I never met Bob Devaney. Most of what I know about him is cobbled together from what I’ve read in articles, books about Nebraska football’s past, and from stories of those fortunate enough to experience him. I was all of 14 years old when he passed.
However, in figuring out the perspective I wanted this newsletter to have, all roads led back to the Huskers’ first national championship-winning head coach.
A column recounting his memory written in May 2020 by Steve Sipple of the Lincoln Journal Star provided a starting point. The world had been without Devaney for 23 years. This retrospective began with a man connected at his hip: Tom Osborne, a college football legend in his own right.
He painted the picture of someone passionate on game days with a precise, cunning nature leading up to them. Devaney’s ability to balance humanity with the success he led underscored why I felt his slant was the perfect lens to look through.
He enjoyed a drink (Black Russians were apparently a favorite) and could tell a properly timed joke. He was genuine. He was real. Most importantly for our purposes, he brought Nebraska football back into the national spotlight off a run of irrelevance and kept it there.
But looking at how the Huskers’ program has fared ever since his former offensive coordinator handed the reins over to Frank Solich in 1998, I can’t help but wonder how he’d be welcomed as a new hire in Lincoln today.
A hypothetical for you to consider:
Scott Frost continues his current level of success. COVID-19 is under control by the time the 2021 season rolls around. Consecutive 5-7 seasons bring his five-year record to 22-34 with no postseason bids and Nebraska remains in the bottom half of the Big Ten West standings.
The brass takes action and dismisses Frost. Bill Moos has a list of coaches he begins to contact. Names the fan base aren’t particularly enamored with. Meanwhile, chancellor Ronnie Green uses his contacts to reach out to a successful coach and inquires if he’d be interested in the job. Said coach turns down the opportunity but suggests giving his former assistant a look.
Everyone taking part in the hiring process does so and yanks the new hire away from a school he saw a fair amount of success at. He has no previous ties to the University of Nebraska or the state. He runs an offense referred to as “multiple”.
It’s at this point Husker fans are starting to see shades of Bill Callahan and Mike Riley. Time to go to a happy place.
Devaney was born a Michigander in Saginaw, so the Midwestern pedigree is there. But he wouldn’t leave in a football capacity until he was 41 after an assistant gig at Michigan State.
While at Wyoming leading the Cowboys to a 35-10 record, then-Nebraska athletic director Tippy Dye decided Bill Jennings’s constant underachievement was no longer welcome. The Big Red was a perennial bottom-feeder in the Big Seven/Big Eight while Jennings racked up 15 wins, 34 losses, and a tie.
A resume worthy of getting someone fired today, let alone in the early 1960s.
Chancellor Clifford Hardin gets the most credit for Devaney. Hardin originally wanted to sign Michigan State’s Duffy Daugherty who’d eventually bring home two national championships (or four depending on who you talk to). While Daugherty was happy in Lansing, he remained high on his former assistant.
Devaney was Dye’s fourth choice. He targeted Wichita’s Hank Foldberg, Utah’s Ray Nagel, and Utah State’s John Ralston first.
Foldberg opted for Texas A&M where he went 6–23–1. Nagel stayed on with the Utes going 19-20-1 after the courtship before heading off to Iowa where he didn’t fare much better.
Ralston struggled after leaving the Aggies for Stanford compiling a 37-30-3 record before back-to-back 9-3 seasons complete with Pac-8 titles and Rose Bowl wins. He’d take over the Denver Broncos for five seasons never quite busting through and an attempted college-level revival at San Jose State was anything but fruitful.
Then came Devaney with his lack of modern-day Nebraska Way. It’d been 20 years since the Big Red laid claim to a conference title. And yes, the “multiple” tag applied to his offense, at least initially.
Any complaints would’ve been quickly put to rest, though. Nebraska jumped from a 3-6-1 record in 1961 to 9-2 with a postseason victory over the Miami Hurricanes. Then there were all the Big Eight Championship trophies collected over the following years.
Like Bo Pelini following Bill Callahan, the man who’d eventually be known as The Bobfather had talent waiting for him. Eventual first-team All-Big Eight selections Dennis Claridge, Bob Brown, and Tyrone Robertson dotted the roster. 11 players would become NFL draft picks.
No recruiting services existed back then, but it’s fair to say this is where the “stars matter” commentary would begin. Since they didn’t, let Devaney’s own words speak to that.
He even felt if Jennings had stuck it out, success would’ve come due to the roster he inherited. But talent doesn’t necessarily mean winning is either guaranteed or sustainable. Give two people the finest tools available to build a house. One creates a happy home, the other is a trip to the emergency room waiting to happen.
He saw promise walking in the door, but practices were too long for his liking. The facilities were shabby. Even the offices needed an upgrade. After consecutive 6-4 seasons, he recognized his offense had become obsolete and flipped the script. Not a person of constant change, but willing to concede when it needed to be made.
And then it was back to securing even more hardware. More conference titles, national championships, the Heisman Trophy, etc.
Devaney’s desire for different colored practice jerseys started a defensive movement. All the talk of “Husker Power” seen for decades now, the social media videos of young men clanging weights and cheering each other on as their faces strain? Those seeds were planted by the guy from Saginaw, too.
He brought on Boyd Epley who transformed how college football approached strength and conditioning.
Wally Provost, then-editor of the Omaha World-Herald wrote of Devaney: “He is a down-to-earth gent who would have no trouble making friends in Nebraska. There also was every sign that he knows exactly what he needs to build winning football — and how to get it.”
After two decades of aimless wandering and nothing to show for its efforts, the Huskers football club was guided by a coach with five years of proven results at Wyoming. Four conference titles, two Top-20 finishes, and a bowl win. All this after an initial 4-3-3 campaign.
It would seem Devaney was honest if nothing else. As Nebraska’s on-the-field product is again historically poor, his no-nonsense approach combined with the ability to crack wise never appeared more appropriate.
Am I Bob Devaney? No. But I’m part Irish and can tell a joke. It’s a start.