Home Football Mike Riley to Nebraska

Mike Riley to Nebraska

270

This is shocking in the sense we’re finally moving on (hip hip horray!!!), but it is not shocking at all given Riley and is “loyalty” BS. We have seen him leave before, we’ve seen his true colors with the Brenda Tracy situation, and now we see them again. He’s not loyal and has no character. But thank God he is gone.

The downside is we lost the option to hire Lance Leipold by just days.

270 COMMENTS

  1. Love this reaction from TE committ Snyder:

    Rivals three-star tight end Matt Snyder said Mike Riley was in San Ramon, California on Wednesday and pitched him the opportunity to play in Corvallis.

    “He came over. We sat down for at least an hour-and-a-half. I had no idea. He didn’t even mention anything about Nebraska,” Snyder said. “We talked about Oregon State football the whole time.”

    “I’m not going to de-commit. While he was there for the past few years, not to say anything bad, but the program was going bad,” Ferguson said. “Mike Riley didn’t find me. Coach Bray found me. The program saw something in me.”

    Nebraska just fired a coach that went 9-3. Riley won’t last 5 years there. Give up 69 points to UW and a couple thousand yards and you’re gone….

  2. Funny that the media is too busy telling us Beaver fans we should be happy with our mediocrity, and the “be careful what you wish for” nonsense, and not a word of criticism for Riley bolting on his players.

    • What a tool.

      He totally ignores the fact that winning is expected in Nebraska too. Getting fired after a 9-3 season?

      And none of these lazy journalists are willing to acknowledge that many people wanted Riley to take a different role at OSU (well, until the Brenda Tracy story broke – and hey – what about that Mike? She going to come talk to your ‘Huskers?), not necessarily be fired.

      They also ignore all Riley’s coaching mistakes.

  3. No to Matt Wells. While he has done well at Utah St, the only ranked opponents he has beat were from non-power conferences. I believe he only has 1 win vs a power conference opponent (Utah).

    In my view, he hasn’t done enough to earn the job.

  4. I’m happy, but let us have a moment of silence for our friends in Nebraska.

    Your AD just fired Bo Pelini because he failed to close out in big games, so he goes and hires another coach…who consistently fails to close out big games. And he actually has a nice guy persona, so you can’t fire him for being a **** like Pelini.

    God speed, Cornhuskers. God speed.

      • Not with their QB’s it won’t. They have recruited for a spread offense. Their QB is even a worse passer than ours at Minnesota, which is really saying something. Anybody think MR will change?
        Square peg meet round hole.

    • I think over-compensating for Pelini’s personality and presentation is a primary driver of the hiring. After watching Riley get blown out for the 5th time in 7 straight losses to an in-state rival, you’d think Nebraska would not have even considered Riley on a pure competitive basis.

      I am pleasantly surprised that Riley took the offer. I never thought high expectations were his thing.

      Now he can show us it was Corvallis and its inadequate facilities – not his program and coaching – that kept him from double digit victories and big bowls.

      Nebraska ever been to the Sun Bowl? Get ready Huskers!

  5. Did anybody have any hint of this? Buddy texted me and I thought he was pulling my leg.
    Think Pelini’s D sucks? Wait till you see Banker’s Husker nation!

    • I didn’t, but I did feel Riley was looking around and realizing he wore out his welcome. That’s why I wrote that I thought he’d maybe retire. A lot of his answers were vague, even for him, when talking about the future. Chalk up a win to the dissenters.

      I bet Riley realized he could not win next year with that roster…and he’d hear it even louder and get run out of town. The one thing I can say about all this is Riley did us a financial favor. So if the Pollys want to cling to him being a nice, loyal guy you can spin it like that.

      • Given that Riley considers Corvallis to be his “hometown”, it makes sense that he’d like to live out his days cycling around to the cheers and good graces of its inhabitants. This change in coaching is about the only way that could possibly happen unless he won us a Rose Bowl.

        Seeing no respite in site, he took the offer, saved us bricks of cash, and can move back to retire after 2-3 seasons. That should be long enough for Nebraska to find the coach it really wants and not just a “nice guy for now” to replace the brash Pelini.

    • I don’t think anyone did. The assistants at OSU didn’t. The reporters in Nebraska had heard 20 names, none of them Mike Riley, according to their sports radio. And Gina said she hadn’t heard anything either.

  6. Opening a thread here: Give me your top three choices you would like to see us go after, followed by the top three you think we can actually GET

    Who I’d like to see us pursue:
    1) Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49ers
    2) Will Muschamp, Florida
    3) Dan Mullen, Mississippi State

    Who are potential candidates that MIGHT say yes?
    1) Jim McElwain, Colorado State
    2) Justin Fuente, Memphis
    3) Matt Wells, Utah State
    4) Brady Hoke, Michigan (Just cause I thought of him at the last second and he has OSU ties)

  7. I think there’s a chance he does decent in Nebraska, at least for a couple of years. He’s still a decent coach when under pressure to perform, which was sorely lacking at OSU thanks to his contract. Also, kind of wish the AD leaving had preceded Riley leaving.

    Regardless, it’s a great day! I remember reading an article about Frost, left me thinking he would be a better head coach than OC. I was hoping for Jim McElwain, but that ship sailed. Orgeron with some smart, disciplined coordinators could be intriguing.

  8. No mention of Beau Baldwin from EWU?

    He’s young (42), he beat Riley with FCS talent, has a national championship, four straight conference championships, and he knows NW/west coast recruiting. His success at EWU has been long-running, so he’s not a one or two-year wonder.

    Runs an up-tempo spread offense with dual-threat QB’s (but we know that already, right?) so I think our current personnel trending that way would blend in nicely. My only hesitation would be that his defenses not seem to be too stout. They seem to win a lot of shootouts.

  9. Kinda hate to see Mike Riley go but probably for the best for everyone.

    On another note, the media that covers Oregon State is being really childish with their reporting and mocking people who wanted change. Pretty embarrassing.

  10. Do we know the Nebraska contract terms? My guess is its much shorter than his current deal but a much larger per year amount. Feels like a money grab for Riley so he can retire sooner than 2021 and still get paid handsomely.

    • Exactly what I was thinking regarding the money/retirement ratio. Also think his feelings are hurt because everyone’s getting on him. Probably a big reason the media was extra nice this year.

  11. I’m so happy. I feel like a kid at Christmas today. Christmas came 3 weeks early for beaver fans. Hopefully Boob DeCareless doesn’t fuck this hire up. He’s done well with Rueck and Tinkle so far so I think it’s 50/50 at this point.

  12. Are the Husker fans prepared for their QB taking 2 or 3 years to get Riley’s system?

    Baaaaaahahahahahaha

    The worst thing about this is BdC is going to be making the hire, which imo SUCKS big time.

  13. Heard it on the Canzano radio show few minutes ago as he was thinking out loud how this happened but makes sense: Bobby D may have requested Riley make a change at coordinator position, or some other major change, which Riley refused to do, and is doing this as a big screw you.

  14. Something to think about LOL. Ex Asst. AD’s from Wisconsin.

    Originally Posted by Nokomis
    Remember how people thought Maturi was a Wisconsin spy sent by Alvarez to destroy the Gophers? Maybe Eichorst is the same at Nebraska?
    MY GOD.
    Barry is an evil genius.

  15. I fear that this move may be a horse sized dick of motivation in Riley’s ass. And if it is, then good for him. He will finally be the HC at a school that can recruit itself. Who knows how much that raises his cieling? Can’t say for sure..

    I am not nearly as excited as the rest of you seem, however. BDC still has to pick the replacement, and I say the odds are WORSE than 50/50 that he fucks it up. Probably hires someone from within the program, like fucking Banker, and tries to cite something like “continuity” or some such bullshit. I would not put it past him.

    • BDC’s only bad hires have been Robinson(Who was an awesome recruiter, just a bad in-game coach) and the women’s basketball coach everyone hated. Our new BBall coaches rock. So I think it really is a coin flip, at worst. And he’s shown that he doesn’t do retreats, which is a big plus.

      • tinkle was an easy predictable choice coming cheaply from montana with tournament exp. It just so happens hes also a great coach. I dont give bdc a lot of credit for the hire, he didn’t pull him out of his ass.

        • And yet everyone here is busy listing those exact same types of hires for football. If anything, if BDC sucks, except him to make the obvious, easy, awesome hire.

        • Totally agree, although there is something to the Montana coaching tree,I guess. In addition, the timing was good. Tinkle wanted to be his son’s college coach and Tres wasn’t going to go to Montana. With all the crap about who wants to go to Corvallis – it’s the kind of town the Tinkles like – natural beauty, friendly, in the NW – different in that it’s close to the coast, great restaurants (Missoula has one or two). The practice facility is a huge plus. I almost feel as if it should be named for Craig Robinson despite his coaching ineptitude.

          • Great restaurants? In corvallis? Do you even live here? The food blows unless your a yuppie who likes everything they’re told to like.

          • I do not live in Corvallis – but when I visit, I very much like the restaurants there. To each his own. And I can safely say they are better than the ones in Missoula.

          • and the 3 people that thumbed me down probably love that nasty shit called food from local boyz. only time I ate it, I puked it up a half hour later. Corntucky has terrible food. Big River? Big steaming pile of shit

      • And Robinson was his 10th choice, he wanted to make a better pick, he just didn’t have the money to offer. There are donors who have been sitting on the sidelines the last couple of years who are willing to up their donations to pick the right coach.

  16. Tweeted to Decarolis and Ray – (add’l part in parenthesis only went to Ray since only found email for him): @bvrboss #3 college town, nobody’s little brother, promote this program justly. Let’s move forward and hire aggressively! #BEBOLD #GoBeavs

    (We MUST get out of this second rate perception and take a stand, now!)

  17. Urban Myer must be doing back flips knowing he gets to coach against the same guy he saw coach against Wisconsin a few years ago while doing commentary for ESPN.

    • Eh, that would be the mediocrity hire. He had a few good years when he won back to back MWC championships. Other than that, he’s been consistently above average, but hey, that’s the bar that’s been set at OSU, right?

      I think he’s the most likely pick, but certainly not in my top 5.

  18. Maybe Scott Frost comes our way. I like the Wilcox idea, but he’s another local guy. Please no Banker!

    We need a savage for a coach, someone who is going to have killer instinct and produce wins.

    Who is that?

  19. I’m beating the hell out of the Ed Orgeron drum.

    1. Great recruiter (see “Meat Market” by Bruce Feldman; great read)
    2. Experience as head coach at Ole Miss
    3. Admitted he made mistakes and wants redemption
    4. Beloved by his players at USC
    5. History in the Pac 12
    6. Aggressive, defensive minded coach who would bring enthusiasm to a depressed fan base

    What am I missing here? This seems too easy.

  20. Someone pinch whiskey as he must still be in a napkin induced hangover. I still cannot believe the good furtune beaver nation awoke to this morning. We are officially done with the ginormous clusterfuck of a contract dickhead gave Opie and 500K richer! No more identities, neat deals, gosh golly gee whiz, jiminy christmas, losses to FCS teams, unused timeouts, need to be more balanced, head scratching losses, opening the season on the road blowout playcheck games……….

    I could go on and on and on. Thank you Nebraska! And enjoy Lincoln Mike and it’s miles upon miles of fucking nothing.

    Signed,

    Beaver Nation

    • Holy fucking goat taint scroat shit. Could it be that maybe BDC did indeed step up and have something to do with Riley leaving? My mind is really starting to wander…

      What is your source for this? I want to believe it so bad.

      • Sorry, my above post is a little incoherent. BDC (or OSU) stating that no assistant will be promoted makes me think BDC has something to do with Riley’s outing..

  21. My top two would be Jack Del Rio and Orgeron. Allegedly Orgeron is going to Lincoln with Riley. I’m not sure I believe that as he desperately wants to be a head coach again and has had contact with UNLV. I’m also sure he’d love to stick it to USC every chance he got. But he could be headed to Lincoln. I’ve been wrong before.

    • If he nails this hire his perception would change fast. Already two good BB hires…I don’t have faith in him. He thinks oddly, and only seems to get good hires when he lucks into them or people tell him what to do. On his own he never thinks big. We’ll see. I wrote him with my suggestions.

  22. http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/81596/everyone-wins-with-riley-bolting-to-nebraska

    “Interesting? What about Ed Orgeron, the ebullient former USC assistant and ace recruiter? He certainly would represent a different direction from Riley. What about a hot coordinator, such as Arizona State offensive coordinator Mike Norvell or UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone or Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Arenda? Or a second-tier head coach who’s doing well, such as Memphis’ Justin Fuente or Fresno State’s Tim DeRuyter or Utah State’s Matt Wells?

    Heck, why not a guy suspected of being a Nebraska target: Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost. Or, even weirder, Bo Pelini is available! “

  23. From the comments:

    Chris Lakes · Top Commenter
    “Oregon State doesn’t win. Their modest successes despite even more modest facilities and finances have been due in large part to Riley’s ability to spin straw into gold. Some ignorant Beaver fans mistakenly believe their program belongs in the upper division of the Pac-12, when all indicators suggest it does not. It is extremely unlikely a new coach will be able to change the painful truth.”

    Eric Fuller · Top Commenter · University of Oregon
    “Dennis Manzer All I’m doing is looking at his record, what is there to underestimate? Riley is a good man, I’m not doubting that and I’m hoping he does well. But have you watched OSU play very often? They are constantly late out of the huddle, they display a disparaging lack of creativity on offense, and it’s the same thing every year. “Darn it, we’re going to make some changes in how we do things”. And then nothing changes.

    Nebraska fans should love him. They’ll know exactly what they’re getting every year…hell, every play. Just like their opponents.”

    • Well, you wont hear it so much now, as he has blown his litany of loyalty, continuity, family, ad nauseum……by BAILING ON OSU FOR THE SECOND GODDAMMED TIME. He is clearly a weasel….lying fucking sob….

      That said, THANK GOD HE BAILED!!! THANK YOU MIKE, THANK YOU NEBRASKA!! (morons…lol)

  24. Angry,

    I’m not a fan of Mike Riley as a coach by any means, but Angry, you’re being completely unfair to him to call him disloyal and without character. My god, we’ve all been clamoring for his ouster, and now HE’S the one being disloyal for leaving?

      • How the hell can you blame him for leaving? We (myself included) were ready to fire him if the finances allowed. Nebraska comes along and offers him the job of coaching one of the most storied programs in college football. I say this is great for Riley, and great for Oregon State as well.

          • we couldn’t pull the trigger because of dumbass decareless gave him a lifetime contract! Only way we were getting rid of Riley is if he left on his own! Get a clue!

          • No one held a gun to his head, y ou fool. He had a long term contract, a school who couldnt afford to buy him out, and he trumpeted ALL THE DAMN DAY on loyalty, continuity, family, yada yada…..and it was all a LIE. He didnt just bail ONCE, …he bailed TWICE! And all he had to do to have fan loyalty is stop acting like a moron in a 2 min drill, and show some energy and creativity in leading the team.

        • I don’t think “we” were the majority of OSU fans, though. And he was the one talking about loyalty and loving Corvallis all the time.

          I agree this could work out well for all parties.

    • I could care less about him bailing on OSU. Good people move on to better jobs all the time. Sweeping rape under the rug is fucked up though.

      • Good people move on to better jobs all the time

        But he’s a liar. I don’t care since I didn’t want him, but imagine you’re a Pollyanna and he keeps lying to you?

        • so when future plans come up in a company meeting and you are a liar if you don’t tell people about the job you just applied for? Most everyone in full time work is going to say they are there for the long haul.

          • Ean…. he is a liar, pure and simple. He goes on and on about loyalty, continuity, family, etc…. but he has bailed TWICE. If you arent a liar, and go on about loyalty, YOU DONT APPLY FOR A JOB AT NEBRASKA. Honesty isnt difficult, and Riley always gave the facade of honesty. It was a big part of his good guy image. But its bull.

  25. Wait Angry of all people endorses mendenhall? I would think he’d be the exact opposite type of coach angry would want. I’m not even sure BYU wants him.

    • Yeah 90-38, 39-9 conference record, with a few conference titles and 5 top 25 rankings at BYU. Who would want that. Let’s get Orgeron with this 3-21 record. lolol

      • that’s against awful competition.

        Ever notice how byu never reached the tcu-utah-hawaii-boise st bcs level?

        I don’t hate bronco, but hes part of college football in 2007, just like Riley. Not a 2014 coach.

        • Fair regarding a 2007 coach. I kind of agree, but he’s proven and an upgrade over Riley. He also has OSU ties and most importantly, a great coach for fundamentals, game plan, and execution. Problem with the hot young coaches is we don’t know if they can game plan, coach fundamentals, etc. They have big upside no doubt and are more forward thinking than Bronco. Let’s put it this way: Bronco is the safe hire and good enough to take the program one level higher than Riley. IMO. That might be better than taking a shot on a young, high flyer.

          • Because I secretly believe he’s a little more than safe. Like many people thought Tinkle was the safe hire at first, but now we see he is more. Bronco has upside even if he reached his peek (in terms of media hype) a few years ago. Bronco is actually the college coach probably most similar to bill belichick, in terms of game plan, fundamentals, and even personality. I can see him winning 10-11 games every few years. We’d be very lucky to get him.

  26. Bobby D to issue a statement within next hour or 2.

    Anybody have info on Baylor’s offensive coordinator? Maybe the Beavs could start to fight iffensive fire with offensive fire. Plus a guy from down there would have Texas recruiting ties.

  27. Stewart Mandel from Fox Sports was on Canzano’s show this afternoon.

    First name he mentioned when asked who should OSU look to as a replacement?

    Orgeron

  28. OK, OK. Here is our chance to make it right! Who BDC MUST call:

    1. Mark Banker

    2. Jon Garrett

    3. Lane Muffin

    4. Ernie Kent

    5. Rick Neuheisel

    6. Jon Gruden

    7. Jeff Tedford

    8. Ken Simonton

    9. Jonathan Smith

    10. Chad Ochocinco

      • Well, I am here to tell ya, I saw them in a room together…..and lord, lord, it took years off my life. I wished for blindness, but it didnt come…..oh, god….the memory is burned in my brain….

  29. Man, Canzano is such a dork. Listening to him on the radio saying how hard it is going to be to replace Riley…

    Next year could be rough. Riley left the cupboard bare.

    • I don’t know about it being bare…Hunt, Brown, Haskins, Jarmon, some athletic QBs…we can build from the outside in like a lot of modern NFL teams are. I am extremely concerned about the lines though, and without at least mediocre lines, your outsides will collapse.

      • WRs are probably the easiest position to get. I’m concerned about the D. Maybe 3 players I like on D. Hunt, Strong (great tackler, maybe a ball hawk), Naul (will hopefully play D), and a few others (see my recruiting rankings). QB is my other big concern. Mannion stunk, but the new guy next year will likely be worse. That will depend on the new coach and how complex the system is. I hope we ditch the pro system and move to something more like BYU that’s a hybrid of pro and west coast. Or even move to more of a running game…

        • Gotta say, from the very limited action he was in, not a big fan of Del Rio. He was getting backup reps the entire year but I didn’t really see anything from him.

          Hope that I’m either wrong, or that one of the other guys steps up. We have like 5 QBs on roster currently.

    • Next year was projected to be a rebuilding (disaster) year no matter what. And with a coach, any coach other than Riley, it will probably be better. Erickson got some JC transfers and did well.

      Everyone is going to spout the line that it will be hard to replace Riley — that is just being polite in the sports world. But in fact it will be easy. He was declining, and with a veteran defense and a record setting QB, he had a losing season. I bet lots of coaches would have done better. For me, just bring in someone who wont look like a moron in a 2 min drill….

  30. watching around the horn on espn. buy or sell portion was buy or sell Riley being successful at Nebraska. Panel was split 2 to 2. I just lost any respect I had for Woody Paige

  31. LOL YES!!! There IS a great Beaver in the sky!! OH, thankyou, great beaver. You are the god among gods….

    The hilarity is endless. Riley was all about continuity, loyalty, etc etc.!!! But it was all just BULLSHIT. He has now bailed for greener pastures TWICE! a FUCKING liar.

    Thank god for Nebraska, he’s GONE!!

  32. Anybody get the notion that Riley doesn’t have the balls to fire someone and break-up the coaching-staff family, so he decided to pack-up the circus and move elsewhere….? We need somebody between Bo Pelini and Mike Riley….I certainly don’t want someone cussing out fans, but we need someone with balls to fire people quickly!!!

    • I think you might have something there. There might be significantly more to this story.

      As to getting someone with character inbetween Riley and Pelini, I think most of the population would fit in there….

      • In Riley’s mind he really tried his best and figured the program peaked out a couple of years ago….When Nebraska came calling, he realized it was a good situation for all parties….I honestly believe that.

        I wouldn’t be surprised if we hired him back on by Bobby D in three years after he has consecutive 8-4 seasons at Nebraska….and our new coach goes consecutive 4-8. LOL He gets best of both worlds, payout by Nebraska to leave, and he gets to retire as the Beaver head coach.

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