First off, I love the Common Fan Podcast. The guys put out great content and truly are the epitome of the common fan. They also have terrific guests, like Gary Sharp, Brandon Vogel, Mike’l Severe, Brian Christopherson and Mitch Sherman. If you want to talk about Nebraska football, you couldn’t find a better group or podcast to listen to. If you haven’t already, give them a shot.

So, now that I’ve given the CFP (not to be confused with the college football playoff) a big old kiss on the butt, I’m going to poo-poo all over their recent selections for the Mount Rushmore of Nebraska coaches.

Common Fans Podcast Mount Rushmore of Nebraska Coaches: Tom Osborne, Bob Devaney, Jumbo Stiehm, and Monte Kiffin.

Well, they got it half right. But then again, wasn’t the whole idea behind their Mount Rushmore series, so we could all chime in and share our thoughts. To get more clarification on their selections, listen to the podcast. It’s worth your time.

But here are my thoughts.

Those that were suggested as possible candidates included, Boyd Epley, Charlie McBride, Dana Bible, Bo Pelini, Fred Dawson, Frank Solich, Jumbo Stiehm, and Monte Kiffin. Of course, Devaney and Osborne were automatic choices, meaning there were only two choices to make.

My Mount Rushmore: Bob Devaney, Tom Osborne, Frank Solich and Fred Dawson.

Bob Devaney – The clear-cut number one. The true father of Cornhusker football as we know it. It all started with him and thank God for Duffy Daugherty – twice. First for turning down the Nebraska job, and then convincing Devaney to take it. When Devaney took over Nebraska was coming off their seventh losing season. He turned things around immediately and never looked back. After posting a record of 101-20-2, with 2 national championships and 8 conference titles and a .829 winning percentage he took over as the Athletic Director in 1972. As both a coach and AD he spoke at gathering across the state and won people over, he was one of them, telling jokes and tipping one back like he had known them all his life. He was a Nebraskan in every way.

Tom Osborne – I had to put Tom at number two, without Davenay, there would be no Osborne, and without Daveney running inference and letting Osborne do his job his way, you must wonder how successful Osborne would have been or how long he would have stayed. Osborne had the leeway that no one else ever had at Nebraska. Devaney had his back for over 20 years and allowed him a clear path while posting most of his wins. Osborne finished with a record of 255-49-03, winning 3 national championships, 12 Big Eight titles, and 1 Big XII title, with a .836 winning percentage. Few seem to remember he only coached for four seasons after Devaney stepped down from the AD position. Things got harder for Tom after Devaney was gone. It simply proves what I’ve always believed, your AD must be a football guy if your school is truly going to be a football power. Your head coach must have 100% backing, and Osborne has that.

Frank Solich – Solich is my number three and has always been severely underrated, as both a player and a coach. He was part of Bob Devaney first recruiting class and played fullback at 5’7”, 160-pounds. He was a captain on the 1965 team and was the first Nebraska Cornhusker to rush for 200 yards in a game and the first to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He was the hardnosed stubborn player that Devany built his squads around and helped build a culture that was undeniably Husker football. He started his coaching career at Nebraska in 1979 and spent 4 seasons as the freshman coach and 15 more seasons as Osborne’s running back coach. He coached some of the best running backs in Nebraska football history in Doug Dubose, Roger Craig, Kieth Jones, Derek Brown, Lawernce Phillips, Ken Clark, Calvin Jones, Ahman Green and Mike Rozier. Under Osborne he was part of three national championships. He then took over as Nebraska’s head coach and posted a record of 58-19 over 6 seasons with a .753 winning percentage. He went on to have a highly successful head coaching career at Ohio and will forever be part of Devaney’s legacy.

My fourth pick was brought up on the podcast by Henry Cordes, longtime Omaha World Hearld reporter and author of multiple books on Husker football. He talked about Fred Dawson and Nebraska beating Notre Dame. He just didn’t emphasize enough what that accomplishment meant at the time. Dawson did something no one else ever did.

Fred Dawson – Nebraska’s coach from 1921 to 1924 had a record of 23-7-2 with a .750 winning percentage. This choice is controversial because of Dawson’s briefness as head coach. But what makes Dawson a Mount Rushmore candidate for me is that Notre Dame and Knute Rockne’s famed ‘Four Horsemen’ only lost two games throughout their careers. Both came at the hands of Dawson’s Cornhuskers. Nebraska defeated Notre Dame 14-6 in Lincoln on November 30, 1922, and again in Lincoln on October 10, 1923, by a score of 14-7. The fact Knute Rockne is recognized as one of the greatest college football coaches of all time and posted a record of 105-12-5 with three national championships carries a ton of weight when considering Dawson’s wins over him. Offensively, Rockne was the Tom Osborne of his time. Making Dawson and his Cornhusker’s Rockne’s Barry Switzer with his Sooner magic.

My grandfather was born in 1905, and he talked about the Four Horseman of Notre Dame and how the Cornhuskers had beaten them. He would have been around 17 then, but he never forgot about it and when we listened to Lyle Bremser during the 1970 season, he brought it up again. It truly was something for Cornhusker fans to brag about and never forget.

GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST, VIOLENT!!

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