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Three takeaways from the Bill Moos press conference

Nebraska introduced Bill Moos as their new Athletic Director on Sunday. Here are three takeaways from Sunday's Moos press conference.

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Moos left no gray area with how Riley will be evaluated 

Coming off the heals of a 56-14 loss to Ohio State on Saturday night, it didn't take very long for Moos to be asked about the future of the football program and head coach Mike Riley.

The Huskers currently sit at 3-4 with 5 games remaining, and Moos made his stance pretty clear on when and how he evaluates coaches and their future.

“I’m not a guy that ever changes coaches mid-season,” Moos said. “I don’t think anything comes out of that. The ones that suffer are the student athletes – they lose focus. And remember, focus is so important in athletics. You’ve got to have that focus, no distractions and be the best you can be, and we’ll talk about it when the dust settles.”

I think it was very important he came out and said that on Sunday. It's going to be an ongoing topic the next month, and he was very open about his process.

Moos will have the bye week to get situated and moved to Lincoln, and you can bet the evaluation will begin in full starting at Purdue on Oct. 28.

I also really liked the timing of this announcement on Sunday. It allowed Chancellor Ronnie Green and President Hank Bounds to reset the news cycle after Saturday's embarrassing home loss to Ohio State.

By getting this thing announced Sunday, you completely deflect the negative thoughts about the game, and the Moos angle takes center stage when talk radio and other things resume on Monday morning.

Moos resembles more of a Devaney-Alvarez style vs. being a corporate man

What made Bob Devaney a perfect fit at Nebraska for so many years is he was comfortable in every situation.

Devaney could hold court at small town bar, a South Omaha church hall or a room full of business leaders at a country club. When you study Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, he has gone out of his way to mention how much he's used Devaney as a mentor to shape his career.

That style really works at Nebraska, and Moos has that same type of persona. He's not going to hide from anything, and he's going to be very open with the fans and media - something two previous athletic directors (Steve Pederson and Shawn Eichorst) weren't very good at.

“I’m a people person, I’m a son of a politician and I like to be in groups and I like the media," Moos said. "I’m content with the fact that this is a 'Bill Moos kind of place' where people reach out to others and there’s good communication lines and you can tell a story here or there like comparing John Deere vs. Case IH."

Moos was also very open about how he wants to develop a solid relationship with former head coach Tom Osborne, and the two spent time together in 2011 when Washington State was doing some facility studies. Lincoln was the first stop they made.

“The one I would love to talk to and just to get a pulse and tap into his experience and knowledge of Nebraska is Coach Osborne,” Moos said. “I’d be a fool not to do that.”

I hope Moos's top desk drawer has a hell of a lock on it

You always hear the figure of speech that athletic directors keep a list of coaching candidates in their top desk drawer.

On Sunday Moos said he literally keeps a running list of football and basketball coaches at all times in his top desk drawer.

Now that the secret is out, I hope Moos can find a good lock smith in town, because you can bet there is going to be a lot of interest in that top desk drawer from now until basketball season comes to an end.

"I will tell you this, and you probably should know it. In my desk (top drawer) at Montana, Oregon and Washington State I have a shortlist in both football and men’s and women’s basketball of who I would be interested in if I had to make a change," Moos said. "There’s lots of reasons I would make changes. Some are not getting the job done and the other is maybe moving on to the NFL or the NBA – so there’s lots of different reasons.”

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