Restoring The Order

...and he's back. The man who coached Nebraska football teams to 5 National Championship Games. The man whose Huskers teams won 3 National Titles. The College Football Hall of Fame coach who never won less than 9 games as head coach at Nebraska. Ladies and gentleman, Tom Osborne is back at the University of Nebraska.

True, he's not back as head coach, but he is back nonetheless. And he's in a place where, right now, he can do the most good for Cornhusker football. After all the weirdness surrounding the firing of former Athletic Director Steve Pederson on Monday, University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman needed to find someone to fill the position quickly, but he also needed someone that people could rally around bring some credibility back to the program. Thankfully, having lost his bid for governor, Tom Osborne was available. Under Steve Pederson's tenure as athletic director, Nebraska fans had started to lose hope. When Perlman fired Pederson, a little of that hope came back. Now, Husker fans have something more than hope in their newly-appointed interim AD: now they have Tom Osborne.

Sure, there are naysayers out there already. People have been quick to point out that Osborne carries at least some of the blame for Nebraska's current football woes, as he was the one who entrusted the program to Frank Solich, encouraged Solich to retain most of Osborne's staff, and who also played a role in getting Steve Pederson installed as AD in the first place. Others complain that putting in a football guy as AD will hurt the other sports programs and that when former Nebraska football coach Bob Devaney was director, programs like baseball languished. To those naysayers I ask this question: who else would have been a better choice to replace Pederson?

Seriously, Jesus himself could have returned from Heaven and Nebraska fans would have been less united behind him. I mean, come on! First of all there's the question of whether all the Jewish fans would get behind Jesus, not to mention all the Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists, and the like. Besides, what does Jesus know about running an athletic department? I've heard he's a big soccer fan, but from what I hear, he doesn't know much about football x's and o's (other than that he's a big fan of the "Hail Mary"). Not to mention that deep down, he's a Notre Dame fan, what with the "Touchdown Jesus" mural and all. And is that really who we want in charge of Nebraska athletics?

In all seriousness, Tom Osborne is once again the right man at the right time. As I said before, the instant he was named as interim AD he brought instant credibility back to the Nebraska football program. To the fans he's not only a familiar face, but a trusted and revered one. There's a reason, after all, Memorial Stadium's field is now named after him. And to the boosters who felt increasingly distanced and dismayed because of Pederson? Well, other than Dan Cook (as in "Cook Pavilion"), I have a hard time believing they won't be lining up to make donations to Ol' Tom. For that matter, I'm pretty sure Mr. Cook would pick up the phone if TO were to give him a call.

So, the future of Nebraska football looks to be in pretty good shape... in the long term. Unfortunately, from having watched every Nebraska game but one (and even that one I listened to), I think it will take more than a new athletic director (even Jesus) to salvage this season. I hope I'm wrong. There's a reason they don't give out the National Championship Trophy at the beginning, or even the middle, of the season, after all. The Huskers, theoretically, could still win the rest of their games, win the Big XII North, win the Big XII Championship, go to BCS Bowl, and even win that. The fan in me wants that to happen. But the realist in me has a hard time seeing Nebraska win just 2 more games to remain bowl-eligible.

Does that mean I'm giving up on my beloved Huskers? Hell, no. I'm no fairweather fan, my friends. In fact, I'm going to Lincoln to cheer on Nebraska as they play Texas A&M on Saturday. Besides, even though things are stormy now, with TO back in the building, the forecast is looking up.