Ryan Soderlin/DN
NEBRASKA COACH TOM Osborne has some words for the line judge at the Nebraska vs. Colorado game this year.
Players remember unique
relationship with Osborne
By Shannon Heffelfevger
Assignment Reporter
Nebraska football players failed to
find humor in one of the few jokes
straight-faced Coach Tom Osborne
cracked on Wednesday.
The 25-year Cornhusker coach
attempted to keep things lighthearted
during NU’s team meeting Wednesday
afternoon.
But Osborne’s announcement that
he would retire after NU competes for
a possible national championship in
the Orange Bowl Jan. 2 dampened the
coach’s punch lines.
“Coach came in and he tried to
crack some jokes, but nobody was
laughing,” junior linebacker Eric
Johnson said. “We knew.”
“Most people sat with their heads
down. And a few guys tried to smile,
but even the ones who tried still had
tears in their eyes.”
The knowledge produced a
somber scene at the South Stadium
lounge as, only minutes after Osborne
revealed his retirement to the media.
Osborne, I’ll be able to give him a big
hug and it will be fine.
“He has that type of relationship
with everyone. He knows everyone’s
name, all 176 of them. I guess that
might be hard for some on other teams
to fathom, but that’s something we
have unique at Nebraska.”
It’s that unique relationship that
players spoke of over and over again.
“You hear so many people say that
he teaches us otf the field,” senior Jay
Sims said. “He does. He teaches us
about life, and about being a good per
son. He taught us how to talk the right
way to people and to take our hats off
at dinner.”
Junior fullback Joel Makovicka, a
former walk-on, praised Osborne and
the lengths the determined coach went
to in order to build a successful walk
on program.
Johnson recalled how Osborne
took him under his wing as a
Proposition 48 student three years ago
and personally watched the junior
from Phoenix to make sure Johnson
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He teaches us
about life,
about
being a good
person
Jay Sims
Husker I-back
cates himself to it. That’s what Coach
Osborne means to me. He is all about
completing the mission. My mission
was to play football for Nebraska and
to get a degree. I’ve done the football
part, and I’m going to get the degree.”
But even through their sorrow, the
Huskers respect Osborne’s decision.
And now, Jackson said, the
Huskers are on a mission to help end
the Osborne’s 25-year-career as head
coach on a high note.
NANCY OSBORNE, wife of head Coach Tom Osborne, offers her support during
Osborne told the media her support was important to him during his career.
Osborne family ay
By Matthew Watte
Senior Reporter
For 25 years, Nancy Osborne has
been on a different kind of sideline.
Throughout the rearing of three chil
dren, she has always been the head
parental coach, with only an occasional
assistant coach to help out.
For the 25 years that her husband,
Tom, has been head coach at Nebraska,
Nancy Osborne has kept the home team
together.
Now, the children are grown - grand
children are now in the picture. And foot
ball, after the Jan. 2 Orange Bowl, is out.
Nancy Osborne is getting her hus
band back.
Tom Osborne, the football coach
with the second-best winning percentage
in college football history, retired
Wednesday, ending an extraordinary
career as the Husker head man.
In a news conference Wednesday,
Osborne said he is stepping aside, allow
ing Frank Solich, assistant head coach, to
step up.
Osborne, 60, said his years as head
coach have been hard on his family,
especially his wife. However, he joked,
retirement may be more of a sacrifice for
her.
“It’s going to be tough having me
around,” he said.
Two of Osborne’s three children -
Mike Osborne and Ann Wilke - said
their father’s return home would be an
Senior quarterback Scott Frost
remembered the support Osborne
offered through difficult times
throughout the season.
Vershan Jackson’s eyes filled with
tears when he explained Osborne’s
role in his life. Jackson - whose father
died in 1991 - lost his mother last July.
“Coach Osborne really is like a
father to me,” Jackson said. “It was a
really trying time, but he told me to
just keep the faith and things would
work out.
“He doesn’t worry about the
things he can’t control, but when there
is something he can control he dedi
■y
Osborne will coach his last game
against Tennessee in the Orange Bowl
Jan. 2.
“We want coach to go out with a
bang, and we’re going in to make sure
he does,” center Josh Heskew said.
“Whatever it takes. If it takes more
hard work and sacrifice on our part,
we’ll get it done.”
Sims agreed.
“The most important thing he
taught me is that if you want to do
something, you do it all the way,” Sims
said. “He does not do anything less
than 150 percent. We won’t either.”
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his players struggled to find the words
to describe the unique relationship
they shared with the 60-year-old
coach.
Osborne filled a role that stretched
beyond the boundaries of a football
coach for the Huskers.
Offensive lineman Matt
Hoskinson said Osborne played the
part of a teacher, a father and a friend.
“You can’t put into words the kind
of bond you we have with Coach
Osborne,” Hoskinson said. “You can
sit and talk for hours. And I know five
years from now if I see Coach
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