The Mike Riley era at Nebraska officially comes to a close

After three years, Nebraska has parted ways with head football coach Mike Riley.

First-year NU Athletic Director Bill Moos announced Riley's firing in a statement on Saturday morning coming off the heels of a 4-8 season and disappointing loss to Iowa.

“Mike Riley has brought tremendous professionalism and energy to the Nebraska football program, but unfortunately, those attributes have not translated to on-field success,” Moos said in press release on Saturday morning. “After a thorough review of all aspects of our football program, I have chosen to move in a different direction.”

Linebackers coach Trent Bray will be the interim head coach until a full-time replacement is named.

The 4-8 record is the Huskers worst since 1961 when they went 3-6-1 under former head coach Bill Jennings, before eventually hiring Bob Devaney in 1962. 8 losses are also the most at NU since the Huskers lost 9 games in 1957.

Riley finishes his time at NU with a 19-19 record, including a 6-12 mark over his final 18 games at Nebraska. Over his last eight years as a head coach at Nebraska and Oregon State, Riley has only posted a record above .500 three times.

Riley also failed to take the Huskers to a bowl game, which has only happened three times since 1969. In 2015 he finished 5-7 but was able to get NU to a bowl game under an NCAA rule based on Nebraska's academic performance rate.

Riley is now the fourth head coach to be fired at Nebraska since Tom Osborne's retirement in 1997, joining Frank Solich (1998-2003), Bill Callahan (2004-2007) and Bo Pelini (2008-2014).

The firing of Riley will certainly come with a price tag, too. NU will pay Riley $170,000 per month over the length of his contract through February of 2021, which comes out to $6.63 million.

While the Riley era ended with a thud, there were also several high points during his 36 games with the Huskers.

Riley guided NU to the third-largest regular-season win improvement in school history in 2016, turning a 6-7 debut into a 9-4 run last season.

He also guided Nebraska to a 7-0 start in 2016 and its highest College Football Playoff ranking ever at No. 10.

But when all was said and done, the lows far outweighed the highs over the past three years, and the Huskers are now left searching for their fourth head coach since 2004.

“I expect to find a leader for our football program that will put our student-athletes in a position to compete for championships and grow as young men," Moss said. "I am confident our next coach will meet that standard.”