'He was just huge'
Osborne's Hall of Fame induction a big deal to Switzer
Posted: Monday December 07, 1998 03:57 PM
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Osborne says he might consider a return to the sideline Brian Bahr/Allsport |
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- The way Barry Switzer sees it, Tom Osborne is right up there with the greatest coaches ever in college football: Bud Wilkinson, Bear Byrant, Frank Leahy, Knute Rockne.
"Tom casts his shadow as far as those guys and not because he was taller than them," Switzer said Monday. "He was just huge."
Osborne, the former Nebraska coach, will be be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night in New York along with 12 ex-players. The group includes Auburn running back Bo Jackson (1982-85), the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner; Brigham Young quarterback Jim McMahon (1977-81); and Pittsburgh tackle Bill Fralic (1981-84).
In 20 years as Oklahoma's coach, Switzer won three national titles. His showdowns with Osborne made the series between the Sooners and Cornhuskers one of the game's premier rivalries of the 1970s and '80s.
Switzer said he always enjoyed seeing Osborne on the opposite sideline, and that's why he'll be in New York on Tuesday night, back on the college football scene for the first time in some 10 years.
"I wouldn't miss it," Switzer said. "My gosh, Tom's in there with Leahy, Rockne, all those guys. He's all about college football."
The Hall of Fame waived a three-year waiting period to admit Osborne after he retired in January. The period also was waved when former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson was elected last year.
Osborne's teams went 255-49-3 in 25 seasons. In his last four years, he led the Cornhuskers to two national titles and three unbeaten seasons. Nebraska also shared last year's title with Michigan.
Without coaching, Osborne has been left to fill a void.
"When I go to the games, I'm off in a corner of the press box and it's hard to sit and watch and not have anything to do," Osborne told the Lincoln Journal Star. "I guess that will get easier as time goes on. It's just hard to have no ability to have input."
His eyes reddened when he said: "You struggle with the idea of being irrelevant all of a sudden. I don't want to face that prospect. Maybe I already am. You hate to get to the point where you've quit contributing anything to anybody."
Osborne often has been asked if he plans to return to coaching.
"I've thought about coaching again, but I have not approached anybody and nobody has approached me," he said. "I don't think that will happen. I'm at home. I'm a Nebraskan. If I was a hired gun and I had a chance to go back home and coach, then I might. But it might be hard for me to leave Nebraska to go somewhere else to coach."
Others to be inducted include Illinois safety Al Brosky (1950-52), Southern California guard Brad Budde (1976-79), Ohio State linebacker Randy Gradishar (1971-73), Toledo defensive tackle Mel Long (1969-71), and North Carolina State center Jim Ritcher (1976-79).
Also among the group is Jerry Rhome, a quarterback at Southern Methodist (1961) and Tulsa (1963-64); Missouri halfback and defensive back Johnny Roland (1962, 1964-65); Northwestern center Alex Sarkisian (1946-48); and Georgia defensive tackle Bill Stanfill (1966-68).
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