Frank Solich

Accomplishments

• Gained national prominence during his coaching career at Nebraska.
• Was an assistant coach under legendary Tom Osborne from 1979 to 1997.
• Served as the Corn Huskers’ head coach from 1998 to 2003.
• Became coach at Ohio University in 2005 and posted a 115-82 record in 16 seasons before retiring in 2021.
• Played fullback for Nebraska, lettering three times in the early 1960s.
• An All-Big Eight Conference player as a senior.
• Nebraska went 38-6 during his four seasons as a player under coach Bob Devaney.
• Rushed 1,010 yards during his college career.
• Joined Osborne’s staff in 1979 and advanced from  freshman coach to running backs coach, a position that enabled him to tutor Heisman Trophy winning back Mike Rozier in 1983.
• As Nebraska’s head coach, led the Cornhuskers to 12-1 record in his second season in 1999.
• The Huskers finished third in the national rankings in 1999.
• Coached Huskers teams that went 10-2 in 2000 and 11-2 in 2001, when quarterback Eric Crouch won the Heisman Trophy.
• Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2001.
• 58 wins during Solich’s first six seasons as Nebraska’s head coach exceeded those of his predecessors, Devaney (53 wins) and Osborne (55 wins), both of whom are in the College Football Hall of Fame.
• His Ohio University teams had eight or more wins in four of his first seven seasons.
• MAC Coach of the Year in 2006 when the Bobcats went 9-5.
• At the time of his retirement on July 14, 2021, Solich was the winningest coach in Mid-American Conference (MAC) history.
• Solich led Ohio University to 11 bowl game appearances. The program had made only two bowl game appearances prior to his arrival.
• His Bobcats upset heavily-favored Penn State 24-14 in front of 97,000 fans at Beaver Stadium in the 2012 season opener, overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit in one of the program’s marquee victories.
• Led Ohio to a stunning 16-10 overtime victory over visiting Pitt in his first game as head coach of the Bobcats in 2005.
• Born in Johnstown and spent his formative years in nearby Robindale, Indiana County, until his family moved to Cleveland when he was in the seventh grade.