What Steve Taylor’s Recruiting Story Says About Tom Osborne’s Nebraska

Steve Taylor says he won the lottery. He grew up in Fresno, California, and later moved to San Diego to increase his exposure. When his high school coach asked where he wanted to go, he had one answer: Nebraska.

Taylor had watched the 1984 Orange Bowl, when the Huskers lost a heartbreaker to Miami in one of the most iconic games in college football history. Nebraska became his dream school—and it turned out the interest was mutual.

“My process was as easy as it can get because I knew where I wanted to go,” he said. “They were my first choice, and Nebraska wanted me.”

This week, on the Common Fan Podcast, we launched Episode 3 of our series focused on Tom Osborne’s coaching career. This episode, Chasing the Crown, looks at TO’s excellent teams of the 1980s, a decade during which the Huskers led the nation in total wins, won five conference titles, and came tantalizingly close to winning two national championships.

Thanks to Husker legend Steve Taylor and longtime Lincoln Journal Star sportswriter Ken Hambleton for joining us. We covered a wide range of topics—Osborne’s famous decision to go for two in the 1984 Orange Bowl, the controversial loss to Penn State in 1982, the evolution of TO’s philosophy as a head coach, and much more.

A Different Time

Taylor’s story offers a glimpse into a different time, both for Nebraska football and the national college football landscape. “I knew where I was going,” he told us. “I knew the stability was there. The coaching staff, they were by far the best institution at that time. The campus base, the fan base was stupid-crazy, loved football. The facilities were off the charts.”

Taylor and his high school coach sent game film to Nebraska. Not long after that, he heard from the Huskers’ recruiting coordinator–a guy by the name of Steve Pederson. “He said that they were only going to take one quarterback in this class and I was their first choice.”

He did mention having some reservations, mainly about the weather and other differences between Lincoln and California, but it was worth it because Nebraska was so good. “At that time, you had CBS, ABC, and ESPN was kind of coming in the ranks. But if you wanted to be seen on TV, being from California, you had to have national exposure. And Nebraska had that. So it was an easy decision for me.”

Adventures on the Recruiting Trail

To hear Taylor tell it, recruiting in the 1980s was a bit like the wild west. “Coach Osborne approached me and he said, ‘Steve, I'm going to promise you two things. You're going to play quarterback and you’re going to get a good education.’ And all these other schools were promising me all these other things monetarily. They said that they would take care of me and my family.” Of course, in the days before NIL and revenue-sharing, that would have been completely illegal.

Shenanigans in Minneapolis

When Taylor verbally committed to Nebraska, he told Coach Osborne he still wanted to take recruiting visits to other schools. Perhaps his most memorable trip happened at the University of Minnesota. (NOTE: The quote below is lightly edited for the sake of clarity and brevity).

ST: “Dave Winfield picked me up from the airport and he had his Mercedes and he had this girl, right? This is a true story. He picked me up at the airport. Of course, Lou (head coach Lou Holtz) was there, greeted me. And he said, 'Dave's going to take you somewhere.' And so I got in the car with Dave and he said, dude, they must really want you, right? We go downtown Minneapolis and I don't know, 30, 40 floor building. We get into the elevator. Dave said, you're supposed to go up to this floor. And there's a guy by the name of Tim McKay. He wants to talk with you. And I said, cool. So I went up there. In the corner, it was Tim McKay. He ended up owning a huge envelope company. And he literally looked at me and said, 'Hey, you know, I was told that they really want you, and you'll be set here. We can take care of you and take care of your Mom.”

Fans have often assumed this kind of thing was happening at many places across the country, but it’s fairly incredible to hear the story directly from Steve (side note: if Minnesota was cheating like this in the ‘80s, they didn’t have much to show for it on the field).

Contrast the Minnesota story with Nebraska. On his recruiting visit to Lincoln, Taylor figured it would be like visiting other schools. “When I went to those other schools, I would go shopping and get all the hats, all the jerseys, and all the sweat tops and everything.” When he went to the campus gear shop in Lincoln, he thought surely his lead recruiter, Coach Darlington, would cover the cost of whatever he wanted. “I picked out maybe $200 to $500 worth of apparel and went up there to the cash register thinking, Coach Darlington would come in and just take care of everything.” Darlington didn’t. Taylor returned nearly everything and left with just a corduroy Nebraska hat—which he paid for out of pocket, and would wear when signing his letter of intent.

It’s a small but telling indicator of how Coach Osborne ran his program. As Taylor put it, “That was a difference at that time with Nebraska versus other institutions that I was being recruited by.”

Closing the Deal

While things were mostly smooth from there, Taylor did experience one hiccup–and he almost ended up at the University of Washington because of it.

Osborne had agreed not to host any other quarterbacks on official visits—but then brought in Parade All-American Eric Mitchel for a visit. Taylor was furious and briefly decommitted, saying he’d go to Washington instead. Osborne called him to apologize and explain it was just a precaution, as players sometimes de-commit.

Taylor stuck with Nebraska.

In the end, the thread that ties these stories together is the simplicity and integrity with which TO ran his program. He didn’t cut corners, he didn’t pay recruits, and in the event there was a mistake or miscommunication, he handled it himself, honestly and directly.

In Steve’s words, “Nebraska said straight up, ‘We're just going to give you a chance to play football and give you a chance to get a good solid education.’ And I trusted them and I believed them. And that’s what happened.”

Let us know what you think, Common Fans. We’d love to hear your contribution to this discussion. Send us an email at commonfangbr@gmail.com, or message us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

As always, GBR for LIFE.

PODCAST EPISODE: TO: Chasing the Crown

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