LET'S BE FRANK SOLICH SUCCEEDING AT TOUGHEST JOB IN TOWN.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Frank Solich Frank Solich (born September 8, 1944 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is the head football coach of the Ohio Bobcats. Solich's Time at Ohio Solich's impact on the Ohio program was immediate, as plans were put in place to renovate Ohio's football facilities and increase began his Nebraska football career almost four decades ago as a fullback in Bob Devaney's quick-hit offense. Solich was 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds, including the pair of five-pound weights he strapped under his shirt on weigh-in day to avoid being stigmatized as the lightest Cornhusker corn·husk·ing n. 1. The husking of corn. 2. A social gathering for husking corn. Also called husking bee. corn . ``Fearless Frankie'' came through the experience with three letters, a then-school-record 200-yard game and a formidable collection of fractures and surgical scars. All of which might explain why Solich was so confident in 1998 he could fill Tom Osborne's coaching shoes after the legend retired. It's either because Solich really is fearless, or because opponents had knocked the sense out of the little guy. Summing up the pleasure and pain of succeeding national-championship winners Osborne and Devaney in Lincoln, Neb., might be the only easy thing about the task. ``It might be that there's no other place like it in the country for having fans who are willing to do whatever it takes to support their team,'' Solich said Friday morning, referring to speculation as many as 60,000 or 70,000 Huskers fans will find seats in the Rose Bowl to watch their heroes face top-ranked Miami on Thursday. ``Now, having said that, you have 60-, 70,000 fans who expect the University of Nebraska to win the national championship.'' And they expect that not only this season but every season. People say Notre Dame's head-coaching job is the most fearsome, seeing as how Fighting Irish fans are all over the country. But Notre Dame Notre Dame IPA: [nɔtʁ dam] is French for Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. In the United States of America, Notre Dame expectations have lightened in recent years. Whoever ends up as the new coach, he'll follow Bob Davie People named Bob Davie include:
No, the hardest job in the country is Nebraska's. Solich's. We big-city folk can't quite grasp what it's like to be under the microscope in a place like Lincoln, population 225,000. In Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , if a major-college or pro team isn't winning, we shift our attention to one of our dozen other teams. In Miami, they shift their attention to one of their half-dozen other teams and drown their remaining sorrows at the jai-alai fronton fron·ton n. An arena for jai alai. [Spanish frontón, wall, fronton, augmentative of frente, forehead, face, from Old Spanish fruente, from Latin . In Lincoln, the scarlet and cream is the only game in town - if not the only game in the state. ``I don't think (Solich) has gotten enough credit for the job he's done to keep that program at a high level,'' said Miami's Larry Coker Larry Coker (born June 23, 1948 in Okemah, Oklahoma) is the former head coach at the University of Miami from 2001 to 2006. He was fired by the University of Miami on November 24, 2006 following a 6-loss season. He is currently a television analyst for ESPNU. , who followed a similar career path to a collegiate head-coaching debut at the same age, 53. ``Sometimes it's harder to maintain (success) than to get there in the first place.'' Devaney got the Huskers there, winning 82.9 percent of his games and the 1970 and 1971 national titles. Osborne kept them there, winning 83.6 percent and the 1994, 1995 and 1997 titles. When Osborne decided the 1997 season would be his last, he told Solich it was his turn. ``He did in a very nonchalant non·cha·lant adj. Seeming to be coolly unconcerned or indifferent. See Synonyms at cool. [French, from Old French, present participle of nonchaloir, to be unconcerned : non-, way,'' said Solich, a Cleveland native who had been an Osborne assistant for 19 years, mostly as the running-backs coach. ``I was in my office. The door was open. He kind of knocked and walked in. He said, `Do you have a minute?' I said, `Certainly.' '' Osborne spilled his plan to anoint a·noint tr.v. a·noint·ed, a·noint·ing, a·noints 1. To apply oil, ointment, or a similar substance to. 2. To put oil on during a religious ceremony as a sign of sanctification or consecration. 3. Solich as his successor and swore him to secrecy. Over the next year, Solich told only his wife. Solich would be taking over a team that had won three of the past four national titles, hadn't suffered a losing season since the Cuban Missile Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, major cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the USSR increased its support of Fidel Castro's Cuban regime, and in the summer of 1962, Nikita Khrushchev secretly decided to , and had averaged 10 victories in Osborne's 25 years. Solich had nowhere to go but down. As for experience as a head coach, he had 13 seasons at a pair of Nebraska high schools in the 1960s and 1970s. He bravely spoke of greeting the new job as a ``responsibility'' and not a ``burden.'' Would he be the next Tom Osborne? Or the next Ray Perkins (failed successor to Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913–January 26, 1983) was an American college football coach. He was best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team, and is the namesake of the Paul W. Bryant Museum. at Alabama), Gomer Jones Gomer Thomas Jones (February 26, 1914 - March 21, 1971) was a football athlete and coach. He was a Hall of Fame center for the Ohio State University Buckeyes and a coach of the University of Oklahoma Sooners for 19 years. (Bud Wilkinson Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson was a legendary Hall of Fame football coach for the University of Oklahoma.[1]. He was also an American football player, broadcaster, and politician. , Oklahoma) or Fred Akers Fred Akers was the football coach of The University of Texas Longhorns from 1977 to 1986. His notable accomplishments include a Heisman Trophy for Earl Campbell in the 1977 season and national title chances in the 1978 and 1984 Cotton Bowls. (Darrell Royal, Texas)? The 1998 season left room for doubt. Solich's Huskers were torn apart by injuries and went 9-4, losing the Holiday Bowl to Arizona. The three seasons since have turned down the heat. After going 12-1, 10-2 and 11-1, Solich has more wins (42) and a better percentage (84.0) than either Devaney or Osborne in his first four seasons. Nebraska's string of bowl seasons is alive at an NCAA-record 33, its string of home sellouts alive at an NCAA-record 247. Solich is meticulous. He studied Osborne's bowl-practice schedules from the national-championship seasons before deciding to bring the Cornhuskers to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, two days before Miami arrived. Solich is diplomatic. Forced to defend Nebraska's presence in the Bowl Championship Series national-championship game in light of its 62-36 loss to Colorado, he comes up with things like: ``I don't want to say there's nobody else out there who's deserving. I will say our team is deserving.'' Solich is earnest and, well, perfectly dull, a personality easily contained in a 5-foot-7 frame. Asked what he made of the season's tumultuous late season, he says: ``I think most people see the last two weeks of college football as being someone unordinary as far as the number of upsets.'' Most people are seeing Fearless Frankie as somewhat unordinary, too - a coach who succeeds a legend and succeeds himself. MIAMI (11-0) vs. NEBRASKA (11-1) Thursday, 5 p.m. (Ch. 7) CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) no caption (Frank Solich) (2) No college coach is under the microscope as Nebraska's Frank Solich is in Lincoln, Neb. Not even at Notre Dame. Kevin Geil/Associated Press |
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