Ruined Reputation

When the 2007 college football season ended I could not help but think that Nebraska Cornhuskers' head coach Bill Callahan would not be getting hired for a head coaching position anytime soon.

It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that in six years of being a head coach (2 with the Oakland Raiders) he has coached a team with a losing record three times. It simply has to do with the fact that Bill Callahan has developed the reputation as a head coach who has players on his team who quit.

Quit: give up; throw in the towel. You name it, Callahan's players do it.

Just look back at the records. A year after losing the 2002 Super Bowl 48-21 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Callahan's Raiders went 4-12 in 2003.

4-12! Cornerback Charles Woodson said things got so bad in the locker room that he feared for Callahan's life! Okay so that was one bad time Callahan had with his players, give him a break.

Wrong!

This past year the second team he's been the head coach of quit on him much like the Raiders did. The Cornhuskers had improved every year since Callahan had arrived in 2004. 5-6, 8-4, 9-5, and then 5-7?!

Don't attempt to convince me the Huskers did not give up on this season! Yes, they did put up 70+ points one week late in the season against Kansas State, but I can honestly say that seems to be the only time during the season following a win 35-17 against Iowa State September 29 the Huskers played a full four quarters.

At one point during this season Nebraska was 4-1. They would lose 6 of their final 7, while giving up a pathetic 46 points per game!

I know that sticks out the most about Callahan's resume; he builds teams of men who occasionally quit. Check that: EVENTUALLY quit. I would be very surprised if Callahan ever got a major college coaching job again. Much less ANY head coaching job.

His reputation is cemented...and so is his head coaching career. Enough said.