Note to my friends at Corn Nation: This is not intended as a slight against you in any way - it is a message to my fellow Tiger fans but I would appreciate your insight. Thanks - Henry Ball

"I will not let Nebraska gravitate into mediocrity" said Steve Pederson, then Athletic Director at the University of Nebraska, after firing head coach Frank Solich in 2003.

Steve Pederson had acquiesced to the outcry from the loudest corn-critics; those that impatiently demanded an immediate return to the final days of Tom Osborne's tenure when the Corn Husker Nation was awarded three national championships in four years.

Those voices were dismissive of the success Solich had enjoyed - National Runner-up and Fiesta Bowl Champion in his second year, two division and one conference championship in his first four years and 58 wins in six years, which was better than both of his predecessors, Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney who are in the College Football Hall of Fame - claiming that he had enjoyed that success 'only because of Tom Osborne’s recruits'.

To make matters worse, Solich had rebounded from a disappointing 7-7 2002 campaign that was crowned by a loss in the independence Bowl to up-and-coming Eli Manning's Ole Miss Rebels.

In 2003 Solich got Nebraska off to a 5-0 start with wins versus Oklahoma State and Penn State before suffering its first loss to conference foe Missouri.  That loss rattled the nay-sayers and the 'Fire Frank' campaign was in high gear.

Despite finishing the year with a very respectable 9-3 record and invitation to the Alamo Bowl and a top 20 ranking Steve Petersen made the move and infamous statement mentioned above. 

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