Osborne won't pull name from NU building

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BYTODDHENRICHS

Tom Osborne won't pull his name from the University of Nebraska athletic department's planned $50 million training and office complex.

Osborne made the announcement Friday, soothing the fears of project supporters who worried that a withdrawal by the legendary former football coach and U.S. congressman could doom the project.

But at the same time, Osborne spoke passionately about the sorrow he feels over seeing a 42-year foundation of loyalty, trust, continuity and caring within the Husker football program end with the firing of head coach Frank Solich.

"I didn't want to have our names stay on the building and have people assume that what happened did so with our approval or with our consent,"Osborne said, speaking for his wife, Nancy. "It wasn't something that we would have agreed to, and it wasn't the way we'd like to see it happen.

"But we made a commitment, and we'll stay with it."

Osborne, however, offered to give up naming rights to any individual or corporation that steps up with a significant-enough contribution.

NUneeds $40 million in donations to fund the project, which calls for a 5,000-seat addition to Memorial Stadium beginning in 2005.

The new facility will house a locker room for the football team, training facilities and a weight room, as well as office space for the football staff and athletic department administration,

Athletic director Steve Pederson unveiled plans to build the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Facility in November, just weeks before firing Solich.

Solich was Osborne's hand-picked successor in 1997, and his dismissal came as a shock.

"I had absolutely no knowledge or inkling that that was going to happen,"Osborne said.

When seven of Solich's nine assistants were let go last month, Osborne's frustration peaked. It was still evident to those who crowded into a meeting room at The Cornhusker hotel to hear Osborne.

"I don't like to see him like that,"said Matt Davison, an Osborne recruit who played at Nebraska from 1997 through 2000. "I think you can tell by the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes that a lot of this has hurt him.

"This program is, and has been for a long time, built around him. So it is weird to me that he has not been consulted."

Osborne said he sent letters outlining many of his concerns to Pederson and UNLChancellor Harvey Perlman last month and followed up with hour-long, face-to-face meetings.

"It's not my job to intervene, but I've listened to everybody and heard all sides of the story, and I just don't see anything that maybe we couldn't have sat down in one room and in 45 minutes to an hour hashed out and maybe had it back on track,"Osborne said. "But that's not my job anymore. The only reason we're here today is the darned naming of the building."

Pederson nor Perlman attended the news conference, held several blocks from campus.

In a written statement issued Friday evening, Pederson repeated his November pledge to name the new facility for "the greatest college football coach of all time."

"Change is not easy for anyone, particularly those directly impacted,"Pederson said. "These have not been easy times for any of us. I appreciate Tom's advice that we should now try to put this behind us and move forward."

In a separate statement, Perlman said: "Ireally appreciate the fact that he will continue to support the football program. Like him, my hope is that fans will put the decisions behind them and rally behind the new coaches and student athletes."

Osborne described his relationship with Pederson as OK and said he'd like to remain friends with the man who was his former recruiting coordinator.

Osborne holds no animosity toward the new head coach, Bill Callahan, and hopes to meet with Callahan's coaching staff in the next few weeks.

Osborne said he's taking his lead from Jimmy Williams, one of the fired assistant coaches, who played under Osborne from 1979 through 1981.

The two met for lunch recently, and Williams, a husband and father of six, said he has no regrets.

"A guy like that would probably be bitter,"Osborne said, but "having said everything I've said, Jimmy's attitude is the only constructive attitude to have at this time."

"This has happened," Osborne said. "It's behind us. And whether it's right or wrong, it's done."

Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@;journalstar.com.