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TEMPE, Ariz. - Nebraska may have won the Fiesta Bowl in a match-up of the No. 3- and 5-ranked teams in the nation, but tears surfaced during the post-game press conference.
Cornhusker Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride decided to call it quits after the 31-21 NU win.
"This is my 37th year of coaching," McBride said. "Over the last two years I have contemplated retirement, and I didn't want to take anything away from this football team."
And so McBride, after addressing the media for a short time, left the podium and the game of football in the same unassuming fashion that he operated on an everyday basis.
"He didn't want to make a big press conference about the situation when he told me and Mike Brown about his decision before the season," senior Ralph Brown said. "That is not how he is. He showed me a lot of things on and off the field, and it means a whole lot to me that he confided in me and trusted me to keep quiet."
Speculation had arisen earlier in the week of preparation for the game that the game would be McBride's last. And how fitting it was. McBride, as an assistant under Frank Kush at Arizona State, won his first game in Sun Devil Stadium 37 years ago. His career ended just as it had begun, with McBride trying to shed the spotlight and a win.
"I don't want to talk a lot about this," a teary-eyed McBride said. "But I do want to say one thing: My first win was when I was coaching at Arizona State with Frank Kush at this stadium, and my last win was here, too. It meant so much to me."
NU captain Mike Brown, the leader of the defense, said afterwards that McBride told the team the win was his greatest ever. McBride said all year long this group of Blackshirts was special and maintained that statement after the game.
"If you could only know the players that I had over the years, especially this group, and I've said this is a special group," McBride said. "They're self-motivated, and they can play like hell."
Ralph Brown said McBride had confided in a few players before the season that this would be his last, and it showed the trust he had in those few to keep it a secret throughout the whole year.
This year's defense will graduate two All-Americans in Mike and Ralph Brown, while also losing six other starters. The Husker defense ranked fourth in overall defense nationally, and sixth coming into the game in rushing defense at 77.1 yards per game. It gave up an average of 12.5 points per game.
Steve Warren compared losing McBride to the loss of another great Husker coach two years ago in Tom Osborne.
"I kind of sensed it was coming," Warren said. "A lot of the younger guys knew in the back of their minds, but they have to come back next year, and they really didn't want it to happen. It was hard on them at first, and they were a little disappointed, but that comes with having a coach like McBride."
McBride's announcement before the game in the week leading up to the Fiesta Bowl put pressure on the Blackshirts to send him out a winner in his last game, Warren said.
But it also gave them a motivation and in McBride fashion, the seniors didn't worry about themselves, but the coach they had known throughout their Husker careers.
"I wasn't worried about losing my last game," Warren said. "I am a senior, but I kind of threw that in the shadows, and I told all the rest of the defensive lineman to not even worry about me. They were saying 'We have to win it for Steve and Coach McBride,' but I was saying, 'Don't even worry about me.'"
McBride had the third-longest tenure on a Husker staff known for maintaining assistant coaches for some of the longest tenures in the game today. Ranked behind George Darlington and Milt Tenopir, McBride finished his 23rd year this season.
One could talk for ages about the awards and accomplishments of McBride and his defenses, but his main concerns were his players and family, along with a word one doesn't often hear on a football team.
"I honestly love them," McBride said. "We talk about that. That's a word we're not afraid to use on our football team. I love my family very much. I think it's time for them. So I'm going to pull the plug."
And his players felt likewise about the man who stood up for his players through the thick and thin.
"He has been a father figure for us," Ralph Brown said. "He has been a best friend to some of us, and he wanted to go out with this group of seniors with a win and he did. He has meant so much to me on and off the field and has had a great impact on players' lives, and that is why we dedicated this game to him."
Husker Coach Frank Solich, who named Linebackers Coach Craig Bohl as McBride's replacement 24 hours later, said it was a sad day for Nebraska football.
"There's a reason why Nebraska has had great defensive football teams over the years," Solich said. "Coach McBride is that reason. He talked about love. His players love him, and they play for him."
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