The plaque honoring the coaches Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne is located on the southwest side of Memorial Stadium. The date on the plaque, December 2, 1983, is the date on which a banquet was held to honor the two coaches and to raise money to put the plaque up (Rasmussen).  The plaque was erected in 1984 (Rasmussen).

The plaque was put up to honor both of these coaches’ legendary achievement of consecutively achieving 100 win careers, Devaney with a 101-20-2 record in 11 seasons at Nebraska and Osborne with 108 wins in 11 seasons at the time the plaque was awarded. In only 22 years, two separate coaches had led the same football program to a total of 209 wins.  Osborne coached for another fourteen years after the plaque was awarded, eventually ending up with a record of 255-49-3 in 25 years (Huskers.com).

The leadership of these coaches continued even after their coaching careers had ended, as both coaches also remained at the University as athletic directors after retiring.  Devaney served as the athletic director from 1963 to 1993, and Tom Osborne served from 2007 through today (December 2010) (Huskers.com).

On the whole, this plaque commemorates the leadership and success of these highly successful and legendary coaches.

“What Devaney did at Nebraska is mind-numbing. It was a complete transformation…Nebraska grew…to an absolute powerhouse that bestrode college football like a red colossus.” - David Israel

Bob Devaney arrived as a coach at the University of Nebraska in 1962, after the school was coming off of a long stretch of losing seasons (Huskers.com).  He had previously coached as an assistant at Michigan State and as the head coach at Wyoming, where his teams did relatively well (Israel).  However, at Nebraska, he made a massive impact.  According to Israel in his book, The Cornhuskers: Nebraska Football, “He not only organized the team, he organized the town.  He organized the state.  All of Lincoln and most of Nebraska went red.”

Overall, Devaney’s win record in eleven seasons was 101-20-2, which is a .829 percent win record (Sherwood).  In these seasons, he led his teams to nine bowl games and seven Big Eight championships (Huskers.com). In his last season, 1973, he led his team to an Orange Bowl victory, and then handed the coaching reins over to Tom Osborne (Sherwood).  Devaney then served as athletic director until 1993 (Huskers.com).

Bob Devaney died in 1997, but his influence and leadership at the University of Nebraska has created a legacy that goes on.  According to Israel, "He belongs, certainly, in the pantheon of the greats...measured against his own contemporaries, he was the best.  No man can be better than that."

Tom Osborne is the winningest coach in the history of the Nebraska football program; it was his leadership that established Nebraska as one of the greatest programs in college football - not only on the field, but in the classroom as well.

With a record of 255 wins, 49 losses, and 3 ties, his winning percentage alone puts him on the list of some of the greatest coaches in college football history (Huskers.com). In the 25 years leading the team, his teams were the model of consistency; they never won less than 9 games in a season, and they finished in the top 15 of the Associated Press' college football poll every season but one (Huskers.com). Osborne's teams won three national championships along with 12 Big 8 titles and one Big 12 championship (Huskers.com).

Osborne is the current athletic director for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2007, Osborne became Nebraska's interim athletic director after the firing of Steve Pederson. In December of that year, he was announced as the permanent A.D. through July 2010 (Huskers.com).

But Osborne emphasized success off the field as much as he did on it (Osborne). He made great strides in improving the graduation rate of football players, while maintaining the athletic program's reputation for churning out academic All-Americans; 65 football players were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, averaging more than two selections per season (Huskers.com). In comparison, he accumulated more football Academic All-Americans in his 25 year coaching career than any other football program in the nation has produced in its history (Huskers.com).

In 1991, Tom and his wife, Nancy, created the TeamMates program, which provides assistance to school-age children in helping them reach their full potential through mentoring and support (Osborne).

Coach Osborne's success with the Nebraska football program undoubtedly derived from the unrelenting guidance and support that he gave his players (Huskers.com). Getting a group of 70 athletically talented young men to work as a cohesive team is one thing; to get them to win is another. The Huskers' consistent success as a team was thanks to Osborne's success as a leader.

Osborne's philosophy centered around selflessness and understanding (Osborne). In his book Beyond the Final Score, Osborne discusses his insights on leadership: "One thing I have noticed: worldview and effective leadership are linked. How a person leads is greatly influenced by his or her understanding of the world". When Osborne took over the head coaching position, he began to shift his focus away from the outcomes and towards the people in his life. "I tried to inspire and motivate rather then reward and punish," he said (Osborne).

Throughout his coaching career, he emphasized positive criticism and feedback. "I encouraged my staff to approach the players using constructive comments...instead of tearing a player down for doing something wrong, we emphasized what they were already doing right" (Osborne). Osborne believed that players knew the mistakes they had made; what they needed was someone to tell them how to fix those mistakes (Osborne). By punishing bad behavior - giving poor effort or disobeying instructions, for instance - not mistakes, Osborne established a culture of understanding and support that led to great trust between players and coaches (Osborne).

Osborne believed in much more than using the players to win games. "After a while, I began to see [the players] as valuable for who they were instead of what they could do" (Osborne). The coach believed in not only cultivating players' talent, but also in cultivating players' on a personal and spiritual basis (Osborne). He cared more about the process of improvement just as much as he did about the score at the end of a game (Osborne).

Bob Devaney was also an incredible leader for the Nebraska Cornhusker football team.  When he began coaching at Nebraska, the Huskers were coming off of five losing seasons, one of which only had one win (Israel).  In his eleven seasons at Nebraska, Devaney effectively turned a losing team that was the laughingstock of the league into a powerhouse of college football.

Devaney’s success at Nebraska was astounding.  This was due, mainly, to his leadership, his effectiveness at relating to and motivating players (Israel).  His leadership inspired and motivated his team and, according to an unnamed former player, “You would absolutely die for coach Devaney” (Israel).  He was an inspiration to all, even beyond the players on his team. Tom Osborne, who was at the time an assistant coach, was also affected by Devaney’s leadership and stated, “Bob epitomized the value of loyalty, and I will always be grateful for the confidence he showed in me.  Because of his leadership and empowerment as a coach and an athletic director, I was fortunate to serve 25 years as head coach".