Red Dane

I do not hate them, but I do not respect the ones that did not go there or have some real tie to the school. I just knew too many Omaha folks that jumped ship to caring about them in the late 90's who are now very enthusiastic about it. It wasn't enough to just pack up and leave NU basketball, though. They had to trash it on the way out. So, in Omaha anyhow, they took a lot of the worst element of fan and kept them by doing better. If the tables ever manage to turn, I hope they continue to keep them. I doubt we would be so lucky. What I do hate is how awful NU mens sports are.

I do apologize if people feel this needs to be closed. My intent is just discuss a difference of opinion I have with many fellow Husker basketball fans. My friends are tired of hearing it.

Sorry, but no top 20 finishes or conference titles in the major 3 mens sports in several years is not one of the most successful athletic programs by any definition. If you believe it is, then I frankly have problems taking what you say seriously. I applaud your blind and simple enthusiasm, though. Self threw his friend a bone in a low profile and modest administrative job just like Solich was able to fetch coffee for Bob Stoops. Sadler was able to do it because of his golden parachute. He had no intention of taking - or looking at - any coaching position that would have required responsibility and diminished his NU checks until they dried up.

I live in Omaha. Our firefighters retire with Sadler-esque packages. I will forgive my own employees, others, and myself many (most) deficiencies, but lack of effort is one I just personally have an issue with. A firefighter that fiddles while my house burns would draw an angry email to the mayor and fire chief from this guy.

Thanks for the spelling help, jimmy. What was it that gave you the perception he was warn down? I suspect you may have seen exactly what I did, but are just being kinder. I agree - can't blame a guy for taking the money. I just think once you do, you need to back it up with an effort that never appears "warn down". If you don't, it makes a random fan unhappy and the guy that gave it to you look like a fool. I suppose that's not so great a price.

HB, I would not say your post is the worst I have read, but I really am not surprised you disagree as I think many/most Husker fans probably share your mindset and it is an enabling mindset that leads to NU getting less for its spending in the major sports than just about any school out there. Effort, to me, does not come from yelling loudly during 20 hours of limited practice and picking the right red shirt at one's closet. That is 20 hours a week and it is easy. Games are 6 hours and people that can use a white board effectively are a dime a dozen (certainly not every has this talent, but many do). Yet it seems to be what the folks of North Platte, Fremont, Bellevue and Stromsburg etc fixate upon at the morning diner. To me, the effort we need is there, but also in designing effective practices and systems in every detail of the program. More than that, effort is primarily recruiting. That is the next 50 hours we need from a coach that week. Getting out on the trail. Finding all the talent. Selling the program to recruits and the public at all times, and hounding the best players you can get until they are here. You don't like Callahan, but do you deny he was relentless in this aspect? Would you deny that Doc was not and that the effort and results waned the longer he was here? It's part of why Tim Miles is dynamic and worth the money. Take away that enthusiasm, investment, and drive to get good players here and you end up with... post extension Doc. A guy no longer worth that money. My issue is not that Doc was not a success, but that he started off showing that he could be and then slipped and never bothered to get back at it. We weren't fools to be excited about Doc at the start. If you liked what you were getting at the end...

I'm sorry that a few of you are insulted, but the complete lack of recruiting success here his final two seasons was embarrassing. The diminished level of effort and positive energy on and off the court from when he started to when he finished was extremely noticeable. For as much as he was making, I have no sympathy for the "getting beat down" excuse that many seem eager to hand him. I don't know - If it was all Mountain Dew driven, then he should have kept chugging the stuff because that was not a very good coach in any way, shape, or form that walked out of the athletic department with a handsome treasure chest in tow. At least when he started, he inspired some gritty play to overcome his other deficiencies. When he gave up on that, there was nothing left at all and his extension rates as one of NU's worst decisions in a decade filled with some doozies. People ridicule Bill Callahan and I can see legitimate reasons for it, but you can never say that he wasn't trying with all he had. I respect the man for that and have wished him well ever since. I just do not have the same respect for Doc. When you pass a certain level of income, I think the expectations for commitment, effort, and devotion to the job raise to an extreme level. He seems quite personable, but I think he dropped the ball on those expectations when things did not break his way and would be surprised if he did not do so again. I think he would do well to continue as an assistant or operations person where the expectations are not so high. Well, Southern Miss can at least save on their basketball budget as some of us can recall the ever successful Doc philosophy of having multiple practices without them.

I just cannot get on board the congrats to Doc wagon. I would have if it had saved us from the buyout. To me, he got his nice extension to become a very wealthy man and then flat out quit and coasted into the happy land of sick buyouts. The effort completely dropped off the map in all areas of the program that he had a hand in. He seemed like a nice and good guy to start with, but I am left with the impression that he was a scheister that took an elderly AD for all he was worth. I would not be pleased if I were a Southern Miss fan. I've already bought the snake oil once, though.

As for the Shim-shams, would any other program have them as halftime entertainment more than once? You had a $50 a year subscription to the OWH? Was it delivered via Pony Express? It used to be a buck a week when I got fed up with Lee. No idea what it is now. Don't really care either.

I decided many years ago that I would not give the Omaha World Herald another dime so long as they employed Barfknecht and I have kept to it. I think it is over a decade now. He is absolutely overly negative towards Nebraska basketball from his overall tone about the program to his routinely knocking numbers off of his attendance estimates and feeling the need to poke fun at something as mundane as the shim-shams. Would he attack any other program for something like that? Barfknecht likes to make himself seem impartial by being hard on the hometown team while rarely being negative to any other regional university he is paid to evaluate. Let's not forget his "bold and daring" Ron Prince comments. A more awful coach would be hard to find. I try and avoid many of his colukmns, but has he been critical of any non-Husker Big 10 coaches yet? Even an obvious target like Ferentz or Webber? It does not look like my $50 a year will cost Lee his job, so I guess I will just have to carry out my plan to never let him into traffic if given the chance in order to fulfill my revenge schemes.

In Shatel's case, I am pretty sure it is because he is way too lazy to want to learn about some other team. Heck, when NU plays Creighton, he only has to watch one game that day.