When we consider why USC and Nebraska sustained elite status in college football in the 1970s, one central reality rises to the forefront and eclipses everything else.
Sure, the Trojans and Huskers had Heisman winners in the 1970s. They won multiple national championships. They won their respective “home” bowl games, Nebraska in the Big Eight’s Orange Bowl and USC in the Pac-8’s (later Pac-10’s) Rose Bowl. They did so many different things well; they had to if they were going to achieve such considerable success. Yet, when specifically focusing on the sustained nature of their greatness in the 1970s, one reason dwarfed all others: Both schools pulled off a coaching transition and made it work.
Nebraska’s Bob Devaney picked assistant coach Tom Osborne to succeed him after the 1972 season. Osborne took what Devaney built and sustained it in Lincoln, eventually creating a dynastic period in the mid-1990s and forming what many consider is the single greatest college football team of all time in 1995.
USC’s John McKay went to the NFL in 1976, but assistant John Robinson succeeded him and led USC to a top-two finish in the national polls, complete with a Rose Bowl win, in three of his first four seasons on the job.
Getting a coaching hire right, especially when a legend steps away, is one of the single most important things a program must do in order to remain on top. USC and Nebraska both did that when iconic coaches ended their tenures at the two schools in the 1970s. It’s a very important connection between schools which will compete together in the Big Ten next year.
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