strikes me as a clumsy ex-post facto gambit that isn't true anyhow.

It is not unlike, you see, the “bitter” player, blaming his parents, or his peers, for his own disobedience.

The larger lesson is that we're not merely wise to those indiscretions and departures from consistency – we're willing to tap into our personal offense at them. Woody Hayes was once literally allowed to punch his way out of his profession. And he was, in many ways, a brave and innovative man. Patton was used as a decoy in the latter stages of World War II for indulging in a pointless slap. Mangino, a gifted mind who truly gave the Brothers Pelini fits last Saturday – the only coach to slow the tide of NU's pass rush all year – is bound to a lesser legacy than his talent deserves far before it reached a critical mass.

All for what? Some sharp words that Mangino's long forgotten – but his targets have not?

You look at a man like Tom Osborne. How he did it. How he managed above that fray of chaos and insult. Oh, he made his share of poor decisions - I'm sure, every so often, he'd like to take back the phrase “that girl” - but he had a courtliness about him. Still does. Greatness does not require a rough tongue. There is such a thing as righteous anger, if you're slow it. No such thing as righteous vulgarity.

Of course, it is natural to consider Bo Pelini. No shrinking violet there, right? And the cameras don't lie as to how he acts on the sideline. His berating of assistants and officials is already tiresome and due for an offseason overhaul.

But Pelini enjoys some crucial advantages, too. By all accounts, he relates quite well to his players. He knows how to joke with them – even in brief moments at press conferences – and earn their confidence. Based on every anecdote we've ever heard, he's good with their parents, too. Part of it is a relatively low-pressure recruiting process.

And Pelini is an athlete. Still. He's a runner. He played and knows basketball and baseball. His exultation after the Oklahoma win was a bonding moment in itself – even though he was connecting with the fans, and few players were around. Mangino, because of his size, must struggle to even hug his players after a big win.

Football is rough trade. No coach tiptoes his way the minefield every hour/day/week/year. The bigger question: Has the program invested in love? Not just workmanlike respect. But a bond greater than that.

As more allegations of Mangino's players emerge, this much is clear: They might have enjoyed the taste of winning, but they lacked a heart for the program. Loyalty is born in those positive emotions. And the coach has to plant the seeds. As lovely as it may have looked in 2007, Mangino's garden, sadly, was one of cultivated weeds waiting to poison their own soil.

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It was halftime of the Missouri game, and Nebraska had just laid a scoreboard egg. As NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson left the coaching press box, Tom Osborne wanted a word.

“Remember,” Osborne said, “You have that route.”

The “route” to which Osborne referred was actually a concept: A hook pattern by a slot receiver, with the primary receiver running a deep post behind it. Osborne – and Watson – had noticed in film study that Mizzou safeties would sit on certain short routes, exposing the corner to one-on-one coverage downfield.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Watson dialed up the play, and it opened up beautifully. The Missouri safety chased the short route. Niles Paul beat his corner inside. Zac Lee hit Paul in stride for a 54-yard touchdown.

“(Osborne's) box is up by ours,” Watson said. “Every so often, he'll offer advice.”

And you thought it was a rumor.

Turns out that, yes, Virginia, there is an Ozfather.

***

It's a role fit for Brando, were he taller, thinner and still alive. Maybe Clint Eastwood could fill in. You hate inject more saccharine than necessary, but – dadgummit! – if this isn't an interesting story.

We caught a sliver of the tale Saturday when Watson revealed that some of the plays in Nebraska's 31-17 win over Kansas – notably the 37-yard option pass – were from the Osborne vault. So, too, were some of the option runs and power plays in the 10-3 win over Oklahoma.

But it's the way Osborne did it, casually dropping off some film for Watson to peruse, that adds to the mystique of it.

“He left it for us to find,” Watson said. Which, of course, they did.

Could it really be that elegant? Can the spirit of one of the best offensive minds in college football history simply waft off a page of notes, twinkle like a speck of dust in the afternoon light?

Osborne makes no real attempt to hide himself. He's around, a fixture at practices of many sports. I sense he likes to watch coaches in their element – because that's his element. Practice is where teams are born. Practice is where Osborne built a venerable Varyag of a squad, complete with two scout units that prepared twice-as-many players for gameday.

After football practice these days, he smiles as he walks by reporters. Often says hello. Holds doors, waves and moseys out. Some days he's in his trademark red blazer. On Tuesday he was decked in winter wear – a coat and sweatpants. He'd been outside, obviously, on the practice field.

What is his true level of input? Watson and head coach Bo Pelini seem to suggest that Osborne's touch is so light that it barely makes an imprint.

“He has a unique way of doing things in such a way that believe me, he makes it real clear to me that, hey it’s your job, you have to run your team the way you have to run it,” Pelini said. “If anything I wish he would speak up more. He’s not overbearing about anything he does.”

And yet, in the next sentence, Pelini – fully aware of the implication of his statement - said: “He talks to me like my father used to talk to me.”

Supportive. But corrective.

“He’s willing to give his opinion and be real black and white, and say, 'Hey I think this is something you need to fix,' or 'I like how you did this, but this is something you should probably think about working on,'” Pelini said.

It goes without saying that there isn't one athletic director in college football anything like the Ozfather.

Like Somerset said at the end “Seven:” “Around. I'll be around.” And so Osborne is, popping his head into Bo's office when time allows.

“He’ll look at the game tape,” Pelini said. “There are always going to be some Xs and Os things that he thinks could help. I’ll just run some things by him - 'In this situation, what do you think? Punting the football or going for it on fourth down?' The dialogue kind of happens pretty continuously.”

Some Husker fans – a small faction, but vocal – bristle at the image. They think Osborne wields too much influence. They suggest he helped shape Bo's offensive coaching staff. That he pushes for Bo to offer scholarships to in-state kids who aren't worthy of them. That he wants to restore the walk-on program back to a level that no longer is useful.

The landscape has changed, they argue. A well-meaning Osborne is still inserting himself where Bo should assert his leadership. Instead of Osborne acting as paterfamilias, Bo should be the one with the vision for the offense, and he should make Watson adhere to it.

If only life were as simple as it looks, in these human equations we always tend to figure out in our heads.

The flip side is a more compelling argument. Pelini's not a finished product as a coach. He admits as much, of course, but he's better off, right now, growing into the role with Osborne as a net, especially in some of the intangible areas – media, community relations, cultivating a positive sideline image with referees, assistants and players.

One can argue, if they choose to wade into deep water, Osborne's methodology when it comes to winning football games. They can argue with some of his personnel decisions during his coaching tenure.

But the intangible stuff – what made Osborne so likable amongst his peers – probably won him the parting gift of a split national title in 1997.

And I don't see any Husker fans handing back that trophy.

Win Two Free Tickets to NU's Last Home Game of the Year!

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“The fans used to think Oklahoma was the enemy. They actually made us better.”

-- former Nebraska Head Coach, now AD Tom Osborne.


"Early in my coaching career we lost five straight times to Oklahoma which did not go over very well in Nebraska. But I can say each time we lost we learned a lot, we became a better team. We lost seven straight bowl games at one point and I think each one of those losses was very instructional. So sometimes losing can be the most important thing that happens to you. It depends on how you react to it."

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Vince Gill and Warren Buffett teamed up to support the TeamMates Mentoring Program on Friday, October 16th. The duo entertained a crowd of more than 1200 during an interview moderated by local celebrity Mary Maxwell. Gill wowed the crowd by performing Amy and What You Give Away. Gill is a twenty-time Grammy Award winner and eighteen-time Country Music Association Award winner. Buffett is an investor, businessman and philanthropist. He is regarded as one of the world’s greatest stock market investors and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.


Honorary Chairmen Cindy and Mogens Bay helped raise over $550,000 to support the 4,000 mentor/mentee matches in the TeamMates Mentoring Program. Bay is Chairmen and CEO of Valmont Industries, Inc. Event Co-Chairs Lisa and Terry Connealy and a committee of over 30 former players and volunteers organized the event. Next year’s TeamMates Tailgate is scheduled for Friday, October 29, 2010 at the Embassy Suites La-Vista.


The TeamMates Mentoring Program was founded in 1991 by Dr. Tom and Nancy Osborne. TeamMates is a school based mentoring program that matches adult volunteers from the community with students in grades four through twelve. Mentors meet one hour per week to provide support and encouragement to school aged youth. The goal of the program is to see youth graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education. The TeamMates Mentoring Program serves over 4,000 youth in 114 communities across Nebraska and Iowa.


To become a mentor or to support the TeamMates Mentoring Program, go to

www.teammates.org

or call 1-877-531-TEAM.

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Our first Husker Locker giveaway went over so well - we're back for more!

We're giving out two prizes this week, too! The first is a copy of Tom Osborne's latest book, Beyond The Final Score. The second is another set of 300th sellout glasses.

Both are FREE!

There are, again, 2 ways to win:

1. Now that hunting season is here - Huskers and hunting go well together - we will randomly give ONE of the prizes to any member who comments below on a memory of hunting, fishing or just being outdoors (working on the farm, etc) while the Huskers are playing on the TV or radio in the background!

2. We will give ONE prize to a random Husker Locker member who:

a. Follows HuskerLocker on Twitter

b. Retweets the following message:

RT @HuskerLocker: RT to Win FREE Osborne Book...http://bit.ly/1vnCr6

We will pick the winners at random and announce them Wednesday at noon! Have at it, Husker fans!

If you're not a member of Husker Locker and want to join the contest, click here! It is FREE to join!

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Country Music star Vince Gill and Omaha investor Warren Buffett will celebrate the mentors and musical influences in their lives at the TeamMates Tailgate scheduled for Friday, October 16, 6 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in LaVista.


Gill is a twenty time Grammy Award winner and eighteen time Country Music Association Award winner. Buffett is an investor, businessman and philanthropist. He is regarded as one of the world’s greatest stock market investors and is the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.


Honorary Chairmen, Cindy and Mogens Bay will Join Tom and Nancy Osborne, co-founders of the TeamMates Mentoring Program, at the event. Bay is Chairmen and CEO of Valmont Industries, Inc. Terry and Lisa Connealy are event co-chairs and Mary Maxwell will emcee the event.


“Nancy and I are looking forward to a great event that will benefit youth by supporting the TeamMates Mentoring program,” said Osborne. “I just hope they don’t ask me to sing – that would be a bad call.”


The TeamMates Mentoring Program was founded in 1991 by Dr. Tom and Nancy Osborne. TeamMates is a school based, one-to-one mentoring program that matches adult volunteers from the community with students to provide support and encouragement. The goal of the program is to help youth graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education. The TeamMates Mentoring Program serves more than 4,000 youth in 112 communities across Nebraska and Iowa.


To reserve seats or for sponsorship information contact Gayle Norris at 1-877-531-8326.


For more information, contact: Suzanne Hince, Executive Director, TeamMates Mentoring Program, 402-323-6252

shince@teammates.org

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Join Husker Locker today - it's free!

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Yes, 300 consecutive sellouts is an impressive thing.

“They’ve sold out every game since my mom was born,” Nebraska center Jacob Hickman said.

It’s the state’s trademark, for better or worse, one that’s soothed a family farm crisis in the 1980s, water battles on the Republican River, brain drain and bright flight, immigration raids, 9/11, the meth nightmare, Whiteclay, West Nile, Lawrence Phillips, the firing of Frank Solich, Bill Callahan, Steve Pederson, the rising tide of troubling violence in Omaha and a political culture that, even in this populist land, is getting more toxic by the day.

"Even with a certain degree of excellence on the field," athletic director Tom Osborne said, "it’s still kind of unthinkable that people come through all kinds of weather, and ups and downs, to be here every week…there’s no question that whatever success we’ve had here is due in large part to their faithfulness and loyalty and their devotion to the football program."

Through every bit of that pain, we’ve sought glory and community in Memorial Stadium, a handful of times in the fall. And rarely has it failed us.

Will the time come when we fail it?

Maybe. You hope not. The college football fan base, even at Nebraska, is changing for worse. And, yes, I put the responsibility on the fans themselves, not ESPN, not “the times,” not “the world we live in.” For, after all, it’s we who live in that world. The world doesn’t make us. We make it.

Nebraska fans are still among the best and most gracious in America, but we worry too much about what ESPN says, or whether we’re keeping up with Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and USC. We only think Pederson planted that seed in our brains. Truth is, he got it from somewhere, some of NU’s boosters, quite frankly, and the assorted cognoscenti out there who equate their own business acumen with understanding an enduring human culture. Winning made Nebraskans restless. And the way Nebraska won, too. Then again, a lot of Americans were restless in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was a strange time, triumphant and tragic, private and public, with the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, the 2000 election and 9/11 as its centerpieces.

Do we worry too much about winning? Yeah, we do. It’s probably always been that way to some extent – I’m not one to carelessly look back on mythic “golden days” – but the influx of money and attention into college athletics has turned every weekend into a pressure cooker, a do-or-die, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately atmosphere where heroes and villains change outfits on a weekly basis.

That’s a nice line for TV ratings, but, to be a little crass: Who gives a rip about TV ratings? Or ESPN? Or Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Miami, Missouri, Ohio State or Michigan. Or maybe the better question is: Why do we give a rip about those things? Did it ever define the culture here? Do you walk down Stadium Drive before a game, feeling the warm embrace of TV waves emanating around you? Do we feel lonely or something, hoping for the affirmation of a celebrity like Kirk Herbstreit, who, after years of loathing the Huskers, openly scoffing at their history, suddenly is in their corner because his former teammate is the head coach?

A 24-hour news cycle – which, again, didn’t simply “come into being,” but arose with our tacit assent – peppers us with questions, thoughts and shivs in logic. The daily media assault on NU’s program is…interesting, to say the least. I can’t say I’m not a part of it, but the sheer number of stories and angles being churned out of fall camp and practice – there is no stone left unturned. If there is, trust us – some fan on the Internet is all over it.

“There’s so much more expectation, there’s so much more criticism of these kids,” said Dennis Claridge, NU’s quarterback in 1962, when the sellout streak began. “You’ve got to remember their age. It’s a big step up. They were all stars in high school and now you come here, they’re aware from home, they’re competing for a position against great players, there’s enough stress on them already.”

What have we allowed the Web to make us? Creatures without a moment of reflection. Like Bo Pelini after the Virginia Tech game, we wear whatever raw emotion is within us. Whatever frustration in our life – it comes out on the Internet. The online fights I see between Husker fans! What are they about? Anger, really. Personal anger. It just gets projected onto the football team. It’s easier to type rage than it is handwrite or speak it. Rage seems simpler in courier and arial fonts, although some among us are becomingly alarmingly casual with loose tongues.

I hear them, sometimes, at games. Where are they learning it? Their parents. TV. Radio. From people paid to piss them off, to deliver a black/white version of the world that sells ads. Some of whom don’t appreciate the game of football –its meaning, its culture - for a half-second. Getting suckered into that is an active choice, when you take it to the football stadium.

If this seems like a sour column in light of NU’s achievement, think of it, instead, as sobering. Older generations of fans brought us to this point by staying committed and positive. Even in some tough years. Most of them weren’t “lean,” exactly, but the Huskers have endured their share of tough, ugly losses. Each home game, they’d come back, hopeful. And the fans next to them rarely let them down.

One of the things I enjoy doing most in this job is our 50 Husker Fans, 50 States series, where we talk to fans who get to Memorial Stadium once a year, at best, and maybe only a couple times in their lifetime. And it’s the (extra)ordinary stories they tell that truly reveal the magic of our shared culture. It’s really nothing more than bonding over a football team. But that bond – that’s the stuff of life. It lasts longer than a TV show.

Petty things, like who stands to cheer and who doesn’t, or whether the students have good enough seats, need to be set aside on game day. Memorial Stadium was never about being vicious, a Temple of Doom from the Indiana Jones movies. Rather, the place is a warm spirit the color of its sea of fans. Remember that.

“When you’ve been other places as I have,” Pelini said, “and you’ve been around the country, the visiting people who come into this stadium and the respect that people walk out of here with our fan base, it something that really touches people that come in here. It’s something to be proud of.

“Opposing teams, opposing coaches say ‘Wow, it’s different here than anywhere else.’”

Said Osborne: "It’s a place where you feel comfortable bringing your children, your grandparents, whoever. You don’t have to be nasty, you don’t have to be ugly, to be good. Sometimes that gets lost in our culture today."

Don't let it get lost here.

Husker fans should give themselves a nice pat on the back for 300 sellouts. And a gentle talking-to for 300 more.

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“I thought Coach Osborne was very genuine. I knew he really cared about me as a person, even more than he did as a football player. Yes, he recognized me initially because of my football talents and all that, but I knew he cared about me deeply as a person. That means a lot to me.” -- Turner Gill

From “Beyond the Final Score” by Tom Osborne, 2009 published by Regal

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Several different times during what was supposed to be a brief press conference Tuesday on his new book, “Beyond the Final Score” Tom Osborne tried to wrap up the media’s questions. He even once said “I don’t want to wear this out.”

But the questions just kept coming. Thoughts on a college football playoff? Your worries before a first game? Your take on the 1984 Orange Bowl, just one more time?

And Osborne, the natural Nebraska gentleman, offered his opinion, wading into the subject hesitantly before delivering a solid, grounded take. You may agree, and you may not – Osborne, in the view of many, is dead wrong in his opposition to a college football playoff – but his stances are so easily assumed, and offered so affably, that, well, it’s just pleasant to listen to.

It’s what the man does well. And it’s precisely what Nebraskans want to hear.

“Beyond the Final Score” contains more of Osborne’s calm-headed philosophies on life, teaching and football – we’ll have a proper review up in the coming days – and specifically, how he grappled with Washington as a Congressman, dealt with defeat in the 2006 Nebraska Gubernatorial Primary, and returned to NU’s athletic department to clean up a mess of low morale and shark-like, corporate leadership.

“Hopefully it’s non-fiction,” Osborne joked. He added that former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer used to call beat reporters “fiction writers.”

“I never made that accusation,” Osborne said.

And nothing he writes in “Beyond the Final Score” ever rises to an accusatory tone. But, just like when he fired Bill Callahan at the end of the 2007 season, Osborne doesn’t pull too many punches, either. No cheap shots. But some direct blows.

NU’s athletic department under Steve Pederson “did some good things,” - facility improvement, budget tightening – but when UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman chose to dump Pederson (just months after he gave him a big, fat raise, you’ll recall) and hire Osborne, the coach returned to a department where “mental health professionals” had been brought in counsel employees in stress management.

“I was a little bit alarmed,” Osborne said. “There were some pretty good people who told me they were planning to quit…I began to realize that people were serious about this, that there was quite a bit of stress. From that, I began to get the idea we needed to get things changed around a little bit.”

So out went Pederson’s corporate consultant, who vetted emails and acted as a shield between Pederson and the rest of the staff. The consultant’s job, Osborne said, had been to dial up department expectations and productivity to their ceiling.

Who knows what that would look like for the night security guard, or the travel agent, on a daily basis, but Pederson, drunk on some economic model that flat-lined in the Wall Street crunch, apparently thought it prudent.

“Eventually you get painted into a corner where there’s not much more you can do,” Osborne said. “I think some people had reached that point. They were at loose ends at what they might do to hit higher goals.”

So, in its place, a mission statement, based on five core values, that the department itself wrote. Osborne invited every employee, in groups of five, six or seven, into his office for a meeting.

“Most of them had never been in that office before,” he said. “If nothing else, they appreciated that.”

Osborne, a student of politics, replaced a bizarre autocracy (doomed to fail, eventually, and even more dramatically than it did) with a direct democracy. Town hall Huskers, you know?

“When you get a lot of buy-in, a lot of ownership, you’re more apt to make it work,” Osborne said.

It’s not so easy on Capitol Hill, where grievances are deep, the partisanship is fierce and the memories are long, long, long. “Beyond the Final Score” finds Osborne talking to fellow Republicans remembering slights from Democrats across the aisle that happened 30 years ago.

“All I could think,” Osborne wrote, “when I heard these recitations of past injuries, was that someone sometime must break the cycle of retribution and animosity.”

Most coaches wouldn’t write that. Most of them wouldn’t think it. Maybe Bobby Bowden, although who knows what he’s been doing at Florida State the last seven years, letting the program slide into the abyss on the back of academic fraud, player gambling and other nonsense. Maybe Coach K at Duke. Maybe Phil Jackson, in a lucid moment.

But not many. Not many are good at hitting reverse on their mental engine, or saying no to an opportunity of advancement, even when it’s not the right one.

Osborne was never offered the Secretary of Agriculture position by then-President Bush, but he had the distinct impression that “I might have been the first person” Bush advisor Karl Rove called. Rove called a lot of Nebraskans, and got then-Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns to accept the offer, which in turn set in motion Osborne’s failed bid for governor.

Back to the Ag position. Osborne balked because he knew it’d be a strain on his wife, Nancy, in terms of time and commitment, but, of course, what he’s doing now is a strain, isn’t it? More to the point: Osborne’s conscience just didn’t have room for it.

“When you’re in the cabinet, you’re pretty much at the discretion of the president,” Osborne said, referring to the Congressional Farm Bill that was introduced and eventually passed in 2008. “I was expected to carry the ball, the party line, and I knew there’d probably be some things I probably didn’t agree with.

“So I’d be hamstrung. You want to be loyal to the administration and at the same time let people know what you really believe and what you want and what you see is best for rural America.”

His vision for NU remains intact, and his own.

See also: The Big 12...One Division?

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"Celebrity is only important in how you use it—whether you use it to help people or not. Tom did that. He could have endorsed a football shoe or something and made more money, but he chose to do something with his celebrity that would make a difference in the lives of people.” -- Warren Buffett


Praise for “Beyond the Final Score” by Tom Osborne, 2009 published by Regal

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The next in our series of 50 Husker Fans, 50 States comes us to via Wade Landman, who grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and yet has been a Big Red fan all of his life!

Known as 0510914D on our site, Wade brings a tale of what it really means to be a Nebraskan, and how it’s about a spirit, and not just where you live. It’s about fathers and sons, integrity, a team attitude and appreciating the leaders of the program, like Tom Osborne. We think you’ll enjoy his moving comments as much as we did.

And remember: If you want to be a part of the fun, or know someone who might be, just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com , and we’ll shoot out the questions – leave the Big Red light on for you.

Go Big Red!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: My late father was a graduate of the University of Nebraska so yes, I was born into Big Red Nation. I did not attend school there as I was born and raised in Mississippi, and at 18 years old out of high school it was a bit too far away from home for my comfort zone. But because of my dad I grew up watching the Huskers and being a huge fan. He was so passionate about it and about the work ethic and the quality of the people in Nebraska, especially Tom Osborne. With those kinds of things being instilled in me at such an early age, it was absolutely impossible not to be a huge Nebraska football and Tom Osborne fan. It's a little like being born into the mafia. The difference is, you stay because you want to.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

I was born in 1970 and up until about the early 90s we didn't get too many Nebraska games on TV in our area. In fact, the typical weekend consisted of about 3-5 games on TV and I guess that was pretty much the way it was with the whole country at the time. We have come along way since then haven't we? Now, everyone all over the country can literally watch college football games from morning to midnight. I watch all the games that are on and if it is a pay-per view game I buy it every time as I am currently batting 1.000 on those. There are three this year and I will again be buying all of them. I can't wait!

I can remember back in the early 1980's when Huskers Illustrated magazine was this little tiny thing about the size of a TV guide. Back then, with no internet, that was the only information we could get on the Huskers and when it arrived I read it cover to cover without putting it down. Unfortunately, we don't have any watch sites in the Jackson, Mississippi area that I am aware of. As far as the number of fans in my area goes I would say it's miniscule but the few who see my license plate frame always honk and acknowledge their fellow Big Red faithful.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

The last time I saw a game in Lincoln was the Pigskin Classic against TCU in 2001. It was the first time my wife had ever been to Lincoln and while not a sports fan, she really enjoyed herself at the game. How could she not? It's Nebraska and there's no place like Nebraska! The last game I went to was when we played Southern Mississippi in Hattiesbur. I'd have to say that's probably the smallest stadium Nebraska has ever played in but it was great for me as that is only about 90 minutes from where I live. We are not scheduled to play a game in my area anytime too soon, unfortunately!

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

Well, there are 3 Division I (sorry, I'm a traditionalist) schools in Mississippi which are Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Mississippi, so fans are spread out among those as well as a smattering of fans from other SEC schools like LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and a few Florida State and Texas fans as well. The closest pro team that fans identify with and have for years is the New Orleans Saints.

In my opinion, the fan base of any one of the three universities here is nothing like the Nebraska fan base at all. In fact, there simply isn't a fan base anywhere in the country that is similar to Nebraska's. I don't say that because the fans are so much better, although they are in many, many cases but rather because the saying, "there's no place like Nebraska," is true. Its uniqueness is in the fact that it's the only Division school in the entire state and therefore, the population is not splintered into different fan bases for different teams fighting for supremacy over the same territory.

I do hear some trash talk about the Big 12 because that's just SEC fan for you but for the most part, they realize that pretty much year in and year out, the two best conferences are the SEC and the Big 12. Also, when they realize I am a Nebraska fan they don't say too much because despite our recent struggles, they remember all too well how Nebraska beat their league’s elite regularly in bowl games.

As far as an example of how NU fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in my area I would have to say that it's just an entirely different dynamic altogether. Where I'm from the fans spend a lot of their time arguing amongst themselves over stupid things and making baseless predictions about the upcoming year. They simply don't comprehend that the people of Nebraska live and die with the Huskers and that the morale of pretty much an entire state is dependent on the performance of a football team. Not necessarily whether they win or lose, although we do much prefer to win, but rather on whether or not the team plays with the kind of effort, grit, heart, determination and perseverance that makes up the majority of the population in the state. Therein lies the difference. NU fans look out onto the field and see an extension of themselves, a kind of extended family, and they want that part of their family to play in a way that represents them honorably, win or lose. The fans in my area and really, any other part of the country, look out onto the field and they see 70-80 kids, strangers who are there to entertain them for a few hours and if they lose they would just as soon cuss them as anything. There's no comparison!
What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

Well, if you like fried food you are in the right place and we have some of if not the most beautiful women in the country. If anyone reading this has never been to an Ole Miss game in Oxford, you need to go one time. Go tailgate in the Grove and you will see more gorgeous women in 2-3 hours before the game than you will for the rest of the year. I guarantee you that! Just ask the guys on the College Gameday crew, they know exactly what I'm talking about.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

Well, I can remember going to the NU vs. WSU game in Lincoln with my dad during the 1995 season, a 35-21 Husker victory in which a freshman by the name of Ahman Green happened to have a pretty darn good game. For me this was really special because despite being 24 years old at the time, I had never been to a game in Lincoln before. My dad was ill with cancer and here we were together watching our beloved team in person. It was the greatest experience in the world and I was really glad we got to do that as he would pass away less than two years later.

Another thing that I'll never forget goes back to the 1994 season. It was the night of the national championship game in Miami and dad was sick and I went over to the house to watch the game with him. Early in the third quarter we both started kind of getting that sinking feeling of, here we go again syndrome, when Miami made it 17-7 with a TD. When it was all over and Nebraska had finally done it for Osborne (although we got robbed the year before by the officials against FSU) I saw my dad's eyes tear up and I didn't even need to say anything. Although he was extremely happy that NU had just won the title, those tears were for Tom Osborne, a man he had never met, yet loved and admired so much so that his success meant that much to him. My dad got to see the back to back titles and I am eternally grateful for that. Unfortunately, he didn't make it for the 1997 championship. I miss him a lot, but during football season, when I'm watching the game and I'm jumping around cheering by myself, I know he's there with me. I know he's saving me a good seat up in heaven because we are definitely going to all of the games then.

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

I enjoy the men’s basketball team, especially now that Doc Sadler is the coach and it's much more exciting to watch. I think he's going to do good things at Nebraska. I don't really follow college baseball too much, but I keep up with how they are doing as well as the women’s volleyball team.

Feel free to add anything you like. It can be a story, an anecdote, a saying, or a simple “Go Big Red!”

I got to meet Osborne one time in Jackson, of all places. He was there to speak at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes luncheon and this was shortly after my father had passed away. I got in line and waited to shake his hand. I didn't realize that he was a much more physically imposing person than what you imagine just seeing him on TV or from afar. Big hands, a firm shake, and warm smile with what seemed like the most sincere, genuine eyes I had ever looked into. I got to tell him about my father and his reaction to the end of that Miami game, how much it meant to him that Osborne had gotten the championships and had the success that he deserved. It was interesting because even though I had never met the man before, it felt like I had known him all my life.

To this day, it still bothers me how the media and fans of other schools threw him under the bus for the way he handled the Lawrence Phillips situation. I know he is a Christian man and did what he thought was right and in the best interest of a young man’s future. It was not about personal gain but that was the way it was portrayed of course. I think the team pretty much proved during the six games he was suspended that they didn't need Lawrence Phillips, Lawrence Phillips needed Nebraska, and apparently a whole lot of psychiatric help as well.
Osborne said something once that I'll never forget because it really is so true and it's a valuable life lesson as well: "It's interesting to me how quick people are to formulate opinions based on very few of the facts." I immediately became more cognizant of this fact and can just about bet you that if you pay attention, you can point to an example of this from the people around you at work every single day of your life. It's so very good to have T.O. back at Nebraska where he belongs.

GOOOOOO BIGGGGGGG REDDDDDDD!

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“"Where you start (recruiting) is in Nebraska. That's got to be your base." --Tom Osborne

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At the time, Dennis Claridge didn’t even consider one of the most amazing streaks in college football history had started, or that it would be going strong 47 years later.

“We were more interested in winning some games,” said Nebraska’s starting quarterback in 1962.

After a number of difficult seasons under head coach Bill Jennings, who essentially declared the NU job a lost cause, you couldn’t blame Claridge for wanting, simply, to right the ship under first-year head coach Bob Devaney.

But modest intentions often produce extraordinary results. So it is with NU’s consecutive sellout streak, which began with a 16-7 loss on Homecoming - Nov. 3, 1962 – to Missouri, and continues, nearly 300 games later, today.

No. 300 is Sept. 26 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, but Nebraska’s athletic department brought Claridge and three other players from the 1962 team – Willie Paschall, Lyle Sittler and Dwain Carlson – down for the unveiling of the throwback jerseys to be worn during the game, and a brief meeting with current head coach Bo Pelini.

The jerseys are red with scripted numbers. Plain, but classy. They’re part of an auction where any Husker fan can place a bid. The helmets have black numbers on them. NU athletic director Tom Osborne – a graduate assistant on the 1962 team – recalled the team equipment manager, Mike Corgan, liked a simple look.

“Mike was kind of a straightforward, no-nonsense guy,” Osborne said. “So there won’t be a lot of flourish with the uniforms…wasn’t always the players who were thrilled, but we won a lot of games in those uniforms.”

Oh, Ndamukong Suh and Roy Helu, Jr., - the players who modeled the throwbacks, seemed to like them just fine. And there was certainly nothing wrong with the helmets, which add a little black back into the Husker look.

That 1962 squad finished 9-2, beat Miami (Fla.) in the Gotham Bowl, and witnessed the first handful of sellout crowds in the streak. Memorial Stadium held a little more than 31,000 at the time. Only small bleachers in the end zones. And a knothole section for kids, where they’d squeeze in for a quarter, or for free, if they got there early enough.

“They’d ask for your chin straps, tape, anything that was on a football player,” Paschall said. “These kids today, they aren’t any different. It was just a lot of enthusiasm.”

The team fans saw was a marked improvement over the previous decade, when the Huskers repeatedly ran into stronger – and arguably happier – programs in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Jennings conducted notoriously long practices that stretched into night, and scrimmaged often. His teams were overworked and beaten up by Saturday.

Devaney, fresh off a successful stint at Wyoming reversed course. He kept his practices short. He didn’t scrimmage much. And, so long as he got the effort he demanded, he kept the mood light.

“Devaney somehow was able to get that focus, join us together so we could really play like we were capable of playing,” said Claridge, now an orthodontist in Lincoln. “Just going from loser to winner, that’s the big thing for me.”

That and the Gotham Bowl, played in front of 6,000 fans on a frozen field. Devaney likened it to a back-alley fight when no one was watching. It was a fight NU won, 36-34. The first bowl victory in program history.

“That turnaround was really significant,” Osborne said. “It meant for awhile that Bob Devaney could do no wrong, because he was the guy who turned it around.”

Many Husker fans are familiar with what came after that season. Devaney’s magnificent 10-year run - with only two 6-4 hiccups in 1967 and 1968 – that climaxed with two national titles in 1970 and 1971, and a Heisman Trophy for Johnny Rodgers in 1972. Then Tom Osborne, his 25 years and three national crowns, the Frank Solich era, the controversial firing, Bill Callahan’s forgettable four seasons, and now Pelini.

There was a moment in 2007. Right after a 45-14 loss to Oklahoma State, that miserable first-half effort in front of the 1997 national championship team. When fans streamed out at halftime more out of disgust than a Runza. For just that few minutes, you thought “they’ve had it. This streak could end.”

It didn’t.

“After going through that 2007 season and the seats still being sold out? That speaks volumes right there,” Suh said.

The joint holds well over 80,000 now, with the end zone sections flaring out and over the original sideline structure. The skyboxes have been put in. The video screens.

“But even though the stadium has gotten larger,” Paschall said, “that enthusiasm has not changed. It’s all family. It’s just like a big family. The more you can get there to pump the team up, the better.”

Fans have changed a little, said Sittler, a center on the 1962 team. They’re a little tougher on the kids than they should be. Sittler gets to the first couple home games “before harvest time” and he doesn’t like the negativity. Not long ago, he sat in front of a guy berating a Husker.

“I asked him, ‘Do you have a grandson?’” Sittler said. “He said, ‘Yes.’ I said ‘Maybe that’s your grandson down there.’”

The guy didn’t talk for the rest of the game, Sittler said.

“There’s TV influence,” Sittler said. “Too much professional influence on TV. You end up belittling an 18-year-old kid. Nebraska is a better fan than what we’re showing today.”

But the current Nebraska fan, added Sittler, is still better than any other.

Buy Your 300th Consecutive Sellout T-Shirt Today!

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If you want to see Dr. Tom Osborne together with Warren Buffet, then save the night before the Texas Tech vs. Nebraska game for an evening TeamMates Tailgate!


It begins on Friday, October 16, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in LaVista. Tom and Nancy Osborne will host Warren Buffet for his wit and wisdom. On top of that, you get to see and hear country music star, Vince Gill!


Tom and Nancy Osborne founded the TeamMates Mentoring Program in 1991 in an effort to provide support and encouragement to school aged youth. The goal of the program is to see youth graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education. To reach this goal, youth meet one hour per week with a caring adult who serves as a mentor. Mentors are volunteers from the community who have dedicated themselves to making a difference in the life of a young person. Mentors give youth a sense of hope, purpose and vision.


The TeamMates Mentoring Program currently provides a mentor for over 3,000 youth across Nebraska and Iowa. The goal of TeamMates is to serve 10,000 youth and be nationally recognized as the leading school-based mentoring program by 2015.


www.teammates.org

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"Becoming a Division I football player, becoming a starting quarterback, winning a national championship as a coach, three national titles, and being undefeated for two and a half years. Coach Osborne started and reached his goal—seeing a great coach doing things the right way and treating people the right way and showing people you can be a nice guy and still win” -- Turner Gill



In “Then Osborne Said to Rozier” by Steven Richardson, published by Triumph Books in 2008, former Cornhusker Quarterback and coach, Turner Gill lists above the rewards of being in Nebraska. Current Buffalo Head Coach Gill had his best year in 1983 when he passed for 1,516 yards and fourteen touchdowns.

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“We’re committed to getting the walk-on program back on its feet and becoming a huge part of our future.” -- Tom Osborne


Head coach Bo Pelini, undoubtedly with the guidance of athletic director Tom Osborne, has improved the perception of walk-ons at NU.

Pelini produces a list of committed walk-ons on Signing Day. Then, he refuses to talk about any one player – scholarship or walk-on - individually. He integrates preferred walk-ons into summer conditioning.

There’s a Walk-On Club designed to support the funding of walk-on program. To his credit, Pelini neither patronizes walk-ons nor pretends to merely tolerate them. They’re just part of the group. As it should be.

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Some more in-depth takes from practice on Tuesday:

*Folks, this is a grueling fall camp. The real deal. It’s very intense, the practices are the full allotted length, and there is punishment in place for lack of effort or performance. And neither stars nor scrubs are spared. Pretty old-school stuff.

*An example: Bo Pelini devised a game yesterday. A running back has to hold on to a football for a 24-hour period, and the rest of the team has to try and punch it out. But if they do…everybody gets a little punishment. And yet the whole defense tried to knock the ball away from Rex Burkhead over a 24-hour period. And they couldn’t do it.

“He’s a tough kid,” defensive tackle Jared Crick said.

Yeah, Rex is tough. The team is beginning to discover that.

Now Quentin Castille has the ball.

*Tom Osborne dropped by practice on Tuesday and was chatting with NU’s offensive linemen. Osborne certainly looked like he could still coach, and a number of the players were pleased, and a little awed, to chat with him.

*Then the offensive linemen were pulled out of that reverie and immediately into some quick-twitch tandem drills led by offensive line coach Barney Cotton. Cotton doesn’t mess around, that’s for sure. He didn’t like his group’s attentiveness after a rep, and he told them so.

And this, a day after the offensive line did quite well among the team.

*Jacob Hickman is now, by his senior season, a very technically sound guy. Probably not the most vicious blocker on the planet, but he gets his hips around, and he reads defenders well. NU would do well to keep him at center, if at all possible.

*Brandon Thompson has now gone to the mohawk look. He resembles someone who might be Ricky Henry’s bigger-yet-younger brother. Apparently, they’re both pretty tough guys, too.

*Khiry Cooper is so naturally gifted that he does not appear to try hard sometimes. He makes tough catches look easy, and some of the easy catches look hard. He needs to go at every play with that same high gear.

*Nebraska is going to be more diverse in its shotgun running game this, we think. And that’s all we’ll say until we confirm more.

*Ben Cotton? Looking good through a couple days. Decent hands. Good speed. And physical. He wins the blocking drills against almost everyone.

*Saw more of the ribbon boards and how they’ll organize scores. There will be a section for Big 12, national and other Husker sports scores (each denoted by their respective logos), an area for stats, and a big spot in the middle for the score itself. Plus three ads in between all the sections. A little cluttered, but, overall, a good effect.

*Barry Turner isn’t talking much during this fall camp and, all in all, that’s probably a good thing. Turner is poised to have a big senior season, and, if he lives up to his potential, he’s an NFL guy – really.

*Carl Pelini confirmed today what we sorta knew: Jared Crick was still adjusting to his weight in the spring, and it slowed him down some. This fall, Pelini said, Crick looks much better.

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This project will raise at least $10,000 for TeamMates serving over 3,000 students in grades 4 - 12 across the state of Nebraska.

A limited edition handbag has been created exclusively for Material Girl as a fundraiser for the TeamMates Mentoring Program. 100% of the net proceeds will benefit TeamMates Mentoring Program.


In march 1997, husband and wife Dana and Melanie Harvey were installing seatbelts in their 1950 buick and came up with the idea of making a matching handbag for Melanie from the seatbelt straps. The inspiration produced the first harveys original seatbelt bag. What started in their one car garage has since expanded to a 20,000 sq. ft. design studio and factory in Santa Ana, California where each harvey's bag is lovingly built in the U.S.A.


"Red, White 'N U" is made in the classic medium tote with top zip closure, the same style as all harvey's limited edition handbags. With an exclusive red and white checkered exterior showcasing a fully lined, solid black nylon blend interior. Two 22" straps leave a drop length of 9". Each bag will also include a Teammates lip balm. The measurements of the bag are 11"l x 4"w x 7.5"h. Only 50 of these bags are made and once they are sold out, they are gone forever. Only 50 are being produced and your number will be between 1 and 50.


To find out about TeamMates visit www.teammates.org. Any questions about TeamMates or this fundraising project can be directed to:

shince@teammates.org


http://www.ma...teammates.htm

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

This project will raise at least $10,000 for TeamMates serving over 3,000 students in grades 4 - 12 across the state of Nebraska.

A limited edition handbag has been created exclusively for Material Girl as a fundraiser for the TeamMates Mentoring Program. 100% of the net proceeds will benefit TeamMates Mentoring Program.


In march 1997, husband and wife Dana and Melanie Harvey were installing seatbelts in their 1950 buick and came up with the idea of making a matching handbag for Melanie from the seatbelt straps. The inspiration produced the first harveys original seatbelt bag. What started in their one car garage has since expanded to a 20,000 sq. ft. design studio and factory in Santa Ana, California where each harvey's bag is lovingly built in the U.S.A.


"Red, White 'N U" is made in the classic medium tote with top zip closure, the same style as all harvey's limited edition handbags. With an exclusive red and white checkered exterior showcasing a fully lined, solid black nylon blend interior. Two 22" straps leave a drop length of 9". Each bag will also include a Teammates lip balm. The measurements of the bag are 11"l x 4"w x 7.5"h. Only 50 of these bags are made and once they are sold out, they are gone forever. Only 50 are being produced and your number will be between 1 and 50.


To find out about TeamMates visit www.teammates.org. Any questions about TeamMates or this fundraising project can be directed to:

shince@teammates.org


http://www.materialgirlinc.com/teammates.htm

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Tom Osborne and Coach Bill Snyder may be going head to head in the Coaches Challenge -but it's all for the same cause: to recruit mentors for our youth.

Check out the video!

TeamMates

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Derek Rau got his favorite Husker item the night before the Nebraska Cornhuskers won their most recent national championship.

Rau, then 17, was in Miami for the 1998 Orange Bowl and staying at the same hotel as the NU football team. While their parents were partying in the lobby with other Husker fans, Rau and his brothers were peeking through the window of the hotel’s game room watching players like Ahman Green shoot pool when one of them motioned for the brothers to come in.

“We were just admiring the players,” said Rau, a former Marine and currently a security guard from Omaha. “They said we could come in and I was like huh-uh, no way.”

When Rau and his brothers got inside, everyone in the room came up and signed the Husker jersey Rau’s brother was wearing. That jersey would become Rau’s favorite Husker item, not just because he cared about the autographs, which he did, but also because of the story behind the signatures.

That’s the same way with most Husker fans and their favorite piece of Big Red memorabilia. The item isn’t just cherished for what it is, it’s cherished because it reminds them of the story when their favorite NU icons became real humans before their eyes.

That’s why Stan Schleifer, a administrator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Husker fan from Bennington, and several members of his family have a picture of a sweaty Tom Osborne with Schleifer’s son hanging from their fire place mantles.

It was 1987 and Schleifer and his son were visiting Nebraska and they went up to the practice field to watch the Huskers run through plays. Afterward, Osborne was running around the track and eventually, he stopped and walked over to Schleifer and asked if he could do anything for them.

“How about a picture with you and my son?” Schleifer asked him.

“Not too many people would have stopped,” Schleifer said more than twenty years later.

Why is the sweaty picture of the former coach so cherished?

“It wasn’t the idea of having it as much as it was the story of how we got it,” Schleifer said.

Blake Jackson, an 8-year-old from Omaha, got his favorite Husker item at the end of last year’s Virginia Tech game. He and brothers were looking at the players near the end of the game with another group of kids, all of whom were asking the players to throw them their gloves.

Jackson said his brothers weren’t saying anything, which is why, he thinks, Marlon Lucky made sure the group left with a pair of gloves. He said they saw Lucky look at them and then walk over to Lester Ward and tell him something before Ward walked over and handed the brothers his gloves.

The used gloves are now sitting on Jackson’s dresser and remind him it takes more than a loss for Husker players to avoid recognizing their fans.

So what's your favorite Husker Item? BLCleveland from Husker Locker said he has n old Nebraska T-Shirt that he cherishes, let us know what your favorite item is, and be sure to describe how you got because, more often than not, that’s the whole story.

Leave us a comment down below!

And don't forget to visit Best of Big Red for more cool gifts and great Husker items!

Join today and get Husker updates every day throughout the fall!

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Every so often, you glance at the great history of college football, and you probably wonder, as I do: How did a flyover state full of sandy hills, prairie grass and homesteads ever fight its way into the royalty of the game? And, more than that, how did it do so a full decade after World War II?

We don’t ask that question, I find, because we don’t know. In fact, we know the answer by heart. And, sometimes, it’s simply too long and rich to tell at a dinner party, right? We ask ourselves just as a reminder how extraordinary an achievement it really is. And how that achievement defined this state, spoke to its work ethic and pride and faith. It is not a small thing, what’s been done at NU. That’s why it’s so important. And that’s why, rhetorically, we ask.

Unquestionably, a part of that answer is the walk-on program. As depicted in the newest NET documentary “Walk On: Huskers Edge,” you get a terrific sense of how and why those young, sacrificial men - often from dusty farm towns that hug our state’s two-lane highways - volunteered to serve the Cornhuskers with little reward and no guarantees. They took that famous admonition from President Kennedy and made it their own: Ask not what Nebraska can do for you, but what you can do for Nebraska.

And as scholarship limits got tighter, the need for the walk-ons went up. You know the scores of guys who came through here, on their own dime, and won games, awards, jobs in the NFL. We won’t list them again.

Now, in this era of 85 scholarships, and an era when technology allows high school players to reach out and touch their dream of college football, every team – not just Nebraska – has to use its walk-on program wisely.

It’s an excellent place to develop kickers, punters, long snappers, coverage gunners and holders. It’s helpful for overall depth when injuries strike. Occasionally the walk-on pool will produce a dynamic athlete like Matthew May, an Imperial kid who played for a great football program out near Panhandle, and didn’t get the attention he deserved.

Some would argue walk-ons provide a character boost, that “Rudy” quality that wills the more talented scholarship players to excel. That can be true, and has been true, often, at Nebraska. And that can be false. After all, walk-ons are 18-22-year-old kids, just like the rest of the players.

The best possible scenario is that the walk-on pool is a combination of all those things. A launching pad for late bloomers. A training ground for future coaches. An inspiration to the fans. A way to keep NU connected to the high school programs, and the state in general. You get excellent stories, like that of Derek Meyer, who left Kansas State, and turned down transfer offers to Western Michigan and San Diego State, for a shot at one year with the Big Red.

But the walk-on industry, like anything else, has changed. The economy has changed, recruiting has changed, the world has changed. The romance is largely gone.

Let’s be clear: Head coach Bo Pelini, undoubtedly with the guidance of athletic director Tom Osborne, has improved the perception of walk-ons at NU. Pelini produces a list of committed walk-ons on Signing Day. Then, he refuses to talk about any one player – scholarship or walk-on - individually. He integrates preferred walk-ons into summer conditioning. There’s a Walk-On Club designed to support the funding of walk-on program. To his credit, Pelini neither patronizes walk-ons nor pretends to merely tolerate them. They’re just part of the group. As it should be.

But it’s getting harder to draw walk-ons to Nebraska – or anywhere, for that matter. Division I FCS and Division II programs are getting more sophisticated, more savvy, with their recruiting tools. Especially schools in the Dakotas. South Dakota State can offer a talented Nebraska kid a chance to play Division I competition on scholarship, rather than the kid footing the bill at NU. (This is one of the reasons Nebraska shouldn’t play SDSU). And UNO, with new AD Trev Alberts, will make some waves with its future recruiting classes. Just watch.

Why? With the rising cost of college, kids, and their parents, are going to listen. They have to listen. Their 401k has been raided by the stock market. Half of their investments have vanished. And God didn’t make every kid to be a classroom whiz who can cobble together a bunch of academic scholarships.

Walk-ons have always been about sacrifice. But, for some of them, the off-the-field price may be too high.

Another issue: I’m not sure, with the present state of high school football in Nebraska, that NU actually can draw as many players as it would like. Pelini and Co. wants speed. Track guys. Shawn Watson’s offense requires gifted tight ends and receivers, and that’s still not something the state provides in great supply. Nebraska’s gone to recruiting absolutely giant offensive linemen – almost all of them taller than 6-5 – and the state’s just not going to provide many of those. NU’s lone in-state recruit, 6-6 tackle, Andrew Rodriguez, is originally from New York City.

Finally, there’s this: High school programs are no longer tied at the hip to NU. They’ll send their kids where they can play. Pelini can’t just waltz into Omaha and have his pick or scholarship or walk-on players. Iowa has a relationship at a few schools, including Millard North. Kansas has connections within the city, and at the most consistent program in Western Nebraska, McCook. Now Oregon, after offering a scholarship to Daryle Hawkins, has an in at Omaha Central.

So we’ll see. Nebraska’s done well, so far, with its rhetoric about reviving the program. Bill Callahan didn’t exactly kill it, mind you – after all, Matt O’Hanlon and Colton Koehler, both potential starters on the 2009 NU defense, began as Callahan-era walk-ons – but he…well, you know the story.

Point is – even if Nebraska wants a return to the halcyon days of the walk-on program, it may not be possible. And utopia shouldn’t be the goal, anyway.

Rather, NU should use its walk-on program wisely and efficiently. Now that Callahan is gone, Husker fans don’t have to argue its importance anymore. Pelini, Osborne and director of football operations Jeff Jamrog all appreciate its worth.

It doesn’t matter how small or large the walk-on program at Nebraska is. It doesn’t need to be our version of the Peace Corps. It just needs to be strong. And if it’s that – then it’s the right size.

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What is the Coaches Challenge? Nebraska has challenged Kansas! Athletic Director Tom Osborne has issued head Coach Bill Snyder a friendly challenge to see which state can recruit the most new mentors before the K-State v Nebraska football game.

How can I make a difference? It's easy to be a mentor to a youth in YOUR community.

1. Apply
2. Train
3. Get matched with a youth


Visit thecoacheschallenge.org
* Download an application
* Watch Pep Talks from Coach
* Read about mentors in your community
* Join TeamMates on facebook
* Much more!

Questions? Call Adrianne at 402-390-8326 or email awatson@teammates.org

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Yet another accolade for Tom Osborne; the Nebraska athletic director and former head coach was picked No. 34 on Sporting News’ recent list of the 50 greatest all-time head coaches in America.

No. 3 Bear Bryant, No 10 Knute Rockne, No. 13 Joe Paterno, No. 23 Eddie Robinson, No. 24 Bobby Bowden, No. 27 Woody Hayes and No. 29 Bud Wilkinson. Three other college coaches – Bo Schembechler (No. 36), Amos Alonzo Stagg (No. 40) and Ara Parseghian (No. 44) were also on the list.

No. 1? UCLA’s John Wooden, who beat the Green Bay Packers’ Vince Lombardi for the honor.

Osborne was also on selection panel. And so was Bill Callahan.

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