An Evening With Tom Osborne

Last night I was accidentally treated once again to hearing one of my heroes speak. You see Keynote speaker: John Cook-Nebraska Women's Volleyball coach, fell ill on the very day of the Archer Credit Union Annual Meeting. In his typical classy way, and on very brief notice, Tom Osborne showed up to stand in. The recent octogenarian, stood and quietly, humbly spoke for about an hour about things that matter. I, for one, was transfixed.

In case you've been out of the country for the last several decades,

Dr. Tom Osborne is a legendary former Nebraska football coach, Nebraska Unicameral Representative and founder of the TeamMates mentoring program. Of course even the hardest-to-impress sports geeks must respect this man's success on the field. Source: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/coaches/tom-osborne-1.html

But far beyond these accomplishments, I just truly admire who Tom Osborne is! 

Dr. Osborne spoke at length about the culture of the era of Bob Devaney, Osborne, who worked for Bob, and Frank Solich, who worked for Osborne. He spoke about a legacy of integrity, common expectations and goals…and about what really matters to most of us when we come to die. Tom has been with several colleagues (including Devaney) and players near the end of their lives. Far beyond Win/Loss records, paychecks or accolades, and regardless of their lifestyles, eventually they valued relationships, family, integrity-in-dealings and ultimately, where God is. Dr. Osborne posits that great accomplishments are simply a byproduct of living with high values. Example: through the 42 years of the Devaney, Osborne, Solich era, Nebraska had an 82% win record (60 more wins than any other team during that time). Second for the same period - Ohio State 75%, then Michigan 74% and so on.  

A less-flashy promise: an opportunity and a level playing field

On the subject of integrity in leadership, Tom noted that during times when recruits to "schools that we were expected to beat", were receiving things like cars, cash and huge promises 'we'll build our program around you', we chose to make a far less flashy promise: We will promise you an opportunity to prove your value to a team, each with the same opportunity. An opportunity to move ahead of the next guy up the roster, (or down!!) weekly, based on your performance. You will be cared for and treated with respect by a team and coaches that hold integrity in high regard. A truly level playing field.

Assistant coaches sometimes said to Tom if we can't beat them, maybe we should join them. Tom said no, that was not in line with their long term strategy. If they fire us for it, we can still sleep at night.

Those other schools were later punished, severely in some cases, while Nebraska's programs and personnel were above reproach.

This is a man that has lived and lead from his personal convictions. Thanks Coach for your shining example!