In our special report for college coaches, we go inside the mind of the 2008 class of high school prospects for insights on how college coaches should recruit them.
What messages they respond to…who helps them make their decision…and what role the head coach plays.
Want a real-world example of how a coach can make a difference in how prospects view a program? Look no further than Lincoln, Nebraska, where Tom Osborne is back in the saddle as the interim head football coach for the Cornhuskers.
Here’s the story from the Kansas City Star:
The cold wind swirled viciously, dropping inches of snow on the downtown streets. People kept their heads down, eyes on the icy sidewalks. They walked past dozens of signs that read, “The Power Of Red” without seeing them.
Then Tom Osborne emerged from the Lincoln Square Building, tall and thin with a cell phone pressed to his ear, striding through the storm with his head held high. People saw him, and they smiled.
Here in Cornhusker country, folks haven’t forgotten that Nebraska used to be part of college football’s aristocracy. Signs celebrate the past. Restaurants drape themselves in red. Students still wear sweaters celebrating national championships that happened in the mid-’90s — when they were in grade school.
But pride has been replaced by self-pity, and the joy of college football has moved over to make way for something new: a sense of loss. The feeling that a whole state saw itself severed from the thing that once drew it together.
Enter Osborne.
When he retired in 1997 after 24 years as the head coach, he’d won three national titles and racked up a 255-49-3 record. The team hadn’t seen a losing season since 1961. Since Osborne’s departure, it has had two losing seasons, including this year’s 5-7 debacle that included humiliating losses to Missouri and Kansas.
So on Oct. 15, the university fired athletic director Steve Pederson and replaced him with Osborne, who stepped out of retirement. Two weeks ago, Osborne announced head coach Bill Callahan would not return. He even stepped in as interim head coach until a replacement could be found.
It was like the old days again. Tom is here. Tom can be trusted. Tom will set things right.
Last week, as the snow piled up, Osborne marched quickly across 13th Street. A man in a blue truck honked, waved and stopped in the middle of the slushy street to let the legend pass. People burying their faces against the weather looked up and suddenly beamed.
Rondi Mettscher couldn’t believe it. In all her years in Lincoln, the 57-year-old native had never seen Osborne in person. Now here he was, in the flesh, the man who was going to make everything OK.
“We’re all excited to have him back,” she said as she watched him climb into his car and drive away. “And look. He’s on his cell phone. You just know he’s working on it right now.”