Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 16:02:07 04/17/24 Wed
Who is the single most important person in the history of the University of Nebraska?
That answer is unambiguous: Tom Osborne. Because of what Osborne achieved inside the confines of Memorial Stadium, today the University of Nebraska is secure, financially and otherwise, as a member of the Big Ten.
The Big Ten was interested in Nebraska for its football brand name at the time. What the Big Ten failed to recognize is that Nebraska has none of the natural advantages of the other big anem programs in America. I'm talking about access to the prime recruiting areas of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the "old" Big Ten footprint and of course Texas, Louisiana, Florida and California outside of that.
For four decades, Tom Osborne took "nothing" and made national champions out of it. Once Osborne retired, Nebraska reverted to what it would have been all along without Osborne. Nothing.
Nebraska isn't even a member of the AAU anymore, the other banner which the Big Ten like to tout that all of its members satisfy.
If the Big Ten were to re-constitute itself today, would it invite Nebraska? The Big Ten would be more likely to invite Harvard.
The question is, "Is Duke Nebraska?'
I believe that Mike Krzyzewski is an outstanding basketball coach. He had more natural advantages in Tobacco Road than Osborne did in the Nebraska cornfields, and he too made the most of them, also culminating in multiple national championships.
But once again the world has shifted. Will Duke be able to stay Duke without Krzyzewski?
I'm not sure.
But certainly part of the answer depends upon what happens to the ACC. Will it continue to exist? Will it look more like the SEC or more like the Big East?
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