BREAKING: OSU Coach Mike Riley Leaves Beavers for Nebraska

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Joanna Evoniuk, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo credit: Wikipedia commons

Mike Riley, Oregon State’s head football coach, has been hired to coach at Nebraska, Fox 12 News reports.

Godspeed, Mike Riley.

In a stunner, the long-time Oregon State coach is headed to Nebraska, where it’s all about tradition, winning big, and doing everything with class and dignity. It’s something the program became known for under Tom Osborne, and while it’s never easy to replace a legend, there was hope in Lincoln that someone would be prove able or worthy of building upon a formidable foundation.

Frank Solich didn’t win enough and - memo to Riley - might have been perceived as too old. Bill Callahan didn’t fit from a culture standpoint. And Bo Pelini was just a mess, at times a vulgar, profane mess - such as the time the coach and his brothers (also NU assistant coaches) hollered and screamed obscenities at then-Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe following a controversial end to the conference’s 2009 championship game . I was there, covering the action for the Houston Chronicle, deciding on a whim to abandon the drama of the winning locker room for the potential of Pelini blowing a gasket.

My instincts were rewarded ten-fold .

As a departure from all of that, Riley is a godsend. He’s as quality a person I’ve met in all of my years in this business, and by far the most accessible and accommodating as a head coach. He’ll be a great fit in that regard, a real asset in the heartland, where those qualities are (still) held in high regard.

But will he win enough?

He couldn’t do enough of that here in recent years, and there will likely be rumblings that changes were going to be forced upon the long-time coach as a result. No tenured coach appreciates being told to revamp his staff, and doing so is usually just a Band-Aid on the situation. It’s a temporary fix, a salve for an issue must bigger.

So he left, signing on at a renowned football school with no competition within the state.

Also know that athletic directors rarely fire coaches who win nine games a season, as the beleaguered Pelini did, without having a very good idea of who the program’s successor will be. It’s hard to imagine Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst didn’t have a sense he could land Riley, which means it’s also entirely reasonable to think Riley - or his intermediaries - were already exploring exit options.

"I’m not going to lower our standards," Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst said earlier this week. "I don’t think Nebraskans want that… The people of Nebraska not only deserve high standards and expectations, but they deserve to reach them.”

Remember, standards and expectations also pertain to conduct and class, not just wins and losses. I think Riley, at 61, can win just as much as Pelini did, and don’t forget, the West Division of the Big Ten is sort of suspect - it’s Wisconsin and very little else. Plus. he’ll be a great ambassador for the school, someone NU can be proud of.

So what do the Beavers do now? I think the blueprint says Bob De Carolis should hire a sharp, young, charismatic assistant, preferably an offensive coordinator who has served time under the game’s acclaimed top coaches.

And already, a few prominent media voices within the state have taken to Twitter to wonder if Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost - a former Cornhusker, by the way, and an alleged candidate to succeed Pelini - might be the guy.

De Carolis should at least make the call.

"Though we love Corvallis and Oregon State, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to coach at one of the nation's most storied football programs and I can't wait to get started," Riley said through a media statement from the the University of Nebraska Twitter account.

"My sincere thanks to Chancellor Perlman and Shawn Eichorst for their confidence in me and I look forward to becoming a part of the Nebraska family and building upon the great history and tradition."

Riley will join Nebraska football team after his Beavers finished last in the Pac-12 North this season, with a 2-7 record in conference and 5-7 overall. They lost their last game to Oregon Civil War, 27-19.

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