Nebraska
Nebraska to honor Solich 20 years after controversial firing
Twenty years have handed since Frank Solich’s controversial firing from Nebraska, and he hasn’t publicly appeared at Memorial Stadium since. That’s about to alter.
The 78-year-old stays a beloved determine amongst a lot of the fan base, having been an all-conference fullback for the Cornhuskers within the Nineteen Sixties, an assistant to Tom Osborne for twenty years and the top coach who received 75% of his video games over six seasons earlier than his unceremonious dismissal.
With the prodding of athletic director Trev Alberts, the urging of Osborne and the invitation of first-year coach Matt Rhule, Solich figured now’s the time to return to Lincoln. He and his household might be honored during the Huskers’ spring game April 22 in what he hopes would be the begin of a renewed relationship with this system.
“I’ve at all times appreciated the followers of Nebraska and at all times felt good about them, and the identical method about mainly a lot of the coaches I labored with there,” Solich mentioned Thursday in an interview with The Related Press. “With the folks of Nebraska and the true associates I’ve there, it simply made sense now to come back again.”
Alberts, an All-America linebacker at Nebraska within the early Nineteen Nineties when Solich was an assistant, mentioned he has been attempting to get Solich to return since he turned athletic director two years in the past.
“I’m actually wanting ahead to Husker Nation honoring Frank and thanking him for every little thing he’s accomplished as a participant, as a coach and in addition honor him for what he did after he left right here,” Alberts mentioned.
Solich was 58-19 in six seasons because the successor to Osborne, the School Soccer Corridor of Fame coach who received nationwide championships in three of his final 4 years and retired with this system at its pinnacle.
Below Solich, the Huskers received the Huge 12 championship and completed No. 2 within the polls in 1999, they usually performed within the 2001 Bowl Championship Collection title sport in opposition to Miami regardless of a jarring 62-36 loss to Colorado within the regular-season finale.
The Huskers misplaced three straight to finish 2002 and completed 7-7, the primary time since 1968 they hadn’t received at the least 9 video games. Solich fired three assistant coaches and gave up offensive play-calling duties, and the Huskers received 9 video games the next common season.
However dangerous losses to Missouri, Texas and Kansas State and a 16-12 report over his final 28 video games prompted first-year athletic director Steve Pederson to fireside him. In explaining his determination, Pederson famously mentioned, “I refuse to let this system gravitate into mediocrity.”
The choice was divisive. Some followers agreed this system was displaying indicators of slippage; some argued Solich deserved extra time along with his restructured employees.
Solich took the excessive highway via the years when requested about how issues ended.
“It’s not my model to publicly come out and speak about or complain about issues,” he mentioned. “I do know I’m a very good coach. I knew that via my time at Nebraska, via my time on the excessive faculties I used to be at and thru my time at Ohio. I can put collectively a very good employees, I do know I can relate to gamers, I do know I can win soccer video games.
“I didn’t attempt to look again and beat myself up or beat anyone else about it,” he added “There have been issues that occurred that had been powerful to take, however that occurs in life and I moved on.”
Solich was out of teaching for one yr earlier than he was employed at Ohio. He spent 16 seasons with the Bobcats and have become the Mid-American Convention’s all-time wins chief. He retired in the summertime of 2021 to deal with a coronary heart challenge, and he now lives in Idaho.
Invoice Callahan, Bo Pelini, Mike Riley, Scott Frost and Rhule have adopted Solich at Nebraska. There was no convention championship for the reason that ’99 title beneath Solich, no bowl since 2016 beneath Riley and 6 straight shedding seasons.
Solich supporters have lengthy contended that his firing 20 years in the past put a curse on the soccer program and that it solely will be damaged by Nebraska making issues proper with him.
Solich acknowledged he’s heard concerning the “Solich Curse.”
“I’ll say this: if I had the power to placed on curses, there can be a number of extra folks in hassle,” he mentioned.
Requested if Pederson was a kind of folks, Solich laughed.
“No,” he mentioned, “I’m not going there.”
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Nebraska is now a leader to land Aiden Manutai. Here is the latest.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers aren’t exactly done in the 2025 cycle as they have been searching for some flip targets. After actively searching, the Huskers may have found another one.
That guy is Aiden Manutai. Manutai is a Kahuku High School defensive back from Kahuku, Hawaii. He plays safety and is a listed four-star from ESPN. Manutai is committed to the California Golden Bears.
Manutai has been a target for the Cornhuskers for a bit of time and started to trend towards the Cornhuskers earlier this month. Manutai was originally interested in Nebraska along with five other schools before committing to the Bears.
Manutai did not make a trip to Lincoln this weekend, which is a good sign for the Golden Bears. However, the Cornhuskers are in a good spot despite this visit not happening. The Huskers made their first bowl game in years which is a positive sign for any recruit.
Manutai is also one of many recruits who were influenced by the addition of Dawson Merritt, who recently flipped from Alabama to Nebraska. Will Manutai be the next flip for the Big Red?
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Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
It was an unseasonably nice afternoon in Memorial Stadium. And no, I’m not talking about temperatures in the high 50s for the final home game. In his second game as offensive coordinator, Dana Holgorsen’s offense exploded for arguably the Nebraska offense’s best game under Matt Rhule. Dylan Raiola played his best game, throwing for over 290 yards with no sacks and no turnovers. For the first time all season, I’d say the Huskers played well in all three phases of the game, and that was enough to send them bowling this December.
The story of this game was the Huskers offense. Emmett Johnson became Nebraska’s second 100-yard running back of the Matt Rhule era, joining Anthony Grant last season against Louisiana Tech. The Huskers had just two of their runs “stuffed” (a run for 0 or fewer yards) on their way to their second-best rushing output this season.
I was struck by the blocking effort in this game. Jahmal Banks held his block on the edge until Dante Dowdell crossed the goal line. Linemen were pulling and still blocking ten yards downfield, helping players fight for extra yards. That type of extra effort made this a special night for the offense.
The Husker’s offense also dominated the control of the ball. The Nebraska offense was built on methodical drives. Even if you remove Nebraska’s two explosive plays, the Huskers offense still managed an EPA of 3.88. This was the first game all season where Nebraska’s non-explosive plays went for a positive EPA.
Special teams was also a big positive for the Huskers in this game. Nebraska’s special teams performed 12.5 points better than Wisconsin’s this game. This was just the second time this season that Nebraska’s special teams unit was a net positive (Ohio State, 2.86 EPA). John Hohl’s 14 points were the most by a kicker in the Matt Rhule era.
The defense still had its concerning moments this game. Wisconsin performed in the 90th percentile or better in many offensive statistics, including its seven explosive plays. These big plays are a cause for concern against Iowa, as the Wisconsin offense is one of the worst teams in the country in generating explosive plays, at just 5.8%. The Nebraska defense was stout on crucial plays, allowing just a 30% 3rd-down success rate and a 33% red zone success rate.
Going into this game, Nebraska lost nine straight games after winning number five and ten consecutive games to Wisconsin. Many people on social media want to make fun of Nebraska fans for storming the field after getting to bowl eligibility. I’m happy these people can enjoy their laughs while they can. The Matt Rhule rebuild is running on schedule, and we all know what year three looks like for him.
Through 11 games, the Nebraska skill position group is the youngest in college football. The extra practice to build chemistry with each other and get more practice reps running Holgorsen’s offense is invaluable. The 2024 seniors won much less than most in Lincoln would’ve liked. But as they walked off the field for the final time, they put Nebraska football on a new trajectory.
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Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
Nebraska and Wisconsin Volleyball have played a total of six sets against each other this season, all of which have been won by the Huskers. Seniors, Merritt Beason, Leyla Blackwell, Lindsay Krause, Kennadi Orr and Lexi Rodriguez were all celebrated for their contributions to the program after tonight’s win.
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