I was not smart enough to sign up for the Huskers 101 session yesterday down in Lincoln, but a close friend attended and here are a sampling of his observations:
What others in the audience said:
- The coaches are so relaxed compared to the 101 sessions held by Callahan. Shawn Watson was is a carryover coach and it was very evident how much at ease he was in the new staff.
- The most common greeting from the attendees to the coaches was "welcome home".
- Members of the audience talked privately about knowing members of the athletic dept staff and how people would actually go so far as to physically avoid sections of the building that Pederson was in because he was so intolerable.
Atmosphere:
All the coaches are fit, high energy, but confident and relaxed. A hard mix to create but the coaches genuinely like each other and work well together. A sense of "home" and how Osbornes presence just makes the place a safe to work and play. It is a learning environment.
Quotes:
- Pelini said the doors on the tunnel walk can't come down soon enough
- Pelini said there is a work/life balance - no one is there at 2 in the morning. You don't need to do that to be successful.
- Sanders - stop asking me, YES our DBs will look for the ball. (standing ovation)
- Carl Pelini - There will be blackshirts, but just being a starter doesn't get you one - effort and results get you one.
- They showed footage of games to do breakdowns of the defense -- all the footage was LSU. Carl assured us that next year there will be Husker footage of good defenses.
- Pelini - the only limit on walk ons is facility space (lockers) because every one gets treated the same
- Pelini - We are here to work on process, teach, develop players. Players are graded first on assignment, and then a second grading on effort. We don't worry about wins, about big games or rivalries -- those things take care of themselves when the players have effort and you have implemented a process.
References to old regime:
- Virtually none - only in a difference in weight training - not about bulk and pure strength, but about speed and finishing speed - the ability to get to the corner on effort and speed.
- Shawn Watson said they will run the "Nebraska Offense".
Facilities:
- Beyond belief - take the best country club you've been in, then upgrade it.
Overall -
- The staff seem to get along very well and seem focused on implementing their system and processes. Pelini is both relaxed and very intense. He was getting briefed at the end of the day on presenting the checks to the Cancer Society and he looked at the materials like he was reviewing his kids report card, e.g., this is important and there are no distractions.
Personal item from my friend Terry (for whom the title of the blog was created):
- He was selected for a blocking drill with Barney Cotton as the O-lineman and Terry as the defender. Terry will have to finish the story in the comments section.
Favorite story from another attendee:
- On the day Pelini is offered the job, Marvin Sanders gets a call at 2:30 in the morning. The call lasts about 10 seconds, and Marvin's wife asks if it was a wrong number. Marvin says no, it was Bo. She asks "really, what did he say". Marvin says, he just said "Let's Roll" and hung up.
All I can say is that I am so happy that I can be a die-hard husker fan again. I went through the motions the last couple years -- the program had become something I never want to be -- plastic and generic. I was always proud of being a Nebraska fan, not for what we did, but for the way we did it.
