LINCOLN -- Frank Solich deserved better than this.

Nebraska's new Golden Boy athletic director Steve Pederson, despite barely having time to warm his office chair, has taken it upon himself to lead Big Red football in a new direction. A Nebraska native, you'd think Pederson would be a little more committed to doing things "the Nebraska way" he so fondly speaks of while trying to get you to reach for your checkbook.

Instead, with a five-minute meeting and a handshake, Pederson sent a loyal Cornhusker soldier packing Saturday night. After devoting the last six seasons as head coach and most of his adult life to the program, Frank Solich has been shown the door.

Incredibly, remarkably, inexplicably, a 9-3 regular season is apparently not showing enough progress for Pederson to give Solich another year. Pederson never said he'd judge Solich on wins and losses, but come on now. A team has a chance for a 10-win season with a bowl victory and he doesn't think things were moving forward?

Unless Pederson can offer up something more tangible than wanting to take the program in a different direction, it's difficult to fathom how he could toss out what former Nebraska coaching great Tom Osborne put in place. As we found out Sunday, Solich was basically gone the minute Pederson arrived and nothing short of a national championship this season would have saved his job.

Pederson is clearly aware that he has to do some major damage control and work on repairing his own credibility. After saying on his radio show last Tuesday that he had not discussed Solich's future with boosters, nearly the exact scenario described by the Lincoln Journal Star's now-famous three anonymous boosters story came to fruition Saturday night.

Pederson and NU chancellor Harvey Perlman want you to believe that it was merely a coincidence. Anyone buying that steaming pile right now? And Pederson actually had the nerve to trash the newspaper, which also took so much public heat. Obviously, Nebraska fans wanted to believe that a newspaper lied to them, not their AD.

Now, not only does the Husker Nation look like a bunch of dumb hicks to the rest of the country for firing a coach who has won more than 75 percent of his games in the midst of a nine-win season, but it also appears cold and heartless. Solich was whacked completely without class.

Pederson hid behind his policy of supposedly not discussing the status of coaches (apparently boosters don't count) and let a good man twist in the wind. He even allowed Solich to look foolish, thinking he was actually going to get to coach his team as it went for win No. 10 in a bowl game.

No doubt, Sunday morning was glorious for some folks who have been calling for Solich's head almost from day one. Instead of celebrating Osborne's closing years for what they were -- a fantastic spree that may never be equaled -- these bandwagon fans suddenly expected annual runs at national championships to be the norm.

To them I say, take a good look around. How many other programs do you see playing for the national championship every year? Exactly. It's not that easy.

Solich had Nebraska in the national championship game just two years ago. Whether or not the Huskers deserved to be there is a different debate, but the point is, they won 11 games and they were there.

NU captured the Big 12 Conference title in 1999 and won nine or more games in five of Solich's six years. Last season's 7-7 mark was the only significant hiccup in his quest to keep Nebraska among college football's top programs and the man known as "Fearless Frankie" during his playing days, proved he wasn't afraid to make the necessary changes.

Solich was twice named Big 12 coach of the year and probably deserves consideration for the award this season. However, none of it is good enough for those so-called fans who start each and every season with the mindset of "national championship or bust."

Former Husker Trev Alberts, now a college football analyst for ESPN, probably best summed up the viewpoint of individuals that sports talk radio cult hero Jim Rome would probably refer to as Idiot Husker Fan. Alberts said that nothing less than championship seasons each and every year will be tolerated by Husker fans. If that's true, then I guess there really is no place like Nebraska, and that's sad.

FYI, Idiot Husker Fan usually prefaces his or her criticism on radio call-in shows by saying, "I pay $1,000 for the right to buy season tickets and I think ..." Idiot Husker Fan was also easy to spot while heading for the exits midway through the fourth quarter of Nebraska's 38-9 home loss to Kansas State.

There was never any doubt that Idiot Husker Fan existed. I just never thought that a Nebraska AD would let him run the program. It's enough to make me long for the days of Bill Byrne.

Anyone who's bothered to read the words in this column space before probably isn't surprised by my reaction. I've often been called a "Solich apologist" for suggesting that Frank, despite his "dreary" .753 winning percentage, is a solid head coach.

Until now, it's all been fun and games and made for great debate. Solich critics and I could agree to disagree, but this is bigger than taking a few hits on an Internet message board. This is a good football man getting the shaft.

Pederson found out quickly that his decision wasn't received well by many of Nebraska's players. The reaction from several Huskers asked to comment has ranged from total shock to sadness to extreme anger. Defensive end Benard Thomas even confronted Pederson during his own press conference.

It won't happen, but nothing would show Pederson the error of his way better than a players' revolt. Here's hoping the Huskers will prepare for their bowl game as usual and then walk off the field just prior to the opening kickoff in protest. When asked why, their unified answer could be, "Why don't you ask Steve Pederson?"

Here's also hoping that all Solich supporters who have already chipped in for Pederson's $40 million football facility will ask for their money back. He's already gone on record as saying that boosters who make donations won't have a say in how he runs the program, so give him a second chance to be a man of his word.

Oh, and by the way Steve, you can probably drop plans to put Osborne's name on the front of your fancy new digs. As of last week, the biggest name in Husker history seemed to make it pretty clear that he believed Solich should be brought back in 2004. Guess that meant nothing to you, Steve?

One thing is for sure: Pederson better have someone big on the hook to replace Solich -- and I mean really big. His gut feeling had better be right. Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris or interim coach and defensive coordinator Bo Pelini definitely won't cut it.

To justify throwing out Solich and his new, energetic and popular coaching staff, Pederson doesn't need to hit a home run, he needs a grand slam. We're talking about the second coming of Vince Lombardi or at the very least, the next Bob Stoops.

Good luck Mr. Pederson. In case you missed it, Lincoln doesn't exactly rate as the most desirable place to live in this country. Besides, what coach in their right mind would want to come to a program where 9-3 gets you the pink slip?

If Pederson's new guy doesn't come through with a national title or at least 11 victories next season, then Pederson's head should be the next to roll. Put Pederson on the same timetable he gave Solich.

Nothing against the players or the incoming coaches, but a good ol' 3-8 or 4-7 season would be a nice lesson in humility for both Idiot Husker Fan and Pederson. After several years of wallowing in true mediocrity like USC, Penn State, Alabama, Notre Dame and even Oklahoma were forced to do, maybe folks will think back and appreciate the Solich area.

By showing a total lack of the kind of patience that allowed Bob Devaney and Osborne to eventually become great, Pederson has almost certainly started a coaching carousel that will usher in the next dark age of Nebraska football. Thanks to Steve, we've all got a front-row seat.

For the record, I'm out.
 

Mr. Douglass, what do you say to the column of yours that was reprinted above? Did you really write that? You actually encouraged players to boycott the bowl game that year. You professed to speak for Tom Osborne in removing his name from the athletic complex(how arrogant is that?). Of course, you were wrong on that. You actually asked people to ask for their money back from the stadium expansion project.

Now ask yourself, is that good journalism, or is that petulant whining about not getting your way? Against the backdrop of that outrageous column, how is anybody supposed to take anything you say now seriously? In that column, you wanted to basically destroy the program all for the sake of avenging Solich's firing. How has your position changed since then? Have you ever refuted that column?

Your words have consequences-let's see if you can defend those remarks, and give us any reason to believe that they don't still reflect your views. Thanks to anonymous for bringing up your words so you can't hide from them.
 

Mr. Douglass:
You wrote: "I said that one of the reasons I thought Nebraska had been so successful for so long was that it had an offensive system (the power option game) that was somewhat unique to college football and they knew how to coach it and find players that fit the system. I then said that in the old system, Nebraska might have been better off to get the best players possible that fit and squeeze every last drop of talent out of them – like Iowa State during some of its better seasons."

Do you believe that Cotton was moving NU back to the Power-Option offense? Is that his style? Did he every promise that? Solich and Cotton had moved on. the Power-Option was history. Time for you to do the same.
 

Regarding your concern for recruiting, the evidence seems to be accumulating that the current staff is doing well for a second straight season. Of course, we won't know until Feb, but I am hopeful that NU finishes Top 10 or 15. Clearly, this staff was put togther with great emphasis on recruiting as it should have been. So far, they have not disappointed.
 

Instead of the personal insults by HUSKERTRUTH, it would be nice if this discussion could focus on the flwed logic that Terry put in writing on Monday. Face the facts: IF IT WAS NOT FOR STEVE PEDERSON, NU WOULD HAVE ISU'S OFFENSE RIGHT NOW.

Of course, if you debate skills are lacking, feel free to trash this comment soley on the screen name is choose.
 

HuskerTruth, I don't think you're really helping Terry out here.

You seem to have some issues regarding the English Language. The only thing that I've been able to gleen from your posts is that you have some sort of odd fascination with human waste and beastiality. Seek help.
 

Terry: You say your only problem with the current coach is that he might not be able to recruit against Miami and other. You add that the Power-Option offense gave NU a unique advantage.

Terry: Are you aware that Solich hired Barney Cotton and that Barney Cotton never planned to bring the Power-Option offense back to NU. His plans are well documented in your paper and others.

Terry: You wrote that "had an offensive system (the power option game) that was somewhat unique to college football and they knew how to coach it and find players that fit the system."

Terry: You do know that if Solich was fired or not, the Power-Option was gone with the hire of Cotton, don't you?

HuskerTrust: This comment has nothing to do with Huskerpedia or Elvis or animal or screen names. It is exclusively about what Terry wrote on Monday.
 

A quote by Terry Douglass:
'Here's hoping the Huskers will prepare for their bowl game as usual and then walk off the field just prior to the opening kickoff in protest. When asked why, their unified answer could be, "Why don't you ask Steve Pederson?'

A quote by Terry Douglass when exposed as a dyed in the wool Solichista:
"The fact is, I prefaced a comments about the coaching change by saying that I LIKE Bill and LIKE Steve on both a personal and professional level."

Sorry Terry. I don't like liars & I don't like idiots. You're not even an entertaining idiot. Your opinion is worthless. Why don't you check if there are any openings for uninformed opinion writers in Athens Ohio?
 

It's starting to look like Terry's not going to post a transcript or recording. In which case I'm going with the Huskerpedia guy on this call.

For one reason and I'm sorry to be blunt, but I think the comment by Terry that he "likes" Pederson is just a flat out lie, based on almost everything Terry's written prior to that. My experience is that if a guy will lie to you once, he'll do it again.
 

I agree with you terry, I don't like pederson or callahan either. They should run for governer because they act like a politician and osborne should be coaching where he belongs.
 

TERRY, you are a complete dumbass, how the hell can you call yourself a Husker fan.

Also on ELVIS, I will take his posts and thoughts over this idiot Terry's any day. ELVIS I support you!
 

Let's see...

One person puts a face and real name behind his statements...

The other hides behind the name of a dead rock star and writes incoherent posts...

I think I know who to believe. Elvis, shut up.