Coach's popularity high in Husker hearts
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BY COLLEEN KENNEY / Lincoln Journal Star
This candidate is strong, public opinion indicates.
Confident. Charismatic. Hollywood handsome.
He stands in the spotlight and says all the right things, no sweat dripping from the strands of his perfect dark hair, Clint Eastwood in his voice:
We don't take what defenses give us. We take what we want. … We'll take exactly what we want.
He speaks of Midwestern values of hard work and family and doing the right thing, and people feel he'd kiss their baby and mean it.
If the election for president of Husker Nation were today, Husker voters say, new football coach Bill Callahan would win in a landslide.
In a highly unscientific poll of Husker fans conducted the past few days, not a single person cast a vote of no confidence for the former Oakland Raiders coach who came to Nebraska in January after the controversial firing of Frank Solich.
"From Day 1 at his first press conference — wow," says Darren Carlson of Omaha. "What a breath of fresh air. People really get behind enthusiasm, and he's a really enthusiastic guy.
"He's pushing all the right emotional buttons."
And he's already showing strong leadership. Martin Geschke, manager of Big Red Storage in Lincoln, liked how Callahan suspended hot-tempered starting center Richie Incognito this week.
"Even though that's sad to see," he said, "he's doing what's good for the team, and that's a good coach."
Husker voters say he's getting them excited about his West Coast plan, even if they don't understand it yet.
They see him explain it on TV, hear him on the radio and read about him in this paper.
They sense he knows what he's doing and can't wait for the fight ahead of him this fall.
"It'll be fun to see something different," says Aaron Sandoz of Lincoln, playing with his 1-year-old son at a Laundry Land a few blocks east of downtown Lincoln.
"You've got to change with the ages."
Kyle Hiser, a fourth-grader at Roper Elementary, plans to play quarterback at Nebraska.
"I can't wait to see the West Coast offense."
He also can't wait to play for Callahan someday. He's better than Solich, Kyle says, but probably not better than Tom Osborne. He and his friends at school talked about the Incognito suspension, he says, and they agreed Callahan did the right thing.
"He doesn't want people goofing off on his team and getting arrested. If they do, he'll probably suspend them because they're supposed to be role models for kids like us."
Bill Hershberger, a firefighter at Station No. 6, likes Callahan's positive attitude and family concept for the team.
"He'd be more than welcome to come visit us at the station, sit down and chat about football. We'd probably make him a meal. He just seems like an all-around good guy."
Hershberger's friend, Susan Gauthier, owns FolkHeart Primitives Country Store & Coffee Shoppe in Lincoln's Bethany area.
She doesn't like football much.
But she likes Callahan.
"He's cute," she says, smiling. "If you have to watch football, let's just say he's easy on the eyes."
People who've seen the coach in action say he seems like a class act.
Linda Shreve saw Callahan a few weeks ago at his Football 101 for Women, an event at Memorial Stadium and Embassy Suites that raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer. Shreve liked the way he introduced his wife and kids. She liked the way he talked to the women.
Women young and old, she said, were impressed.
"He seemed very sincere," she said. "He told us his mother had breast cancer, and that right there says he's open and caring and is wanting to use his influence to make a difference."
Husker voters like the way Callahan speaks. No jargon. No vague phrases. He goes into clear detail about the team and football concepts.
"Callahan's predecessor, Frank Solich, was good at many things," Carlson says. "But communication was not one of them. Tired phrases like ‘moving around well' don't go very far. He also gave very generic, even inarticulate answers."
Carlson thinks another reason Callahan is so popular is that he followed Solich as Husker coach, not Husker legends Osborne or Bob Devaney.
"If he remains steadfast to his goals of winning championships," says Mick Ruff of Omaha, "we'll have another blue collar Irishman to name a building after."
But first, fans say, he must win this fall and go on to win a national championship.
Husker voters give him about four years to do it.
And the real campaign for the heart of Husker Nation begins tonight at Memorial Stadium against Western Illinois in the season-opener.
Says Carlson: "He's in the honeymoon period of public opinion right now — like new presidents coming into office, they get an immediate bump in popularity. It's when they get their fingers in the pie and start making policy that people start getting critical …
"At the end of the day, the only thing people care about are the results."
Reach Colleen Kenney at 473-2655 or ckenney@journalstar.com.
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