Nebraska Cornhusker Links to Check Out

Husker News and Notes:

• YouTube video of Tom Osborne discussing the ‘honor’ of playing on Jan. 1.
• Huskers are pursing prep RB Rex Burkhead this week.
• BigRedReport says the All-Big 12 team speaks to Bo Pelini’s coaching ability.
• OldHuskerFan says Nebraska’s progress will take the edge off a cold winter.
• SportsMonk takes a look at week 15 in CFB.
• Good USA Today article about the short leash college coaches have. Quoting Tom Osborne:

"

“No question,” Nebraska athletics director Tom Osborne says, “the whole thing has accelerated somewhat.”

He coached the Huskers for a quarter-century before retiring after the 1997 season, building a Hall of Fame resume and never really casting an eye toward the NFL. Life there seemed too uncertain.

“One of the reasons I always stayed in college football,” Osborne says, “was you had to get quite a large number of people mad at you—normally—to be fired. It was probably a little bit more coach-friendly. Whereas in professional athletics, you only had to get one guy upset and that was the owner.”

But that insecurity has trickled down to the college game. As coaches’ salaries have spiraled so have expectations and pressure. And tolerance for even a short-term lack of success has dissolved.

Osborne, himself, as Nebraska’s AD, dismissed Bill Callahan after just four seasons a year ago, replacing him with Bo Pelini.

Callahan was only a year removed from taking the Huskers to the Big 12 Conference championship game, and five other schools made changes a year ago even though their teams were headed for bowls.

Now, Tennessee has cut Phillip Fulmer loose a year after he and the Volunteers reached the Southeastern Conference title game for the third time in seven seasons and 10 years after they won a national championship.

"