Tom Osborne, Nebraska's football coach for the past 25 years, announces his retirement at a news conference in Lincoln, Neb. Wednesday, Dec. 10, 1997. Osborne, who compiled a record of 254-49-3, will coach the No. 2 Cornhuskers against No. 3 Tennessee in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2 and said he may stay on until February if he can be of help to the team. Assistant coach Frank Solich will succeed Osborne. (AP Photo/Dennis Grundman)

Web posted December 10, 1997

 Osborne in his own words - RealAudio file from The Grand Island Independent in Grand Island, Neb.
 Complete coverage and latest update
 Hometown coverage from from The Grand Island Independent

By Tim Korte
Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska coach Tom Osborne retired Wednesday with tears in his eyes, ending one of the most successful careers in college football history with a team that has dominated the sport for decades.

Osborne said health problems were forcing him to give up the game and that he wanted to spend more time with his family and at church. 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 25-year reign as head coach almost certainly will end with a national championship.

``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.

He 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.

Osborne said the difficult part about retiring was telling his players. Usually stoical 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.''

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.

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 ended up winning 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 had heart bypass surgery 13 years ago and was hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat last month. 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 would change little under Solich, an 18-year assistant who has for years 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 crowded 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.

``My mind's kind of a blank slate right now,'' he said.

He also said he would try to talk with some of the players he has been recruiting to encourage them to attend Nebraska.

Osborne retires as the sixth winningest coach in NCAA Division I-A history, behind Bear Bryant, Pop Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden.

``I'm surprised and saddened and I just hate it,'' said Bowden, coach at Florida State. ``Tom Osborne is one of the good guys in coaching and in any profession. He's an icon in Nebraska and in this nation.''

Osborne reached his 250th career victory on Nov. 1 with a 69-7 defeat of Oklahoma, and the Cornhuskers are 59-3 over the past five years with five straight 11-win seasons, an NCAA record.

Osborne was an assistant coach to Bob Devaney's team that won titles in 1970 and 1971. Much like Solich taking over for Osborne, Devaney picked Osborne as his successor in 1973.

Osborne grew up in Hastings, the son of a minister, and showed athletic talent in a number of sports -- football, basketball and track.

After his 1959 graduation from Hastings College, he played three seasons in the NFL -- two with the Washington Redskins and one with the San Francisco 49ers -- as a reserve wide receiver.

Osborne returned to Nebraska as a graduate assistant to Devaney in 1962. He became a part-time coach in 1964, full-time receiver coach in 1967 and later offensive coordinator under Devaney, who saw something special in the tall, thin, mild-mannered assistant.

Osborne had trouble beating rival Oklahoma early in his career, drawing the ire of some Nebraska fans. He ended a five-game personal losing streak to the Sooners and Switzer in 1978, only to have Oklahoma selected as Nebraska's Orange Bowl opponent. Switzer won the return match 31-24.

Osborne later used his early experiences with Oklahoma to reflect on struggles to win bowl games. Seven straight bowl losses from 1987 through 1993 gave him a label of being unable to win the big games.

That ended Jan. 1, 1995, with the Huskers' second-half dominance of the Miami Hurricanes on their home field at the Orange Bowl.

``He didn't just teach us football,'' quarterback Scott Frost said. ``By the example he sets, he teaches us how to be grown-ups, to be men. We're just going down to the Orange Bowl to make sure he goes out a winner.''