Coach Joseph Cans Chinander

Are there more changes coming in the Husker coaching staff?

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

When Mickey Joseph came to Lincoln in January he never could have imagined he'd be thrown into a coaching maelstrom like the one he finds himself in.

Joseph was originally hired to shore up the receiving corps and be the Husker Associate Head Coach. But just 3 games into the season, after Scott Frost was fired, Husker A.D. Trev Alberts named MJ as the interim head coach.

Before he coached his first game at NU, MJ knew the Husker defense was not very good. So what did he do? He rescinded the coveted Blackshirts that had been handed out prematurely before the Northwestern game in Dublin, Ireland.

Coach Joseph's first task was to try to get his team prepared to play #6 Oklahoma when they came to Lincoln on Saturday. He didn't even have a full week to get ready for the Sooners-just 6 days.

Gulp.

It wasn't a pretty was to start his head coaching career at Nebraska. Oklahoma ripped the ill-prepared Huskers 49-14, making Joseph's debut an embarrassment. The Sooners gouged the Husker defense for 580 yards of total offense.

The week before, Nebraska allowed over 600 yards of total offense to Georgia Southern. Joseph had seen enough.

Never mind why any Husker DC would hand out Blackshirts before the players have even played a down of football. That's insane.

MJ did the absolute right thing when he rescinded the coveted jerseys.

Any team that would allow over 1,200 yards of total offense to two opponents (Georgia Southern and OU) obviously doesn't deserve any defensive accolades.

So what did MJ do in the wake of the Oklahoma debacle? He fired Husker DC, Erik Chinander - the man who handed out the Blackshirts in Dublin.

In my view, replacing Chinander was long overdue.

So what's next? What other changes will MJ make? Will he replace Donovan Raiola? Raiola's O-line looked ill-prepared and overwhelmed the entire game Saturday.

Will Joseph have enough bodies to throw into the mix if he does make more staffing changes?

Stay tuned. Coach Joseph has an extra week to try to overhaul the Husker football program. It has become obvious that the team he inherited is poorly coached in the basic fundamentals of football. His task is daunting.

To give you an idea how much of a challenge Coach Joseph has before him, it's like trying to overhaul a motor while the engine is running.

How ’Bout Them Huskers

For the second week in a row, grandson Will did our weekly podcast by himself. Will reviews the Sooner game, the firing of Erik Chinander and previews next week's guest, former astronaut, Clayton Anderson. Anderson, who has logged over 160 days in space, hails from Ashland, Nebraska. He is the author of "The Ordinary Astronaut."

If you have some questions you'd like Clayton to answer, email me at HuskerDan@cox.net.

Related

• HuskerMax game page. 
• Nebraska-Oklahoma Fanalytix

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