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Essay on Tom Osborne the coach the Congressman
Tom Osborne (born February 23, 1937 in Hastings, Nebraska) is a former football coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and a current Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska's 3rd Congressional district.
In 1959, Osborne graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from Hastings College, after which he played three seasons in the National Football League. He earned his Master of Arts in educational psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1963, and a doctorate in educational psychology from the UNL in 1965.
Osborne is best known as the former head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, UNL's football team. Osborne was the head coach from the 1973 season until 1997, and led the Huskers to 13 conference championships and three national championships (1994, 1995, and 1997). His final championship, which was split with the University of Michigan, was the source of some controversy: Michigan and Nebraska were ranked #1 and #2, respectively, in the both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll going into bowl week, but Michigan was dropped to #2 in the Coaches' Poll despite its 21-16 victory over Washington State University in the Rose Bowl, leading to the widespread perception (especially amongst the Michigan faithful) that the coaches had voted Nebraska #1 only because Osborne had announced his retirement a few weeks earlier. However, others argued that Nebraska had solidified its top ranking by blowing out Peyton Manning and the #3-ranked University of Tennessee 42-17 in the Orange Bowl.
His 255-49-3 record gave him the best winning percentage (83.6%) among active NCAA Division 1-A coaches at the time of his retirement and the fifth-best of all time. As of 2006, only Joe Paterno has reached 200 victories in fewer games. But Osborne, who went on an NCAA record 60-3 run over his final five seasons, won 250 games faster than any coach in Division 1-A history....
