Cosgrove, Collier and Downing to Take Husker Nation Tour

Lincoln ? Three Nebraska coaches and two members of the athletic department staff will travel to David City, Seward, York, Aurora, Hastings and Grand Island as part of the 2004 Husker Nation Tour brought to you by First National Bank on Friday, June 25.

Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove and Recruiting Coordinator and Tight Ends Coach Scott Downing will represent the football coaching staff on all six stops, while Head Men’s Basketball Coach Barry Collier will travel to the first four stops. Executive Associate Athletic Director Marc Boehm and Assistant Director of Development Tommie Frazier will also accompany the group making the tour through central Nebraska.

The group will begin the tour at 7:30 a.m. in the First National Bank parking lot in David City at 397 4th Street. The bank will provide breakfast, including kolaces and rosettes and assorted juices and coffee free of charge. (Local contact, Larry Novak, 367-6011 and Gayle Eberly, 367-3785)

The tour will travel to Seward for an appearance at 9:30 a.m. at the Seward Band Shell for a pep rally. Donuts and juice will be available to the first 400 people who arrive. (Sharon Glawatz, 643-3602) Mayor Roger Glawatz will welcome the Huskers to town and a drawing will be held for Husker prizes.

The tour will stop in York at noon at the East Hill Park at 6th and Blackburn for a free lunch for all fans. (Kelly Holthus, 363-7409) Tickets will be available prior to the event at the Cornerstone Bank and York State Bank.

The Huskers will move on to Aurora’s Downtown Square at 3 p.m. (Howard Holland, 694-3171) and will host the Husker Nation Tour as a part of Aurora Days.

The tour will visit Hastings at 4:30 p.m. and will take place in the Holiday Inn Convention Center at 2205 Osborne Dr. East (Jack Crowley, 462-4000, and Lou Kully, (463-5687). Food and refreshments will be available free of charge.

The Huskers Nation Tour will wrap up the tour in Grand Island (John Hoggatt, 308-389-2600, and Orv Qualsett, 308-390-2194) at 6 p.m. at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport at 3743 Sky Park Road and will be sponsored by Platte Valley State Bank and Trust Co. The final tour stop will open with a National Guard Grand Opening at 3:30 p.m. The National Guard will provide free helicopter tours at 4 p.m. and free food will be available to fans at 5 p.m.

Nebraska men’s basketball play-by-play man Randy Lee will serve as the emcee for the group and will report back to Gary Sharp, who will host Sports Nightly from SouthPointe Pavilion at 6 p.m.

Cosgrove will serve as the Huskers’ defensive coordinator and linebacker coach and has 22 years of experience coaching in the Big Ten Conference. He served in the same capacity under Barry Alvarez at the University of Wisconsin for the past nine years and joined Alvarez’s original staff in 1990 as the linebackers coach.

Collier will enter his fifth season as the Huskers’ head basketball coach in the fall. Collier led the Huskers to an 18-13 record and their first postseason berth in five years in 2003-04.

Collier has led his teams to seven postseason appearances in 15 years as a head coach, including three NCAA Tournaments and four National Invitational Tournaments. This season the Huskers posted 15 home wins on the season, the second-highest total in Devaney Center history, and picked up two victories over ranked opponents, including a 74-55 win over No.12 Kansas and a 72-44 defeat of No. 25 Texas Tech.

Downing will enter his second season at Nebraska and his first season under new head coach Bill Callahan. Downing will remain the recruiting coordinator as well as continuing to coach the Husker tight ends and kickers.

Downing has coached at three Division I schools, including Purdue, Wyoming and Nebraska. In his first season on the Nebraska coaching staff Downing coached the place-kickers and punters and saw Kyle Larson earn All-America honors and selection as a Ray Guy Award finalist.

After serving as the head coach at Sterling College in Kansas in 1980 and 1981, Downing coached the Nebraska freshman team to a 4-1 record after serving as a graduate assistant under Tom Osborne in 1984-85.

For weather-related updates and additional tour information on all stops of the 2004 Husker Nation Tour, visit Huskers.com.