Nebraska Athletic Director Steve Pederson was fired today following a embarrasing loss to Oklahoma State in Saturday's football game. Pederson was just given a new contract extension through 2013 in July. The Lincoln Journal Star reported that the decision was made last week by Chancelor Harvey Perlman who thinks that Pederson is no longer positioned to move the athletic department forward.
This comes as a breath of fresh air to Nebraska fans who were upset and frusterated about Saturday's game against OSU. You could tell that things needed a change when half of the sea of red left after half time when the score was 38-0.
There is no news yet on who the new interim Athletic Director will be but one is expected to be announced within the next couple of days. A national search agency will be used by Perlman to find a permanent replacement for Pederson.
Questions now loom for what will happen to Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan who was also given a hefty contract extension this year. Many fans and media critics are calling for Callahan to go but most realize that now is not the time to find a new coach when it is halfway through the football season.
Personally, I think Callahan deserves at least one more year. His record this year is still a winning record at 4-3 and he has faced some teams that are probably better than they are credited for (Mizzou, USC). I'll agree that the losses have been bad but I think that firing a coach after losing only 3 games is jumping the gun. Give Callahan a chance to correct his mistakes this season, and you never know, maybe he will surprise those fans that give up at half time.
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