Nebraska Football: Is this the year Frank Solich makes the Hall of Fame?
Former Nebraska football player and coach Frank Solich is up for the College Football Hall of Fame again, will he get in this time?
If Nebraska football fans were given the ability to vote Solich into the Hall of Fame, he’d make it easily. Unfortunately, they don’t have a vote and will have to wait to see if those who do get a vote make the right decision.
The 2024 class of College Football Hall of Fame candidates and Solich was the lone Nebraska football representative. The good news there might be that Huskers fans won’t have to worry about who they should root for, or that the votes will get divvied up in a way that will keep someone deserving out.
Solich is one of nine former coaches on the list this year and at first glance, it would sure seem as though his career numbers indicate someone who is very deserving. Interestingly enough, while Husker fans are obviously going to be rooting hard for the man who followed Tom Osborne as head coach, it’s his career at Ohio that really makes his case.
Former Nebraska football coach gunning for the hall
In six years at the helm of Nebraska football, he did put a very good record. He finished his Huskers career with a 58-19 record, which is a .753 winning percentage. After being fired from Nebraska and taking a breather to gather himself, he took over the Ohio Bobcats.
It was here he saw a level of success that the MAC program has never seen before. Posting a 197-115 record, his .584 winning percentage wasn’t quite as eye-poppingly good, but there are other factors to consider.
Solich took an Ohio school that had been to one bowl game in its program history, to 11 bowl games in his 16 years as the head man. If you think that’s impressive, get a load of this:
In a 43-year span from Ohio’s first year (1962) in college football until 2004, the year before Solich was hired, the Bobcats posted a grand total of 11 winning seasons. Solich posted 12 winning seasons in his 16 years at the school.
While the former Nebraska football player and coach might have toiled in a bit more anonymity than you’d hope for a Hall of Fame campaign, what he did at a school that was known only for being moribund before his arrival should be taken into consideration if the voters want to be taken seriously.