Tag: Frank Solich

Social media reacts to Frank Solich entering the College Football Hall of Fame

A former Nebraska football coach has been selected to join the College Football of Fame.

A former Nebraska football coach has been selected to join the College Football of Fame. Frank Solich is one of 22 individuals who will make up the 2024 induction class.

Before becoming the Husker head coach in 1998, Solich was an assistant for 19 seasons. In those 19 seasons, he would help Nebraska win 11 conference titles and three National Championships (1994, 1995, 1997).

He would win nine games or more in five of his six seasons in charge and finished in the Top Ten three different times. He would finish his career at Nebraska with an overall record of 58-19.

He would then take over at Ohio University from 2005 to 2020 and would amass a record of 115-82. Solich would finish his tenure in Athens as the winnest coach in Mid-American Conference history.

A coach becomes eligible for the College Hall of Fame three full seasons after retirement and must have been a head football coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage.

Former Solich quarterback and 2020 College Football Hall of Fame Inductee Eric Crouch told the media that he could not think of a more worthy inductee after the news broke.

“I can’t think of a better person, player, coach, and friend to be joining the College Football Hall of Fame. Frank Solich has earned it the hard way, through perseverance and dedication to college football. I am honored to have played for him at the University of Nebraska. Congrats to Coach Solich and his family.”

Solich was the coach for two Hall of Famers in Crouch and I-back Mike Rozier (Solich was Rozier’s position coach at Nebraska).

The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be inducted during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented on Dec. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. Find social media reactions to the news below.

Looking back at Frank Solich’s Hall of Fame career

Fomer Nebraska head coach Frank Solich is headed to the CFP Hall of Fame

Frank Solich is headed to the College Football Hall of Fame. On Monday, it was announced by the National Football Foundation that the former Nebraska and Ohio head coach will be a part of the Hall of Fame’s class of 2024.

The Johnstown, Pennsylvania native was the head coach of Nebraska from 1998 through 2003 before also serving as the head coach at the University of Ohio from 2005 through 2020.

During his tenure with the Huskers, Solich led the program to a 58-19 overall record, including a 33-15 record in Big 12 play. The Huskers won 10+ games in three straight seasons from 1999 through 2001, including a 12-1 record in 1999, finishing as the Big 12 Champions and picking up a Fiesta Bowl win over Tennessee.

They would finish the season ranked third in the BCS rankings, one spot shy of competing for a BCS National Championship.

In 2005, Solich took over in Ohio and had a long and successful stint in Athens with a 115-82 record which included a 77-64 record in MAC play. For his career overall, Solich was 173-101, a 63.1% win percentage.

Find a photo gallery of Frank Solich’s college career below.

Frank Solich to be inducted into the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame

The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame added a former Husker to the class.

The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame added a former Husker to the class. Nebraska alumni Frank Solich will be the 22nd Husker to be inducted into the hall of fame and is Nebraska’s first inductee since 2022 when Zach Wiegert earned an induction.

Solich played and coached for Nebraska, serving as the Huskers’ fullback and head coach. As a fullback, Solich joined Bob Devaney’s first recruiting class and finished as a three-year letterman. In his final season, Solich was named All-Big Eight fullback and the Huskers’ 1965 team co-captain.

He still holds the school’s single-game rushing record for fullbacks, which he set in 1965 against Air Force. In the game, Solich rushed for 204 yards, which added to his season rushing total of 580 yards.

Following his playing career, Solich rejoined Nebraska’s football team as a coach in 1979, coaching the freshmen and then the running backs until 1998. Solich then took over as head coach upon Tom Osborne’s retirement and held the role until 2003 before being let go.

In his tenure as the Huskers’ head coach, Solich went 58-19, leading Nebraska to bowl games each year, including the Fiesta Bowl in 1999 and the Rose Bowl in 2001. Solich then joined the University of Ohio as its head coach and remained there until 2020, when he officially retired.

Solich finished his coaching career with a record of 173-101 in games and 7-9 in bowl games.

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Decision to fire Frank Solich still haunts Nebraska football 20 years later

The downfall of #Huskers football began with Steve Pederson sacking Frank Solich in 2003. @CornhuskersWire has more.

The reality that USC will be a Big Ten school, not a Pac-12 school, 13 months from now is beginning to sink in with the revelation of USC’s Big Ten schedule. We’re still a Pac-12 school preparing for a Pac-12 football season, but the Big Ten era is just around the corner. USC fans will be studying the new Big Ten schedule.

We have to study up on Big Ten schools and get some Big Ten knowledge. We’re talking to the other College Wire Big Ten sites, with Cornhuskers Wire being one of them.

We asked Cornhuskers Wire editor Evan Bredeson about the harm done by former Nebraska Athletic Director Steve Pederson’s decision to fire then-football coach Frank Solich in 2003. That move came after a nine-win season which was only two years removed from the Huskers’ appearance in the BCS National Championship Game. It was a shocking move at the time, and it looks far worse 20 years later.

“It did a ton of damage on a number of fronts,” Bredeson said. “When Steve Pederson decided to fire Frank Solich, he had only one name on his list of people he wanted to hire, and that was Mike Sherman, the former Packers coach who ended up going to Texas A&M. When Nebraska missed out on that, it ended up turning into what was over a 40-day search before they just literally settled on Bill Callahan. From the optics of the situation to how the search was handled, to the fights between the athletic department and the university, it was a very contentious time. One mistake after another was made and it compounded over time from the hiring of Steve Pederson to letting him fire Solich to this 40-plus-day search that settled on Bill Callahan. It was one self-inflicted injury after another and it caught up to Nebraska after awhile.”

The full one-hour conversation with Evan Bredeson of Cornhuskers Wire appears below:

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Who are the Nebraska recruits that got away?

An impressive list of players that almost attended Nebraska!

Recruiting cycles never end. And Nebraska has had its ups and downs on the trail over the last several years, but what about recruits of Husker past? What about the ones that got away? The big-time players that all most took the field for the Big Red and instead decided to go another way.

We’ve compiled a list of famous players who got away from the Nebraska Cornhusker football program over the years. From NFL greats to MLB all-stars, you’ll see an exciting group. Players, you knew where almost Huskers and even a few you never knew about before today. So strap in and take a scroll and see a list (a partial list anyway) of the big-time recruits who decided to go to a different school for one reason or another. How different would football history be if just one of these names made another choice? This is about to get interesting.

Which Husker coaching change would fans like to forget?

There are a few options Husker fans could pick from?

Nebraska has had its fair of head coaching changes that have produced less than stellar results. Athlon Sports has put out a list of the ten most questionable coaching hires in college football history. Which Nebraska coaching hire would you like to forget? Which do you wish, in hindsight, hadn’t happened?

Some of these changes had long-term ramifications not just for the programs directly affected but across all of college football. Keep an eye out for the blue blood program that decided a High School Football was the best possible hire. I have to say that is probably my favorite selection of the whole list.

See below for ten changes Athlon Sports believes are the worst in the sport and see where and how Nebraska ended up on the list.

Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes, and opinion.

Let us know your thoughts and comment on this story below. Join the conversation today!

Solich retires to focus on health

Notre Dame fans will immediately think back to one game upon hearing his name.

Frank Solich has decided to retire as Ohio University’s football coach in order to focus on his health.

At 76, Solich is leaving the job as the winningest coach in the history of the Mid-American Conference as he led the Bobcats to a 115-82 mark over 16 seasons.  In that time Ohio finished with a winning record 12 times, appeared in 11 bowl games, and won four MAC East Division titles.

Many remember Solich for his time as Nebraska’s head coach as he took over for the legendary Tom Osborne in 1998.  Solich led the Cornhuskers to three final top-10 rankings in six seasons but was fired after a 2003 season in which they went 9-3.

For Notre Dame fans visiting Fighting Irish Wire, Solich was Nebraska’s head coach the last two times the traditional powerhouses met as he beat the Irish in both 2000 and 2001.

Personally, I am surprised I made it over 130 words about Frank Solich without mentioning Bob Davie playing for overtime in that 2000 heartbreaker.

All the best to Solich in his retirement.

Related:

Notre Dame’s 13 winningest head football coaches of all-time

WATCH: Ohio’s Frank Solich gets french fry bath after Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

Frank Solich was bathed in french fries after Ohio won the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Bowl season is giving new meanings to baths coaches get after their school is victorious. First, Herman Edwards was showered with Frosted Flakes after Arizona State won the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. And, now, we have 75-year-old Frank Solich being doused with french fries, of course, following Ohio’s win over Nevada Friday in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Have to think there are plenty of companies that will see this as an opportunity. The Olive Garden Pasta Bowl for starters sounds like a great and awful idea all at once. The Campbell’s Souper Bowl? A Starbucks Bowl or a Carvel Bowl could get sticky.