Getting from Memorial Stadium to Chadron High School takes 471 miles and a switch in area codes. It is not a journey made often by Nebraska football coaches. In fact, it hadn't been made by a member of
BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 6:00 pm
Getting from Memorial Stadium to Chadron High School takes 471 miles and a switch in time zones.
It is not a journey made often by Nebraska football coaches. In fact, it hadn’t been made by a member of Bill Callahan’s staff until 8 a.m. Monday morning.
That’s when Husker cornerbacks coach Phil Elmassian showed up to the halls of Chadron High to talk football.
“He was very up-front that he wasn’t sure about his future,” Chadron assistant football coach Aric Harris said. “But they’re out here still doing their jobs and putting forth time and effort to get recruits and needs.”
Elmassian was on panhandle patrol Monday and Tuesday, visiting with high school coaches in Chadron, Alliance, Scottsbluff, Sidney, Ogallala, North Platte and McCook.
Elmassian met McCook coach Jeff Gross at the city’s airfield Tuesday afternoon, just before flying back in Lincoln for NU’s practice.
“He didn’t talk about the future of the staff. He asked about our kids,” said Gross, whose team will play Crete in the Class B state championship game Saturday. “We talked about our program and the things we do. I appreciated it.
“He was interested in our perspective of Nebraska high school football.”
Normally, during a bye week like this one, Nebraska would send seven assistants flying all over the country to recruit. Not this time.
With the futures of Husker coaches in the air, the decision was made to spend Monday and Tuesday recruiting only within the state.
Callahan said late last week that his assistants would hit “somewhere between 68 or 69” high schools.
“We’re just looking for players. We’re looking for anybody that thinks they can contribute to the program,” Callahan said. “Any and all walk-ons are certainly welcome, so I think that’s the message that’s out there.”
Harris said he sensed the visit from Elmassian was an effort to try to pump up the walk-on program, “to get people back into touch with Nebraska football basically.”
Other Husker coaches tried to make connections closer to home.
Joe Rudolph, Husker tight ends coach, paid a visit to several high schools in Omaha.
Omaha North football coach Larry Martin said Rudolph was thorough in his pursuit of information about players.
“Very professional, very business-at-hand,” Martin said. “He wanted any kids’ names that we could recommend.”
Rudolph chatted with Martin for about 45 minutes before moving onto his next school.
If such visits are too late to help save this staff, Martin at least appreciated the effort.
“We got acquainted. He told me about his background,” Martin said. “You could see it in his eyes. He was out working, trying to do everything he could.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.