Bott Radio Network

Ask any native Nebraskan in any small town or city . . . “What Nebraskan best encompasses the positive image, the strength of character and ethics that most Nebraskans aspire to?”, and the answer would resoundingly come back . . . “Tom Osborne”. Maybe that’s because football has an unusually strong influence in the fabric of the state . . . maybe it’s because Nebraska is a small state with less than a million in population or maybe it’s all of those things and something more. Anyone who knows Tom Osborne knows that he would reject any focus on himself, but a life lived with integrity is a notable prize in today’s culture. So who is Tom Osborne to millions of football fans around the world? One of Coach Osborne’s central achievements in the world of college football, is his unique record of leadership as Head Coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers leading his teams to three National Championships from 1973-1997. Through his unusual leadership he left a legacy of an overall record of two-hundred fifty-five wins over his twenty-five years of leading the Nebraska Cornhuskers. In a quarter-century as head coach, Osborne has been a model of consistency, integrity and excellence. His teams never won fewer than nine games in a season . . . year in and year out. His 255-49-3 record gave him the best winning percentage (83.6%) among active NCAA Division-A coaches at the time of his retirement and the fifth-best of all time. As of 2006, only Joe Paterno reached 200 victories in fewer games, but Osborne enjoyed an NCAA 60-3 record over his final five seasons and won 250 games faster than any coach in Division I-A history. Tom Osborne has been a defender of “The Good Life” in Nebraska. He and his wife, Nancy, founded the TeamMates Mentoring Program www.teammates.org in 1991 with a desire to provide support and encouragement to school-aged youth. This program helps see youth graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education by providing volunteer mentors from the community who dedicate themselves to making a difference in the life of young people and giving them a sense of hope, purpose and vision. Former collegues who know Tom Osborne from his public life in public policy, academia or the world of college football . . . regard the Coach with the utmost respect for his strong yet humble leadership qualities and his commitment to mentoring young people . . . qualities the coach would downplay, yet attribute to his personal faith in Jesus Christ.