Wanted: Football coach in Nebraska.
IRVING, Texas -- Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is staying with the Dallas Cowboys, as are several other coaches and players who ended the season in limbo.
Coach Bill Parcells said Tuesday that Zimmer told University of Nebraska officials he was remaining in the pros rather than continue to pursue the head coaching vacancy created when Frank Solich was fired after a 9-3 season. Zimmer was in Lincoln, Neb., on Monday for an interview.
Zimmer, who led the Cowboys to a No. 1 defensive ranking this season, will sign a three-year, $3 million contract to remain in Dallas, ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli reports. The $1.5 million-per-year deal he rejected from the Cornhuskers was for six seasons.
Zimmer had been scheduled to make $500,000 the next two seasons under a deal he signed with Dallas last year.
His initial reaction early Tuesday, after sleeping on the Nebraska offer, was to accept the job. But when he reported for work at the Cowboys' headquarters a few hours later, owner Jerry Jones and coach Bill Parcells convinced him to stay and presented him with the proposal for the new contract.
"We found him to be a terrific coach and a man of great integrity," Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson said in a statement Tuesday. "He was very upfront at the time regarding the fact that his first obligation is to the needs and happiness of his family."
Parcells said Zimmer would not comment.
Arkansas coach Houston Nutt rejected Nebraska's $2 million coaching offer, saying strong family ties and a job left undone kept him with the Razorbacks. Nebraska also expressed interest in Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders, but he also said he didn't want the job.
Pederson has indicated that interim coach Bo Pelini and quarterbacks coach Turner Gill, a Fort Worth native, also will be interviewed in the search for a replacement for Frank Solich. The Cornhuskers fired Solich in November after a 9-3 regular season.
Meanwhile, Congressman and former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne has been fielding phone calls from worried assistants at the school he led to two national championships.
Zimmer has been with the Cowboys for nine seasons. He became defensive coordinator in 2000 and this past season his unit gave up the fewest yards in the NFL. He was an assistant at Illinois State, Missouri, and Weber State before jumping to the pros.
Although Zimmer has never been a head coach at any level, Parcells has said several times that he would be a good candidate to run an NFL team.
"I think that the future is bright for Mike," Parcells said Tuesday. "He did an excellent job. If your offense or defense is particularly favorable, people begin to take notice of you. I think that is what happened."
Parcells said the Cowboys also are close to retaining the only two assistant coaches with expiring contracts, strength coach Joe Juraszek and kicking coordinator Steve Hoffman.
____________________________________________________
My question is: will Nebraska fans finally wake up and realize their expectations are too high for their program?
My thoughts: College football has changed - you cannot dominate year after year as you could in the past. Roster limits and scholarship constraints have leveled the playing field.
Nebraska fans ask their coach to win the Big12 every year. Not only do they have this expectation, but they seemingly have nothing else to talk about - a bad season from a Nebraska team is disected and talked about more than anywhere else. This puts alot of presure on the head coach.
Nebraska recruits nearly all their talent from out of state. This, too, puts alot of pressure on the coaching staff throughout the year. Lots of travel, alot more persuasion is needed from recruits who, for example, may have grown up in Texas as Longhorns fans.
It seems that at least three coaches have turned down the Nebraska job. Is this because the job isn't viewed in the same light from those within the coaching ranks?
Your thoughts.
|