That Time Tom Osborne Almost Left Nebraska for Colorado

My earliest memories of Nebraska football start in the late 1980s, early 1990s. It’s a little bit of a blur, considering that I was 7 at the turn of the decade. I vaguely recall hearing something about Tom Osborne interviewing at Colorado at some point along this journey through Husker fandom. But truth be told, it’s not something Common Fans of a certain age know a lot about.

This week, on the Common Fan Podcast, we launched Episode 2 of our series focused on Osborne’s coaching career. This episode, The Head Man, looks at TO's early days as a head coach, from 1973 through the rest of the 1970’s. I must admit, in doing research for the episode, and then having a discussion with Husker legend Tom Ruud and longtime sportswriters Mike Babcock and Brandon Vogel, it seems shocking to me that TO ever would have considered the move to Boulder. 

The Breaking Point

The 1978 campaign started with a loss to Alabama but quickly turned into Osborne’s most promising season up to that point. Nebraska rattled off nine straight wins, including TO’s first victory over Oklahoma, ending a painful five-year losing streak to the Sooners. It should have been a breakthrough moment. Instead, what followed nearly pushed Osborne out the door and all the way to Boulder.

A week after beating Oklahoma, Nebraska lost at home to unranked Missouri, 35-31. Despite that, they received an Orange Bowl bid—only to find out they’d have to play Oklahoma again. “What a blow,” Osborne would later write. “Losing to Missouri and learning that we would have to play Oklahoma twice within a period of seven weeks, particularly after finally having beaten them for the first time in seven years, put me as low as I've ever been in coaching.” Nebraska would go on to lose the Orange Bowl, 31-24.

Flirting With Colorado

Osborne’s book, More Than Winning, is a good read for any Husker fan who enjoys learning about the history of the program. Released in the mid-1980s, TO provides an honest glimpse of his early days as an assistant, and then head coach at Nebraska. He talks about his initial hesitation about taking over for Devaney, trying to fill the shoes of a legend. He talks about the frustrations involved in his first years as head coach, trying to manage fan expectations and get the Oklahoma monkey off his back. And he’s quite candid about considering the head job at Colorado.

Perhaps Mike Babcock summed it up best: essentially, there was a period of time where Osborne’s nine or ten wins a year weren’t enough. Fans had Bob Devaney’s national titles in their heads, and the general attitude of the fan base was, “Why are we not winning championships?”

After the pressure cooker of his first six years as head coach, and the disappointing end to the 1978 season, there was a lot for Osborne to like about the situation in Boulder. He felt expectations from the fan base would be more reasonable. The job offered a hefty pay raise. And the fishing in that part of the country is pretty good. By all accounts, he was Colorado’s top choice to take over the Buffaloes after the 1978 season, and he was seriously considering making the move. 

But ultimately, TO couldn’t do it. He realized he couldn’t bring himself to coach against his own players at Nebraska. The attachment to Lincoln was too strong. TO stayed. Not only did he stay, but he immediately went back to work, going straight to Kansas City for a recruiting trip. 

A Different College Football Universe

If Osborne had taken the Colorado job, the implications would have rippled far beyond the Big Eight. Common Fan co-host Geoff in Lincoln likened it to the alternate reality in Back to the Future 2, when Biff Tannen travels back in time and gives his younger self the sports almanac (if you know, you know). 

Nebraska’s run of dominance in the 1990s, including three national championships in four years, almost certainly never happens. The trophy case, the walk-on program, the strength and conditioning revolution, and even Nebraska’s academic culture for athletes: everything would look different. Osborne wasn’t just a football coach—he was an architect.

It’s likely that Nebraska would never have achieved the level of dominance it reached by the end of TO’s tenure, and also that Colorado would have struggled to do the same. As Babcock noted, it would have been next to impossible for Osborne to replicate in Boulder the facilities, the fan support, and the unified vision he already had in Lincoln.

From the player perspective, Ruud said it would be hard to fathom Osborne at Colorado. "I can't even imagine it. I don't think that Tom would have done very well in Boulder. Not that he couldn't coach, but everything else about it was not what he would like to be around. It's a different environment up there.”

And from the fan perspective, although in 1978 the Colorado-Nebraska rivalry wasn’t yet burning as hot as it would in later years, Colorado will always be little brother. If they had achieved any kind of sustained success under TO, that would have been hard to stomach.

The Turning Point

Thankfully for all of us, Osborne stayed. In hindsight, that 1978 crossroads looks like one of the most pivotal moments in the history of Nebraska athletics. As Osborne reflected, the flirtation with Colorado brought about a renewed appreciation for Nebraska. He wrote in More Than Winning: “After looking at Colorado, I had a renewed appreciation for the positive features we have at the University of Nebraska. And when we appeared to be on our way to Colorado, the Nebraska fans showed a little greater appreciation for the accomplishments of our coaching staff and expressed the desire to see us stay. It was a turning point.”

As we wrapped our episode, perhaps Ruud summed it up best: "Cornhusker fans are pretty smart about what the program has done over the last 60 years. Tom Osborne is a huge part of that…we definitely feel blessed to have him be as valuable to us as he's been. And I just thank him for the time that he's spent and being able to play for him.”

Amen to that.

Let us know what you think, Common Fans. We’d love to hear your contribution to this discussion. Send us an email at commonfangbr@gmail.com, or message us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. 

PODCAST EPISODE: TO: The Head Man

• Watch on YouTube; Listen on Apple; Listen on Spotify; Listen on Amazon Music; Listen on Pandora. 

Visit the Common Fan website here.

More From Nebraska On SI