Nebraska Fires AD, Citing Lack Of Football Progress

OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson was fired Monday, two days after the school’s once-mighty football team was rocked with its worst home loss in nearly a half-century.

SFN has featured Steve Pederson in some past articles for the manner in which he respects and reveres the Cornhusker athletics program. (You must check this link out!) How fascinating it is to see a University hold its Athletics Director accountable for on-the-field results…particularly in just one sport.

Note where the Nebraska administration immediately went with their first action – to the top of the house. To the man responsible for all programs and makes the decisions. Remember, decisions aren’t just made when the trigger is pulled on a coach. Theoretically, a decision is made every year that you choose to keep a coach as well. As much as we like Steve, one can’t argue that the Cornhusker program has taken another step back (in the short term) after the premature firing of Frank Solich. We said it then…and we re-emphasize the statement now — Nebraska made a huge mistake by not hiring Jim Grobe when they replaced Solich with Bill Callahan.

Here is a quick update from Ivan Maisel. Does any of this sound familiar?

For one thing, as Perlman made clear in his statement Monday, he believed that Pederson had tied his future so securely to Bill Callahan, the coach he hired four years ago, that Pederson couldn’t objectively make any changes.

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54 Responses to Nebraska Fires AD, Citing Lack Of Football Progress

  1. LRM 10/16/2007 at 9:03 AM #

    I’m not saying anything is definite, but it’s certainly possible; I work a lot in TN and the fans are split on Fulmer big time. Losses still to Bama, SC, and Kentucky could force him out.

    As for USC, depending on how this Reggie Bush scandal ends up, they’re facing three seasons of forfeited games and potentially major sanctions. It seems reasonable to think Carroll might leave if all this goes down.

  2. LRM 10/16/2007 at 9:03 AM #

    Mr O,
    Grobe may be poised for bigger and better…Penn St perhaps?

  3. Stoner 10/16/2007 at 9:17 AM #

    And where do you think Pete Carroll is going???

    Rumor has it he might be replacing Turner as the Chargers head coach.

    http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/10/01/if-chargers-keep-losing-will-pete-carroll-replace-norv-turner/

  4. noah 10/16/2007 at 9:34 AM #

    “chalk up yet another example of the WC Offense not working out in college football.”

    To be fair, the problems at Nebraska have nothing to do with their offense and everything to do with their non-existent defense. They’ve scored 52, 20, 31, 41, 35, 6 and 14 points so far this season. Last year, they averaged more than 30 points a game. The problem is that they’ve given up more than 40 points four times so far this year.

    Also, Dan Devine didn’t coach at Nebraska, he coached at Notre Dame (he took over for Ara Parsegian). Tom Osbourne’s predecesor was Bob Devaney.

  5. noah 10/16/2007 at 9:46 AM #

    “Once the chain reaction begins: Michigan, Southern Cal, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Clemson, Pittsburgh, and Ole Miss could all be looking.”

    You could be looking at three coaches who have national titles leaving, if that happens.

    I still think Lloyd Carr might save his job. Would it really surprise anyone if they came back and won the Big 10? If Mike Hart is healthy and can go this weekend, they can absolutely beat Illinois. There’s no reason they couldn’t beat Minnesota, Michigan State, and Wisconsin and if they do, it comes down to beating Ohio State at The Big House for the Big 10 title. Even Buckeye fans were saying this was the worst #1 ranked team ever. They totally expected a rebuilding year.

    Plus, Michigan is having an exceptional recruiting year. They’ve already got 16 commitments and 12 of them are four-star guys. The other four are three-stars. And no, Michigan doesn’t do that every year.

    Michigan fans want Les Miles. Les Miles wants Michigan. But I still think Carr might be able to eek it out if he beats Illinois and OSU.

    Arkansas is another one. They want Butch Davis. But will Davis leave after this year for Arkansas? Wouldn’t they have a better shot if they came after him next year?

  6. beowolf 10/16/2007 at 10:09 AM #

    Off topic, but I am getting really freaking sick and tired ALREADY of the media glee about the upcoming ECU destruction of the non-injured remnants of Chuck Amato’s turnover machine.

  7. BoKnowsNCS71 10/16/2007 at 10:13 AM #

    Who takes Skip Holtz and when?

  8. BoKnowsNCS71 10/16/2007 at 10:15 AM #

    Beo – or how about the media glee about UNX and moral victories?

  9. BJD95 10/16/2007 at 10:18 AM #

    We can criticize Nebraska for canning Solich. Yes, they did end up worse (Callahan). But Florida fired Zook (somewhat similar), and ended up with Urban Meyer and a national title. No risk, no reward.

    Hell, the “market” would seem to say Nebraska was right to fire Solich – he ended up way down the food chain at Ohio. At least Zook got another decent job (Illinois).

    They just screwed up hiring Callahan. He sucks.

  10. PacknSack 10/16/2007 at 10:26 AM #

    Exactly. This whole “every week is a small victory for UNC” as opposed to “every week is another embarassment for State” thing is getting old. It’s like media members get pissed when their preseason jibba jabba is wrong. Carolina was supposed to stink, so beating Miami is a MAJOR accomplishment, a watershed moment for the BD Era. All the State talk was about the volume of Fla. talent on the roster and how with a little discipline the Pack could win 6 game or be a sleeper in the division. So they write like they are mad that their preseason prognostication was wrong.

  11. beowolf 10/16/2007 at 11:14 AM #

    Beo – or how about the media glee about UNX and moral victories?

    This whole “every week is a small victory for UNC” as opposed to “every week is another embarassment for State” thing is getting old.

    Tell me about it. Combine that with the media condescension of ECU — aw, isn’t it cute how the Pirates get to beat up on their evil, older brother — now that they’re through playing UNC. You didn’t hear any of that then; no, UNC scored a “moral victory” against those awful, unruly, rednecks with suspect academic standards.

    The WRAL ‘heels across the street from NC State campus were sighing wistfully last night about past ECU victories over the Pack. Screw them.

  12. packgrad93 10/16/2007 at 11:15 AM #

    take care of business this weekend & the rest will take care of itself. Can’t win turning the ball over -18 times on the year

  13. Texpack 10/16/2007 at 11:40 AM #

    Texas A&M and Arkansas are virtually certain to fire their coaches at season’s end. The Aggies will fire Fran no matter what he does the remainder of the season, because the NCAA violations connected to the newsletter will allow them to avoid a buyout. Keep in mind that the Aggies will have more money than anybody else to spend on a football coach. They see UT as vulnerable right now and will spend whatever it takes to get who they want. Losing to Texas Tech most of the time for the last 10 years has relegated them to third place in the state and they are not happy with that at all.

    Houston Nutt haters are flying “Fire Nutt” banners over the stadium on game days, so 0-3 in the SEC with some tough games left doesn’t bode well for him. The fact that they will have a brand new AD taking over from Frank Broyles in January might save his skin, but I doubt it.

    Is the Pitt job or Clemson job attractive to any coach currently at a BCS school?

  14. EverettBeez 10/16/2007 at 12:16 PM #

    Nebraska is the current national champs in women’s volleyball. They also have a strong baseball program. But naturally Football is #1.
    Husker fans have been calling for the D coach to resign, now. If he doesn’t leave at the end of the year, the HC will be fired. No doubt.

    Ole Miss will not fire Coach O. Our team is young – the WR all soph’s. We’ve got a really exciting QB for next year. We expect big things out of ’08. If we don’t do WAY better next year, then Coach O will be asked to pack.

    By the way, we were ROBBED by those damn ‘Bama favoring ref’s. The papers here keep going on and on about what was tossed from the stands – but no mention of what Bama fans tossed after they lost to UGa. In fact, that some woman sacrificed her high heel shoes, both of them no less, on speaks to Rebel fans’ commitment to the team!

  15. noah 10/16/2007 at 12:20 PM #

    Franchione is definitely toast. Not so sure about Nutt.

  16. Pack92 10/16/2007 at 1:04 PM #

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned Trev “Where is he now” Alberts for AD at Nebraska. Trev knows so much about college football and in particular what it means to play at Nebraska. He should be a shoo-in for the job. You can always go back and reference his comments on Phillip Rivers to see what insight he has into the game.

  17. BoKnowsNCS71 10/16/2007 at 1:48 PM #

    If they fire Nutt. Is there any way we can get Herring to come back to coach our DL?

  18. noah 10/16/2007 at 3:49 PM #

    BTW, speaking of Tex A&M, did you guys see that CoachFran.com’s secret emails and newsletters had been made public by the school? There have been some redactions (HIPAA related, I think).

    In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, go here:
    http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA101207.01D.FranStory.en.38f16a7.html

    And here’s the secret stash made public:
    http://www.aggieathletics.com/features/vip/

  19. PamlicoPack 10/16/2007 at 5:51 PM #

    Do you guys really think the chaos at Nebraska right now is something to be envied and emulated? So now the AD has been fired…so do they hire someone mid football season to fire the FB coach, or do they just skip the whole charade of institutional control and let the lunatic fan fringe fire the coach? Heck, why not hold a referendum on the HuskerPride.com website to decide whether to fire the coach? That way, they can blame all the armchair ADs on the internet when the program continues to spiral downward. I really don’t understand all the weeping and gnashing of teeth with respect to Fowler and the state of the football program. FACT: TOB is here and will get at a minimum of five years (and if past experience is any guide, more like six or seven) to show what he can do. Complaining about what should or should not have been done in 2005 and 2006 is not going to make the ordeal that is our football program right now any less unbearable, particularly if you are someone who thinks that TOB is, in fact, going to get it done here eventually.

    Yeah, our performance in all the other fall sports absolutely stinks, but one coach (volleyball) has already been replaced and is in her second season of showing what she can do, and the other two who are stinking it up right now (both soccers) are not quite where Lee Fowler has consistently said for years he is willing to step in and hold coach’s accountable for their performance–when they have the budget and facilities to win, but fail to do so… the new on-campus soccer stadium is only now coming on line. Do I think George Tarantini should have been fired years ago? Darn right I do…do I lay that at Fowler’s feet? Not completely–after all, Tarantini was stinking it up when Les was the AD, and he didn’t fire him either…

  20. PamlicoPack 10/16/2007 at 6:06 PM #

    from the linked article:

    “The chancellor also said since July he’s noticed a decline in morale and growing concern about keeping key personnel in the athletic department. Paul Meyers, a key fundraiser, was among several people who departed.
    several people came forward with concerns about Pederson’s management style and his connection with staff, donors and athletes, Perlman said.”

    Gee…just because the guy was a good public speaker and could say all the right things to the fan base about excellence and accountability didn’t mean he could manage his way out of a paper bag. I think we all know someone in our office or organization who always manages to keep the clients or customers eating out of his hand due to their ability to BS or brownnose, but who alienates and pisses off the people he actually works with or who work for him..sounds like the Nebraska AD was one of those people.

  21. noah 10/16/2007 at 9:24 PM #

    They rehired Tom Osborne to be their AD. I think there’s a lot to be read into that.

  22. bTHEredterror 10/17/2007 at 12:16 AM #

    /\ Right on, and thanks for the earlier correction, noah. I found out about my error during an Osborne radio interview where he confirmed my memory and he did recall some tough times with boosters following Devaney. He also mentioned that the fanbase was as split over the Pedersen issue as they have ever been.

    I read the fact they hired Osborne back to be some admission of error in Pedersens decision to fire Solich, and a hope that he could find another guy to return them to their glory years. Though football is huge in Neb., I’m not convinced they have the formula to return to power. The gameday atmosphere is great, but Lincoln is the middle of nowhere and they no longer have the identity of a big game team. They have wilted in big games in embarassing fashion, and with the separation from OU in division play they don’t have a legitimate big tiem rivalry every year to point to. They tried to modernize with Callahan, who was a poor choice hired by Pedersen, because they were no longer winning recruiting battles and blamed the triple option offense of Solich for it. As a fan of old-fashioned triple option football, I mourned the loss of the system’s last bigtime proponent. I also don’t believe it was the crux of the problem. Their struggles coincided with the expansion of the Big 12 as much as Osborne moving on, and the new conference wasn’t packed with lightweights like the old Big 8. A tougher schedule and the addition of a championship game cost them on a couple of occasions under Solich, and probably should have cost them the ass-whipping the Gators put on them in the BCS.

    I don’t know that you can take all the negative press towards Pedersen to heart at this time, a media smear was probably part and parcel to the decision to hedge some of the feedback from the split fanbase. If they were choosing to stick with him, there would be some other co-workers in full support of his administration.

  23. primacyone 10/17/2007 at 10:47 AM #

    Thank goodness for Nebraska. I’m sure they will be hiring Lee Fowler.

    What’s that you say? Lee Fowler is not good enough for Nebraska! Come on.

  24. EverettBeez 10/17/2007 at 11:18 AM #

    I am betting that Tuner Gill, an Nebraska Alum and QB for Osbourn will be the next HC for the Huskers – or at least there are lots of Husker fans rooting for that.

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