Nebraska Football Makes List for Having One of the ‘Worst 25 Coaching Hires This Century’

CBS Sports recently selected what it called “college football’s top 25 worst college football hires this century."

A Nebraska coach makes the cut. But, it’s not who you might think.

It wasn’t Scott Frost, who went a disastrous 16-31 from 2018-21. No, it was Mike Riley, who went a much more respectable 19-19 from 2015-17.

Riley was selected 23rd on CBS Sports’ list. A dubious honor, to be sure.

CBS Sports writer John Talty wrote about Riley: “The record itself isn’t as bad as another Nebraska coach [Scott Frost] who just missed making this list. But when you fire a coach in Bo Pelini who won at least nine games seven consecutive years, you better nail the replacement.

“Nebraska decided the guy to improve the program was one who had won nine games only once in the preceding five years and had a 12-13 record over the previous two seasons. It wasn’t the slam dunk hire Nebraska needed to justify dumping Pelini, and the lackluster results shouldn’t have surprised anyone.

“Riley had one nine-win season in 2016 but he started the Cornhuskers’ decline that led to an improbable eight-year bowl drought for a program that won three national titles in the 1990s.”

Mike Riley compiled a 19-19 record during his three seasons at Nebraska. | Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

Riley arrived in Lincoln in 2015 from Oregon State, where he had fashioned a solid program in a state with a 500-pound beast in the Oregon Ducks. Riley was 93-80 in 14 years at Oregon State. But, frankly, it was a so-so record in a so-so Pac-12.

The thinking was that if Riley, who had NFL head-coaching experience with the San Diego Chargers, could win at isolated Oregon State, he would win at less isolated and historically significant Nebraska.

In 2017, Riley’s final season, Nebraska got blasted in back-to-back home games to Big Ten benchmarks Wisconsin and Ohio State by an average of 31.5 points.

A coaching change happened within two months. Riley was out; Frost was in

Why not Scott Frost?

You could make a compelling case for Frost making CBS Sports’ list. He is a former Nebraska quarterback and icon, whose Central Florida 2017 team went 13-0 in the season before he was hired by the Huskers. He capped off the historic 2017 season with a 34-27 victory over Auburn in the Peach Bowl.

Frost went 16-31 over five seasons, without a winning season, at Nebraska. He is 35-38 in his college coaching career over seven years. Frost was rehired by Central Florida in December.

Expectations were understandably high in Lincoln for Frost, a hometown hero who was thought to be coming home to save a program that needed saving.

The three worst head-coaching hires in the 21st century? According to CBS Sports, at No. 3, is Ellis Johnson, who went 0-12 at Southern Mississippi. And a tie for first were Mike Price at Alabama, and Michael Haywood at Pitt, both of whom were fired before they coached a game.

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