Tom Osborne

Osborne was born on February 23, 1937 in Nebraska and attended the Hastings High School where he was considered a star athlete, an ace in basketball and football. He won the Nebraska High School ‘Athlete of The Year’ title by the Omaha World Herald.

After passing his high school, Osborne, like his father and grandfather, joined the Hastings College. He played football quarterback and basketball during his time in the college and graduated with B.A. in history in 1959.

Washington Redskins drafted Osborne into the National Football League, after he played two seasons with them as a wide receiver.

Osborne joined the Cornhusker coaching staff and took up a job as an unpaid offensive assistant to Head Coach Bob Devaney in 1965. After having two consecutive disappointing seasons, he was made the offensive coordinator for the next season.

After being made the in-charge of the offense, Huskers won two national titles as Osborne deliberated on three areas of importance – a strong academic program, a strength and conditioning program and a more formalized program to attract walk-on players.

Devaney, at the age of 57, announced that he would retire from his position as the Head Coach and concentrate on his role as the athletic director after 1972 season. He named Osborne as the next Head Coach.

After the magnificent win over Notre Dame in the 1973 Orange Bowl, Osborne became the Head Coach of the team and remained in that position for the next 25 seasons.

Osborne and his wife, Nancy, founded The TeamMates program in 1991, which provides support and encouragement to school-aged youth with the goal that children graduate from high school and pursue a post-secondary education.

Nebraska’s 25th Head Coach for 25 years, the longest tenure in school history, is considered to be the most prominent work of his career. Under his bearing, the program achieved success that exceeded any such program in its rich history.

The Cornhuskers made a 255-49-3 record under Osborne’s guidance, won a percentage of .836. The victories (255) are the sixth-most all-time among major college football coaches while the winning percentage ranks fifth all-time.