Mike Riley!! A great move for Nebraska. They are now in the Pac-13!!!

CharlesMincy

CharlesMincy

New Fish
The Mike Riley hire moves Nebraska close to the West Coast. It is a no brainer for them. Nebraska has suffered in recent years because they are positionally landlocked away from the best "watering holes" when it comes to recruiting. Finding a coach with tentacles and roots firmly planted in the recruiting wars in the Wild West is major. Mike Riley made Oregon State respectable. What do you think he will do at NEBRASKA????!!!!
 
That's a point of view I hadn't thought of before, and it merits consideration. But I still think the hire is a strange one. Riley's recent OSU teams have been the definition of mediocrity. If recruiting was foremost in their minds, Nebraska could have done better with an Ed Orgeron.
 
Also, to a certain extent, Riley is living off the success that Dennis Erickson had in 2000 when he took over for Riley and led them to that 11-1 season and Fiesta Bowl championship.
 
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Charles, I disagree. On field results should always come before recruiting prowess. Riley has missed a bowl 3 of the last 5 years. Riley had home losses to Sacramento State and Eastern Washington in recent years. Making a bowl isn't that tough nowadays, even for Oregon State and WSU. You schedule three cupcake non conference games and then only need to go 3-6 in conference to reach the required 6 wins. The best record Riley has ever had was 10-4.

I think Riley a decent coach, but the goal at Nebraska isn't to be decent. They have been pretty good under Pelini, but he plateaued at 9-10 wins. There is nothing to suggest Riley can win a championship. If UW hired Riley instead of Petersen, I would probably be pissed. Nebraska's standards are probably even higher than UW's. How does Riley measure up to Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio, or even Gary Andersen at Wisconsin?

To me, this hire screams that Nebraska was tired of Pelini's antics and hired the anti-Pelini, mild mannered good guy in Mike Riley.
 
Riley has influence in both Texas and the West Coast - two areas that Nebraska has struggled in recently.

Either way, this will be interesting to watch.
 
@RoadDawg55‌,

Who knows whether Riley will be the answer at Nebraska. He deserves time to let it play out. It's entirely possible that he plateaued at Oregon State, got a little too comfortable, and the results were what they were.

What we do know was that Pelini WASN'T the answer at Nebraska. He was average to slightly above average for them. He tended to have his teams not show up in the biggest of the games.

To me, it's fair to question whether Riley has the chops to get to a higher level than Pelini. But I applaud Nebraska for making the hard move of knowing that the guy they had wasn't the answer and being willing to make the tough decision to try to find better.

In many ways, if it wasn't for PatHadenFS, it would have been the position that the UW was going to be under with Seven Win Steve in the coming years.
 
Orgeron could have gotten a lot of quality kids to move from Cali to Nebraska.
 
@RoadDawg55‌,

Who knows whether Riley will be the answer at Nebraska. He deserves time to let it play out. It's entirely possible that he plateaued at Oregon State, got a little too comfortable, and the results were what they were.

What we do know was that Pelini WASN'T the answer at Nebraska. He was average to slightly above average for them. He tended to have his teams not show up in the biggest of the games.

To me, it's fair to question whether Riley has the chops to get to a higher level than Pelini. But I applaud Nebraska for making the hard move of knowing that the guy they had wasn't the answer and being willing to make the tough decision to try to find better.

In many ways, if it wasn't for PatHadenFS, it would have been the position that the UW was going to be under with Seven Win Steve in the coming years.
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Obviously Riley will get to prove what he's got. Very few hires are a guarantee. On paper, it was a bad hire. On paper, Chris Petersen was a great hire. Once the games begin, none of that matters, but I would be surprised if Riley won a Big 10 championship at Nebraska.
 
@RoadDawg55‌,

Who knows whether Riley will be the answer at Nebraska. He deserves time to let it play out. It's entirely possible that he plateaued at Oregon State, got a little too comfortable, and the results were what they were.

What we do know was that Pelini WASN'T the answer at Nebraska. He was average to slightly above average for them. He tended to have his teams not show up in the biggest of the games.

To me, it's fair to question whether Riley has the chops to get to a higher level than Pelini. But I applaud Nebraska for making the hard move of knowing that the guy they had wasn't the answer and being willing to make the tough decision to try to find better.

In many ways, if it wasn't for PatHadenFS, it would have been the position that the UW was going to be under with Seven Win Steve in the coming years.
Click to expand...

Obviously Riley will get to prove what he's got. Very few hires are a guarantee. On paper, it was a bad hire. On paper, Chris Petersen was a great hire. Once the games begin, none of that matters, but I would be surprised if Riley won a Big 10 championship at Nebraska.
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I would agree with you, but have you seen the dreck that is the B10? I could win a championship there, and I'm drunk all day.
 
One problem: What highly rated California recruit would want to live four years in Nebraska?
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Some do. They've signed 15 out of PAC-12 country in last 4 years. String probably should have gone there too.

Nebraska offers a unique experience. They recruit nationally because they have to AND because they can.
 
I think Riley will do ok. He did a great job initially and even after Erickson left his best seasons were years 4,5,6,7. So you can't credit Erickson for that. His 2012 team was his best team as far as SRS.
Overall, he seems like an above average coach who couldn't get over that hump (2008,2009,2012) when his teams had a shot to win the league.

The hire is a bad one because he's 61. He should have left after 2009. Then he'd have had a good 10 years left. Its a great move for Riley. His legacy in OSU is secure. He realized he wasn't going to win being at OSU and having to face a strong Stanford, Oregon, Petersen, Rich Rod, Graham and USC and UCLA. Nebraska hasn't won a conference title since 1999. A 15 year drought. If Riley can win just one then thats a great way for him to go out.
 
I think Riley will do ok. He did a great job initially and even after Erickson left his best seasons were years 4,5,6,7. So you can't credit Erickson for that. His 2012 team was his best team as far as SRS.
Overall, he seems like an above average coach who couldn't get over that hump (2008,2009,2012) when his teams had a shot to win the league.

The hire is a bad one because he's 61. He should have left after 2009. Then he'd have had a good 10 years left. Its a great move for Riley. His legacy in OSU is secure. He realized he wasn't going to win being at OSU and having to face a strong Stanford, Oregon, Petersen, Rich Rod, Graham and USC and UCLA. Nebraska hasn't won a conference title since 1999. A 15 year drought. If Riley can win just one then thats a great way for him to go out.
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Riley strikes me as a guy that will keep going for another 10 years ... I don't think he's a 3-5 year guy and then he's gone. He definitely doesn't look 61 at all.

 
The Mike Riley hire moves Nebraska close to the West Coast. It is a no brainer for them. Nebraska has suffered in recent years because they are positionally landlocked away from the best "watering holes" when it comes to recruiting. Finding a coach with tentacles and roots firmly planted in the recruiting wars in the Wild West is major. Mike Riley made Oregon State respectable. What do you think he will do at NEBRASKA????!!!!
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I don't see him beating what Pelini managed.

He never impressed me as a recruiter, either. If anything I think he did a better job recruiting Texas (Rogers bros, Yvenson Bernard, Storm Woods). He picked up Cooks and Mannion after they ran away from verbal commitments Neuheisels pistol offense. In my opinion he's running away from 4 years of poor recruiting in Corvallis. Least talented team in pac12 this year, and will be again next year.

I think he was a pretty good coach a few years ago. Developed QBs and I liked his multiple look offenses. His teams always seemed to start slow, then pick it up before getting destroyed by the ducks. I kind of thought he looked over the hill this year. His best years are clearly behind him.

In terms of recruiting, Oklahoma does the best job out west, then ND, then maybe Nebraska.
 
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That's a point of view I hadn't thought of before, and it merits consideration. But I still think the hire is a strange one. Riley's recent OSU teams have been the definition of mediocrity. If recruiting was foremost in their minds, Nebraska could have done better with an Ed Orgeron.
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Agree on Orgeron as a recruiter. But teams seem to be running away from him. UNLV would be a great spot for him. I'm sure he'd pluck away several guys from SoCal and be the #1 spot for fallen stars transferring from pac12 squads. What do they got to lose?
 
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One problem: What highly rated California recruit would want to live four years in Nebraska?
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Taylor Martinez--who should've been Mariota light--is one I remember.
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He was pretty bad at throwing the ball. He only went to Nebraska because every other school wanted him at DB, including UW.
 
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