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Today and tomorrow, a whole bunch of folks are getting inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame, including former BG quarterback, then head coach Don Nehlen. The induction ceremony is Saturday evening, but I'm not sure if it's on TV anywhere.

TG1996 wrote:Today and tomorrow, a whole bunch of folks are getting inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame, including former BG quarterback, then head coach Don Nehlen. The induction ceremony is Saturday evening, but I'm not sure if it's on TV anywhere.

It may possibly end up on ESPN U or CSTV (Collegiate Sports Television).
Luckily for me, I get both on my dish.

Congrats Coach!

No mention of TV on the CFB HOF website, unfortunately... but I guess that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Nehlen had some VERY interesting things to say about why he left BG in the interview portion of the ceremony.

http://www.bgsusports.com/nehlen_hof.mpg (big file, about 25MB, I might work on converting that later)

Who was President when Nehlen was the head coach here at BG? And how successful was BG under coach? This was a little before my time.

It's the Journey... wrote:Who was President when Nehlen was the head coach here at BG? And how successful was BG under coach? This was a little before my time.

Not sure who was president, but BG was 53-35-4 (I think 4, the other two are right) under Nehlen in 9 years. He left in 1977, so I don't think Olscamp was quite here yet, but it might have been close.



EDIT: Hollis Moore was president at the time, but he wasn't the one that hired Nehlen. Then again, Nehlen coached here for seven years *after* Moore was hired, so I wonder if some sort of apathy started settling in.

TG, you are correct about Nehlen's record....53-35-4.

Nehlen's problem was finishing 2nd most of the time. BG had very good teams under him but never got the MAC Title. Bob Gibson coached from '65-'68 and then Nehlen took over. Unfortunately for him, UT was in the process of a 35 game winning streak from '69-'71. Miami then came along in '73-'75 and went 32-1-1, winning 3 bowl games and finishing in the Top 20 every year. To add insult to injury, look back to 1972. BG finished 6-3-1 including that 17-14 win over a ranked Purdue squad. BG lost @ San Diego State and @ Tampa. Their only MAC loss was to Kent State, 14-10, and the Flashes won the MAC title...their only title in their history. BG *could* have reeled off a few MAC titles during his tenure but came up short.

BTW, 1972 was the last time Kent State beat BG in BG. I think they've only won twice in Doyt Perry Stadium ('66 & '72). Tell me these media guides aren't worth the $10.

GO FALCONS!! BEAT WISKY!

Falconfreak90 wrote:Tell me these media guides aren't worth the $10.

Slow down, Freak, you're stealing my gig!

Great info, though. I had forgotten about UT's streak during that time. I just started writing Nehlen's bio up for the site, and he really did have some good, but not quite "great" teams at BG. I forgot about his stop off at UM, and was wondering how he got the WVU job with a string of 6-4, 7-3 type records. Unfortunately, I was hoping to hear him say a few more positive things about his time at BG, esp. as a player (he was the QB on the first MAC title team), but I guess most of his name was made at WVU, so they wanted to get right to that.

Hey Freak,

I added your stuff to Nehlen's bio on the BGSUsports.com site. Thanks again!

http://www.bgsusports.com/mambo/content/view/204/53/