CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: NEBRASKA COACH
Tom Osborne gives instruction daring a 1980
game while quarterback Jeff Qainn (11)
looks ea.Ja.tbe background is fatnre
I Lombardi and Oatland Trophy winner Oave
Rimington.
BELOW: OSBORNE AND ALL-AMERICAN
BROOEMCK THOMAS accept the 1986 Sugar
Bowl Ttophy after defeating Louisiana State
University 30-15. Osborne’s teams have
gone to a bowl every season with him as
coach.
BOTTOM: OSBORNE AND FORMER COACH and
athletic director Bob Devaaey look at the
plaque cowmoworatiug the two ceaches for
each having wen more than 100 games.
BOTTOM !^ OSBORNE AND FORMER PLAY
IERS Christian Peter, Aaron Graham and
Jared Tomich admire the two Sears National
Championship and Associated Press
Trophies. With its 62-24 victory over Florida
in the 1996 National Championship,
Nebraska became the first team in 40 years
to post perfect back-to-back national
championship seasons.
TOP LEFT: OSBORNE TALKS to Tommie
Frazier before the 1994 Orange Bowl.
Although Nebraska lost the game 18-16 and
the national championship to Florida State,
Osborne said he was pleased with his
team’s performance against the Seminoles.
a
I doubted I would last more than five years ... I
wouldn’t say that I couldn’t make it, I just felt that
the odds were pretty good
Tom Osborne
was a gratifying moment,” Osborne said. “I think that the
great thing there was to end up being the strongest team in the
fourth quarter.”
- . The win snapped a seven-year bowl-game losing streak
for Nebraska. Though losing has never happened more than
three times in a season, Osborne has always been noted for
taking his losses graciously - something he attributes to
Devaney.
“Bob said, ‘If you get beat, you might as well congratulate
your opponent,’” Osborne said. “I can see no benefit from
doing anything else. But I wish I didn’t have to talk about loss
es as much as I did.”
As a head coach, Osborne has lost just 49 games.
After 45 years of football, Osborne said he is not ready to
retire. But he said he doesn’t Jcuow how much longer he will
want to coach.
“I’m not real sure what’s going to happen down the road,”
Osborne said. “I really don’t see myself coaching as long as
Joe Patemo and Bobby Bowden, but I’m sure they felt that
way when they were 60. Hopefully, when I retire, it will be
because I feel that’s what’s best for the program.”
Whenever he decides to leave, Gill said, Osborne will
have left his mark at Nebraska.
“I think he’s just a phenomenal man,” Gill said.
“Nowadays to stay at a coaching job for 25 years is unheard
of. The thing I like about him is he’s consistent, loyal, and he’s
a person that you can talk to. I love the way he relates to peo
ple. I’m not saying he’s a perfect man - none of us are. But I
know where his heart is. That’s the key thing. He’s going to
touch all these players’ lives and even us as coaches. I think
he’s the best person to represent what a coach should be.”
Osborne this season
later I found out Dan Alexander had a tom
ACL (anterior-cruciate ligament).”
Spring-game surprise Alexander is
rehabilitating after having surgery for the
tom ACL he suffered in the spring.
“He probably will not scrimmage for
about a month, but he will practice once a
day and will be running plays,” Osborne
said. “If we can get him back into the flow
sometime in the early season, that will be a
real plus. With most guys, recovering fully
from an ACL is a 12-month, 10-month,
nine-month proposition. We’re asking this
guy to get back to almost full go within five
months.”
Second-string I-back De Angelo Evans
is sidelined after having pelvis surgery this
summer. At fullback NU has Joel
Makovicka, Billy Legate and Josh Cobb
healthy, with backups Willie Miller and
Ben Kingston out with injuries. Makovicka
suffered a slight bruise to his knee, but is
practicing.
“Even though we’re thin in the back
field, I think it’s a quality backfield,”
Osborne said. “So. we have four guys and
right now. that’s where it ends. My feeling
is that four running backs, usually, have not
been able to carry you through a season.”
The offensive line returns with a strong
corps of players led by senior Aaron Taylor,
who played guard last season but will
return to the center spot this season. Along
with Taylor, Eric Anderson and Jon
Zatechka both started last season while
backups Fred Pollack, Josh Heskew and
Matt Hoskinson all have game experience.
Hoskinson is the backup guard and center,
but will see a lot of playing time this sea
son.
“He’s playing two positions,” Osborne
said. “He’s pretty much like a starter.”
Please see OSBORNE on 35
Photos courtesy of Nebraska Sports Information