Osborne ready to
enter political life
Osborne from page 2
In 1962, when he began work
on his master’s degree in educa
tional psychology, Osborne
became a graduate assistant for
Football Coach Bob Devaney at
the University of Nebraska.
After receiving his Ph.D., he
struggled to decide whether to
join the academic world full time
or coach. Eventually, he realized
he couldn't give up football. He
continued working under
Devaney, eventually becoming
the team’s offensive coordinator.
When he retired after the
1972 season, Devaney hand
picked Osborne as his successor.
Osborne knew it would be diffi
cult to replace the jovial, outgo
ing Irishman who won two
national championships for the
Cornhuskers, but he now had
achieved his goal of coaching
Division I football.
The next 25 years brought
success, but also bitter disap
pointments. Until the 1994 sea
son, when Osborne’s team beat
Miami 24-17 in die Orange Bowl,
he had to answer questions about
why he had never won a national
championship. In his last five
seasons, he compiled a 60-3
record and added two more tides.
Perhaps the most poignant -
some say the most telling - -
moment of Osborne's career
came in the 1984 Orange Bowl,
when No. 1-ranked, 12-0
Nebraska playfd 10-1 Miami for
the national championship.
m a nosuie u range dowi, me
Huskers quickly fell behind by 17
points. But, after Nebraska rallied
to cut Miami’s lead to 31-30,
Osborne had the option of kick
ing the extra point to tie the
game, almost certainly ensuring
his first national championship.
Osborne has said he never
considered doing that He went
for a two-point conversion and
the win.
But a Miami defender tipped
away Turner Gill’s pass, and
another Nebraska season ended
in disappointment
“The way we played the
game, coming back from a 17
point deficit and going for the
win at the end instead of kicking
the point and assuring a national
championship, had a deep effect
on people,” Osborne wrote in his
1999 book “Faith in the Game.”
“They attached a spiritual signifi
cance to die failed two-point play
that transcended the actual
events of the game. They felt we
played a game that honored
God.”
In 1995, Nebraska enjoyed
one of its most successful cam
paigns. The Huskers stormed
through the regular season unde
feated and crushed No. 2 Florida
62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl. But off
the-fidd incidents thatyear casta
pall on the championship.
The Lawrence Phillips inci
dent was perhaps the most con
troversial episode in Osborne’s
career. After Phillips was arrested,
Osborne suspended him indefi
nitely. But after Phillips sat out for
six games, Osborne reinstated
him for the last few games, draw
ing fierce criticism.
During Osborne’s last few
years, several other players also
fell afoul of the law.
■ Christian Peter, now with
the New York Giants, pleaded no
contest to third-degree sexual
assault charges. A University of
Nebraska-Lincoln student also
charged him with raping her
twice. She brought her charges
nearly two years after the alleged
incidents, and prosecutors did
not pursue the case.
■ Tyrone Williams, charged
with smashing the window of a
car at a stoplight and firing two
shots into it, pleaded no contest
to unlawful discharge of a firearm
and third-degree assault
■ Riley Washington was
acquitted of attempted murder.
As with the others, Osborne
stood by Phillips, saying the facts
should emerge before he made a
decision. He would not kick
Phillips off the team just for pub
lic relations purposes, he said.
UNL decided not to throw
Phillips out of school, and
Osborne reinstated him for the
Iowa State game.
The string of incidents, and
Osborne’s decision to back his
players, led some tb question
whether there was a disconnect
between Osborne's emphasis on
morality and what many per
ceived as his tolerance for violent
behavior:
Although he stood by his han
dling of the Phillips matter, in
“Faith in the Game” he ques
tioned whether it did any good,
considering Phillips' continuing
pattern of misconduct since he
left UNL
Mary Beck, a UNL animal sci
ences professor and co-chair
woman of the faculty women's
caucus, said she never ques
tioned Osborne’s motives for his
decisions, but she said they sent a
“bad message.”
“The message was that there
weren’t consequences for that
kind of behavior,” she said. “It
said that football players were
exempt from the consequences.”
Former players and members
of his coaching staff say
Osborne’s career and character
make him well-suited for politics.
“Coaching is a lot like poli
tics,” Solich said. “It involves
dealing with people and issues,
and over a long career, he was
able to do that extremely well.”
Solich said the most impor
tant lesson he learned from
Osborne was to maintain an even
keel - never getting too high or
too low.
Steve Taylor, the starting
quarterback at Nebraska from
1986-88, said he admired
Osborne’s honesty, integrity and
directness.
“There wouldn’t be a better
person to look at as a role model,”
he said. “He taught me that suc
cess is a journey, and there's more
to life than winning.”
Darin Erstad, a punter and
place-kicker on the 1994 national
championship team, was the No.
1 pick in the 1996 amateur base
ball draft. Now a two-time All
Star for the Anaheim Angels, he
led the major leagues in hits this
year.
Playing football at Nebraska
helped prepare him for the major
leagues, Erstad said, because he
got used to the large crowds and
media attention. But mostly, he
said, he learned from Osborne’s
attitude and approach to the
game.
“I have such great respect for
Tom Osborne and the way he car
ries himself.”
An ag economy depression
As Osborne coasts to victory
in November, an ominous shad
ow looms in the background.
The United States is in the
midst of the longest economic
expansion in its history. But for
three years, as commodity prices
have fallen precipitously, the 3rd
District's agricultural economy
has withered.
For Reynolds, Osborne’s
Democratic opponent, the dis
trict’s embrace of Osborne is a
dangerous gamble.
Osborne frequently discusses
the district’s struggling agricul
tural economy. In fact, he said it
was one reason he ran for
Congress in the 3rd District
instead of seeking Nebraska’s
open Senate seat
As he mentions on the cam
paign trail, 75 percent of
Nebraska’s counties - most of
them in the 3rd District - rank
among the poorest 25 percent of
counties in the nation.
"Agriculture is critical to the
nation, and yet it's largely
ignored,” he said. “It’s like the
offensive line; you don't notice it
until it isn’t there.”
Osborne disputes his critics’
allegations he knows little about
agriculture. He spent some time
on a dairy farm while growing up,
and he still owns three pieces of
farmland in the 3rd District
After kicking off his campaign
in January, he divided the district
into eight regions and attended
regular agricultural policy meet
ings in each. He said he learned
much about farm policy from lis
tening to constituents and
knowledgeable campaign advis
ers.
Although the district is strug
gling, it has several advantages,
he said. The district has one of the
largest underground water sup
plies in the country, and hard
working descendants of pioneers
occupy its land, he said.
He supports federal crop rev
enue insurance to protect farm
ers from low prices. He said he
believed more can be done to
promote ethanol and biomass
fuels, especially now that the
country was experiencing high
gas prices because of its reliance
on foreign petroleum sources.
He also wants to stem the
outflow of the district’s best and
brightest young people by
expanding high-speed Internet
access and broadband technolo
gies to create more high-technol
ogy jobs.
Osborne knows the ag com
munity is full of divisions, but he
believes more can be done to
build a united agricultural front
for more effective lobbying in
Washington.
“I don’t look at the glass as
being totally empty," he said.
A political behemoth
ft
Tom Osborne is the Republican candidate for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District
David Gasen/DN
Husker Harvest Days is one of
the country’s largest agricultural
exhibitions. During the three-day
show, farmers and ranchers
come from all around the state
and country test new equipment,
learn about new seed technolo
gies and discuss new ways to
market their products.
After arriving, Osborne
moves from tent to tent, comply
ing with a deluge of autograph
requests. Amid tractor displays,
irrigation demonstrations and
Nebraska Cattelmen exhibits, the
requests keep coming - young,
old, every age in between. He
patiently signs every hat, football
and piece of paper.
At one point, John J. Hodges
of rural Julian flags down
Osborne. He tells him about the
changes he has seen throughout
his lifetime, when Julian went
from a “thriving rural town to a
town with just one elevator.”
“You have proven over the
years that you can be a nice guy
and still win,” Hodges says.
Judging by Osborne's first
showing on an election ballot,
many 3rd District voters share
that sentiment
nc wuu uic may pumaiy,
capturing 71 percent of the vote
to defeat two GOP opponents.
His win in November is expected
to be even more lopsided.
Some observers, including
UNL political science professor
Robert Sittig and Nebraska
Democratic Party chairwoman
Anne Boyle, are puzzled as to why
Osborne did not seek a higher
office.
“It seems to me like he has the
accomplishments and the attrib
utes that would make any office
in the state feasible for him,”
Sittig said. “I’m sure there is more
than one Republican leader who
wishes he was running for the
Senate.”
As one member of a large
freshman class in the House of
Representatives, Osborne will
find it difficult to make an impact
for a few years, Sittig said - espe
cially if Republicans lose control
of the House.
Boyle said she could not
understand why Osborne did not
run for the Senate, “given that he’s
so well-liked." As it is, she under
stands the hopelessness of trying
to defeat him in the 3rd District
“Obviously, he’s lived in
Nebraska for all his life,” she said.
“He’s at least as much in touch
with the issues as anyone else,
maybe more so. I think Tom
Osborne is a decent man, and
he's well-intentioned.”
Despite his huge lead in the
polls, Osborne works as hard on
the campaign trail as he did while
coaching. He campaigns six days
a week, sometimes seven, and
expects to log more than 50,000
miles on his white Ford
Expedition by the time it's all
over.
As with other aspects of his
campaign, his hard work is a by
product of his football career.
Many times when Nebraska pre
pared to face a weak opponent,
people asked Osborne why the
team bothered to practice. But he
knows the team didn’t win every
game it was supposed to win.
He said campaigning was'
more than just a matter of win
ning the race. When he goes to
Washington, he said, he wants to
have established a solid working
relationship with each part of the
massive district, which begins at
the state’s western border,
extends east to about 40 miles
west of Lincoln and is bigger than
Iowa.
Osborne’s hard work on the
campaign trail also proves the
legendary coach is not just cash
ing in on his name, said Bruce
Rieker, Osborne’s campaign
manager.
"When it’s all over, I’ll have
been satisfied that we gave it a
good effort," Osborne said.
To ensure he won’t be behold
en to special interests or large
donors, Osborne refuses dona
tions from political action com
mittees or individual contribu
tions of more than $300. The
Osborne campaign expects to
spend about $300,000 on the
campaign, a relatively modest
figure for a congressional race.
Osborne said he was not sure
his career in coaching had pro
vided any special qualifications
for him to serve in Congress. But
he said the 3rd District’s voters
knew he could run an organiza
tion, show commitment to others
and work hard.
“1 think the people of my dis
trict know quite a bit about what
makes me tick,” he said.
Osborne knows it takes a few
terms for a typical member of
Congress to build stature. At age
63, he is unlikely to have a long
career in the House.
As a congressman, his role
will be much different from what
he calls his “former life.”
At Nebraska, he was the
team’s executive. If he called for
an option, the team ran an
option. No argument
But in Washington, he will be
one of435 House members with
competing agendas. Without
patiently cultivating other mem
bers and persuading them to go
along with him, he won't achieve
much.
Osborne said he was pre
pared for “frustration and disap
pointment.” Nevertheless, he
disregarded the advice of some
who said he would be uncom
fortable in the rough-and-tum
ble ofWashington politics.
When Osborne retired at the
end of the 1997 season - a year in
which Nebraska went 13-0 and
shared the national champi
onship with Michigan - he said
he did so to fulfill promises to two
people. He told his wife, Nancy,
that he would spend more time
with his fami
ly. And he told
Frank Solich, a
19-year assis
tant coach
under
Osborne, that
he would hand
him the reins
of the Husker
program
Although
he misses
coaching, he
said he did not
regret the
decision.
Though some
people have
suggested he
ran for
Congress to fill
a need for
competition,
he said he did
n't perceive it
that way.
As a con
gressman,
5sborne said
le hoped to
raise me ora
District’s profile. He said he
would do so not only through his
work in Washington, but also
through his efforts within the dis
trict. He plans to spend Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays in
Washington, then return to the
3rd District the other four days of
the week.
“There's a lot that I can do
right here in the district,” he said.
As a conservative, Osborne
shares the basic beliefs of his dis
trict But he doesn’t always march
lock-step with those beliefs, as
when he opposes the death
penalty and avoids red meat
Osborne did not attend this
year’s Republican National.
Convention in Philadelphia, and
he has said he wants to avoid
some of the bitter partisanship of
today’s campaigns. But during
his appearance with Republican
candidate Don Stenberg in
Lincoln, Osborne explained that
his affiliation with the
Republican Party was an easy
choice.
“Don is a friend of mine, and -
(Democratic Senate candidate)
Ben Nelson is a friend. The only
place we part company is ideolo
gy, and that's so important,” he
said. “One of the things that both
ers me is that so often people are
making decisions on who they’re
going to vote for based on sound
bites. They’re not really examin
ing the issues.
“The reason I’m standing
here today is that I’m a conserva
tive in the way I approach
things.”
The same approach
( After arriving in Greeley,
Osborne stops to talk to Greeley
High School’s No. 1-ranked, Class
D-l eight-man football team. It's
a hot late-summer afternoon,
and the players are tired and
sweaty from drills. When
Osborne arrives, they eagerly
gather around.
"I'm sure you all hate to stop
what you’re doing to hear an old
broken-down coach like me,’’
Osborne says.
After the coaches and a few of
the players laugh, he tells the
team to continue working hard.
He reminds them talent alone
won’t bring success; the team
must work together to build
chemistry.
On the sidelines, Osborne
was unflappable, barely cracking
a smile when his team won the
national championship. But
beneath the surface of his mild
mannered, serious exterior is a
reservoir of dry humor.
Standing next to Osborne at a
recent campaign event, Stenberg
disputed the results of a recent
copyrighted Omaha World
Herald poll. It showed he trailed
Nelson by 20 percentage points.
In the same poll, Osborne led
Reynolds by 60 points.
Osborne listened as Stenberg
finished, then strolled to the
mike.
Don, you worried me there
when you said the World-Herald
poll wasn't accurate."
Entering Husker Harvest
Days, Osborne rode in a Ford
Expedition across the dusty
roads of the enormous show
grounds. The vehicle had to go
slow to avoid all the people.
“We’d better not hit anyone,"
Osborne said. “We could lose a lot
of votes in a hurry.”
Osborne is deeply rooted in
his religious beliefs, but when
asked what he considers his
greatest strengths and weakness
es, he is reluctant to engage in
that kind of introspection.
“I’ll leave that up to you," he
said. “It’s so hard for someone to
evaluate himself like that"
Nebraskans have evaluated
Osborne for more than 30 years,
and now the voters in the 3rd
District are prepared to send him
to Washington. It remains to be
seen how he will perform in
Congress - whether he will grow
tired of the bickering, whether his
political inexperience will show
or whether, as he hopes, he will
bring new attention to the district
in which he grew up and which
he believes has been largely
ignored.
But Nebraskans can be cer
tain his approach to politics will
closely mirror his approach to
football.
“A couple of things I learned
‘from my former life is not to pay
attention to point spreads and
polls,” he said. “You do what you
have to do every day and go out
there and work. As far as I’m con
cerned, my race is dead-even in
terms of my approach.”
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