Tom Osborne

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Thomas William Osborne (born February 23, 1937) is a retired American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and senator from Nebraska.

He served as the Nebraska Cornhuskers' head football coach from 1973 to 1997.

After being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999, Osborne was elected to Congress in 2000 from Nebraska's third district as a Republican.

He served three terms (1901–2007), returned to the University of Nebraska as athletic director in 2007, and resigned in 2013. Osborne played football at Hastings College as a quarterback and wide receiver, and shortly after beginning his brief NFL career, he was recruited by Nebraska head coach Bob Devaney as an assistant.

Osborne was appointed Devaney's successor in 1973, and he has established himself as one of college football's finest coaches in history with his trademark I-form offense and innovative strength, conditioning, and nutrition services.

He retired with a record of 255–49–3 (.836), 13 conference titles, and three national championships.

Mike Rozier, a 1983 Heisman Trophy winner, coached 53 All-Americans, including 1983 Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier.

Many commentators agree that Osborne's 1995 national championship team is the best in college football history.

Early life

Osborne was born and raised in Hastings, a town in rural central Nebraska, and was a popular student at Hastings High School in football, basketball, and track. The Omaha World-Herald named Nebraska High School Athlete of the Year as a senior in 1955. In 1959, he graduated from Hastings College with a BA in history. Osborne earned a master's degree in educational psychology in 1963 and a doctorate in 1965, both at Nebraska. Osborne's first job at the university was as a mentor in the Selleck Quadrangle, where he oversaw a floor of freshmen football players. He served in the Nebraska National Guard from 1960 to 1966.

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Playing career

The football team at Hastings was quarterbacked by Osborne, who became Nebraska's first male athlete to be named both the high school (1955) and college (1959) athlete of the year by the Omaha World-Herald. He was also the 1958 winner of the Emil S. Liston Award, which was given annually to the most outstanding junior basketball player in the United States who displayed outstanding academic and scholastic achievement.

The San Francisco 49ers selected Osborne in the nineteenth round (222nd overall) of the 1959 NFL Draft. He was eventually suspended by the 49ers while playing in a regular season game.

Osborne was born in 1960 and made his NFL debut against the St. Louis Cardinals on November 6. In a 44–6 Redskins loss, he had one reception for eight yards. Osborne completed six passes for 36 yards against the Cleveland Browns in his second game a few weeks, but Washington lost again, 27-20.

Starting with twelve games, Osborne saw more playing time in 1961. In Week 4, he scored his first touchdown against the Browns in Week 4 and his second against the Cardinals in Week 12. Osborne's last game, a 34-24 victory over Dallas, was his only victory of his career.

Coaching career

Osborne, a 1962 graduate of Nebraska's coaching staff, was hired as an unpaid assistant to head coach Bob Devaney; his only compensation was the ability to dine at the athletic training table. Devaney appointed Osborne offensive coordinator for the 1969 season after a string of disappointing 6–4 seasons in 1967 and 1968. Osborne's offensive was immediately upgraded, shifting to a balanced attack from the I formation. The 1970 Cornhuskers were named the first national championship in program history thanks to their revamped offense. Nebraska defeated LSU 17-12 in the Orange Bowl on New Year's night and finished first in the post-bowl AP Poll. Nebraska won the national championship in 1971, becoming the first champion to upset the next three teams in the final AP Poll (Oklahoma, Colorado, and Alabama).

After the 1972 season to focus on his duties as an athletic coach, Devaney resigned as head coach and Osborne took over as his replacement. In the Orange Bowl, Devaney's last game was a landslide victory over Notre Dame in a straight Orange Bowl victory, Nebraska's third straight Orange Bowl victory. Osborne took over as Nebraska's head coach at 35 years old, a position he would hold for 25 years until retiring after the 1997 season.

Osborne, the head coach, was a model of consistency in his quarter-century as a head coach. His teams never won fewer than nine games in a season, only placing third in conference or division play once, and only placing in the top 15 of the final AP poll 24 years, including every weekly poll from October 12, 1981 to 2003. In 1994 and 1995, Osborne's teams won outright national championships, as well as a part of another in 1997. Huskers in Osborne also gained or shared 13 conference championships (12 Big Eight, one Big 12) — or both. His 255–493 record gave him the highest winning percentage (83.6%) among active coaches at the time of his retirement, and the fifth best all time, and he won 250 games faster than every coach in Division I-A history. Osborne ended his coaching career with a record of 12-13 bowls.

Osborne's squads were known for their quick rushing attack and solid defense (also known as the Blackshirts, referring to NU's defensive starters' black jerseys worn in practice). Nebraska pioneer Jeremy Rozier, Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, Ahman Green, and Lawrence Phillips, using Osborne's own I-form system, led the nation in rushing multiple times in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to the efforts of players like Jarvis Redwine, Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, Ahman Green, and Lawrence Phillips. Osborne's offenses were initially balanced, but after struggling against Oklahoma's wishbone style in the 1970s, he switched to a run-based strategy to better utilize the versatility of dual-threat quarterbacks such as Jeff Quinn, Turner Gill, Tommie Frazier, and Scott Frost.

The 1984 Orange Bowl was one of Osborne's most memorable moments. Nebraska was ranked No. 1 in the game 12–0 and had been ranked No. 10 since being ranked No. 2. The entire season is 1 a season. The Cornhuskers scored a late touchdown over No. 9 in the Cornhuskers. 5 Miami beat the Hurricanes 31-30, but Osborne chose the two-point conversion rather than kick the extra point to tie (which would have won the national championship for NU). However, Gill's pass attempt was tipped away in the end zone, giving Miami the victory and their first national championship to come.

In the 1994 Orange Bowl, Nebraska lost another heartbreaking title game. Despite going into the game as a 17-point underdog, the Cornhuskers held a 16-15 lead over Florida State with less than two minutes remaining. Nebraska took one last field goal attempt as time ran out after Florida State took the lead 18-16.

Osborne's first title as head coach came next year, defeating Miami in the Orange Bowl next year. After one quarter, the Huskers trailed 10–0, but the Huskers won 24–17. The Cornhuskers roared through the regular season, winning every game by at least 14 points and smashing offensive records. In the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, Nebraska defeated Florida 624–24, earning Osborne his second national championship. Many analysts agree that NU's 1995 squad is the best college football team of all time.

Frank Solich, a long-serving I-backs coach, was fired late in the 1997 season, and Osborne revealed his resignation in the aftermath. Nebraska defeated Tennessee 42–17 in their final game. Osborne's tenure in his final five seasons was a spectacular 60-33, the best finish to any Division I coaching career.

Osborne was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and received the Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. In 1999, ESPN named Osborne as the "coach of the decade" for the 1990s. According to a 2007 survey, Osborne was named as the "best college football coach of all time."

The American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award was given to Osborne in 1995.

The playing field at Memorial Stadium "Tom Osborne Field" was renamed in 1998. During his three decades on NU's coaching staff, the stadium barely doubled in size, a sign of Nebraska's increasing national prominence in that period.

The 2013 NAIA Football National Championship Trophy was named the "Tom Osborne Trophy" in honor of the NAIA Football National Championships.

The Nebraska coaching staffs at Osborne were known for their high turnover. Several assistants were known to have rejected head coaching positions elsewhere in order to remain with the program. George Darlington (30 seasons), Milt Tenopir (29 seasons), and Charles McBride (23 seasons) are three of the notable examples, both of whom had the opportunity to become head coaches. Darlington was the first assistant coach in Division I-A to be involved in 300 victories at a single school. However, many assistant coaches and players under Osborne did go on to become NCAA head coaches:

Political career

Osborne declared early in 2000 that he would run in Nebraska's 3rd District as a Republican. He had grown up in Hastings, one of the district's sprawling suburb, and bought a house in Lemoyne, near Ogallala, as his district residence. However, he hadn't lived in the district since at least 1964; for the most part, he lived in Lincoln, the heart of the 1st District. Nonetheless, despite being widely popular in the state, he easily won the Republican primary, which was tense to the election in what has long been one of the country's biggest Republican districts. With 83 percent of the vote in November, he cruised to victory. In 2002, he was reelected with no major-party opposition and against an underfunded Democrat in 2004.

Osborne's voting record in Congress was moderate to conservative. He received an 83 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.

At one time, Osborne partnered with Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers, his political adversary, to oppose attempts to expand gambling in Nebraska.

In 2006, Osborne ran for Governor of Nebraska, deposing incumbent Dave Heineman and Omaha businessman Dave Nabity in the Republican primary.

Given his widespread success in the state, Osborne was expected to be the front runner in the election. However, Heineman received 49% of the over 197,000 votes to Osborne's 45 percent.

The Lincoln Journal Star analyzed the race: The Lincoln Journal Star investigated the issue:

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