Pitt and Nebraska: 2 Soul Mates
- Thread starter pittman71
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They lost their Texas recruiting base. And that has enabled schools like TCU, Baylor, and OKST to rise up, very similarly how Pitt's move to ACC basketball and the loss of the Philly/NJ/NY recruiting base has allowed SHU and PC to rise up.
the good doctor tom was very proficient at getting the gang bangers out of Compton & Watts to matriculate there. think Lawrence Phillips. Similar to JoePa, everyone bought in to his holier than thou image.
They had a great coach in the 50's and 60's that made them one of the legendary programs. They did a good job recruiting rural kids from across the country. As the balance of talent shifted to more urban areas, they went the JuCo route much better than nearly anyone else. As the NCAA has become more strict about admission standards, they've struggled. Moving to the Big 10 was an enormous mistake that nearly everyone but them saw coming like a prairie fire.
Nebraska was one of the few schools that accepted non-qualifiers into their program all the way through the Osbourne years, as the Big 12 (Big 8 at the time perhaps) did not have a policy in place and let it up to the individual schools. This allowed Nebraska to bring in elite talent and get them qualified while on campus. I believe the TX schools led the charge to institute a policy to disallow non-qualifiers that was primarily aimed to tear down the NU program. They haven't been the same since, and never will.
Still ill that Irving Fryer and Mike Rozier were favoring Pitt then both end up at Nebraska. The Huskers used to get kids from Jersey, Texas and California. That well has dried up but it still looks like a great place to play football with that fan base, but the truth is there are simply better and warmer options.
Because of no backyard to pull recruits......Nebraska has not been the same ever since underclassmen could declare.
Notice how since this has changed college football.......the schools with true depth can weather this. For the most part.... the truly powerhouse schools today have a great back yard for talent
NU does not....nor does Pitt......and like Pitt....they will never ever be elite again.
Notice how since this has changed college football.......the schools with true depth can weather this. For the most part.... the truly powerhouse schools today have a great back yard for talent
NU does not....nor does Pitt......and like Pitt....they will never ever be elite again.
Nebraska was on the decline even before they left the Big 12. Tom Osborne had reached legendary status, which allowed him to recruit at a high level, despite the shortcomings of location, etc. Once he retired, they came back to earth. The expansion of the Big 12 also took away the Oklahoma game, which was always on tv, a big selling point for the program. They, like Mizzou, and A&M, had grown very "Texas weary", so they jumped at the offer from the Big 10.
Seton Hall hasn't made it out of the NCAA first round since 2004. They have made the tourney the last two years and were beaten in the first round both times.
Providence however has faired better, making the second round of the tourney three straight seasons 2014-2016 (North Carolina beat them twice).
I guess I see your point, if some of those guys had chosen Pitt and Dixon had gotten a chance to coach them and maybe improve them Pitt would have faired better in the ACC.
both of them trying to reclaim past glory but it likely will never happen. both obliterated by a moron of an athletic director. Nebraska does have a better fanbase, then again what else is there to do in Lincoln? Both of them have had constant turnover at the head coaching position.
I see a lot of persistent anger over guys who are long gone. I guess i see it in the big picture but what good is it? The current people in leadership now were handpicked by the president who left and they think the same and make similar mistakes (and continue to not realize it). They almost certainly don't agree with the complaints here, they think they're doing great (you and I are the problems, not them) and they're in charge. 
never understood what got the elite kids to go to Nebraska... I might be way way way off base here but it might have had something to do with being a powerhouse and perennial national championship contender. Maybe?
they went to the big ten and lost Texas recruits..adios powerhouse status. Middle of nowhere also Oklahoma did not and kept Texas kids in line and remains a powerhouse.
was slow to react as teams moved from the power run game to pro style or the spread ....or in other words, assimilated perfectly into being a big 10 team ....
$$$$ and a degree without going to class would be my bet. Or it could be the beachfront property in Lincoln.
The move to the B1G & the Callahan hire really killed their identity.
Also, Nebraska was on the cutting edge back in the day with their walk-on program, weight program, & training table. Oh yeah, there were the steroids too.
Also, Nebraska was on the cutting edge back in the day with their walk-on program, weight program, & training table. Oh yeah, there were the steroids too.
I thought Pelini was a decent coach. They should have had a better replacement in the wings. They hired Riley for his clean image and if that was the aim they could have gotten a younger guy who fit that role.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Pelini was the right guy. They made it so he couldn't/wouldn't stay.
They dominated at a time before there were "recruiting bases." Relatively few schools putting money into their program, and the NCAA controlled television rights for all schools. So a program like Nebraska could rise up in that environment.
Now every school is putting so much money into the their football programs, and every team can be seen coast to coast on Saturday, that it's become difficult to pull players from their local geographic region. Which is why the south has come to dominate college football.
Exactly. People saying the move to the Big Ten caused them to lose their Texas base, need to go look at Nebraska recruiting class rankings in the 90's and then through the early 2000's. They were already losing their recruiting pull because other schools starting to pump money into their programs.
Nebraska moving to the Big Ten had nothing to do with its loss of talent. It was just another symptom of what caused Nebraska to lose talent.
They wanted an offensive oriented guy that had a reputation as a good recruiter and was plugged into a talent base. Riley checked off every box. Which, to be fair, that is exactly what they need. Defense requires lots of talent to be successful. Offensive gurus are where you can mitigate some of the talent disparity between teams. And if you don't have an elite talent backyard, you better bring in a very good recruiter with connections to an elite talent area.
They had a great plan, just executed it poorly when they picked Riley.
Pitt's backyard is better than a lot of programs ahead of us. Just not as many as there used to be.
Someone posted a chart where the most talent is located around the country on the pay board. Pittsburgh and the Wpial is in the top 10 for producing NFL talent currently.
Until Pitt gets 9 out of the top 10 players every year from the wpial. Expect the same old same old.
Pitt never got 9 out of the top 10 players in the WPIAL including 75-82.
Nebraska walk on program was as strong as any college in America. Many walk on players actually had some scholarship money given to them as academic donations from the town that they came from.
They were also a fixture in national television back in the day when there weren't as many games broadcast. You got to see Nebraska 3 times a year as a national broadcast. They also recruited nationally, especially NJ
I think it's hard for them to get the absolute best recruits from Texas and the west coast now that there are many outstanding programs from the Big 12 and PAC 12 to compete with.
They were also a fixture in national television back in the day when there weren't as many games broadcast. You got to see Nebraska 3 times a year as a national broadcast. They also recruited nationally, especially NJ
I think it's hard for them to get the absolute best recruits from Texas and the west coast now that there are many outstanding programs from the Big 12 and PAC 12 to compete with.
Probably so. But unless you live here in Texas it's hard to fathom how much Texas is hated by many of us. Their self-declared superiority and cash base which allows them to be top dog breeds an arrogance that is as bad or worse than Penn State's in PA. Neither Texas A&M nor Nebraska could stand them and fled for greener$$ pastures. Nebraska is making a lot more cash in the Big Ten as is A&M in the SEC.
Very true....
Also
The farmers support for the program is off the chart. It's not a stretch to believe every person in that state is decked out in red from head to toe every Saturday in the autumn.
Well, if Pitt is going to become better than average they better start to or some how beat out some of the big Florida schools to compensate.
I mean Michigan has 3 Wpial players starting on their defense. Notre Dame is going to have 2 or 3 next year. That's just 2 schools off the top of my head.
A lot of local talent representing other programs.
Sure, but the point is, they had ceased to be the Nebraska of old well before they joined the Big 10.
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