Nebraska announces Mike Riley as its new Head Football Coach

[Acebb]

Did anyone see this coming?

LINCOLN, Neb. —The University of Nebraska has hired Mike Riley as its new Head Football Coach, Director of Athletics Shawn Eichorst announced Thursday.
Riley will be formally introduced at a news conference on Friday at 9 a.m. in the West Memorial Stadium – 3rd Floor Club.
Riley comes to Nebraska after 14 seasons as the head coach at Oregon State University, spanning two different tenures in Corvallis. Riley has led OSU to 93 wins and a 6-2 record in postseason bowl games. In addition to his time at Oregon State, Riley has served as the head coach of the San Diego Chargers, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, with whom he won two Grey Cup Championships, and the San Antonio Riders in the World Football League. He has served as an assistant coach at California, USC, Linfield College, Whitworth and Northern Colorado as well as with the New Orleans Saints and in the Canadian Football League.

 

[Acebb]

 

[Acebb]

People on the Nebraska twitter feed thought this was some sort of joke when it was announced.

It certainly is out of left field.

 

[OneZero]

That's a head scratcher for ya.

 

[pathologist]

Really shitty hire by Nebraska,shitty

 

[sendacash]

What are you guys talking about, throwing the ball 40+ times a game and not playing much defense should work in Lincoln right?

 

[Addicted2quack]

Really intersting hire, but as an oregon fan I had been hearing buzz since last year about mikenriley being on the hot seat... He was going to get fired after this regardless... Oregon state is in a tailspin and they are going downhill big time.... Corvallis is a really tough place to get recruits to come to... Oregon has Nike, the facilities and uniforms... Orego state has nothing... This program is going down fast unless they can bring in a big time coach... And they don't like paying people so that won't happen.... But why nebraska hired mike Riley has got me stumped... Riley is a pro style guy obviously, but his teams aren't traditionally powerhouses... He's going from one place that's tough to get recruits to a place that's even more difficult... Good luck lol

 

[rolltide]

Sources close to the Oregon State program tell us they would expect defensive coordinator Mark Banker to join Riley (if he is not offered the head coaching position at Oregon State); but they do not expect offensive coordinator John Garrett to follow Riley to Nebraska.

 

[sendacash]

I'm guessing that Nebraska thinks they need to recruit more kids from the west coast and Riley would obviously have those connections?

 

[RunLeeRun]

Surprised. Didnt he turn down USC and Alabama?

 

[RunLeeRun]

Corvallis is a really tough place to get recruits to come to... Oregon has Nike, the facilities and uniforms... Orego state has nothing... This program is going down fast unless they can bring in a big time coach... And they don't like paying people so that won't happen.... But why nebraska hired mike Riley has got me stumped... Riley is a pro style guy obviously, but his teams aren't traditionally powerhouses... He's going from one place that's tough to get recruits to a place that's even more difficult... Good luck lol

Well, he just got a facility upgrade into Oregon territory, so lets see what he can do with a little more cash on hand. Id question your comparison on difficulty of recruiting. Is it not facilities that help Oregon draw talent?

 

[ChrisParadise]

I'm guessing that Nebraska thinks they need to recruit more kids from the west coast and Riley would obviously have those connections?

no. Nebrasksa makes its living getting players from Texas. Nebraska already recruits the west coast better than Oregon St when they need to, they just dont need to.

 

[r.a.]

Confounding hire ... he was a hot commodity in his first stint at Oregon St.. He totally floundered with the San Diego Chargers and has been nothing but pedestrian in his second stint with the Beavers. Where is Gary Patterson's name with all these big jobs becoming available? Have to believe Michigan would be interested in him. Bet the rest of the Big 10 isn't left quivering over this hire.

 

[rolltide]

Surprised. Didnt he turn down USC and Alabama?

well, yeah....he turned down bama 12 years ago - he wasnt even at OSU yet

but was because he wanted to explore the UCLA job at the same time and bama gave him a take-it-or-leave-it option. he left it, we hired Mike Price instead. good times

 

[Wanger]

Surprised. Didnt he turn down USC and Alabama?

I know he turned down Alabama, he played under Bryant at Alabama.

 

[BigdaddyQH]

This is a terrible hire. Nebraska is headed for the "also ran" catagory in the Big 10. Riley has NEVER won a Pac 10/12 championship. In his last two seasons, his teams are 1-9 S/U in their final 5 games, not counting bowl games. He was 0-7 S/U against rival Oregon. This past season he returned 14 starters and still could not win 6 games. I would say that this is a desperate hire, but that would not be fair to the teams that are really desperate. This is probably the worst hire you will see this season. Nebraska fires a head coach with a 66-27 record to hire one with an 93-80 record. That makes a lot of sense.

 

[GoSooners]

no. Nebrasksa makes its living getting players from Texas. Nebraska already recruits the west coast better than Oregon St when they need to, they just dont need to.

Yes, Nebraska does need to recruit the west coast, they just aren't that successful. A lot of the Corn's downfall was losing that in-state walk-on program and Cali pipeline. As for Riley, he is very good at getting under the radar players. I know he's picked up several from my home state of Oklahoma over the years. I'm sure he'll continue to get some under the radar players from Texas. The bottom line is the Pac-12 is improving in leaps and bounds with the Zona teams on the rise and UCLA back in the picture, along with the eventual rise of USC and then Oregon, who was a big problem for Riley as far as competing for quality recruits. I know a few of the west coasters on this board have bashed Riley over the years, but I've always been a fan. He just had a ceiling at OSU that they were only going to win so many games. At least he now has a little easier conference to deal with in the Big 10.

 

[DesertNole]

How far down on their candidate list did they go before they landed on Riley? Was he a second or third choice? Unreal.

 

[GoSooners]

How far down on their candidate list did they go before they landed on Riley? Was he a second or third choice? Unreal.

The only "for sure" upgrades at head coach were going to be a Harbaugh brother, Urban Renewal or Nick Satan. And we knew they weren't going to get them. Time will tell on Riley. But I think he is a good coach...

 

[WinOne]

Yes, Nebraska does need to recruit the west coast, they just aren't that successful. A lot of the Corn's downfall was losing that in-state walk-on program and Cali pipeline. As for Riley, he is very good at getting under the radar players. I know he's picked up several from my home state of Oklahoma over the years. I'm sure he'll continue to get some under the radar players from Texas. The bottom line is the Pac-12 is improving in leaps and bounds with the Zona teams on the rise and UCLA back in the picture, along with the eventual rise of USC and then Oregon, who was a big problem for Riley as far as competing for quality recruits. I know a few of the west coasters on this board have bashed Riley over the years, but I've always been a fan. He just had a ceiling at OSU that they were only going to win so many games. At least he now has a little easier conference to deal with in the Big 10.

Ditto. This is a good hire and a completely different personality from Pelini. What NU is getting in HC Riley is a class act on and off the field. One thing you can say about his kids is he coaches them up. They may come into OSU as 2 or 3 stars but they play like 4 or 5 stars when they leave. The guys he sends to the pro's are coachable and ready to step onto the field and perform. He's a coaches coach who leaves no stone unturned in preparation. Other than than this year, he's done more with less than any other coach on the West Coast and it was just a matter of time before someone pulled him away from Corvalis.