Osborne to remain as AD through June 2010
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
The interim tag just got tossed in the trash can.
It was announced Wednesday that Tom Osborne will serve as Nebraska’s permanent athletic director for the next 2½ years — until June 30, 2010.
UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman and Osborne agreed to the deal Tuesday. Osborne has had the title of interim athletic director since Oct. 16, one day after Steve Pederson was fired as AD.
“I have never been enamored with titles,” Osborne said in a press release. “At the same time, I think it’s important for our entire department to realize that we will continue moving down the same path we’re already going.
“Change always breeds at least some uncertainty, and if removing ‘interim’ from my title helps everyone understand that we’ll continue to be consistent in our approach, I’m all for that.”
A search for Osborne’s successor will begin in early 2010, with the plan being that Osborne will assist in the search, also helping with the transition of a new athletic director.
“I appreciated Tom’s willingness to step in as interim athletic director during a very difficult time for the athletic department,” Perlman said. “His presence and his decisions have significantly reduced the controversy surrounding the department and particularly the football program.”
Perlman said the athletic department is in need of a permanent athletic director in a time like this.
“It is now beneficial to provide the department with stability in leadership, so it can take full advantage of the progress that already has been made,” he said.
The 70-year-old Osborne will continue to work under the same terms of his original contract that he signed on Oct. 24. He is making $250,000 a year, the lowest salary of any Big 12 athletic director.
He has already made hefty decisions regarding the football program, firing Bill Callahan as head coach on Nov. 24 after a 5-7 season. He hired Bo Pelini to fill the position eight days later, a move that will need some time before it can be met with a proper critique.
“When Chancellor Perlman asked me to lead the athletic department and to help unify the state, he gave me the responsibility and the authority to do whatever needed to be done,” Osborne said. “We’ve made some great strides over the last two months, but the chancellor and I agree that these next two years are crucial to keep our program moving forward.”
Osborne, who had helped out in recruiting, took himself off the recruiting trail when Pelini completed his staff last week.
While Osborne’s decisions about the football program have stolen most of the attention, that didn’t stop Husker coaches in other sports from praising their new boss Wednesday.
NU women’s basketball coach Connie Yori said he’s had “a calming effect” on the athletic department.
“Fantastic” is how Husker baseball coach Mike Anderson described the last couple months.
A day after being hired, Osborne held an athletic staff meeting, one that left Anderson feeling assured things would go in the right direction.
At one point in his talk, Osborne referred to the motivational book “How Full Is Your Bucket?”
“What it is, you’re trying to work together and trying to fill each other’s buckets,” Anderson said. “Doing things (for) student-athletes and doing things right. ... He (Osborne) came across as, ‘How can I help?’”
Husker track and field coach Gary Pepin remembers back before Bill Byrne was hired as Nebraska’s AD in 1992, back when there was chatter about Osborne potentially filling the role he now holds.
Pepin recalled some people expressing concerns that the Husker football coach of 25 years would cast all his attention on football if he was the athletic director.
“That has proven to be of no concern with Tom as athletic director,” Pepin said Wednesday. “He has made it clear he has a strong interest in all of the university sports.”
Recently, during one of Pepin’s staff meetings, Osborne showed up. It was a small gesture, but it had bigger meaning to the track and field coaches in the room.
“That’s something we never had with Steve,” Pepin said. “I think Tom wants us to know that we can come to him and he can come to us.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com. Curt McKeever and Ken Hambleton contributed to this report.
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