Football
Associated Press 17y

After coaching and Congress, Osborne goes back to teaching

LINCOLN, Neb. -- After six years in Congress and an
unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, Tom Osborne has gone back to
school.

Osborne started teaching this week in the College of Business
Administration at the University of Nebraska, where he became
arguably the state's most revered man and a football icon for his
many successes coaching the Cornhuskers.

Osborne, who turns 70 next month, left coaching in 1997. He says
he would have coached another five years if he hadn't made a
promise to someone, whom he wouldn't identify, to step aside.

While two of his older coaching cronies, Penn State's Joe
Paterno and Florida State's Bobby Bowden, continue to patrol the
sidelines, Osborne has chosen to remain active as a politician, a
champion for youth mentoring and now as an educator.

"I read the scriptures quite a bit, and I don't see anything in
there about how at such-or-such an age you're supposed to shut it
down," Osborne said in an interview. "I'll try to stay active as
long as I can make a contribution."

So Osborne has returned to his roots. "Dr. Tom," as he's often
called, has a doctorate of educational psychology and started his
career in 1962 teaching the subject at NU before devoting himself
full-time to coaching in 1967.

About 60 students are in his undergraduate level Leadership in
Organizations class. After he passed out a syllabus, he told the
class in his typical unassuming manner: "My name is Tom Osborne."

That's one thing the class already knew, said Russell Williams,
a senior business management major from Wahoo.

"When I saw he was the one teaching it, I was pleasantly
surprised," Williams said. "It's great for someone as famous as
him and someone who knows so much about leadership to be teaching
the class. He's the closest thing to a celebrity that we've got in
Nebraska."

Cynthia Hardin Milligan, dean of the business college, said she
has wanted Osborne to rejoin the faculty for years. Osborne taught
briefly in the College of Education in the late 1990s before
running for Congress in 2000.

"The business college emphasizes ethics and leadership, and we
have strong programs in those areas," Hardin Milligan said. "Tom
is a wonderful example of both of those."

Osborne said he accepted the invitation to teach because of his
concern about what he called a "crisis in leadership." Osborne
pointed to financial scandals involving Enron and Global Crossing
and others he witnessed up close in Congress.

"We continue to see people behaving in unethical ways,"
Osborne said. "We can do better."

Osborne gave his class an overview of important characteristics
of leadership, more often than not using his experience as a
football coach to illustrate his points.

"Forgive me for talking so much about athletics, but it's what
I understand," he told the students. He drew laughs when he added,
"I'd talk about politics, but I've never understood politics."

The former 3rd District representative said that he had a good
experience in Congress but believed he could better serve as
governor. His popularity as the Cornhuskers former coach didn't
carry over in a statewide race. He lost to sitting governor Dave
Heineman in the Republican primary.

Had he not run for governor, Osborne said, he would have tried
for another term in the House. As it is, he said he has no regrets
about his gubernatorial campaign and that he feels no resentment
toward the citizenry that hailed his every football victory.

"I don't feel that people owe me anything," he said. "I
wasn't interested in becoming governor just to become governor. I
did it because I thought I could serve the people. They thought
otherwise."

Considering his place in the storied history of Nebraska
football, Osborne has been conspicuously absent from the program
since stepping down as coach. This was a coach who won 255 games
from 1973 to 1997. His last five teams amassed victories in 60 of
63 games, and the Huskers won all or part of three national
championships his last four years in coaching.

Still, Osborne forfeited his private suite in the press box when
he entered politics and has paid for his tickets -- he has four
40-yard-line seats -- ever since.

"I got to thinking after I was elected that somebody would have
to pay quite a bit of money to have one of these," he said,
referring to the suite. "Someone would say this is an improper
benefit even though it was in existence before I got elected. I'm
sure I could have passed scrutiny. Even still, I didn't like the
appearance."

Though the names of Osborne his wife, Nancy, are on the new
athletic department headquarters, he has toured the building only
once. He never attends practices, and has spoken with third-year
coach Bill Callahan only a few times.

"Philosophically, I don't feel right about going to practice or
hanging around the offices and having people perceive that I'm
trying to live my life in the past," Osborne said. "It's a new
day. It's a new staff."

Osborne said he does miss football, especially the players and
coaches.

He says he probably quit coaching too soon, but he had made a
promise to someone in 1992 that he would coach only five more
years. Osborne has never said whether that promise was made to his
wife, his successor (longtime assistant Frank Solich), the former
athletic director (Bill Byrne) or someone else.

Osborne said he had the energy and passion to coach until he was
65.

It was important, he said, to keep his word -- perhaps a lesson
he can teach to the future leaders he'll groom in the classroom.

"I felt I would have broken a trust if I had not kept it," he
said.

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