Hire Tom Osborne for A.D. of Nebraska

It's this simple -- hiring Dr. Tom Osborne as the new Athletic Director for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is THE ONLY option for reviving our sports tradition at UNL.  Dr. Osborne has the spirit, character, intelligence, and PASSION to get our football team back on track, among many other athletic ventures that have lost the "Nebraska way".

Please sign this petition which will be delivered to Chancellor Perlman, and also visit hireOsborne.com to offer more support for this movement.  Please also pass on to EVERY Husker fan you know.

And in case you've been in a Big Red coma over the past few years, here are a few reasons why the incumbent is un-fit for the position:

Steve Pederson Performance Review (2003-2007)
Chronicles of Mediocrity

2003

4/2003 - Pedey claims to be lowering student football ticket prices as part of the "year of the fan", but as students actually pay for the tickets, they find a new hidden fee awaiting them, that negates most of the savings on the ticket price. The DN writes an editorial, wondering whether Pedey can be trusted.

5/2003 - Marc Boehm is hired as NU's executive associate athletic director & Pedey gives him the job of directly overseeing NU's basketball programs, apparently so Pedey can focus on football. Pedey & Boehm talk about the untapped financial potential for NU men's hoops & how they know how to build a hoops program, having had quick success together at Pitt. Four years later, NU's basketball program has yet to make an NCAA tournament field or even sniff the "bubble." Boehm & Pedey declined to make a change at the helm of NU hoops in March 2006, after Barry Collier failed to make the NCAA tourney for a 6th straight year. But they were able to hire Doc Sadler in August 2006 after Collier left NU to become the AD at Butler U. Boehm's has earned nearly $1M in salary during his time at NU, but he & Pedey were perfectly willing to allow NU hoops to continue floundering under Collier -- ignoring their stated goals in 2003 -- after a 2006 season with no NCAA berth and in which attendance was putrid %u2026 until Collier bailed them out by leaving the school.

Spring/Summer 2003 - As part of the 'year of the fan,' Pedey unveils a 'media' campaign that details a 'makeover' for mascot Herbie Husker. The cheese-ball campaign includes press releases with gems like this: "Pederson put Herbie on a strict regimen on Feb. 11. The 30-year old mascot has agreed to do his part to get in playing shape, so that he is able to more effectively entertain Husker fans at events." Media outlets cover this craptastic 'makeover' with monthly updates, giving Pedey free PR, because they know that's how the game is played. Cover Pedey's garbage press conferences, such as the time he showed off the new urinals for Memorial Stadium, and he'll give them access later. Ironically, a few years later, Pedey has essentially cut the media off. Do ya think any media outlet would cover a Herbie makeover now?

Fall 2003. - Dupes Tom Osborne into allowing him to put Tom's name on the stadium expansion project. Tom, as a private and humble person, would not have allowed this if he knew what SP had in mind for his friends on the coaching staff. Just THE PRIME example of how SP uses people without reguard for how people should be treated.

2003 - Pedey is seen on the field laughing and smiling "with his minions" (Steve Sipple's words) as Kansas St defeats NU 38-9. One week later, the LJS reports that anonymous boosters said Pedey was stopping in the skyboxes during the game and saying "this won't happen again" and saying Solich would be asked to retire/fired after the season ending game at Colorado. Pedey cries foul and claims the LJS story is bogus because he would never say such things to boosters, prompting a firestorm of criticism from fans against the LJS. One week later, after an upset road win at Colorado, Solich is fired, just as the LJS said would happen. Lucky guess by the newspaper, I guess.

11/30/2003 - In a news story detailing the firing of Solich, Pedey's infamous "note under the door" becomes public for the first time. Solich apparently tried to obtain information in July 2003 from Pedey on when his assistant coaches' contracts would be finalized %u2026 coaches who were hired in January 2003. Pederson "left a nasty note under (Solich's) office door" rather than speak to Solich in person. Classy. In his deposition in the Richardson case, Nutt said he was offered more than $2 million in base salary and incentives to become the Nebraska head coach. He said Pederson made the offer through Nutt's agent, Jimmy Sexton. No offer was made in writing, the football coach said.http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=...&u_sid=1065136

December 2003 - Airplane waiting on the tarmac at an airport in Arkansas, hoping to interview THE Houston Nutt for the Head Coach of our Nebraska Cornhuskers.

December 2003 - Indignant and oblivious to why people were less than impressed with his "process" as Nebraska went without official coaching leadership for over a month as he floundered looking for someone to accept his job offer. Harvey Perlman had to hold his hand at a press conference. (Those two haven't appeared much together in the last year. )

December 2003 - As our lame duck coaching staff carried on as professionals, and SP floundered in his "process", not finding time to interview Turner Gill or Bo Pelini for his job opening till after the bowl game. ***

12/2003 - At an NU-Creighton basketball game in Omaha, pedey's image appears on the big screen. Fans boo him. Later that season, at an NU home game, pedey's image again appears on the big screen, and fans boo again. Pedey later is seen yelling at the video board operator for showing his image.


2004

1/2004 - During the D-1 coaches conference, Solich's firing, Pedey's struggles to fill the job, and Pedey's inflated expectations were a big topic. Many coaches who spoke to the media said they'd be leery about working for someone who fired a 9-3 coach, which had to severely limit the pool of candidates from which Pedey could choose:
"They have great tradition," LSU Coach Nick Saban said Tuesday at the annual coaches convention. "I really don't know. It's unusual to get rid of a coach who goes 9-3. Maybe some people are skeptical of the standards."

"It looks like guys aren't willing to undertake all that that job is all about," USC Coach Pete Carroll said.

"Nine and three is not mediocre to me," said Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen. "You just have to have deductive reasoning and say that's probably what the situation is (why coaches are saying no)."

"Can you believe they fired him, with nine wins?" Utah Coach Urban Meyer said. "And he's a graduate. Tell you what ... college athletics are screwed up right now. The guy went 9-3, he has won 75 percent of his games, he runs a clean program, and he's a Nebraska graduate. He's a good person. This is screwed up."

1/2004 - Long-time NU broadcaster & Sports Nightly host Gary Sharp allows Bo Pelini to tell his side of the "non-interview" granted by Pedey during his coaching search. Sharp has the balls to say Pelini got a raw deal and to occasionally criticize the drawn-out coaching search & its impact on the 2004 recruiting class. Soon after, he's fired.

1/2004 - If either of these people offer to give you a stock tip or try to give you advice based on what they think will happen in the future, run far, far away. Comments made during the drawn-out coaching search:

"It seems that there is a certain amount of joking going on at the expense of the university, and that's unfortunate," said Wes Peterson, president-elect of the academic senate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "Probably at the end of the day, this will turn out to be a tempest in a teapot and it will all die down. Largely, I don't think there will be lasting damage to our image."

Regent Kent Schroeder of Kearney: "I expect after a head football coach is hired that six months from now any short-term damage (to Nebraska's image) will disappear from the minds of most."

LOL! In normal instances, these guys would've been correct. But nothing's normal when it comes to Pedey.

Others should have trusted their instincts at the time, and we should have listened to them, because Pedey hasn't changed his methods 3 years later.

Randy Ferlic, president of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents: "If there is any fault I would find, it is that (Pedey and Perlman) didn't manage their public relations process very well."

Prominent booster David Sokol: "In my professional career, I've never seen a personnel issue handled more poorly than the way this is being handled by the athletic department in Lincoln."

4/2004 - After losing the bid to build the Osborne Complex, Weitz Construction claimed at a Regents meeting that they were unethically misled by Pedey on the parameters for the project, such as whether the Field House would be rebuilt or renovated and whether the bid had to remain under $40M or $50M. The Regents did nothing and awarded Sampson, which mysteriously managed to follow the parameters, the contract.

4/2004 - The NU Regents approve $53M in bonds for the Osborne Complex as Pedey tells the board he had only raised $15M, with only $5M of that as cash in hand. (A small portion of the $53M in bonds is used to retire other athletic department debt.) This coming a few weeks after a few Regents told the Daily Nebraskan that they were being led to believe fund-raising was adequate and they wouldn't need to approve bonds for the project.

6/2004 - Pedey is named the "Enemy of the State" by a Sports Illustrated poll of 400 Nebraskans, beating out Barry Switzer and Bill Snyder.

9/2004 - Nebraska plays football at Pitt, where Pedey was the AD before taking the NU job. In the week leading up to the game, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper runs a story, rehashing Pedey's time at Pitt & detailing the ups and downs. Some Pitt fans and officials defended his performance still; some thought his divisive style was still hurting the school's athletic department %u2026 almost 2 years after he left. A quote from the paper: "Where does the truth lie? Perhaps somewhere in between. But for those who know Pederson, it seems they either love him or hate him." The sharply divided Husker nation knows that all too well.

11/26/2004 - At a ceremony honoring Bob Brown at halftime of the Colorado-NU game, Pedey feels the need to insert himself into the ceremony, rather than allow others to handle it, knowing full well he'll probably be booed by fans. Guess what? The fans boo Pedey, placing a black mark on Brown's ceremony.

l2/2004 - Tom Osborne gives an emotional press conference, stating his opposition to the way Pedey fired Solich and asks that NU find a corporate sponsor for the Osborne Complex because TO didn't want his name on the building in the first place, only agreeing to it to try to help Solich with recruiting. He would allow it to stay on there if Pedey had no other options, but his preference is to have a corporate sponsor. TO takes the high road, but essentially says Pedey unethically used him and his name to try to boost fund-raising. Pedey does nothing.

12/2004 - After interviewing for the vacant head coaching position at Pitt, Bo Pelini indicates privately that Pedey sabotaged his chances to receive the job with negative comments to Pitt officials, some of whom ratted out Pedey. Pitt eventually hires Dave Wannstedt, who was rumored to be Pedey's #1 choice to take the NU job the previous year but decided to stay with the Dolphins, potentially leading to the crapshoot that was the 40-day NU coaching search. Media speculation early in the search process indicated Pedey was so confident of hiring Wannstedt that he had no other options immediately ready.

12/2004 - In a story that receives national attention, Houston's AD Dave Maggard calls Pedey "gutless" after he says NU backed out of a verbal agreement to play the Cougars in September 2005 in Houston. Pedey doesn't deny the verbal agreement, but was worried about having TV for the game, saying no TV deal was guaranteed. However, ESPN said the network had already made plans to televise the game. Since no signed contract existed, Pedey says NU did nothing wrong legally. "This is the most unprofessional thing I've dealt with in my 30 years in this business," Maggard says. NU ended up playing I-AA Maine in its season opener. Houston played Oregon %u2026 on an ESPN network.

12/2004 - Yet another player leaves the program - this time, Mark Brungardt, whose father played at NU. And, as often is the case, the player is critical of the direction of the program - more bad PR for Pedey. "I came here for the tradition that has been built up over the last 40 years," he said. "Now I feel like the tradition is gone."


2005

3/2005 - Speaking to a group of boosters, Pedey tells a story of how he "forced" Collier to hire assistant basketball coach Scott Spinelli. Pedey shot down several of Collier's suggestions for assistants. Then he supposedly told the boosters that he instructed Collier to "bring me someone whose name ends with a vowel." %u2026 I wouldn't quite call that comment racist, but it sure doesn't feel PC, either.

6/2005 - NU media members have found frustration with their limited access from Pedey and Callahan for quite a while ... and Pedey's hypocritical treatment of the local guys. From the LJS blog before the 2005 season:

"As far as access, the Nebraska football program is pretty good about providing interview opportunities, although Callahan has not been as available as we would like in the last few months. ... I have found, when you do get time with Callahan, he is an excellent interview and will give you a few extra minutes when you need it. It's getting the appointment that's tricky.
.. It's frustrating as a local newspaper journalist to have to wait in line behind the big-bucks networks and national magazines for access. For example, I see that ESPN will have the run of the place during NU's Aug. 31 football practice as part of the cable network's "50 States-50 Days" extravaganza. And when Sports Illustrated wants in, NU rolls out the Big Red carpet, even though it's usually the national reporters who take the cheapest shots at the program and then scoot out of Dodge."

When you consistently burn bridges with the local guys -- who are the ones giving you daily publicity and who cover garbage like a Herbie makeover campaign -- they're eventually going to find reasons to be critical, as Pedey is beginning to find out with what's becoming a very public feud with the OWH.

8/2005 - Pedey slaps down the players Callahan "inherited" yet again in the OWH - "I never saw Bill one time, publicly or privately, ever blame anybody for anything," Pederson said. "Remember this, he only inherited what he had." %u2026 Geez, I'd hate to see what he'd say if he wasn't worried about the student-athlete.

8/12/2005 - Pedey actually sat down with Tom Shatel. After all of the "tough" questions in that Q&A, I can see why he refuses to do another. A sample:
Q. After 5-6, what are your expectations for this season?
A. "I'd like to see us continue to make progress."

8/2005 - Pedey cancels football media day, eliminating an opportunity for small-town papers to come to Lincoln for interviews with players and coaches.

8/2005 - Pedey closes the Memorial Stadium field to the general public

9/13/2005 - An OWH photo shows framework for a $5 million video screen/scoreboard being installed at Memorial Stadium. The board is supposedly part of the reconstruction project. Funny thing is, Pedey had yet to ask the Regents for the cash to purchase the scoreboard, which wasn't figured into the original cost of the project and wasn't part of the bonds the Regents approved in 2004. The Regents' September 16 meeting agenda says the scoreboard's cost will be "paid by sponsorships and donations;" nothing more specific. At the Regents meeting, with the framework already in place, the funding for the scoreboard is "approved," even though Pedey ignored the proper steps and provided little explanation of how he would raise the $5 million.

11/2005 - The OWH reports that only 4,000 people contributed $100 or more to Pedey's Osborne Complex fund-raising project during the first two years. As the colossal failure of Pedey's fund-raising campaign begins to hit home, Boyd Epley, of all people, lashes out at the fans.

"Quite frankly, I'm a little disappointed in the fans," said Epley, the NU associate athletic director. "I really expected, when we asked for help with this project, that we would raise the $50 million right away, and maybe even more than that."

I'm sure his comments greatly increased donations immediately. People from whom you're requesting a gift love to be called deadbeats.

Despite being asked directly about Epley's comments and being given a chance by the OWH to smooth them over, Pedey says nothing. There's no criticism of Epley, no "clarification", nothing other than "Boyd has big dreams." He did manage to issue another Pedey "truth", though:

NU Athletic Director Steve Pederson said raising just under 40 percent of the necessary funds so far is a good pace. "I'd say we're maybe about where we thought we'd be."

Uhhhh, yeah. Never mind that you promised to have at least half of the funds in hand within 2 MONTHS. And how much of that 40% was cash in hand? Probably half or less, if the LJS updates on the HuskerExtra blog during that time from unnamed people inside the athletic department were to be believed. Remember this was the MOST aggressive fund-raising campaign in NU athletics history, by a long ways. How much Pedey spent on full-color brochures, advertising, slick video presentations, graphical representations, mailings, etc., has to be mind-boggling. Probably more than Byrne spent on all of his fund-raising campaigns combined while he was at NU.

"I'm not sure why more people have not contributed," Epley said.

11/2005 - After 2 years of the most aggressive fund-raising project in NU athletics history, the LJS estimates Pedey has raised $16M toward the Osborne Complex. This is less than half of the $40M goal Pedey originally claimed he could reach in 2 months.

11/2005 - Despite a policy of not commenting on coaches' status in season, Pedey sends a letter to boosters a few days after Kansas disemboweled NU 40-15. "I've seen dramatic improvement in practice and on Saturdays. We are playing a style of football that is attracting the nation's top young talent. Our coaching staff has the trust of our players and together they are improving." He does several newspaper interviews saying basically the same thing, thus violating his own policy. This after declining all interview requests immediately

11/27/2005 - After a 30-3 win against Colorado in Boulder, Pedey is all smiles outside the NU locker room and feels "vindicated" according to the OWH, telling the newspaper, "This is the reason we did what we did." (Uhhhhhh, yeah. Those 7-4 regular seasons and 2nd-place finishes in the Big 12 North are what we all wanted.) Ironically, after a similar upset win over CU two years earlier in Boulder capped a 9-3 regular season, media reports said Pedey was nowhere to be found after the game. Coaches and players were overheard sarcastically shouting in the locker room, wondering where "the boss" was to offer his congratulations for a win. Pedey's disappearing act fuels speculation that Solich will be fired; John Bishop & Gary Sharp, on the NU post-game radio show, offer just such speculation. The next day, Pedey dropped the hammer on Solich.2004 - Gradually, Pedey changes the format of the "Talk to the AD" radio show, started by Bill Byrne. At first, Pedey allows Rose to take the tough calls; Rose does so by questioning the allegiances of any fan who'd dare question Pedey's decisions. "We don't need those kinds of fans." Eventually, Pedey has the call screeners work overtime, only allowing those with positive comments through. Finally, he basically stops taking calls all together. One less outlet to have to deal with peons %u2026 errrrr, fans %u2026 for Pedey.

12/2005 - On the NU-operated Sports Nightly radio show, Jim Rose says Josh Freeman has "no integrity", "is a traitor", and "good riddance", among other things after Freeman switches his verbal commit from NU to Kansas St. (I'm sure other recruiting targets were impressed.) In most places, ripping a high school kid on the air probably would earn you a suspension; never mind that, technically, Freeman was still in the recruiting process and could have changed his mind and become an NU verbal recruit again. Pedey does nothing. A couple months later, Jim Rose goes on a KC radio station and says Collier is failing & will be fired. Pedey does nothing again. Finally, 2 weeks before Pedey announces Collier is retained, Rose basically tells KFAB listeners that he doesn't know anything officially -- wink, wink -- but he strongly indicates Mike Davis will be NU's next basketball coach. Pedey does %u2026 nothing.


2006

1/2006 - Several student football managers tell the DN the athletic department still had failed to pay them for their work during the Alamo Bowl, one month after the trip. Although the athletic dept told the DN that the missing pay was an oversight & would be fixed soon, one manager said a week or so before the DN story appeared, he began receiving intimidating phone calls from an unnamed department official, telling him to drop the issue or positions would be cut and/or managers would be fired. The manager said Pedey ignored his requests for a meeting about the actions of the official.9/2005 - The DN writes an editorial, claiming that NU police are instructed by the athletic department to contact them first whenever athletes are involved in an altercation on campus. Such calls can lead to incidents being swept under the rug, including a fight involving several NU wrestlers that Pedey allegedly took care of himself.8/2006 - Pedey announces the hiring of Doc Sadler as NU's new basketball coach. Contrary to popular belief among some NU fans, this is only the 2nd coach Pedey has hired since his arrival at NU in Nov 2002 (official hire date 1/1/03). Mike Anderson, Connie Yori, John Cook, etc., all were Bill Byrne hires. Not to mention, Pedey cut the budgets of all non-revenue sports by about 10% in 2003, essentially asking all of those coaches to do more with less. One could argue those sports have been successful in spite of Pedey.

3/2006 - Because of an apparent personal feud with NET broadcaster Kevin Kugler, Pedey chooses to pull NU baseball broadcasts off the state-wide NET TV network and place them on Cox; rural customers in the state then had no way to view games, along with small-town cable customers. Cox then has massive technical problems in its first game. pedey's explanation for the switch? "We have to recruit nationally, in all sports. And getting our product on cable is a way for recruits to see it. This might allow us to be on CSTV (College Sports TV)." .... LOL. First, NET already had a deal with CSTV, and had been simulcasting NU baseball games on CSTV for the past few years. But Pedey's ignorance of how and where his team has appeared on national TV aside, he's right. Recruiting is more important than anything. Screw the fans. 7/2006 - With the new Memorial Stadium expansion, existing North Stadium ticket holders are informed in a letter from the athletic department that their seats will be shifted "4 rows up" to accommodate donors. When ticket holders have already paid for the tickets and actually receive them, most find they are shifted up 8-14 rows instead.

3/2006 - Despite 6 consecutive years with no NCAA tournament berth, Pedey decides to retain basketball coach Barry Collier, but chooses not to extend his contract which is down to 2 years, making him a lame duck coach. Media speculation is Pedey couldn't afford to fire Collier and pay his buyout (about $500,000) plus hire a new coach. A few months later, Collier resigns, saving Pedey the buyout amount.2/2006 - Pedey & Marc Boehm are seen having dinner in Omaha in a public restaurant with available basketball coach Rick Majerus, fueling speculation that Collier will be fired. Pedey refuses to comment on Collier's status, citing his always flexible policy of not commenting on coaches in season. He says Majerus is just an "old friend" who happened to be in Omaha; NU's job was not discussed. Knowing what kind of a firestorm such a meeting would cause, however, wouldn't it have been more prudent to dine with Majerus in a more private location?

12/2006 - In an interview during "halftime" of an NCAA volleyball tournament game, Pedey gives himself much of the credit for popularizing and expanding the volleyball program at NU. Although he admits Terry Pettit built the program, Pedey claims credit for convincing Bob Devaney to take notice of volleyball & recognize its potential. Pedey also took credit for introducing untold numbers of fans to NU volleyball by "dragging" them into the Coliseum for matches after football games. After NU wins the national title, the LJS publishes a special championship edition, and, in one story, lists those who were prominent in creating and building NU volleyball. Pedey doesn't make the cut. I'm guessing an LJS editor received a nasty phone call the next day %u2026

Summer 2006 - Anonymous athletic department employees tell the OWH that, despite the U's policy prohibiting alcohol consumption on campus, alcohol is regularly carted up to the NU skyboxes throughout the week before home football games, then hidden & locked in the skyboxes. Dept employees are not allowed into skyboxes when alcohol is being served/consumed on game day. Don't ask, don't tell; if the athletic dept employees don't see it, it's OK, apparently. Signs outside the door are rotated to let employees know when it's "safe" to enter the skybox. Pedey says nothing.


2007

1/2007 - Several news outlets have stories detailing Tom Osborne's work once a week with the Creighton athletic dept, providing advice on an informal basis to CU athletics officials, athletes, and coaches. The OWH's Shatel asks the question everyone is wondering: Why Creighton and not NU? "They asked," TO said of Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen. Pedey never has asked, despite the fact that TO teaches classes two days a week on the UNL campus, just a few blocks from the athletics offices that bear his name. TO, again taking the high road, emphasizes to Shatel that he's not at odds with Pedey and that he understands if Callahan "wants his space." But Shatel writes that he gets the feeling Osborne would love to perform this function at NU. %u2026 Why should Pedey ask TO for anything at this point? He already got TO's name on the athletic complex; Pedey no longer needs him.

/--/07 - Spirit Squad members see drastic scholarship reductions and loss of Osborne Complex facility use. Learned of cuts via huskers.com, no face-to-face interaction with Athletic Department.

2/2707 - OWH Columist Tom Shatel wites opinion editorial detailing the security at the Osborne Complex, which parallels the way the Athletic Department has distanced itself from the public.

2/27/07 - Shatel explains his actions on 1620 AM (Omaha). After two months of denied interview requests, Pederson agrees to an interview to respond to the column mentioned above, but will not allow any other questions. OWH declines interview.

3/1/07 - Steve Pederson writes a letter to the OWH continuing the spat with columnist Tom Shatel. Claims security in a 9/11 world to blame for guards at entrance of Osborne Complex and escorting guests. (Note: Devaney Center, Mabel Lee, etc. do not have the same security.)

Entire 2007 Season................puke.