Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Voorhees' Topic: NU Fans Don't Want Black Head Coach

KFAB (1110 AM) morning talk show host Scott Voorhees baited listeners Tuesday with a topic that generated plenty of phone calls: There is talk that Nebraska football fans do not want Turner Gill to be the next head football coach because he is black.

"If you think I'm bringing this up just to get phone calls, you're wrong. You're absolutely wrong," Voorhees said.

(A portion of the segment is available via podcast here.)

KFAB's "Husker Insider" Sean Callahan of HuskersIllustrated.com, disagreed with Voorhees, discounting a former player's assessment to Voorhees that Husker fans don't appreciate blacks unless they are playing for the team. Once their eligibility is used up, the former player told Voorhees, fans could care less about Husker players who are black.

Callahan also said there was good reason that Gill was passed over for the interim head coaching job when former Husker Coach Frank Solich was fired in 2003. Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel pointed out in his column in Tuesday's editions that Gill held a higher position — assistant head coach - than Bo Pelini, who was named interim head coach for one game.

"A lot of people don't know this, but Jim Rose filled me in that Pelini had it written into his contract that he would become interim coach if the head coach was fired," Callahan said.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

did not know that about Pelini.. interesting

Anonymous said...

Oh wow. I didn't realize that we don't want a black coach. Were we okay with a black assistant coach? Was I supposed to be outraged when Gill was an assistant? If so, I have a lot of protesting to catch up on.

Anonymous said...

By the way, how do we go about changing Sean Callahan's title from "Husker Insider" to "Gossiping Old Hen"?

I mean really, that's all he seems to be good for. "Jim Rose told me that Bo Pelini's contract mandated that he be the interim coach".

It might very well be true...But God forbid he might actually do a little research to find out if that was true before he opens up that whole can of worms.

Anonymous said...

When did Callahan nsay that? When he first got here or later. He really didn't know what he was doing. I don't believe it one bit.

Anonymous said...

I thought Matt Perrault was the biggest idiot in Omaha radio, but Scott Voorhees may have just passed him up in that department.

Voorhees, you know damn well that the only reason you brought the subject of race in relation to the NU coaching job up was to get phone calls. Don't try and sell that Husker fans don't want Turner Gill as coach because he's black, because you know damn well that many fans would love to see him come back as head coach, regardless of what race he is.

Voorhees is the biggest moron in Omaha radio, and considering Matt Perrault and Travis Justice are still around, that's saying something...

Anonymous said...

Voorhees should be fired for race baiting, people like this is what is wrong with the country. To make a general statement like this about all Nebraska fans is just disgusting. Are there some "fans" who may think this? Sure, but to make a blanket statement like this is just plain wrong. Fire him! Fire him! Fire him!

Anonymous said...

I'm not going to use the same language as the previous poster, but it is awfully sad & offensive that Mr. Voorhees believes his audience is just plain stupid. Self promotion by controversy and the deceit in admitting it should be rewarded accordingly. Folks, it is time to turn off this mean-spirited little man. He, truly, has brought nothing of value to the Omaha radio scene and we should indicate our disdain with KFAB management. Hopefully, he'll grow up to be a civil human being someday.

Pete said...

At this point I am tending to think that this is ridiculous like most of you, however before completely dismissing the claim I would love to hear what several former players, black and white, have to say on the topic of fan appreciation.

That being said, I haven't heard, nor will I hear, a Husker fan state that they wouldn't fully welcome Turner Gill back if that is the decision being made.

Anonymous said...

Scott who...?

Anonymous said...

Wow. Someone in Omaha radio FINALLY dares to touch on a controversial topic, and he gets lambasted for it.

No wonder all I hear on the radio dial around here is time, temp, weather and liners. No one is willing to try anything daring or "taboo".

You idiots who criticize Voorhees are of the same ilk as "The Apprentice"'s Omarosa, who thought the saying "Pot calling the kettle black" was racist.

Read between the lines. It's about time someone addressed the latent bigotry that still exists in the Midwest and the South. If you think it DOESN'T exist, I got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell ya.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Im sure it exists. But not in this situation. The only thing Husker fans want is to win football games and we dont care if Stalin comes in to coach the Big Red. Turner is part of the Husker family and will be welcomed back if he is hired. There is not racism in everything.

Anonymous said...

I don't disagree that Nebraska has a huge amount of "closet case" racists. Try reading some of the idiotic comments viewers post on WOWT sometime.

The only thing is that there are very few people who are 100% Pure, Full-fledged Sheet-Carrying, Hate-Spewing, Klan-Type Racists. Very few people's views are that black and white (no pun intended).

In regards to minorities, most of the closet cases will admit that "some of them are okay" and Turner Gill will fall into that category. If Tom Osborne hires Turner Gill, people will be just fine with that.

Hell, Tom Osborne could hire Hannibal Lecter and Nebraskans would be like, "Oh he's a good guy, just a bit of a finnicky eater"

Anonymous said...

Turner Gill will be accepted because he's Turner Gill.

That's not to say fans will give him longer than four years to produce 10-win seasons, but they'll still accept him at first.

Anonymous said...

Voorhees makes Perrault and Justice look like Huntley and Brinkley.Of course he thinks his audience is stupid or he wouldn't try the phony guests or throw out made up stats.I've tried calling the show and asked for a source of his numbers and got told by his producer "I don't know" and got hung up on,sometimes I don't even get a "I don't know" just a hang up.Like most of Omaha radio he's just an Ego driven prick that just thinks he's smarter than most.When in reality he's a mouth behind a mic.Hey Scott,ever hear of show prep?...Didn't think so and it shows.

Anonymous said...

Voorhees, what a jackass. And the previous poster @ 3:04p is just as big or maybe even a bigger jackass. SV bringing that up as a "topic" is pure and simple race baiting. Yes, racism still exists in this country, but to think that any more than a few knuckle-draggers don't want Gill only because of his race is pure crap. For better or worse, the Husker faithful around here worship their former football warriors. Why else do so many former players that aren't from NE settle here when their playing days are over? Me, I don't care who T.O. hires as head coach. I want the best man for the job, not the best white man, the best MAN.

Anonymous said...

Just listened to the Voorhees segment that's posted on KFAB. I would suggest everyone take some time to listen to EXACTLY what was said and how it was presented. The view here, i.e. the headline, is VERY misleading. Oh, and this topic did come up the day before on Becka's show.

Anonymous said...

3:16 pm says "The only thing Husker fans want is to win football games and we dont care if Stalin comes in to coach the Big Red."

3:31 pm says "Hell, Tom Osborne could hire Hannibal Lecter and Nebraskans would be like, "Oh he's a good guy, just a bit of a finnicky eater"."

Oh yeah?

Imagine if TO hired a coach who we later find out is GAY?? You don't think the Husker Nation would explode and want the guy fired even if he won National Championships every year?

Anonymous said...

"Just listened to the Voorhees segment that's posted on KFAB. I would suggest everyone take some time to listen to EXACTLY what was said and how it was presented. The view here, i.e. the headline, is VERY misleading. Oh, and this topic did come up the day before on Becka's show."

-Why would the sheeple want to listen to the facts before forming an opinon? Let them just go back to Todd & Tyler so they can hear about how many drugs they used to do, how many chicks they bang, how often they jerk it and how hairy Trav's back is.

Anonymous said...

Listen to the 27 minutes and 30 seconds into the clip from the first hour of Monday's show to hear a caller bring it up. THEN, listen to another caller bring it to Scott's attention at the 7th minute of the second hour. Scott clearly says it is not the case and he is not interested in getting one call from a racist who may feel this way.

The City Weekly needs to prove they can be real journalists and not some POS liberal drop-outs who hop up and down on T&T's jocks.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Tom Osborne would ever hire a coach who was gay or a "confirmed bachelor". The whole deep-rooted religion thing would nix that.

Anonymous said...

Oh my God! Whoever is in charge of reading the viewer comments before they are posted on the KETV sports blog sure did drop one hell of a big ball.

One viewer refers to Hillary Clinton as "Hillary CLITon". Thats obviously not a typo and it got through. Too freaking funny!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous quote, Tuesday November 27 12:06:00 PM

"What is going on brother's in red. I do not care if Hillary CLITon was coaching, I would bust the gates of hell open for a opportunity to play for the Cornhuskers."

Oh man thats a hoot.

Anonymous said...

All in all it just makes me glad that I listen to NPR.

Anonymous said...

It's funny that Minge and Weide would post an article about someone trying to "stir things up in Omaha" as in the case of the MYSPACE Omaha Juice thing. hmmmmmm.....

They'd NEVER do that would they ;)

There's a reason the City Weekly is free folks. Omaha's own Bernstein and Woodward just want to be LOVED (and noticed)!!!~

Anonymous said...

I was the one of the first that emailed Scott on this issue, he read my email at the start of the second hour Monday. I brought it up because I know people that have said they would never watch NU football again if a black coach was ever hired. It’s more than just a few knuckle draggers and far less than a majority. Go ahead and blast me but at least I will give you a name so you don’t have refer to me as the time I wrote this.

Jim

Anonymous said...

Jim is right. I've been in too many churches (of several denominations) on Sunday mornings in this state....where supposedly "good Christian Husker fans" will spew out unbelievable racial garbage of all kinds, then act like it's not only funny, but somehow justified. It's not ALL the people in this state...but still way too many.

Anonymous said...

I figure as long as The African American Coach is winner..Nobody would be racist..If he started to lose..It would be God I knew that N-word couldn'rt do it..

Anonymous said...

Racism is not just rooted in Nebraska, people, or in the south. It's all over. This is evidenced in the undertones of last year's Superbowl, "the first African American to win a Superbowl". When will we all just grow up and realize that color should not make a difference period?

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember someone saying once about wanting to be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. Now who was that????? Pretty good advice, I think. Too bad more people don't live their lives that way.

Anonymous said...

Sean - why do you hate Scott Voorhees? Would you rather he loop to loop a full hour of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA"?

Anonymous said...

Sean is pissed because his career has fallen this low.

Anonymous said...

So, in a nutshell, what Scott was saying is that IF Turner Gill is hired at NU, the N on the helmet will now stand for "N****r"?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone else noticed that Sean's head is bigger than Minge's?