Laramie – Like all youngsters growing up in Lincoln, Neb., in the late 1950s and the 1960s, Wyoming coach Joe Glenn was a big Nebraska football fan.
And one of the guys Glenn really admired was the Huskers’ Frank Solich, a bruising 157- pound fullback from Cleveland. Bob Devaney had just come from Wyoming to take over as Nebraska’s head coach, and Solich was a member of Devaney’s first recruiting class.
By the time Solich had finished his Nebraska career, he was a co-captain and all-Big Eight Conference selection.
“I was a big Nebraska fan. My dad played there, and I really watched Devaney closely,” Glenn said. “And Frank was one of the initial guys that came in on the Devaney era. He was an all-Big Eight fullback at 157 pounds. How can you not love somebody like that?”
Glenn never knew Solich as a player because Solich was four years ahead of him in school. But once Solich got into the coaching ranks, their friendship blossomed.
When Glenn began his head coaching career at Doane College in 1976, Solich was coaching high school football in Lincoln.
“Several of his athletes came to Doane, and I always felt like he helped me and placed those guys at our school,” Glenn said.
Solich then returned to Nebraska as the head freshman coach. Overall, he spent nearly 30 years as part of the Nebraska program as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
The Big 12 coach of the year in 1999 and 2001, Solich produced nine-win seasons in five of six years as the head coach of the Huskers. Still, the Nebraska administration decided to let Solich go after a 9-3 season in 2003.
“I think he got dealt a horrible hand at Nebraska, and shame on them,” Glenn said.
After taking a year off, Solich resurfaced at Ohio University in 2005.
Now, Glenn and Solich will renew their friendship, but this time on opposing sidelines, when Wyoming and Ohio (2-1) square off Saturday in a 1 p.m. (MDT) game at Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio.
