Sometimes, the best way to gain long-term relief is to endure short-term pain and, on Sunday, Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts ripped that bandage right off, even if it cost $7.5 million.
By firing embattled football coach Scott Frost less than a day after the Cornhuskers lost 45-42 at home to Georgia Southern, Alberts chose not to wait until Oct. 1, when Frost's buyout would have dropped from $15 million to $7.5 million.
Why not wait? A couple of reasons.
First, Nebraska plays sixth-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday in Lincoln and in front of a national TV audience. Instead of a week of celebrating the tradition-rich Huskers-Sooners rivalry, the story lines would have focused on Frost, his 16-31 record and endless speculation on when he'd be fired. Don't discount how image-conscious universities can be when they're on the big stage.
Second and more important, things had deteriorated to a point where Alberts no longer could wait.
"We needed to do something,'' he said. "We needed to inject something into this team and give them the confidence and hopefully help them compete.''
Alberts believes the season still is salvageable despite the 1-2 start. He is hopeful that a new voice in the form of interim coach Mickey Joseph can make a difference for a program that lost 22 one-score games under Frost.
Losing in excruciating fashion, often the product of self-inflicted wounds such as Frost's onside kick call in the loss to Northwestern in Dublin, had become a habit during Frost's five years. That view even existed in the locker room.
