Callahan fired after Nebraska goes 5-7

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Under coach Tom Osborne, Nebraska was one of the bullies of college football, a program to be feared.

Under coach Bill Callahan, the Cornhuskers were too often the ones getting pushed around.

After watching Callahan's Huskers for five games, Osborne, in his new role as interim athletic director, decided it was time for change.

He fired Callahan during a five-minute meeting Saturday.

"We used to be a team people hated to play," Osborne said during a news conference, "because they felt it for two or three weeks."

Callahan left the football complex without speaking to reporters.

The move was expected after the Huskers finished 5-7 with Friday's 65-51 loss at Colorado, a game in which they squandered an 11-point halftime lead by allowing 34 consecutive points.

Callahan had said after the game he enjoyed his time at Nebraska. "I have no regrets," he said.

Osborne said he had told Callahan in late October that the coach would lose his job if he didn't have a winning record this season. The Huskers kept losing, and losing big, with five defeats by at least 18 points. That included a 76-39 embarrassment at Kansas, the most points ever allowed by Nebraska.

"You have to play with intensity. These coaches tried very hard to have that happen. Yet sometimes you didn't see the effort and intensity you like to see in a football game," Osborne said.

LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini and Buffalo coach Turner Gill are the names mentioned most often to lead a program that was once one of college football's most prestigious.

Nebraska's dismal season followed one in which it reached the Big 12 championship game.

Osborne's decision came one month and a day after Callahan said, "I have done an excellent job in every area." Osborne apparently thought otherwise after only the second losing season at Nebraska since 1962, both coming on Callahan's watch.

It will cost the university more than $3.1 million to buy out Callahan's contract, which was to run through the 2011 season. The new contract was signed in September before the firing of athletic director Steve Pederson, who hired Callahan.

"If you lose a fairly large number of games by a significant margin and you have reasonably good players, which I think we have, then that means there may be some systematic issues, some underlying issues," Osborne said. "I don't think the coaches were incompetent. I think they know what they're doing. But there was something missing, as far as I was concerned."

Pelini was Nebraska's defensive coordinator in 2003 and was popular among fans, who chanted "We want Bo" after he led the Huskers to an Alamo Bowl win over Michigan State as interim head coach following the firing of Frank Solich.

Gill, a longtime assistant under Osborne and Solich, was the Huskers' quarterback in the early 1980s and a Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1983. Osborne said he still talks with Gill about once a week.

Callahan came nowhere near meeting the high standards for Nebraska football established by Osborne, who won 255 games and three national championships in 25 seasons before retiring after the 1997 season.

The Huskers' defense posted some of the nation's worst statistics this season and their offense fell flat in the biggest games, leading to a five-game losing streak.

Callahan's four-year record was 27-22, with three of those wins coming against opponents in the division formerly known as I-AA. He was 15-18 against the Big 12, 0-7 against top 10 opponents and 3-10 against the Top 25. He was 0-17 in games in which the Huskers trailed at halftime.

The Huskers lost three home games for the first time since 1968 and allowed 40 points or more in six games for the first time, leading to heavy criticism of defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove.

Callahan was widely acclaimed for his recruiting, and each of his classes was ranked high by analysts. But many of those players never delivered, and Callahan's ability to develop talent was questioned.