Where Are They Now?

After Bill Callahan was fired as head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers on November 24, 2007, Nebraska fans could have cared less with what happened to Bill Callahan. Now it seems we Huskers are struck with a morbid fascination in the future of our past coach. I say morbid because most probably do not wish him well, rather they hope to see this poor (not literally) man fail, lest some other reason be brought to light on our poor performances of the past few years. We want validation that the correct scapegoat was named.

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Callahan’s agent has been a very busy man. We may remember this guy from this conversation with the Omaha World Herald. It seems there have been rumors that Callahan is or was a candidate for the following three positions: Offensive Coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs, Offensive Line Coach for the New York Jets, or any of the soon-to-be-available offensive coaching positions at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Coach Herm Edwards of the Chiefs basically denied any rumors right now, but I think they are going for Mike Shula, since he coached the current quarterback of the future, Brodie Croyle. It was probably one of those situations where Callahan’s agent said, don’t seriously consider my client, we just need to up his market value. Chiefs and Husker fans overlap quite a bit, so you can imagine the uproar this caused for some people.

Eric Mangini, the coach of the Jets, actually had an interview with Callahan, but we don’t know the results of that conversation right now. Media in the New York area are touting the offensive line expertise and running game experience of Callahan - which is a shock to me. I don’t expect a West Coast Offense follower to put so much thought into the run game. Especially if the rumors of creating a new position called the “running game coordinator” are true.

As for John Gruden and the Bucs, I consider this a credible possibility for Callahan to end up there since they worked together in Oakland from 1998-2001. Callahan called plays for Gruden at Oakland, and probably worked as well as most coaching combinations can.

For what it’s worth, I’d be happy if Callahan got a job somewhere else. If he is a positive contributor at another team, it just may mean that he’s learned from his mistakes. Most of the problems at his time at Nebraska, and even Oakland, stemmed from his personality conflicts with players, media, and general management. He’s not rude or abrasive or anything, he just thinks he knows what’s best even when presented with evidence to the contrary. All we can hope is that he doesn’t look on his time at Nebraska as too negative. In time, he will just become another anecdote for people who think coaches do poorly when moving from professional football to college.

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.