Tom
Osborne is best known as the former head coach of
the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Osborne was the head coach
from the 1973 season until 1997, and led the Huskers
to 13 conference championships and three national
championships.
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. Osborne was inducted into the College Football
Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2000, he recieved 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 widely regarded as the best college football team
in history, and especially in the modern era. The
team won by an average score of 52-14 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.
After
retiring from coaching, Osborne became the Athletic
Director at the University of Nebraska. On September
26, 2012, he announced that he would retire as Athletic
Director effective January 1, 2013.
Now
as a motivational speaker, and author of his memoir
Faith in the Game, Osborne lets us in on the traits
required for successful life management and teamwork
- loyalty, perseverance, honesty, integrity, strategy,
character, faith, and old-fashioned "sweat equity"
- values it takes to achieve victory, on any field.
