ATHENS, Ohio – The search for Ohio University’s 28th head football coach has culminated in the return of Frank Solich to his native state. The 60-year-old Cleveland native comes to Ohio with an impressive resume, including a .753 winning percentage during six seasons as head coach at Nebraska.

Solich directed the Cornhusker program to six consecutive bowl games, including the national championship game in the 2002 Rose Bowl. Nebraska won at least nine games in five of those six seasons, and finished among the top 10 teams in the nation three times.

A highly-respected member of the college football coaching fraternity, Solich has signed a multi-year agreement to coach the Bobcats. His annual base salary is $240,000.

“We are thrilled that Frank Solich will lead the Ohio football program into a new era and reclaim the winning tradition in Peden Stadium,” said Ohio Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh. “For many years we have talked about the characteristics that we look for when recruiting and hiring a head coach and Frank, without question, embodies the 'whole package.' His 38-year track record relative to integrity, leadership, commitment to academic success, and winning football programs makes him the dream choice for Ohio.”

Solich claimed Big 12 Conference Coach-of-the-Year honors in both 1999 and 2001, and was one of seven finalists for the Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach-of-the-Year Award in 2001.

Solich’s teams have excelled on and off the field. Nebraska counted 11 All-Americans during Solich’s six seasons as head coach and saw 30 players chosen in the NFL Draft. Twenty-six student-athletes earned first-team All-Big 12 honors; seven earned first-team Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors; and 123 earned first-team academic all-conference honors.

“Ohio University athletics has a strong and proud tradition,” said Ohio President Dr. Roderick McDavis. “When we build on that tradition, the entire university benefits. Elevating the stature of our football program and our student-athletes is just another demonstration of our commitment to excellence across the entire institution.”

Prior to succeeding Tom Osborne as head coach, Solich spent 19 seasons as an assistant under Osborne. He was tabbed Athlon Magazine’s Assistant Coach of the Year before the start of the 1993 season. Serving 15 seasons as running backs coach, Solich recruited and coached 1983 Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier and produced at least one all-conference running back in 13 of those 15 seasons.

Twenty-four years on the Husker staff have shown Solich to be one of the nation’s top recruiters. Many players Solich recruited to Nebraska went on to professional careers, including Rozier, Irving Fryar, Mike Croel and Tyrone Legette. As a head coach, four of his first five recruiting classes were ranked in the nation’s top 20.

In Solich’s 19 years as an assistant, the Huskers captured three national championships, all with Solich as assistant head coach. Nebraska also won 11 league championships.

Solich has enjoyed tremendous coaching success at all levels. He began his career in the Nebraska prep ranks, as head coach at Holy Name High School in Omaha in 1966 and 1967. His 1967 team was state runner-up. Solich then moved to Lincoln Southeast, one of the state’s top high school programs. In 11 years at Southeast, he compiled a record of 66-33-5 while capturing back-to-back Class A state titles in 1976 and 1977.

A native of Cleveland, Solich prepped at Holy Name High School where he earned all-state, All-America and all-scholastic honors. He was a part of Bob Devaney’s first recruiting class at Nebraska, and became a standout for the Huskers in the mid-1960’s. An All-Big Eight fullback and co-captain of the Huskers’ 1965 team, his playing career earned him induction into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

Solich is married to the former Pamela Wieck, of Beatrice, Neb., and they have two children, Cindy and Jeff. Cindy and her husband, Jon Dalton, have a daughter, Catherine, and two sons, Aaron and Jacob. Jeff and his wife Chara have a son, Cade.

Transcript from Dec. 16 Press Conference Announcing the Hiring of Frank Solich:

Ohio University President Roderick McDavis

Good afternoon. This is a very special and exciting day for Ohio University. I have often been struck by the wonderful opportunity available to a university the day it names a new head football coach. There is no question it is a signature moment in the life of the university. It provides a spark to ignite renewed interest in the football program, the entire department of intercollegiate athletics, and to say something very special about who we are and what we are about. It is the sort of day that tests commitment and just as we dedicate ourselves to becoming a top national research university, to the quality of our outstanding undergraduate and graduate programs, cutting-edge research and service to our region, we also demonstrate our belief in excellence across all facets of Ohio University. Having said that, you can probably better appreciate why we are so very proud and enthusiastic to be introducing Frank Solich as our new head football coach this afternoon.

I will leave some of the finer points of his resume to Thomas Boeh and our news release but let me tell you a little bit about why I am so personally pleased that Frank is coming on board and joining us in pursuit of something very special here at Ohio University. First and foremost, he brings a tremendous asset to the university in the person of Pam Solich, his lovely wife.

Secondly, Frank brings outstanding credentials to our football program. He is a proven winner. He wins on the field, in the classroom and through the achievement of his student-athletes long after they play their final down. As an educator and university president, I’m especially gratified by the fact that at Nebraska, a high percentage of his student-athletes earned baccalaureate degrees. As a university administrator, I am impressed with his attention to detail and spirit of fairness demonstrated by his meeting or exceeding all NCAA requirements. And yes, as a football fan, I am elated at the prospect of his relentless approach to developing mental and physical toughness, all-out effort and a winning attitude.

Today Ohio University builds momentum, not just for the challenges that lie ahead in the fall of 2005 – especially that non-conference schedule – but momentum that carries across all elements of our mission of providing quality higher education. We build upon the strength of a significant athletic tradition and issue a challenge to ourselves, our fans and our alumni. The challenge is simply this… to achieve excellence at everything we set out to do and not be limited by anything other than our own expectations and aspirations. Now do you know why I am so excited about Coach Frank Solich?

Before I introduce our athletic director, I want to make a comment about him. First and foremost, whenever a university engages in a search for a new coach in any sport, we look to our athletic director for leadership. And I want to tell you today that we got that in spades from Thomas Boeh, our athletic director. From day one of this search, Mr. Boeh looked far and wide for opportunities to lead us to just the right person. And from day one, it was Mr. Boeh who came to me and said, “I think I know somebody in Nebraska who might be interested in our head football coaching position.” It didn’t take me long to figure out who he was talking about. And every day, in some way, Mr. Boeh would remind me, “I think there is somebody in Nebraska who we ought to look at.” So I want to commend Mr. Boeh for his persistence, for his focus, for his leadership in helping us to bring Coach Solich to Ohio University. Without that leadership, I don’t believe that we would be gathered in this room today. And let me also say a word about our search committee. Many people wondered “Is this the right way to go about looking for a head football coach?” Let me tell you, the process worked. Under the leadership of the chair of our committee, Leonard Raley, we were able to bring more than 30 folks into the fold in terms of exploring the opportunity. We identified at least 12 who we felt we should talk with. From that, we identified four. From that, we identified two. The process worked. So I want to say a huge thank you to our athletic director Thomas Boeh for his great leadership in bringing us to this point and again say without that leadership, we would not be gathered today. I don’t think we would have Coach Solich on board and I want to thank, publicly, Mr. Boeh for his great leadership and now ask him to say a few words.

Director of Athletics Thomas Boeh

President McDavis, thank you very, very much. I appreciate your comments and your faith and your confidence in not only me but the entire athletics department. We have many people to thank here for allowing us to bring Frank and Pam Solich to Athens, Ohio. It’s very hard to get through everybody but I’m going to try to do the best I can. First of all, thank you to President McDavis for his support and his vision for both Ohio University and Ohio Athletics. We are very proud to be a component of the team that will help take Ohio University to even higher heights nationally, academically, and the prestige level that we enjoy today, we’ll continue to build on in the coming years. We will do all we can in the department of athletics to help the university mission.

Secondly, we’d like to thank the president’s cabinet. Just about every member of the cabinet had something to do with the search – met with candidates, met with Mr. Solich – and we were thrilled with their support and how much time they put into this process as well.

We do want to thank the Board of Trustees. As many of you know, this past spring the board – with the leadership of our president – talked about providing athletics with a few more dollars for enhancement of the athletics program. That enhancement and the leadership that Dr. McDavis has – his vision and his support – have got us today to the point where we can have a defining moment for Ohio Football.

I’d like to Len Raley again for his tremendous leadership and his tireless hours as chair of the search and screening committee as well as every member of the search and screening committee. As Dr. McDavis mentioned, it was a great process. I know that there were people wondering about it but, quite frankly, it was the finest process I have seen in quite a long time. And Len, thank you for your leadership with that.

I’d like to thank Chuck Neinas, our consultant from Boulder, Colorado, who gave us great guidance throughout the process, provided us with candidates, and he was really a tremendous help. We’re hoping that we don’t need his services for a little while now.

I want to thank the football players who participated on the search team: Dennis Chukwuemeka, Anthony Hackett and Spencer Tatum. Their insight and their professional approach to things, I think that Len and Dr. McDavis would agree, was really very special and we were very proud of them.

Thank you to the members of our athletic staff – Amy Dean, Derek Scott, Jennifer Stiles, Amy Trout, Chris Delisio and Nate Wills – who did a lot of work but nobody ever saw it. To my wife Debby, who helped move Pam around yesterday. I understand they got lost a couple of times but it worked out okay. They’re still here. I would also like to thank Hub Burton and Paul Ladwig from Len’s staff, who have done a great job helping us put all of this together.

As we mentioned, today marks the very beginning of a new era in the Ohio Football program. This is a special moment, a defining moment. It was really made possible by all of those people who I mentioned before but I want to go back to what it is that we talked about when we hired Frank Solich. For many years, we talked about the characteristics that are important to any coach – a football coach or any other sport – what kind of characteristics we wish them to have. And without question, Coach Solich embodies the whole package. His 38-year track record of integrity, leadership, commitment to the academic achievement of student-athletes and the successful football programs is nearly unparalleled and absolutely makes him the dream choice for Ohio.

So with that, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce the head football coach of the Ohio University Bobcats, Mr. Frank Solich.

Head Football Coach Frank Solich

I feel right at home in this (Ohio Bobcats) coat, I want you to know that.

Thank you very much. I appreciate being here and I want to agree with Thomas in that I hope this process doesn’t have to take place for many, many years for really everybody’s sake.

It’s great to be back in the game and it’s great to be back in the game at Ohio University. I’m joining a university that has an outstanding academic reputation and an outstanding faculty and we feel very good to be part of that excellence and that team. I would like to personally thank Dr. McDavis for all that he’s done. He’s been great. He joined me yesterday on four different occasions just to visit and talk. I don’t know that that’s very common. I don’t think you’ll see many presidents or chancellors around the country visiting with their football coach that many times. It just showed to me the great interest that he has in this university. The fact that he’s leading this university in the manner that he is – academically and also with all the sports programs – is very much appreciated by me and I’m sure by everybody else connected with this great, great university. I’d also like to thank Thomas Boeh. Thomas and I had some contact a while back and he was telling me about the great things of Ohio University and I was telling him about the great things of Frank Solich so eventually we’ve kind of matched up.

I want to extend to the fans and the supporters and the alumni of Ohio University an invitation to come join us whenever you can in our stadium, watch our games, come to the programs that exist here and follow our teams. It’s a great group of people here. I know we’re going to have a great time here and I’m really looking forward to it.

Question-and-Answer Session

(Solich on why he chose Ohio) “A lot of things interested me in Ohio. No. 1, certainly, I have lived in this part of the country. I have lived in this state. I grew up through my high school years here. I’m familiar with Ohio and really up and down the East Coast because that’s where I recruited, mainly for the University of Nebraska when I was an assistant at the University of Nebraska. So landing in this part of the country I thought was great and it’s something that I was very attracted to. The thing that I really liked about it was – after getting to know a few people involved with this program – how enthusiastic they were about their commitment to the program. It became very obvious to me after dealing with these people for a very short period of time, they are genuine people and they are going to work at making things the very best they can for this university. I’m very pleased to be part of that. I’ve had a chance to follow the Mid-American Conference. I think it’s obvious to me and to many people who follow the sport of football out there that the MAC produces some great football teams and they produce some great football players. So I’m very, very proud to be a part of that. I really am looking forward to building a program. I’ve had 13 years of high school teaching and coaching before going down to the university in 1979 and I had as much enjoyment in my two years at Holy Name High School in Omaha, Nebraska, and my 11 years at Southeast High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, in coaching as I ever had. So it was exciting for me to be able to get involved with a program, take it from really the base of the program and build it on up. I’m looking forward to doing that.”

(Solich on how he will recruit against numerous other programs in Ohio) “I’m a pretty good recruiter, too, and I’m going to keep going with it. We’ve got things to sell here at Ohio University. It’s a great town. It’s a great college and city. The university’s campus is beautiful. And if you really look at what we’re all about academically, you have to have an interest in us because that will spread from coast to coast when we visit with people in their living rooms about Ohio University. There is rich tradition here. It’s been quite a while since the football program has been at the level that everybody here wants it at and that I want it at. We’ll be able to go right to work in doing that. I’ve got contacts within the Midwest and on the East Coast. That’s where I recruited in all my time at Nebraska as an assistant and I think I’ve got a very good reputation with high school coaches and junior college coaches throughout not only the Midwest and East Coast but really throughout the country and I’ll call on those in regards to contacts and being able to identify the players who we want to bring here to Ohio University. And then we’ll have a great staff. We’ll have a staff that will recruit. They’ll have a lot of energy and they’ll have a lot of drive and players will want to come play for them. I’m convinced of that. And we’ll be able to put together a staff here that will challenge staffs around the country and so we’re looking forward to doing that.”

(Solich on what type of offense he will bring in) “I’ve given that some thought and have really done a great deal of traveling this off-year. It was really a year that I actually appreciate having the opportunity to do what I did. I didn’t really enjoy the manner in which I got the opportunity to do what I did but traveling around the country as I did to three different pro organizations. I spent considerable time at the Chiefs, spent time with the Vikings in their camp and spent time with the Indianapolis Colts. They were three organizations that I identified as excellent organizations and wanted to learn from. I went around to several colleges and did more than show up and shake hands. I spent time studying their programs. I studied the University of Oklahoma’s program, was there for a week, sat in on all their meetings. Coach (Bob) Stoops and his staff were outstanding in allowing me to do that. I was well received around the country by coaches and I very much appreciate that. So I had a chance to really study their program. I was also there in spring ball, stayed for their game against Oregon and also was at the Texas-Oklahoma game. I was at USC twice this past spring and spent time with them and their staff and I thought that was very, very valuable to me. I was up at Wisconsin on three different occasions to spend time with them and their staff. I was down at the University of Miami and spent time with them this past spring. I was at Texas and spent a week there with Coach Mack (Brown). He and his staff were very gracious in spending time with me so I’ve done an awful lot of studying of different programs and what they’re all about. I’ve got more pass patterns drawn up than you can imagine. I really went to programs that I thought were developing the ability to both run the ball and throw the ball. I want to be a balanced football team. It’s pretty easy to stand up here and say it. I do not want to give up on the option. I do want to run at least a down-the-line option because there are times when you can just take advantage of defenses with that. There are times when you just have an outnumbered situation and you can audible and get to it. But I want a quarterback who has the ability to throw. I would like a quarterback who has some movement so we can design an offense that’s going to be based around that quarterback and us having an opportunity to throw as well as run the football. But I do want everybody to understand that I think you still need to have the ability to run the football. If you look at teams like Oklahoma and if you look at teams like USC, they take great advantage of personnel that they have at very key positions. Look at Reggie Bush; he can line up at tailback or he can line up at wide receiver. They make plays with their quarterback. They make plays with their tailback. They make plays with their receivers. What we’d like to do is recruit those kind of athletes in here who are going to be playmakers at those positions and then we’ll be able to have the kind of offense that we want.”

(Solich on his plans for a coaching staff) “I’ll be visiting with the assistants actually starting today after the press conference here. We’ll spend time with everyone on the staff who does want to visit with me. I am open to looking at those coaches as I am to looking at coaches around the country. I have some coaches who are going to be able to come with me that I know a great deal about. Certainly, if you know a great deal about a person, you know his integrity, you know his ability to coach, you know his ability to communicate, his ability to recruit, his great work ethic, then you want that guy in your program. But you also want to look at guys who are out there that you don’t know who also have the potential to be great coaches and part of this program.

(Solich on his strong relationships with former players) “I think through my career there has been a caring. I think when you deal with players in this day and age, you’re dealing with intelligent guys. They understand very quickly what you’re all about. And if you’re all about just caring for them when they’re on the football field scoring touchdowns for you, if you’re only caring about them when they’re in a meeting and you’re addressing them in terms of X’s and O’s, if they feel you only care about them when you’re kicking the ball off to start the game off on Saturday, then you don’t have the kind of relationship that they’re going to go to battle for you every time you step on the field and I understand that. I work at developing those relationships and make them multifaceted because I will never have a player pass me or one of my coaches without being acknowledged. The ability to communicate to your players so they know you care about them and their families is critical because you are in it together and it’s not a deal where Frank Solich and his staff show up, draw great X’s and O’s on the board and you win football games. You win football games because you develop chemistry. You win football games because you develop mental and physical toughness and then you go out and recruit people with position-related skill. When you do that, then you have an opportunity to make it all come together. That’s what we’ve been able to do in the programs that myself and the staffs that I’ve been associated with have been able to do. I learned along the way from two great coaches. I showed up in Nebraska in ’62 to go to school from Cleveland, Ohio. Bob Devaney took over. It was his first season at the University of Nebraska. I was part of his first recruiting class. I was recruited as a fullback, can you believe that? When he came into town with me, there were some boosters wondering what was going on but we made it through. And I saw what made Bob tick. He and Tom (Osborne) have different personalities but the caring showed from both of them to their players and their staff. What they said is what happened and players could believe in that. That all turned out to add to Bob’s and Coach Osborne’s success at the University of Nebraska and I was fortunate to be able to come underneath two coaches such as those two and learn from them.”

(Solich on the recent success of the Mid-American Conference) “I think the growth of the conference is unlimited. They’re already attracting top-line athletes and when you’re able to do that, things continue to grow. So I expect that this conference will continue to grow. It’s going to be very challenging to get to the top of this conference but we’re excited about the opportunity and the challenges that face us. Dr. McDavis already referred to the non-league schedule this coming year – open up at Northwestern, Pitt, West Virginia and then get into a tough conference battle – so there are challenges out there but that’s one of the reasons you get into athletics because you love the challenges and you accept the challenges and you look forward to them. We will that; we will look forward to them. Although, hopefully, when we look at our scheduling for future years, we might be able to work on some of that.”

(Solich on how difficult it is to leave Nebraska) “When I got released at Nebraska, it was a difficult time for us. Yet, after stepping back a few days… a few weeks and looking at it, it became obvious that there’s going to be an opportunity out there to go get something done… to stay in the game. That’s what I wanted to do. That’s what I was all about. I got up for about three or four days after being fired at Nebraska, grabbed a cup of coffee, sat down, started reading a book around nine o’clock in a comfortable chair in the living room, got up, walked around the dining room table a couple of times and then it became obvious to me I wasn’t going to be able to do that the rest of my life. So I then did what I asked athletes to do… to let go. If you have great success in a football game, learn from it but then let that game go. Get on to the next one. If you have not had success in a game, let it go and get on to the next one. So I had to go through a little bit of a period where I struggled but then I let it go. And once I let it go, then I was out traveling around and doing things to make myself a better coach because I don’t think you ever get to where you have all the answers in this business. Once you feel like you do, then you’re in trouble and someone’s going to be passing you up very, very quickly. So I went about studying the game again and as I studied it, my energy level kept getting stronger and stronger to get back in it. I’m not sure what I’d have done if I’d have not been able to be around coaches and athletes this past year. That’s why I traveled so much, to be able to be around coaches and athletes. I think that helped me a great deal.”

(Solich on who he consulted about the job) “I’ve been very fortunate in my career. I really, as I look back on it, did not have to interview for the first two high school jobs that I got. I got a call from Coach Osborne in 1979 about coming down and joining the staff at the University of Nebraska and did not really have an interview there. I had two… I don’t know if you call them interviews but I had two discussions with people during my time at Nebraska but this was the first full-fledged interview that I went through and it was extensive. But the thing I can tell you about going through this kind of interview is I got a chance to learn about the people here and whether they were committed and what they really wanted to do and how to get it done. From Leonard, who was in charge of the committee, to who I believe there were 15 people on the initial committee and then visited with I believe it was four different groups here this past week. I think that was all positive for me because I got a pretty good feel about these people involved in this program. I stayed in contact with Coach Osborne on a regular basis. He’s been great. I stayed in contact with guys like Bill Polian, the president of the Colts who I got to know and had invited him in to speak to our team, which he did a few years ago, and certainly continued that relationship as I went to visit the Colts. David Sokol, the CEO at Mid-American Energy in Omaha, has become a great friend and one I’ve always felt comfortable about as far as running things by him. I’ve gotten a chance to be around some great people and certainly I’ve used this opportunity to bounce things off such people. And I was not against calling Barry Alvarez of Wisconsin, a long-time friend, Coach Stoops, Coach Brown, Coach (Dick) Vermeil, Coach (Al) Saunders there at the Chiefs… guys that I’ve had the chance to get to know and feel a great deal of respect for. Running things by them, things started to clear up for me.”

(Solich on his plan to make Ohio a conference contender) “No. 1, the commitment that is there already starts us off on the right foot. Bring together a great coaching staff. You don’t have to bring in the biggest names out there. What you do need to bring in are guys who are great teachers, great communicators, have an outstanding ability to recruit because of work ethic and their ability to communicate. And we will have that in each member of our staff. Then I think we have a great product to go out and sell here at Ohio University and we will certainly go about doing that immediately. As we build, we’ll attempt to meet all those challenges on the field. First thing that I’ll do when the students get back for school is meet with the team but we’ll also study the needs of what we need to recruit and then we’ll attack those needs.”

(Boeh on reaching the top level of the conference) “In some ways, we are very close. We have a great, great university. We have great support of our president, from our Board of Trustees and from our community and so we’re very close in that regard. Clearly in the sport of football, over the past 30 years or so, we have just not found success. I think now is the right time where everything has come together, the commitment of the institution, the leadership and vision of Dr. McDavis – not only for just athletics and not only just for football but of the entire university – and so now is the time when we feel that all the components are in place for a gentleman of Coach Solich’s stature and his experience and his quality to come in and show us the way how it is that we need to build a football program. Dr. McDavis and I are not football coaches. We needed a great, great football coach – an experienced football coach – to come in and review our program, look at where our strengths are and advise us where our weaknesses are so we can remedy them to get to the top of the Mid-American Conference. We feel once we do that, it is shown, not only do you go to bowl games but you also find yourself with a national ranking in the Top 25 or 30 teams in the country. So I think all those things have come together now and that is why this is such a defining moment and why we are so grateful to the leadership of Dr. McDavis and the support of our community because this is a very, very important time for us.”

(Boeh on how he identified Frank Solich as a major candidate) “I think there’s a whole lot of schools that had their eye on Frank Solich since the day at Nebraska where he was relieved. I’m very fortunate that I have some friends in the Big 12 so we had some mutual friends in the Big 12 but we did not meet until he came to Columbus just his past week. But of course his reputation, not only as a football coach but as a gentleman, is nearly unparalleled so we felt very comfortable with pursuing him. And I talked with probably 15-20 people, some of the football leadership of the nation, and I could not find a single individual to say anything that wasn’t glowing about Frank Solich. He’s just a very special coach and we are extremely fortunate to have him lead our program. So the ball got rolling with some friends in the Big 12 and we continued to pursue him. You will find people all over the country who recognize his skills and talents. It was an easy choice.”