Tom Osborne To Retire As Nebraska’s A.D. On Jan. 1

Lincoln Journal Star

http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/osborne-to-retire-as-athletic-director/article_fc64adcb-1e90-5423-afb1-24c3056a3674.html

Tom Osborne said Wednesday morning he will soon be retiring from his post as Nebraska athletic director.

The 75-year-old said during a news conference that he plans to step away from the job on Jan. 1.

“At some point, whether you’re able to function or not, the perception that you’re getting old gets in the way,” Osborne said.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor Harvey Perlman has begun a search for Osborne’s replacement in order to have a new person in the position by 2013.

“It’s been a real privilege to work with Tom directly and closely over the past five years. I think he’s done a great job for the university and athletics,” Perlman said.

Osborne informed Perlman of his decision to retire in August.

Perlman said he has already started the search by hiring a firm to help him find a replacement for Osborne. He has interviewed candidates and he does not intend to have an open and public search. He has invited about a dozen people to help with the search, including coaches, former athletes and donors. “I can also assure you Tom will play an important role in advising me about that selection, as well.”

Perlman said he wants Osborne’s replacement to understand the role athletics play in the state, the pride Nebraskans have in athletics and its student-athletes.

“I suppose, ideally, someone with the kind of experiences that you can make judgments about what their judgments are, what their skills are. Most importantly they need to understand the rich tradition of this department, the culture of this department,” he said.

In a release, the university said Osborne will become athletic director emeritus after he steps down. He will continue to be actively involved in athletic department operations through July 30, 2013.

Osborne said he will be around to see the completion of athletic department building projects. “I will assist the new AD any way I can. But I’m also smart enough to know enough not to meddle,” he said.

In the news conference, Osborne praised Perlman for hiring him. “I was honored he would have asked me to do this job five years ago. Hopefully it’s worked out well.”

Osborne was asked what he feels his legacy will be. “The legacy question is a tricky one. I’d rather you guys wrote it than me,” he told the reporters assembled. “I don’t have any particular thoughts on that now.”

Osborne, who underwent cardiac double-bypass surgery in 1985, said he doesn’t have any health issues. “I’m healthier today than when I was a member of Congress. I’m feeling good.”

Basketball coach Tim Miles was the first to make the news official, confirming the retirement in a tweet including a picture of Osborne speaking to staff members prior to the news conference.

The legendary football coach took over leadership of the Nebraska athletic department on Oct. 15, 2007, appointed interim athletic director to help calm the waters after the firing of Steve Pederson.

Two months later, Osborne lost the interim tag. He had never supplied a timeline when his stint as athletic director might end.

This, of course, led to many Husker fans guessing when it might be and who might take his place when that day comes.

“…It is odd,” Osborne half-joked in an interview with the Journal Star last June. “And I guess it goes with being 75. Obviously, I’m not going to go forever. I’m sensitive to the fact that you can outstay your usefulness, outwear your welcome. To some people, I may already have done so, I don’t know. But there’s certain things I wanted to get done, so those are things I’d like to see through.”

Osborne said he’d made the announcement on his timetable when it was right, but said saying anything at that point would be “counter-productive.”

Osborne’s time as athletic director has been filled with many big moments, most significant among them being Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten Conference.

The positive relationship Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany quickly formed with Osborne and Perlman seemed to play a critical role in making that move.

“There was a sense that these people are good people,” Delany once told the Journal Star of Osborne and Perlman. “These people view it in a lot of the same ways that we view it and that there might be mutual interest.”

Osborne’s first critical decision was what to do with the head football coaching position. He fired Bill Callahan after a 5-7 season and hired Bo Pelini eight days later.

Osborne also made coaching changes in baseball and men’s basketball, hiring Darin Erstad to replace Mike Anderson for baseball and Tim Miles to replace Doc Sadler for basketball.

He called the decision to let Sadler go one of the most difficult of his life.

Under Osborne’s watch, Memorial Stadium expanded, soon to hold more than 90,000 fans starting next season.

The basketball facilities underwent a significant upgrade, and a new downtown arena is in the process of being built and will open beginning in 2013.