This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
At various points during his Oregon State football coaching tenure, Mike Riley was attractive to other programs. This, seemingly, was not one of those times. The Beavers went 5-7 in 2014, including a 2-7 mark in Pac-12 play. Yet Nebraska has hired Riley to replace Bo Pelini, meaning that Riley's first game as the Cornhuskers' coach will come against BYU on Sept. 5 in Lincoln. It also means that a new coach will lead the Beavers into Rice-Eccles Stadium to face Utah in October. As I've said consistently, knowing the historic challenges of OSU's program, Riley has done a terrific job in Corvallis. But the irony of his move to Nebraska is it comes at a time when some percentage of Beaver backers were growing tired of his work. And now he gets what has to be viewed as a promotion in the coaching profession. That just speaks to what the outside world views as reasonable expectations for Oregon State. In 1998, a 5-6 record was good enough for Riley to land the San Diego Chargers' job. In 2014, having returned for a long, second stint in Corvallis, Riley turned a 5-7 record into the Nebraska job. – Kurt Kragthorpe