Tom Osborne
In 1999, Tom Osborne was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, a formal recognition that arrived two years after one of the longest tenures in college football had come to a close.
Born on February 23, 1937, in Hastings, Nebraska, Osborne attended Hastings Senior High School before going on to Hastings College and later the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He went on to play American football before moving into coaching. From 1973 to 1997, he served as head football coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a position he held for twenty-four years. After stepping away from coaching, he turned to electoral politics, running as a Republican and winning election in 2000 to represent Nebraska's third congressional district. He served three terms in that role, from 2001 to 2007, before returning to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, this time as athletic director, a post he took up in 2007.
Osborne retired in 2013, closing out a career that had moved across three distinct fields — playing, coaching, and public service — all rooted in Nebraska. His 1999 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame remains among the formal markers of his time leading the Cornhuskers across nearly a quarter century on the sideline.
Quotes by Tom Osborne
When you coach as long as I did, you can't help but miss those Saturdays - dealing with the players, the game preparation, the challenges, the excitement.
You can tell by looking at me that I've got more miles behind me than I've got in front of me. When you reach that point, if you've got some good years left, you want to make sure that you use them wisely.
When you coach as long as I did, you can’t help but miss those Saturdays – dealing with the players, the game preparation, the challenges, the excitement.
As a college coach, I felt you could make a difference in a player’s life. There was an educational aspect I thought was important.
I still miss the players and I miss the game and the strategy. The first couple years were really difficult. Now I realize I’ll never coach again. It’s still hard to go into the stadium on a game day, because it’s hard to just be a fan. But it’s easier now than it was the first two or three years.
Our people were not happy. I knew at some point we were going to win. It’s a little unfair, but that’s the reality. To some degree, it became a one-game season for some folks.
I’ll bring in outsiders to evaluate state agencies. They can sometimes see what we can’t.
I celebrate a victory when I start walking off the field. By the time I get to the locker room, I’m done.
You can tell by looking at me that I’ve got more miles behind me than I’ve got in front of me. When you reach that point, if you’ve got some good years left, you want to make sure that you use them wisely.
