Huskers’ Osborne Quits Nebraska Coach Hopes For One Final Win In Orange Bowl

The tears didn’t come until the day Tom Osborne decided to walk away from college football.

The Nebraska coach stalked the sideline for 25 years with barely a wince or a smile over a win or a loss.

On Wednesday, he was clearly choked up as he announced an end to one of the most successful coaching careers in the sport.

“I think it’s wise to back off before you leave feet-first or somebody tells you it’s time to go,” the 60-year-old coach said.

Osborne said he was retiring because of health problems and to spend more time with his family and at church. He had heart bypass surgery 13 years ago and was hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat last month.

He will coach his last game when the No.2 Cornhuskers play No.3 Tennessee in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2 and said he may stay on until February if he can help the team. If he wins his final game - and top-ranked Michigan loses to Washington State in the Rose Bowl - his reign as head coach will likely end with a national championship.

A team meeting for the game began like any other, quarterback Scott Frost said. Then Osborne broke the news.

“Everybody was totally quiet and you could hear a pin drop,” Frost said. “Coach Osborne doesn’t usually show any emotion … but there was a tear in his eye.”

The coach also got emotional at the news conference. Usually stoic and composed, his eyes welled up as four of his players took the podium to offer their thanks.

“I care very much about those guys so that’s what’s been most difficult,” Osborne said. “I hope at some point they will realize that I’m trying to do what’s the best thing for them.”

Osborne rejected the idea of continuing to coach while delegating duties to top assistants. He said he didn’t want to become a “figurehead coach.” Longtime assistant Frank Solich, the running backs coach, will take over the team. For a quarter-century, Osborne and Nebraska have been perennial powers, winning national titles in 1994 and 1995 while making 25 straight bowl appearances, including the upcoming Orange Bowl game.

Osborne also is the winningest coach in the history of The Associated Press football poll. Since taking over in 1973, Osborne’s teams have been ranked in 396 of 399 polls. Of those rankings, 327 have been in the top 10, including a current streak of 86 weeks.

He will always be remembered for his gutsy decision to go for two points and a win over Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl.

After his team pulled within 31-30 with 48 seconds left, the Huskers needed only a tie for the national title. But Osborne, in what may go down as his defining moment as a coach, went for the win. The 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete and Miami took the national title.

“He accomplished it all,” said Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer, who as coach of the rival Oklahoma Sooners battled Osborne for years in the old Big Eight Conference.

“No one won as consistently as Tom did,” Switzer said. “He won every year and a lot of times he was undefeated. What more could he do?”

Osborne weathered criticism in recent years over his decisions to allow players facing criminal charges to stay on the field. In 1995, he reinstated star tailback Lawrence Phillips to the team even after Phillips pleaded no contest to charges of assaulting a former girlfriend.

Osborne’s decision follows the recent retirements of two of the most prominent coaches in college sports - Eddie Robinson of Division I-AA Grambling, the winningest coach in college football; and Dean Smith of North Carolina, the winningest coach in college basketball.

With 15-hour days routine for many coaches, Osborne said it was time to slow down.

“What I’ve come to realize over the last three months is that I’m not going to sustain that pace for any length of time,” he said.

He was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, which can produce varied and irregular heartbeats, and Osborne said patients are sometimes at risk for strokes.

Osborne predicted the Huskers will change little under Solich, an 18-year assistant who has worked closely with Osborne in designing Nebraska’s offense.

“I don’t know how you replace Tom Osborne as much as you follow him,” Solich told about 300 people at the news conference. “In his 25 years, nobody has equaled him.”

Osborne has a 254-49-3 record - and hopes to finish with win No. 255.

He said he didn’t think his decision would affect the resolve of the Cornhuskers (12-0) to beat Tennessee (11-1) in the Orange Bowl. Nonetheless, he said he hasn’t even thought about strategy.