Taking the Reigns

It turned out to be the ultimate test of loyalty, a supreme gauge to determine whether a company man really had the mettle to assume an awesome responsibility.

Give a guy the biggest secret in Nebraska sports history and ask him not to tell.

See if he cracks.

It was August 1997 when Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne tapped on the door of his top assistant, Frank Solich.

“He did it very nonchalant,� Solich said recently. “I was sitting in my office, the door was open, he kind of knocked. Walked in. Asked if I had a minute. I said I certainly did. Then he proceeded to tell me he was planning on retiring.�

Osborne was only 60, at the top of the game, coming off two recent national title seasons.

But that was only half of the bombshell. Osborne told Solich he was going to be the next Nebraska coach.

Osborne would not make the announcement official until the end of the 1997 season and asked Solich to keep it confidential.

Solich remembers vividly the flush that filled his face and weight that had shifted to his shoulders.

“I’m one that can keep a secret, so that was not a problem,� Solich, 57, said, “but I started looking at things a little differently. I looked at it, from that moment on, as if I was the head coach at the University of Nebraska.�

Solich actually confided in his wife, Pam, knowing she would not betray this oath, and then proceeded through the 1997 campaign trying to pretend everything was the same when, in fact, everything was about to change.

Solich never had to lie about the secret because no one ever asked.

“If the right question isn’t asked, you’re not going to get the right answer,� Solich said. “So I didn’t really have to come forward, and I really didn’t have to deceive anybody.�

It wasn’t just any season, either.

Nebraska finished the regular season at 12-0 after a victory over Texas A&M; in the Big 12 title game. A few days later, Osborne announced he was stepping away after the Orange Bowl and that Solich would replace him.

A victory over Tennessee earned Nebraska a share of the national title, Osborne’s third. It was this fairy-tale ending that Solich stepped into, and to Osborne it made such symmetrical sense.

“I could relate to the situation,� Osborne said. “Because I followed Bob Devaney.�

Devaney had won 101 games in 10 years and consecutive national titles when he turned the program over in 1973 to Osborne, his 35-year-old apprentice.

In 36 seasons from 1962 through ‘97, Devaney and Osborne combined for a record of 356-69-5 and five national championships.

Osborne knew Solich, a former Nebraska player and 19-year assistant coach, was the man who best understood the lineage.

“The bar gets raised fairly high in people’s minds,� Osborne said, “But the reason I recommended Frank was that I had full confidence in what he would do. And really, I would probably still be coaching there if they had not agreed to hire him.�

There were doubts about that hire after Nebraska went 9-4 in Solich’s first season, a disastrous result in the relative scheme, but it has taken Solich only four years to get Nebraska back on top.

Yes, it took an almost comical sequence of events for Nebraska to sneak into the Rose Bowl, and there are plenty of folks in Eugene and Boulder who feel the Cornhuskers have no business playing Miami for the national title.

But Solich throughout has been steady at the stern. His four-year record of 42-8 and this year’s national title appearance have all but cemented that Solich was the perfect man to complete this coaching trilogy.

Osborne and Solich are physical opposites. They would shop at opposite ends of any “Tall and Small� clothing shops. Osborne is long and lean, well over 6 feet, while Solich tops out at 5-8.

Yet, there are uncanny similarities. Their speech patterns and mannerisms are almost identical, down to the way Solich clears his throat before answering a question.

The osmosis is undeniable, although Solich says he did not set out to be a carbon copy.

“Well, I think I’m like Tom in some ways,� he says, “but I did not try to just mold myself after Tom completely. I think you have to coach within your own personality no matter who you are in order to make it work. But, certainly being with Tom for so many years, I hope I picked up on a lot of things he did. And how he operated. Because he did things so well.�

While growing up, Solich never imagined his life would turn out this way. He was born in Pennsylvania, the only child of a coal miner and his wife. Solich’s father, Frank Sr., eventually moved to Cleveland and worked as a plant foreman at the Ford Motor Co.

Many years before Osborne would tap on his door, handing over the heirloom to a football dynasty, Solich was a squat-body fullback, a part of Devaney’s first recruiting class--a scared kid with company, headed to Lincoln, Neb.

“I had two other guys with me who were scared in the car too, from the same school,� Solich said. “We drove out in a station wagon, I don’t even know if I-80 existed. All I know is we drove out, and a good share of it was in a driving rainstorm. I knew Nebraska existed because I had been there on a recruiting trip. I thought maybe it disappeared because we weren’t ever getting there.�

Feelings?

“Just a lot of anxiety,� he said, “about going away from home, starting a football career, starting your college education out. I was an only child, so I didn’t have brothers beating up on me. So, consequently, a lot of that was new to me. Learning how to iron a shirt.

“Two of the three guys stayed. One of the other guys turned around about a week later, went back to Cleveland. Now, looking back at it, things happen in your life that certainly to a degree you control by your decision, but maybe some things are just supposed to happen.�

Solich was such a runt when he arrived he had to hide weights under his arms to make sure he tipped the scales at more than 150 pounds.

Yet Solich thrived in Devaney’s run attack. In 1965, he became the first Nebraska back to rush for more than 200 yards, gaining 204 against Air Force. The total remains the best by a Cornhusker fullback.

Solich rode the cusp of Nebraska’s resurgence led by Devaney. Before he arrived, Nebraska had gone 15-34-1 in five seasons under Coach Bill Jennings.

In Solich’s three years, 1963-65, Nebraska went 29-4. Solich even made the cover of Sports Illustrated on Sept. 20, 1965, the magazine using his game-action foray into the line to announce Nebraska’s arrival.

Solich quickly moved back into the backdrop and seemed destined for a life of anonymity. After leaving Nebraska, he coached on the high school level for 14 years before Osborne hired him in 1979 to be Nebraska’s freshman coach.

Solich then worked his way up the Cornhusker food chain. He was promoted to running backs coach in 1983 and then assistant head coach in 1991. He remained a loyal aide through good times and bad. He shared with Osborne the bowl failures of the 1980s and the breakthrough triumphs in the 1990s.

All along, Osborne had his eye on Solich.

“Everything that he ever did was done very well and very thoroughly,� Osborne said. “Good attention to detail. Good follow through. Good common sense. Didn’t fly off the handle. Treated players well. An excellent recruiter. There was nobody I could have had more confidence in.�

Solich, though, was growing old along with Osborne, and there were times the able assistant wondered if he would ever get his chance. Although Osborne had some health concerns, it seemed he might coach until he was 70.

Solich considered a few outside offers but ultimately decided to wait.

Nebraska was different.

“There’s continuity about everything you do,� Solich said. “About how you practice to when you practice to how you dress for practice.�

In Lincoln, it’s all about moving the ball forward--Devaney to Osborne to Solich.

Although Solich doesn’t think his name belongs in that sentence yet.

“I don’t see my name being beside Tom or Bob’s name at this point in time and I don’t foresee it ever happening,� Solich said. “Tom did what nobody else has done in college football in 25 years, in my mind and in most people’s minds. Bob, what he accomplished in not only wining two national championships and over 100 games in his tenure, but also turning the program around. My name will not be alongside those guys. What I hope to do is just to keep the great tradition alive that they have built.�

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SOLICH FILE

Born: Sept. 8, 1944, in Johnstown, Pa.

Seasons at Nebraska: 23, four as head coach (42-8 record). Also served as freshman head coach from 1979 to ’82 (19-1 record) and running backs coach from 1983 to ’97. In that time, Nebraska had one Heisman Trophy-winning running back (Mike Rozier in 1983), two All-Americans (Jarvis Redwine in 1980 and Rozier) and 13 all-conference selections.

Previous head coaching experience: 1966-67, Holy Name High School in Omaha (8-8 record); 1968-79, Southeast High School in Lincoln, Neb. (66-33-5).

Playing career: High school--Holy Name in Cleveland, where he was an All-American running back in 1961. College--Nebraska, 1963-65. A three-year letterman at fullback, he ranks 49th on Nebraska’s career rushing list with 1,010 yards. He held Nebraska’s record for rushing yards in a game (204 against Air Force in 1965) for 10 years.