Lombardi Award to Wistrom

Only hours after learning that his coach was retiring, Nebraska defensive end Grant Wistrom got the news that he had won the 28th Lombardi Award as the nation’s top collegiate lineman.

Tom Osborne, who led the Cornhuskers to two national championships and 254 victories over 25 years, announced Wednesday that he would step down after No. 2 Nebraska’s game against No. 3 Tennessee in the Jan. 2 Orange Bowl.

Wistrom, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound senior, was a main cog in the defense that helped the Cornhuskers compile a 12-0 record.

Wistrom credited Osborne for his success.

“You look at every one of the players here tonight and each one is on a great football team,” Wistrom said. “The reason we are on a great football team is because of Coach Osborne. He’s a large part of why I’ve been fortunate to have won it.

”. . . The man meant the world to me the last four years. He praised me when I needed praise and he scolded me when I needed scolding. He’s been a father to me away from my own father. Next to my father, I respect him the most.”

Wistrom, the school’s career leader in tackles for losses, became Nebraska’s fourth Lombardi winner and first since Dean Steinkuhler in 1983.

Wistrom beat out Greg Ellis of North Carolina, Andy Katzenmoyer of Ohio State and Andre Wadsworth of Florida State.

Osborne spoke briefly during the award ceremony in Houston, taking a gentle dig at himself while commenting on master of ceremonies Art Donovan, a pro football lineman some 40 years ago.

“I played a few games against Art,” Osborne said. “Anyone who ever played against Art is probably ready for retirement.”

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Houston Nutt returned to his home state as coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

“Dreams do come true, and this has been my dream, to stand up here in front of you with a Razorback helmet,” Nutt said, putting his hand on headgear at a news conference at the university’s basketball arena in Fayetteville, Ark.

Nutt, 40, had a 4-7 record this past season at Boise State after going 22-3 in the previous two seasons at Murray State.

As the Razorbacks’ fifth coach in nine years, Nutt will try to right a program that has lost games and fans.

Arkansas is 38-51-2 in the 1990s and hasn’t been to a major bowl since the Cotton Bowl after the 1989 season. Average home attendance this decade has been as low as 44,551 in 1996. In 1989, the Razorbacks averaged 51,138,

“I can promise you this, I’ll go from daylight all the way to exhaustion to make this the best Razorback football team,” Nutt said. “I can’t wait to get started.”

Moments later, Razorback fans in the room erupted into a “woo-pig-sooie” cheer.

Nutt replaced Danny Ford, who was 26-30-1 in five years. Athletic Director Frank Broyles fired Ford after the Razorbacks finished their second consecutive season at 4-7.

Nutt’s replacement at Boise State will be Dirk Koetter, the offensive coordinator at Oregon.

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Bob Tanner, a college teammate of football great Bronko Nagurski in the 1920s and the first University of Minnesota athlete to earn nine letters, died of pancreatic cancer in Homosassa, Fla., on Monday. He was 90.

In football, Tanner was an all-conference end, and he also earned letters in basketball and baseball.