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Frank Solich: Return of the Native
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With the help of Athletic Director Trev Alberts, former Nebraska head football coach Frank Solich will be properly saluted by Husker fans at Saturday's Nebraska Spring Game.
In case you don't know much about Frank Solich, here's a little refresher course. Solich was Tom Osborne's hand-picked successor after the '97 season. Okay, so Solich is not an actual native son. Even though he was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, his longtime commitment to Husker football has earned him the right to be called a native son.
He was in Bob Devaney's first recruiting class of 1962. At 5-foot-7 and 153 pounds, Solich was the starting fullback. How can a player that size ever be a fullback? Better yet, how can someone his size manage to rush for over 200 yards in a college football game (at Air Force in 1965)?
Great questions.
After he graduated from NU, Solich coached high school football at Omaha Holy Name and at Lincoln Southeast. In 1979, he joined Osborne's coaching staff. He spent the next 19 years as an assistant working with the freshman team and later becoming the running backs coach.
In 1998, Solich took over for Osborne, whose teams had won three national championships in the previous four years. Nebraska's record during Osborne's final five seasons was a stunning 60-3.
Following such a record had to be daunting for Solich. In his first year as head coach, Solich's team went 9-4 and finished 19th and 20th in the nation. In 1999, NU had the last best Nebraska football team with a 12-1 record. The Huskers finished second and third in the polls. That was also the last time a Nebraska football team won a conference championship or finished with a ranking that high.
Solich's 2000 team finished 10-2 and beat Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl, 66-17. In 2001, eventual Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch led the Huskers to an 11-0 record before losing at Colorado 62-36. Despite losing that game and not even qualifying for the Big 12 championship that year, Nebraska was selected to meet Miami in the Rose Bowl for the national championship. Nebraska was soundly beaten by an excellent Hurricane team, 37-14. Playing in that game stands as the last hurrah for the Husker football program. Not since then has Nebraska competed on the national stage for top honors.
After a 7-7 season in 2002, Solich revamped his staff, adding new assistants including Bo Pelini as the defensive coordinator. Pelini would eventually become the Husker head football coach.
As everyone should know by now, despite a 9-3 regular season in 2003, Frank Solich was summarily fired by then-Husker A.D. Steve Pederson. The dismissal was brutal. For someone who had given most of his life to Nebraska football, his firing was a cheap shot at such a good man.
Solich's six-year head coaching record at Nebraska included:
- A winning percentage of .753.
- A 58-19 record.
- Five bowl games. (Pelini coached the Nebraska bowl game after the '03 season.)
- Zero losing seasons.
- Nebraska's only Rimington Award winner (Domonic Raiola, 2000).
- NU's third Heisman winner (Eric Crouch, 2001).
- Appearance in the national title game in 2001.
- Nebraska's last conference title (1999).
After leaving Nebraska, Solich spent 16 years as the head coach of the Ohio University Bobcats. He retired after the 2020 season with a record of 115-82 and 11 bowl game appearances.
Husker fans have a chance this Saturday to give Coach Solich the honor he deserves.
How ’Bout Them Huskers
In this week's podcast, Will and I talk about the loss of former Husker offensive lineman Cole Pensick, who died in a car crash recently at the age of 32. We also talk about Husker football's latest recruiting commitment and Amy Williams' recent additions to the Husker women's basketball program. We take a look at the Nebraska baseball and softball teams. And of course, we talk about the Husker Spring Game coming up this Saturday.
