K...not speechless anymore
On the Riley OSU end, knowing the Riley's from arm’s length,
The ONLY job I'd heard he would leave his hometown (Corvallis) would have been So Cal, since his wife loves & misses the weather/lifestyle & mostly, the anonymity.
No offense to NU folks (Tony G) yet the Football HC has little of these bennies in Lincoln...at least a sideways move at best from the Pacific NW haven I reside here in Corvallis (hopelessly biased here)
Riley was HS State Champ CHS QB; growing up in Corvallis, ect
When the Riley's passed up the SC Job 6 years ago, & Riley signed an extension thru 2019, it seemed plausible if not inevitable that a soon to be 60 Yr Old Coach would spend the rest of his days in the 'count-your-blessings' hometown of Cornvalley (Mike Riley is now 61 Years Old)
Can't say I blame Riley whatsoever, though.
Little to 0 in facilities &/or financial backing here at OSU, Riley has genuinely Overachieved under - arguably - among the most daunting D-1 circumstances outside of Pullman, WA, playing perpetual wet-nurse to the Super-Swoosh U $ machine 40 miles to the South...
Just must feel like a losing battle to Riley more than a Beaver Fan could probably fathom
EVERY Program in PAC-12 has upgraded | invested in their facilities & salaries, ect, except OSU; all while endowment & enrollment has exploded - 13+ K enrollment when I Graduated 94 | NOW 30K & counting. Reser has sat dormant for 13 years, with no resources or plan to renovate anything
Nebraska end, you may have a better coach than you think
Riley - with the aforementioned challenges, may not sound great in Lincoln, yet the 3rd winningest program in the #2 Power Conference in College Football - only Oregon & Southern California are better - is an unthinkable accomplishment in Corvallis
Still confused, yet as most things, the story behind the scenes probably speaks volumes into explaining how it happened; w/o $ and support to hire a PAC-12 calliber staff & a school & Dept making zero efforts to marginally recognize, much-less engage in the PAC-12 facilities Arms Race are all likely sources of Riley's angst
Beavers will have $ to garner a decent name; if anyone has the desire to coach in the Shadow of an 'Owner' with bottomless pockets in a Conf of emerging powerhouse coaches & programs
Dang it anyway.
LASTLY:
Learned from Lincoln, NE 'source' that an initial 'LONG-LIST' of successors to Bo Pelini used by most CFB beat Writers on the story didn't contain Mike Riley's name...for crissakes