There has been much speculation over the last 6 months on what should have happened in 2003 - Pelini says the job should never have been open for him to accept. Others say the right answer was BO. Others have brought up that Osborne should have never retired in 1997.
All Dr Osborne (by the way, his family pronounces it Osburn - not the long O sound of born - but in his humbleness he's never made more than a couple public statements about it) has ever said was that he made a promise to someone to retire. My Money has always been that the promise was to Nancy. Some sources will say that Nancy almost left Tom in the mid-90s. Left him as in died. It seems she may have had a battle with a life threatening illness and it sent the message to Tom to spend some time with her. I think his bouts with health issues probably (despite his excellent heath today) sealed the deal - his touch with mortality motivated him to want to spend more time with Nancy.
Tom is practical - he knew his staff was aging and he knew the cupboards were stocked -- it was a good time to leave. Although, it was as hard of an act to follow as he had - following a National Championship coach.
We will never know who he meant when he said "I made a promise".... but I bet it was a chick thing.
Comments