It could be the most unenviable job in college football since...well since Tom Osborne took over for Bob Devaney.

Former Husker player and current assistant head coach Frank Solich was named today as the replacement for Osborne, a man who won over 250 football games, two national championships and the collective hearts of the state of Nebraska.

Solich stepped to the podium at Wednesday's packed press conference to a brisk round of applause.

"You might well imagine that I stand before you with a lot of emotions running through me at this time." said Solich "I don't know that you replace Tom Osborne as much as follow him. When you win as much as he's won in the 25 years he's coached at the University of Nebraska, then you know that you've got a difficult job ahead of you."

Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Byrne made the announcement of Solich's promotion. "I firmly beleive that one of the things you need to do to keep a winning program in shape is to have continuity." said Byrne. "Clearly one of the things you look for in a football coach is leadership, but I think one of the things that sets Frank aoart is not only his leadership, but the genuine affinity that our coaches and our athletes and our staff have for him. When someone understands the Nebraska culture and understands what it takes to be successful at Nebraska, Frank clearly is the choice to continue to lead us into the 20th century.

The Cleveland native was an All Big 12 fullback for the Huskers in the mid 60's despite weighing only 160 pounds. His 204 yard rushing performance against Air Force in 1965 stood as the Husker standard for ten years. His career rushing total of 1,010 yards ranks 42nd on the Huskers' all-time list.

Solich became the head coach at Holy Name High School in Omaha after leaving the University. He took over the same duties at Lincoln Southeast from 1968-1979.

Solich joined the Husker staff in 1979 and served as the freshman team coach for four years, three of those years his teams went undefeated. He was named as varsity running back coach in 1983 and assistant head coach in 1991.

During his tenure Solich has coached 13 all-conference players, including Jarvis Redwine, Keith Jones, Doug DuBose and Lawrence Phillips. He has tutored seven academic all-conference players, two All-Americans (Redwine and Mike Rozier) and one Heisman Trophy winner (Rozier). Twelve of Solich's charges have gone on to careers in pro football.

During Solich's 15 years as running backs coach the Huskers have never been ranked lower than fourth in the nations in rushing.

"I guess as I look at it, we will have fans that will continue to support us, we have excellent players in our program and we've got a great coaching staff so we'll be fine." said Solich.

Solich says he believes all the current assistant coaches will remain with the team.

Solich took time to praise his mentor for his impact. "I would like to take this time to thank Tom for all he has done for me and the positive influence he has had on my coaching, my coaching method, my coaching career. and the positive influence he had on my life."