Solich Set for College Football Hall of Fame Induction

Former Nebraska Football Head Coach Frank Solich is one of 22 individuals who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame Class on Tueday, Dec. 10, in Las Vegas. Fans with an ESPN+ subscription can watch a live stream of the NFF Annual Awards Dinner, which includes the Hall of Fame induction. The stream begins at 8 p.m. (Central) with the Hall of Fame portion of the night expected to start around 9:30 p.m. (Central).

Solich is the seventh Husker coach in the Hall of Fame, joining Tom Osborne, Bob Devaney, Biff Jones, Dana X. Bible, Fielding Yost and Eddie N. Robinson. Overall, Nebraska has 27 members in the Hall, including 20 players. Solich is the first Nebraska inductee since offensive tackle Zach Wiegert in 2022 and gives Nebraska nine inductees in the past 18 classes. Other recent Nebraska inductees include Eric Crouch (2020), Aaron Taylor (2018), Trev Alberts (2015), Tommie Frazier (2013) and Will Shields (2011). 

During his 22 seasons as a head coach, Solich compiled a record of 173-101, including a 58-19 record in six seasons as Nebraska's head coach from 1998 to 2003, followed by 115 wins as the head coach at Ohio University. Solich led the Huskers to the 1999 Big 12 Conference championship. The Huskers finished No. 3 in the AP Poll in 1999 after beating Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl and rolling to a 22-6 win over Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game. NU added a co-Big 12 North Division title in 2001, when the Huskers met Miami in the Rose Bowl for the national championship. 

Nebraska added a final No. 8 national ranking by the Associated Press in both 2000 and 2001. The 2001 Huskers featured the nation's top college player - Heisman Trophy winner and 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Eric Crouch. A four-year starter, Crouch added Walter Camp National Player-of-the-Year and Davey O'Brien awards while becoming Nebraska's career leader in total offense.

A product of the Nebraska football program first as a player, then as an assistant coach, Solich's career at Nebraska spanned four decades since first arriving in Lincoln in 1962 to play fullback in Coach Bob Devaney's first season.

Although Solich was not with Nebraska during all 42 of those seasons, as he spent more than a decade as a high school head coach in Nebraska before joining the Husker coaching staff as an assistant in 1979.  During his playing and coaching tenure as a Husker, all 29 Nebraska teams he was associated with played in a bowl game.

In his final game as NU's assistant head coach and running backs coach, Solich helped the Huskers to a third national championship in a four-year span with a resounding 42-17 win over Tennessee in the Orange Bowl, helping Osborne go out as a reigning national champion.

Following his head coaching career at Nebraska, Solich guided Ohio University's program for 16 seasons from 2005 to 2020. During his time at Ohio, Solich coached the Bobcats to 12 winning seasons, 11 bowl appearances and four MAC East division titles.  He is the winningest coach in the history of the Mid-American Conference.

In addition to serving as the head coach for one Hall of Fame player (Crouch) and a position coach for another (Mike Rozier), Solich played for Hall of Fame Head Coach Bob Devaney and worked for 19 seasons as an assistant coach under Hall of Fame Coach Tom Osborne.
 
A coach becomes eligible for the College Hall of Fame three full seasons after retirement or immediately following retirement provided he is at least 70 years old. Active coaches become eligible at 75 years of age. He must have been a head football coach for a minimum of 10 years and coached at least 100 games with a .600 winning percentage.