Osborne Takes Over Nebraska Football for Now

Osborne: Coaching search is ‘On Track’.

Nebraska Interim Athletic Director Tom Osborne discussed his search for the Huskers' next football coach on Wednesday night. Photo courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations

LINCOLN, Neb. - In an interview with Lane Grindle Wednesday on the Husker Sports Network’s “Sports Nightly” Show, Nebraska Interim Athletic Director Tom Osborne said the search for a new head football coach was “pretty much on track.”

After indicating that he had interviewed several candidates for the new head coaching job, Osborne was asked how long the search process will take. “We would hope that we would be moving along pretty well by at least the middle of next week,” he said. “But if it takes longer, it takes longer.”

Osborne wouldn’t say if Nebraska is done interviewing candidates. “But I think we’re really in pretty good shape,” he said, adding that he wanted to keep interview options open.

Nebraska’s interim athletic director also became NU’s interim head football coach Wednesday when Gary Bargen, NU’s assistant athletic director for compliance, faxed a letter to Keri Boyce, director of compliance for the Big 12 Conference.

In the letter, Bargen notified the conference that Osborne is also now serving as interim head football coach until a new head football coach is named. According to the letter, Osborne passed the 2007-08 Coaches’ Certification Examination on Wednesday and is now permitted to recruit off-campus until he is no longer serving as a designated, countable coach.

In his radio interview, Osborne explained his approach to hiring a new head football coach.

"You can overwhelm yourself with numbers to where you’re talking to so many people that you don’t really remember what the last person you interviewed said,” Osborne said. “On the other hand, you want to have a large enough pool that you were able to really examine some of the best qualities that some of the best coaches have. And I think we’ve been able to do that.”

Osborne said there are two ways to look at hiring a new head coach and staff.

One is to find a coach who has either played at Nebraska or worked at Nebraska and understands the culture. “They understand where North Platte is and where Oshkosh is, and they know the importance of football to young people in this state,” Osborne said. “They know what walk-ons meant to the program in the past.”

Another possible approach, Osborne acknowledged, is hiring an experienced coach with a solidified staff “that can come in here and sometimes save a lot of time and grief simply because they all have a common terminology. They know each other. Their systems are well in place, and they don’t have to spend several months trying to figure out what each one of them is meaning by a certain term.”

Osborne said the candidates he’s interviewed understand the game, have been successful and are very passionate about football. Money does not appear to be a driving force for the candidates he’s interviewed. “Now having said that,” Osborne added, “it does seem the going rate on salaries has really gone through the roof a bit . . . a little bit amazing.”

Source: NU Media Relations

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