Bill Callahan's Days Are Numbered

Someday, I can imagine Bill Callahan being another anecdote about what happens when a school or organization chooses to shy away from tradition. “Look here,” I’ll say to my grandkids, “I blogged about the Huskers when wanted to bring a ‘new order’ to Nebraska.” It seemed like a good idea at the time. I jumped on the Callahan bandwagon early, trying to convince my Chiefs-loving wife that it’s not his fault that the Raiders started sucking. The problem is that Callahan is just a mediocre coach.

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Bill Callahan is actually not that bad of a guy and not that bad of a coach (hence mediocre). His scheme is built to exploit weak teams and stack up well against teams with one area of exploitable defensive weakness. He game plans very well when he has time in advance to work on his plays and studies the film. Unfortunately, it is his expertise in this one area that will lead to the end of his time at Nebraska.

When he has one week to prepare for teams that are athletically superior or have exceptional coaching, he still thinks that his plan will work. Never mind that coaching happens 80% on the fly. This is the exact opposite of the players. 80% of the one-on-one battles are won by the players who have prepared well in the off-season and previous weeks. When he gets to game time and the sets he has dreamed up are stalling on drives or defensively allowing the team to march, he cannot adjust. Even if the Huskers are better prepared physically, it is demoralizing to see your coach losing the “chess match” of football. Most Husker fans knew that you could walk out of Memorial Stadium if we were down at halftime.

Could it be that our players are overloaded with information about the West Coast Offense? Joe Ganz made so many of his plays by sheer athleticism alone. And yes, he had to know where his players were going to be in what formations, but his on-field vision is impressive. This is potentially making up for the unknowns like players missing a step in routes or getting jammed hard at the line. Maybe it’s true what Kansas City Chiefs Running Back Larry Johnson said: “Football is easy,” he said. “It’s not a chess game. It’s checkers. When they’re looking for the run, you pass. When they’re looking for the pass, you run. When they put nine in the box, you pass. When they overload one side, you run to the other side.”

Update: Bill Callahan is now the Assistant Head Coach/Offense for the New York Jets. He will be focusing on the Running Game and coaching the offensive line according to many major news sources.