7. On the "No Championships" Myth: A Bounce of a Ball Does Not Define a Coach

Pelini critics like to harp about the lack of “championships” at this early stage in Pelini’s career.  To make that complaint, they have to position themselves against Tom Osborne’s philosophy on “championships,” as he wrote in More Than Winning:

“I’ve gotten away from measuring success in terms of wins and losses.  It’s a mistake those of us in coaching too often make when we define a good season as winning a certain number of games or a championship.  It’s very difficult year-in and year-out to win the number of games that the fans, the press, the alumni, or even the coaches themselves feel is necessary to be successful.  Therefore it’s made sense to me to measure success more in terms of how closely a team has come to realizing its potential.”

After winning his first national championship in the 1995 Orange Bowl, Osborne said he didn’t feel any differently than he had after Nebraska lost the previous year's national championship game to Florida State.  In both games, Osborne explained, his teams played like champions.  He was just as proud after the loss to Florida State as he was after the victory over Miami.

Similarly, in More Than Winning, Osborne recalled sitting in his Miami hotel around 2 a.m. after the 1971 Nebraska team beat Alabama to win the national championship, not sharing the excitement of those around him.  To Osborne, the national championship itself was anti-climactic:

“It really isn’t so much achieving the end result – the national championship and the trophies, which are all fine.  But the important thing about athletics really is the process.  It’s the path you follow in attempting to win the championship that’s important.  The relationships that are formed.  The effort given.  The experiences you have.”

After losing a heartbreaker to Miami in the January, 1984 national championship game, Osborne said "we achieved our goals."

"To some," Osborne wrote, "our loss to Miami was simply a bitter, disappointing defeat.  To others, including myself, the game was exciting, well-played, a credit to college football, and, I hope, within God's view of what football and the human spirit should be."

This poignant perspective is sadly lost on today's chorus of Internet loudmouths and the Dirk Chatelains of the world sullying the state of Nebraska with their personal agendas of attack, criticize, attack.

    In 2009, Pelini’s underdog Nebraska squad played well enough to upset Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game, losing only after Texas alum Walt Anderson breached multiple conference and national replay rules to improperly add an extra second to the clock.  Nebraska prepared like champions, played like champions, carried themselves like champions, and would have been labeled champions if not for the Texas alum’s breach of replay rules.  Does that added second make Bo Pelini less of a coach?  If the Texas kicker’s game-ending field goal had hit the upright, would Bo Pelini be considered a better coach today?  In the simple minds of the loudest critics, he would.

 This is the point Osborne made: “Many times the end result – the win or the loss – we cannot control.  It may hinge on the bounce of the football, it may depend on who has the better athletes, it may depend on an official’s call.”

But if you listen to the chorus of fools attacking Pelini’s record, the bizarre twist at the end of this game – something beyond Pelini’s or NU’s control – justifies firing Pelini and his staff today. 

In 2010, Pelini’s team had a 17-0 lead over Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game.  But NU oddly opted to air it out in the second half, with a hobbling and overmatched freshman QB, rather than simply riding Rex Burkead and Alex Henery to certain victory.  This play-calling mistake resulted in a 23-20 loss, and denied Pelini the "championship" badge his critics seem to require.  Pelini learned from the mistake and improved.  He made a quiet and dignified staff change.  He treated the loss as Osborne taught it to be - an opportunity; part of the process.  The process of learning, growing, and fighting to reach potential. 

In 25 seasons, Tom Osborne never stopped learning and improving.  He didn’t win an outright conference championship until his ninth season.  He only won four outright conference titles in his first 18 seasons.  But he competed most years, and the championships eventually started flowing.    

Pelini is on the same track.  Pelini is one of only three coaches in the nation, along with Jimbo Fisher and Frank Beamer, to have guided his team to three conference title games in a four-year stretch during the 2008-13 time span.  Not even the mighty Nick Saban has done it.

As Osborne said, as Saban says all the time, as Pelini says every week: it's a process.  Wise fans sit back and enjoy watching it unfold.  The loudmouths ignore the process and demand instant results readily discernible on an electronic scoreboard, as the scoreboard contains the only level of analysis of which they are capable.