Tom Osborne to retire as Nebraska AD
BY AP Wire Service
Thursday, September 27, 2012
9/27/12 at 6:11 AM
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - As Nebraska's coach, Tom Osborne had one of the most successful runs in college football history.
As athletic director, he pulled the football program he and Bob Devaney built out of a nosedive and repaired a fractured department where staff morale had nearly bottomed out.
And now, he's almost done.
The 75-year-old Osborne announced Wednesday that he will retire Jan. 1 after five years on the job.
"At some point, whether you're able to function or not, just the perception that you're getting old can get in the way," Osborne said. "I don't want to be one of those guys everybody is walking around wringing their hands trying to figure out what are we going to do with him?"
Osborne's first acts as AD were to fire Bill Callahan as football coach and hire Bo Pelini, who has returned the proud program to its winning ways. He shepherded the school's move from the Big 12 to the Big Ten, and initiated building projects including a 16,000-seat downtown basketball arena that opens in 2013 and a Memorial Stadium expansion that increases capacity to more than 90,000.
Original Print Headline: Osborne to retire as Nebraska AD
