Talk:Tom Osborne

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Article move[edit]

Would people object to moving this page to say Tom Osborne (Nebraska) after all he is now in Congress and running for governor of Nebraska. I realize he is most famous for football but he is active in his "second career" Smith03 21:10, 31 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Tom Osborne (Nebraska) is definitely better than Tom Osborne (football coach). But what about Thomas William Osborne — or some variant, i.e. Thomas W. Osborne — might that be even better? jareha 05:42, 26 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I agree to the move to Thomas W. Osborne.--NMajdan•talk 16:49, 15 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I support a permanent move to Thomas William Osborne as being most consistent with WP naming conventions. Thomas W. Osborne is no longer available, there is another article of that name already. Fjbfour 06:36, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is Tom OSborne running for re-election in 2006 or not, considering his bid for the governor's race?--69.249.195.232 02:31, 30 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, his running in the gubernatiorial primary precluded his running for the Congressional nomination at the same time, so now that he has lost the primary for governor he will be out of politics, at least for now, on January 3, 2007 when his current term in the House of Representatives expires. Now that his political race is over, should the "active politican" tag/template be removed from here? Rlquall 22:22, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Why use parenthetical disambiguation at all? It seems like "Tom Osborne" would be fine, since that is a redirect to this article anyway. He's the Thomas Osborne who's far and away the subject people will expect for that, and we can leave the header for the disambiguation page. --Michael Snow (talk) 20:27, 20 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Legend"[edit]

"...legend as one of the best football coaches ever" seems a little too POV to me. Even when published sources say this and it is not just an editor's opinion, which is true in this case, shouldn't they be cited? I think its better to say that "Historians have rated Abraham Lincoln as one of the greatest Presidents ever," and then to cite the historians, than it is for the article to say "Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest Presidents ever," even when references which say this are included as footnoted references. While I haven't actually run all of the references on Dr. Osborne cited here, I have certainly seen contentions of his greatness in reputable, published sources and have no doubt that such a thing has been written. But the article as written currently smacks a little of 'Husker boosterism to me (a supporter of a team that has contributed in the last ten years to the overall 'Husker legend by laying down and dying for them on national television). Rlquall 22:29, 22 September 2006 (UTC) Ya I agree and it also stated that going for the 2 pt. conversion instead of the PAT cemented his reputation as one of the greatest coaches ever. That's stupid because how does costing your team a national championship by going for 2 cement your reputation as the greatest coach ever. A great coach would have called a play to get his team into the endzone. It was a bad call and a bad part of the article so I removed it. He was a good coach but going for the 2 pt conversion not only had nothing do with it and it was probably one of the mistakes that he made as a coach not a good thing.[reply]

WikiProject class rating[edit]

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:13, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Removed text[edit]

I have removed the following sentence:

  • "However, the prospect of running against the still-popular Osborne caused many top-tier Democrats to pass on the governor's race, and may have helped Heineman win the election in November with 73 percent of the vote, one of the largest margins for a gubernatorial race in Nebraska history."

It appears to be an excuse why a Democratic candidate did not win the election, and it appears to be speculation "...and may have helped..." But the main problem with the claim is that it is unsourced, which could imply someone interpreted the data in their own way. --207.206.137.122 (talk) 13:45, 6 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Article coverage[edit]

This article does an excellent job of describing Osborne's on-field successes, which are among the most impressive of any coach in college football. I'm a bit mystified at the complete lack of coverage of other notable aspects of Osborne's tenure as head coach at Nebraska, though. In the 1990s, his program was a lightning rod for concerns over violent and criminal behavior by college athletes, and Osborne's leadership style was examined, often critically, as an example of enabling or excusing such behavior in the interest of winning football games. I'm not saying that these views are The Truth, only that they are significantly covered in reliable sources and thus deserve some mention here.

For example, Osborne's handling of Lawrence Phillips was a notable episode in his coaching career, at least if we judge by coverage in independent, reliable sources. See, for example:

  • "Nebraska's Phillips May Get Another Chance". New York Times.
  • "Huskers Hardly Shun the Easy Way Out". New York Times. October 26, 1995.
  • "Osborne Says Choice Was Simple". New York Times. October 27, 1995.
  • "Dr. Tom Practices Spin Control". New York Times. December 29, 1995.

A 1995 article in Sports Illustrated focused on the issue, alleging that Osborne played an active and often unconstructive role in investigations into crimes allegedly committed by his players, going so far as to "lock away a gun that had allegedly been used by one of his players in the commission of a felony." In the article, the County Attorney accuses Osborne of "using his influence to disrupt the criminal justice system" and protect his players from criminal investigation. In particular, the cases of Riley Washington (allowed to continue with the team after his arrest on a charge of attempted 2nd-degree murder); Tyrone Williams (continued playing despite being charged with firing a gun into an occupied car; Osborne was given the gun in question and locked it away in a cabinet, despite conceding that "prosecutors were probably looking for the gun at the time he filed it away"); Christian Peter, who continued with the team after being convicted of third-degree sexual assault, among a number of other arrests; and Lawrence Phillips, perhaps the highest-profile case. ("Coach And Jury", Sports Illustrated 1995).

At Osborne's retirement, the New York Times wrote:

[Osborne's] handling of the 1995 Huskers, national champions for the second consecutive season, led to criticism that Nebraska's success resulted from Osborne's toleration of several key players despite their legal problems: Lawrence Phillips, a running back now with the Miami Dolphins, played in a Fiesta Bowl victory over Florida after pleading no contest to charges involving the assault of a former girlfriend. Christian Peter, a defensive lineman now with the Giants, was convicted of charges ranging from public urination to third-degree sexual assault. Tyrone Williams, a defensive back now with the Green Bay Packers, pleaded no contest to assault and weapons charges stemming from a 1994 shooting. [1]

Is this something that has been discussed here previously and rejected for coverage? I'm not suggesting we overwhelm the article with these viewpoints, but their current complete absence makes the article seem a bit incomplete as a representation of available reliable sources. MastCell Talk 19:39, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This absolutely needs to be re-introduced in the Wiki. Especially in light of the recent events at Penn State, it's appalling how this article has been scrubbed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.91.190.167 (talk) 19:18, 7 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Nebraska football[edit]

Just a question 67.222.193.58 (talk) 01:54, 8 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Nebraska football[edit]

I can’t remember the year, the team we meaning Nebraska were playing against, but this happened. The oppposing team was kicking out of their end zone. A Nebraska defender took the ball off the kickers foot in the end zone for a Nebraska touchdown. What team were we playing, who was the defender and what year did this happen? 67.222.193.58 (talk) 02:07, 8 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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