He cleared his throat and pulled a piece of paper from his suit pocket.

“I wrote something out so I won’t goof up when I talk to you guys,” Tom Osborne said.

It was 9:34 on Saturday morning when Osborne began to speak. Many Nebraskans leaned closer to a television or radio to listen.

All that speculation, and finally,  here we were: Breakfast with Tom.

Two hours earlier, Bill Callahan came and left Nebraska’s football complex in a matter of 15 minutes.

He arrived at 7:20 a.m. still holding the title of Nebraska football coach. He left at 7:35 without it, waving to reporters as he drove away in a black Lexus SUV.

Osborne had allotted 30 minutes to talk with Callahan. They used only five.

“He asked if his contract was being terminated,” Osborne recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, it was.’ He was very cordial.”

Quick as that, Callahan was out, after four seasons and a 27-22 record. Of course, it took less than five minutes before the next question: Who might be in?

Louisiana State defensive coordinator Bo Pelini is apparently a leading candidate.

Three sources close to the situation told the Journal Star that Pelini, the defensive coordinator at Nebraska in 2003, was contacted Saturday morning about the Husker job by a search firm — Parker Executive Search, based out of Atlanta.

Osborne said he expects to talk to “four or five” coaches about the job in upcoming days.

LSU athletic director Skip Bertman said Saturday night he hadn’t been contacted by Nebraska about Pelini.

Though Pelini’s popularity in Louisiana dropped some this week when his defense struggled in a 50-48 triple-overtime loss to Arkansas, he remains something of a cult hero in Nebraska.

“He treated you with respect but he got you ready to play,” said former Husker Jay Moore.  “He motivated you to be your best, and I think the guys liked that and fought their butts off to play well for him.”

Turner Gill, the former Husker and current coach of the Buffalo Bulls, is another name that figures high on Nebraska’s list.

Gill’s team just finished a 5-7 season Saturday with a 30-23 overtime win against Kent State.

While 5-7 might not be good here, it seems great in Buffalo.

After the game, Gill told the Buffalo News he had not been contacted about the Husker job.

Asked if he thought he would be contacted, Gill said, “Time will tell.”

Osborne said Saturday he has been talking once a week to Gill, but only on a personal basis.

Speaking with the Journal Star on Saturday night, Buffalo athletic director Ward Manuel served as a worthy salesman for his coach.

“I don’t want him to leave our program. Obviously, I don’t,” Manuel said. “But without a doubt, Turner Gill, if he can do what he’s done here in two years, there’s nobody there in Nebraska that could tell me that he’s not deserving of a serious, serious look at being the head coach of Nebraska.”

Osborne replaced Steve Pederson as AD on Oct. 16, announcing from the start he’d evaluate the coaching staff at season’s end. He said he did not relish the role of being the judge of Callahan.

“In 25 years of coaching I had to fire two assistants,” Osborne said. “I’m not a big firing guy.”

With four games left in the season, Osborne met with Callahan and his staff to set benchmarks for the remainder of the season.

Osborne said that if NU won the final four games and the team went 8-4, there’s no question the coaches would keep their jobs. If they won three and played well, he said he thought they’d remain, but didn’t want to make promises.

Anything worse than that?

“It’s going to be tough,” Osborne told them. “Because now you’re break even, and we haven’t had many break-even seasons around here. If you have a losing season, I don’t think this is going to work.”

Still, Osborne maintained Saturday that this was not just about wins and losses, but also about how those losses occurred.

Nebraska gave up almost 38 points a game and lost six times by more than two touchdowns.

“Let me just say one thing,” Osborne said. “I try to not put any stipulations on anybody that I would not have expected of myself. I never, when I was coaching here, until maybe my last three or four years, thought I could survive a losing season as head coach.”

With Callahan fired, the contracts of his nine assistant coaches were also terminated. Their contracts are tied directly to the head coach.

Osborne asked any assistants that wanted to be considered for the next staff to stay on and recruit. It’ll be the next head coach’s decision whether he hires any of them.

Reached by phone after the news, Husker offensive line coach Dennis Wagner said “we were asked not to make comments.”

As for Callahan, despite what some might believe, Osborne said there was never any animosity in the relationship.

“I like Bill Callahan,” he said. “I think he’s a professional. I think he knows football. I think he worked unbelievably hard. But at times, I think there was something missing.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com. Curt McKeever contributed to this report.