After 2% decades of record-breaking seasons,
Tom Osborne is still keeping the Huskers in
championship condition
By David Wilson
Senior Reporter
Tom Osborne can’t get away from the game he loves.
He came to tjjg University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1962 to
pursue master’s aad doctorato^^in educational psychol
ogy, but Osborne wasn Yready to give up his lJO-year football
career. So he contacted newly-hired Coach Bob Denney
about a position as a graduate jissistant.
o “When I came here, I really didn’t plan to be a coach,”
Osborne said. “I approached Devaney primarily because I knew
* just breaking cold tuikey in athletics would be hard for me.”
Two hundred forty-two wins later, Osborne owns two nation
<*' al championship rings and-42 conference titles. As he enters his
25th year as Nebraska^ head coach, he has never won fewer than
nine games and has led his team to a bowl game every year.
An outstanding athlete at Hastings High School* Osborne
starred at Hastings College before playing three seasons in the
|p NFL with the San Francisco 49ers and the Was^bngton Redskins.
Though it was a big part of his life, Cfeborne saijhe
thought he would be ready to leave athletics after finishing
graduate school. But even with his doctorke in hand, Osborne
wasn’t ready to leave.
“There was pressure on both ends” Osborne said. ‘*Jhe
academic side wanted me to be a graduate adviser. I couldn’t
do both. So at age 28, after two or three years of straddling the
fence, I just decided that I would really miss football too
much. The academic side of it looked more secure, but I just
wasn’t ready to give up football.”
Osborne went to Devaney in 1968 and told him he’d need a
$10,000 contract to survive financially. Devaney agreed and
^qgfeped Osborne a position as a full-time assistant. Five years later,
Cfevaney retired and Osborne took overjstheComhuskers’ head
coach. The 60-year-old Osborne is die nation’s winningest active
coach and ranks seventh on the'all-tinie chart.
“I doubted I would last more than five years,” Osborne
said. “The fortunate thing was that Bob was the athletic direc
tor, and Bob had also selected me as the coach. So I knew that
I had complete backing there.^ ; , ■ *
But Devaney left big shoes to fUkOweran 11 -year career. Devaney
compiled a 101-20-2 record at Nebraska andledtiie Huskers to nation
al tides in 1970 and 1971. In his final seasonal 1972, the Huskers fin
ished 9-2-1 and won the Big Eight Championship.
As a flftsN?fear head coach in 1973, Osborne also led NU
to a 9-2-Flgjj»slte But the two seasons, Osbqrne said, were per
ceived quiifpTifFerently.
“Bob had a certain place in people’s hearts,” Osborne said.
“So I just knew there would be inevitable comparisons. I
wouldn’t say that I couldn’t make it, I jus* felt that the odds
were pretty good.”
Tn hie fi nal UPQfC ac on oooiofonf flcKnma uror o frnnlirf
jobs at South Dakota and Texas Tech and was
also offered a job at Augustana College in South
Dakota. But he couldn’t turn down Devaney’s
offer.
“The only place I’ve ever been is here, and
the only guy I’ve ever coached under is Bob
Devaney,” Osborne said. “When Bob said, ‘I’d
like to have you replace me,’ I said, ‘Here’s a
sure deal.’ I knew I’d always regret it if I didn’t.”
Not everything has remained constant through
Osborne’s career.
“I think the thing that has changed the most is
the fact that our culture has changed,” Osborne
said. “One of the difficult things as a coach is many
times we’re being held accountable for behavioral
standards that were prevalent in the ’60s and early
’70s that if you look at our culture, you don’t see
that going on. So as a result we spend a good por
tion of our time dealing with personal baggage.
Players are carrying more baggage and yet athleti
cally, they are more gifted.”
I
Osborne has dealt with his share
of off-the-f idd problems involving his
players, yet has still maintained a 74
percent graduation rate - ranking first
in the Big 12 Conference. But things
are not getting arty easier for today’s
student-athlete, Osborne said
“Players are having to jump
through more hoops,” Osborne said.
“I admire today’s athlete. He’s walk
ing a fine line most of the time.”
Along with winning national
championships in 1994 and 1995
came more national attention,
Osborne said. But the criticism,
Osborne said, did not have a nega
tive effect on his players.
“The more heat there was, the more they pulled together,”
he said.
Osborne attributes his success over the years tagpodpjay
er work ethics and a top-notch walk-on program. And despite
a near 40-year age difference, Osborne said, he typically does
not have a problem relating to players.
“I think if you are generally interested in a person, they
will respond to that,” Osborne said, “even though I’m a white
guy from a small town in Nebraska.”
Turner Gill, who played for the Huskers from 1980
through 1983, said Osborne can usually relate to anyone. Gill,
who threw for 3,317 yards in his career at Nebraska, returned
to Lincoln in 1992 to serve as the Huskers’quarterback coach.
“I’ve been on both sides - as a player and also as a coach,”
Gill said. “I’ve learned a lot from him. Not just Xs and Os, but
as a person and about life. In coaching, he wants to help the
young kids to become better citizens in the United States -
and he’s done that.”
In the three years he started at quarterback, Gill helped
Nebraska to a 33-5 record and led the Huskers to three Orange
Bowls. Osborne said the 1983 offense was one of the best he’s
ever coached. But the 1994 Husker squad might have been the
best team he’s coached.
“Probably the most satisfying year in coaching I’ve ever
had was in ’94,” Osborne said. “We overcame a lot of injuries
and we got about as much out of that team as we could.”
After an undefeated season, Nebraska downed Miami in
the Orange Bowl 24-17 and Osborne won his first national
championship on Jan. 1, 1995.
“Winning the game against Miami in the Orange Bowl
QB not among concerns
By Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter
Starting quarterback is usually a con
cern of a head coach. Not for Tom Osborne.
The Nebraska coach is so comfortable
with starting quarterback Scott Frost that
he forgot to mention him during his run
down of the team during Media Day.
“We will have a quarterback this year,”
Osborne said after his oversight was
brought to his attention.
Frost is solid in the starting role, but the
big question is, who will be the backup?
Osborne is leaning toward either junior
Monte Christo or sophomore Frankie
London.
“It looks like Monte Christo and
Frankie would be the two guys in closest
contention there,” Osborne said. “It’s not
unlikely that one of the two freshmen might
enter into the picture somewhere.”
Freshmen Eric Crouch and Bobby
Newcombe might see some playing time
this season. Crouch, from Millard North,
and Newcombe, from Albuquerque, N.M.,
are two of the most talked about freshmen
recruits this season.
The rest of the backfield is what wor
ries Osborne. After Jay Sims’ knee injury in
the first scrimmage of the year and with
Ahman Green’s back problems, NU does
n’t have a healthy I-back. If Green is
healthy he should see most of the snaps by
the season opener against Akron on Aug
30.
“Offensively, the biggest concern we
have is injuries to the running backs,” said
Osborne, who is celebrating his silver
anniversary in coaching this season. “We
lost some awfully good players to serious
injury. We got through the spring game and
I breathed a sigh of relief, then two days