Nebraska fired AD Shawn Eichorst Thursday, which now may have head coach Mike Riley on a hotter seat than ever in Lincoln.
When sweeping change is needed, especially when it pertains to a top-name college football program, moves generally start at the top of the pecking order. It’s been quite evident recently that the Nebraska football program needed some changes to be made, and on Thursday, they did just that.
Just a few days before the fourth Saturday of the college football season and the Cornhuskers welcome in Rutgers to begin Big Ten play, the school announced it has dismissed athletic director Shawn Eichorst. Here is part of the statement on the matter from school chancellor Ronnie Green.
“Shawn has led Nebraska Athletics in many positive ways, but those efforts have not translated into on-field performance,” chancellor Ronnie Green said in a statement. “Our fans and our student-athletes deserve leadership that drives the highest levels of competitiveness, as well as excellence across all facets of Husker Athletics.”
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Eichorst took over as athletic director in Lincoln back in 2012, and undoubtedly his most notable move while he was in his position came following the 2014 season when he dismissed embattled coach Bo Pelini following a 9-4 season.
Now, though, his firing turns the attention solely toward the move he made after letting Pelini go.
Wanting to give the program a 180-degree change in perception in regards to head coaching, Eichorst hired Mike Riley away from his second stint as the head coach of Oregon State. Riley was basically the polar opposite of Pelini, known as being one of the nicest figures gracing the game of college football. That was all well and good, sure, but when it comes to Nebraska football, much like all other blue-blood college football programs, results on the field are what matter in the end. And quite frankly, nice-guy Riley has not performed well in that regard.
The Huskers went 6-7 in 2015, the first year under the direction of Riley, and they enjoyed a 9-4 season last year, heightening expectations for 2017. However, to say this season is off to an underwhelming start would be an understatement. Riley and his team are 1-2 to start the year, with their latest loss being put under the biggest of microscopes. Last Saturday, in Lincoln of all places, Nebraska was upset, 21-7, by a visiting Northern Illinois squad from the MAC — a Northern Illinois team that dropped their opener to Boston College.
With a full Big Ten schedule still ahead of them, the future was not looking rosy for Riley to begin with. Now, with the man who hired him and his biggest backer gone from the institution, Mike Riley is on the hottest seat that he has occupied during his short time in Lincoln, Nebraska. The school did announce in the release regarding Eichorst’s firing that the search for a new AD will start immediately. Chances are, especially with the pressure to make Nebraska a football power again, whomever the new person is that’s in charge of the athletics department will not favor Riley leading the charge for much longer.
From the sound of it, Nebraska will have a new AD in place sooner than later. And whether it’s during a struggling Big Ten season or immediately following what appears to be a dismal 2017 campaign, that new AD will more than likely choose to go in a different direction, leaving Riley to take over a smaller program to work with, which is frankly what he’s better suited for.
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So why don’t we just go ahead and begin the crazy speculation right now. We’ll let former ESPN college football writer Brett McMurphy take us away with this one.
Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun.