The first coverage of Jonathan Crowl's "The Nebraska Way" came out in the Daily Nebraskan last October. The article quotes Doak Ostergard instead of author Jonathan Crowl about the purpose behind the book:

It was an awkward article that gave the impression the self-published book was nothing more than a disgruntled ex-employee taking a shot at his former employer. The DN article also included some titillating information about how then coach Bill Callahan viewed Tom Osborne and Husker fans.

Titillating, but is it a fair representation of the book? Or were the reporters at the DN just trying to make waves?

"The Nebraska Way" starts with a foreword by Doak Ostergard, reviewing how he came to be at Nebraska and a quick review of the accomplishments of Husker football over the past (roughly) 40 years. It then starts with Ostergard's firing by Bill Callahan after which we begin a reflection of how things had been done under Osborne.

The first half of the book takes us through the Devaney, Osborne and Solich years. The journey provides a decent review of that piece of Husker history with an impressive number of quotes and anecdotes from former Cornhusker players. At times it's a little gooey, but that's to be expected when reliving glory days

The underlying theme of the review provides a background against which Steve Pederson's reign as athletic director is compared. The result is not a pretty painting. For example, below is the case of Jan Eby, employed by the athletic department for 31 years, but who was fired by Pederson shortly after he became athletic director:

Author Crowl doesn't pull any punches in his disdain for Pederson, painting him as gutless, arrogant, and insecure. There are several instances of his poor handling of personnel affairs, such as not giving reasons for termination, ducking meetings (including not responding to Tommie Frazier before he took the coaching job at Doane), and constant micro-management.

Bill Callahan doesn't come off nearly as bad in the book as depicted by the Daily Nebraskan article quoted above. It's clear from the book that Callahan had issues with how the team was performing, but he's represented as a man who was being manipulated by Pederson more than being evil of his own accord.

"The Nebraska Way" is unique in it's coverage of the Steve Pederson/Bill Callahan era at Nebraska. Crowl's writing is good, more journalistic than storytelling. If you'd like to learn more about what was happening inside the athletic department at that time, then this is the book you need to read.

My biggest complaint about the book is that too much centers around Doak Ostergard. It would have been better had there been more references or more comments from other athletic department personnel. There are a few, but not enough. Given that Pederson was still running the athletic department at the time the book was written and released perhaps that's understandable.

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Normally, I do a book review and then perhaps a follow-up interview with the author. In the case of "The Nebraska Way", I had some problems with the book and wanted to address them immediately. Following this review will be an interview with author Jonathan Crowl.