Tom Osborne (Nebraska)
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Congressman Tom Osborne |
Thomas William 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 (
map).
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 (UNL) in
1963 and a
doctorate in educational psychology there 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). It should be noted that his team came close to the National Championship in the 1983 season. The Cornhuskers were 12-0 entering the
1984 Orange Bowl game and ranked #1 in the country for all of the year. Nebraska scored a late touchdown against the then #5 ranked
University of Miami to get within 1, 31-30. Rather than attempt an extra point to finish with a tie (and possibly win the title), Osborne opted for a trickier 2-point conversion to gain the lead. Had the attempt been successful, the team would probably have won the game and the title. The attempt failed, giving Miami the victory and the 1983 national title.
His last championship was split with the
University of Michigan, which 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 Nebraska rose to #1 in the Coaches' Poll following a solid 42-17 defeat of
Peyton Manning and the #3-ranked
University of Tennessee 42-17 in the
Orange Bowl. Michigan dropped in the Coaches' Poll to #2, despite its 21-16 victory over #9
Washington State University in the
Rose Bowl. Some believed that the coaches voted Nebraska #1 because Osborne had announced his retirement only a few weeks earlier, but others felt that Nebraska's easy defeat of the #3 team in the nation was more impressive than Michigan's close game against the #9 team.
Legacy
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. Osborne was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame in
1999. In
2000, he received the
Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award.
As a college football coach, Tom Osborne was respected by his peers, and that legacy continues to the present time. His second national championship team, in 1995, is considered by many to be the best college football team in history, and especially in the modern era. The team won by an average score of 52-12 in the regular season and beat four top 10 teams (as ranked in the final polls) by an average score of 49-18. The team crushed second-ranked Florida in the Fiesta Bowl 62-24, one of the most lopsided games ever in a #1 vs. #2 matchup. In addition to his success on the field, he is perhaps best known for his reputation as a "player's coach" and his devotion to developing them as responsible adults as well as football players.
House of Representatives
Since
January 3,
2001, Osborne has represented
Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives. He is a member of the
Republican Party and sits on the Committees on Agriculture; Education and the Workforce; and Resources.Osborne is generally considered a
political conservative, although he has been somewhat in the middle with regards to immigration issues.
Most recently, Osborne has teamed up with Nebraska
State Senator Ernie Chambers, normally his political adversary, to oppose efforts to expand
gambling in Nebraska.
2006 governor's race
In 2006, Osborne ran for
Governor of Nebraska, challenging incumbent Governor
Dave Heineman and Omaha businessman
Dave Nabity in the Republican primary. Heineman took 49 percent of the more than 197,000 votes cast, and Osborne 45 percent [
1].
The Lincoln Journal Star analyzed the race:
While Osborne captured populous Omaha and Lincoln, Heineman sealed his victory in rural counties and key population centers in western and central Nebraska's critical Republican battleground....
...it was the political impact of two gubernatorial vetoes that appeared to lift [Heineman ] into a late surge, especially in Osborne's congressional district.
Heineman's opposition to Class I rural school reorganization and the granting of resident college tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants cut into Osborne's support.
Osborne declined to sign referendum petitions seeking voter repeal of the rural school legislation and said he would have signed the resident tuition bill." [2]
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Congressman Tom Osborne*
College Football Hall of Fame: Tom Osborne*
Huskerpedia: Tom Osborne*
2006 Nebraska CD 3 Candidate List from VIS*
record maintained by the Washington Post
