Now that the Nebraska Football team has hired Bob Elliott as its safeties coach, Husker fans all around the nation have likely been saying "why him?" It's not like its entirely out of bounds to be wondering how and why Mike Riley landed on a man who has been around more than one block in his day. There was plenty of talk and a decent amount of excitement surrounding the rumors that former Cornhusker Daniel Bullocks might be the one who got the job. In the end, Riley decided it was more important to bring in a veteran presence than someone with ties to the program.
Cons
We'll start with the cons when it comes to the latest Nebraska football hire. The biggest con of all is that it appears as though Elliott is on the last legs of his career. He's been coaching in the college ranks since 1977, and he's been well traveled in that time. The last few years, he's been a coach on a Notre Dame that has underachieved.
Even more worrisome is that Elliott's background as a recruiter is questionable at best. While his record shows that he's helped bring in a couple of good recruits to the Fighting Irish, he's not exactly known as the best of the best. It's also a bit surprising that a team that has been getting younger in the last few hires, appears to be bringing in someone older that doesn't have a ton of loyalty to his new program.
Pros
So what are the positives of Nebraska football bringing in Bob Elliott? The biggest pro of all is that he has a deep understanding of the defense new coordinator Bob Diaco is going to be installing. Since Mark Banker was let go and Diaco was brought in, all the talk has been how hard it's going to be for the team to adapt to the new system.
It would have been harder if Diaco was all alone, teaching the staff and the players at the same time.
The other big bonus of having Elliott on the staff is that it's like having a second defensive coordinator. Elliott has filled that position at Kansas State, Iowa, and San Diego State. His stay with KSU (in Bill Snyder's final years) in his first go-round were the best. In 2002, Kansas State had the best defense in the country. In 2003, it was the 9th best. That experience could be the difference that gets the Blackshirts turned around.
