Many Husker fans felt four years ago that the hiring of Bill Callahan was ill-advised. Nebraska found itself in a strange and unusual situation. They had gone 40 days since the firing of Frank Solich, the day after beating Colorado in Boulder and finishing 9-3 in the regular season, and a 58-19 record overall. A large number of fans expected and wanted Bo Pellini to be hired to replace Solich, but he was given only a five-minute courtesy interview and was not seriously considered. Not many could understand the 40-day window between firing the old coach and hiring a new one, especially since the job was offered to several and they all turned it down. Callahan was to come to Nebraska on the heels of his Oakland Raiders football team literally quitting on him, only one year removed from playing in the Super Bowl. Many Husker fans were not excited or optimistic about his migration to the Heartland.

 

Callahan didn't and hasn't done much to allay those concerns. He immediately dumped the run-oriented offense which had been Nebraska's bread and butter since the days of Osborne and Devaney and went to the pro-style West Coast offense. Callahan promised an exciting offense, a solid defense, and a promise to take Nebraska to a new level. He also made a commitment to recruit nationally and to not rely on Nebraska walk-ons nearly as much as his predecessors had, even though the Nebraska walk-on program was considered to be one of the best in the nation and many walk-ons became starters and outstanding contributors. Finally, Callahan promised to take the Husker football program to another level. He did, but not even the skeptics thought it would be at least a couple of levels below where it was when Solich was fired.

 

At the beginning of this season, the talk in the media as well as the talk between friends and Husker fans state-wide was that this should be the pivotal year of his tenure. Most of his players would be players he recruited and the feeling was he had been here long enough to acquaint himself with college football in general and Big Twelve football in particular. Everyone hoped things would finally start to look brighter for Big Red football. But it wasn't to be. But it could have been. Maybe even should have been. In fact, I believe WOULD have been had Callahan not decided it would be better for Husker football to recruit Sam Keller, a disgruntled quarterback at Arizona State, than to play Joe Ganz, a three- year member of the football team who has enormous raw talent and the support of the other players.

 

We (the public) were told that Keller would have to compete for the job and beat out Ganz legitimately on the practice field. Leading up to the first game, Callahan named Keller the starter, claiming it was a hard decision because the two were so close to each other competitively. I've got some swampland to sell you if you bought that explanation. Callahan was bound and determined to get Keller at Nebraska and the only way he could make sure he came was to assure him he would be the starting quarterback. I don't know how many schools were interested in Keller playing  only one year for them after leaving Arizona State because he didn't win the starting job there, but there obviously were several. The major question from Keller AND his dad, who played a significant part in the decision-making process was obviously whether or not he was going to start. Why would Keller take a chance of transferring to Nebraska or any other school just to sit on the bench? That's what he was going to do at Arizona State. Why would he go someplace else to do the same thing?

 

I think naming Keller the starter over Ganz affected this football team on both sides of the ball. These players knew Ganz. They knew his character and his work ethic. They were prepared to play for him because they knew he would play for them. But he didn't get the start because Callahan convinced himself that a Johnny-come-lately prima donna transfer could make the Huskers better. It probably sounds like I'm being overly harsh on Keller and that's not really the intent. I've never liked people who are so self-centered that everything is always about them. You compete for the job and, if you don't get it, you support the team and do whatever you can do to make it better. That's what Ganz did when Keller "beat" him out. But when Keller got "beat" out at Arizona State, he quit. That's just not the attitude a team needs from their on-the-field leader.

 

Be that as it may, this is more of a criticism of Callahan than Keller. Obviously Keller wanted the opportunity to start for a high-profile major college football team because of his desire to play pro football and teams don't get much higher profile or major college than Nebraska. That was Callahan's decision and is only one more reason why I expect him to be relieved of his coaching duties by Tom Osborne later today, even though Nebraska was leading Colorado by double-digits at halftime as I write this column.

 

Look what Joe Ganz has done for this team offensively and, more importantly, cohesively since he took over for an injured Keller. Not only has the offense played much better and more consistently but even the defense has looked somewhat better. Their improved play, however, is not a pat on the back for Kevin Cosgrove, the defensive coordinator who I don't think could coach a squirrel out of a tree with a truckload of acorns, but rather to a change in the attitudes of the players. There's no way we'll ever know but it's the opinion here that we would have been a better football team with a better record if Ganz had been the starter from the get-go.

 

Callahan wasn't and isn't the right guy at the right time to restore Nebraska football to its once storied and lofty position among the nation's football elites. Remember that between Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, Sooner fans had to endure Gary Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake and Southern Cal fans had to suffer through Ted Tollner, Larry Smith and Paul Hackett's failings between John Robinson and Pete Carroll.

 

We just have to keep looking until we find the right guy at the right time for the right program. We'll be back. But not under this regime.