The Associated Press

Frank Solich, 53, was named as Nebraska's new head coach during a press conference Wednesday in Lincoln, Neb., when coach Tom Osborne announced his retirement. Solich has been on Osborne's staff for 19 years.

LINCOLN -- Frank Solich first came to Nebraska in 1962 from Cleveland. Two fellow high school football players joined him in a station wagon.

Solich is still there, and now the virtual unknown has one of the best jobs in college football.

''I don't believe they even had the interstate system at that time,'' Solich said Wednesday after he was named successor to 25-year Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne. ''But it seemed like an awful long trip.''

A fullback who played with the Huskers from 1963-65 -- the years when Nebraska began its 36-year winning streak -- Solich returned to help coach the team in 1979. He has directed Nebraska's famed ground attack since 1983.

Solich, 53, said he looked at coaching jobs outside of Nebraska in his years as an assistant, and though he wanted to be a head coach, his heart was not fully into going elsewhere.

''Whenever I did have conversations, they were conversations that deep down inside were not as meaningful as what maybe they should have been if I were attempting to really get a job,'' Solich said. ''I could have spent the rest of my career under coach Osborne here as an assistant and been totally happy with what I'd been doing.''

Solich said taking over Osborne's team is a daunting task.

''I don't know that you replace Tom Osborne as much as you follow him,'' Solich said. ''You know that you've got a difficult job ahead of you in taking over this program.''

Solich said he will strive to follow Osborne's lead.

''The reason this staff has remained together for so long is because of Tom and the way he truly cares about each individual,'' Solich said. ''Earning the respect Tom has enjoyed will be my greatest challenge.''

Details of Solich's contract and salary were being negotiated, school officials said.

Osborne cautioned that sports has ups and downs, and fans should expect that even at Nebraska.

''If I were here next year, it (the team) might be 8-3,'' Osborne said. ''I don't know what it might be. I hope that people will understand that whatever these guys accomplish, I couldn't do any better. Because we've all done it together.''

But a desire for continuity and stability guided the decisions to step down when he did and to have Solich succeed him, Osborne said.

''I knew that in a year, two years from now there would not be a whole turnover,'' Osborne said. ''I knew the players would be taken care of and the coaches would be taken care of and a guy who could do the job would be in charge.''

Solich's running backs have made Nebraska history: Ahman Green, Calvin Jones, Lawrence Phillips, Derek Brown and Mike Rozier.

One of Solich's career highlights was the recruitment of Heisman Trophy winner Rozier in 1983. He also recruited receiver Irvin Fryar and defensive backs Brian Washington, Barron Miles and Tyrone Legette. In 1996, Solich had a stable of running backs who combined for more than 2,000 yards.

Osborne said the team's entire coaching staff supported Solich's succession and had known about it for some time. ''I talked to all the coaches last night and did not find one coach who had any qualms about Frank taking over,'' Osborne said.

Solich also appeared to have his players' support.

''He's like another father figure,'' said Green, a junior I-back who is the nation's second-leading rusher with an average of 156.4 yards per game this season. ''You have your Dad, you have coach Osborne and, if you are a running back, you have coach Solich.''

He also had the support of Osborne.

''I have every confidence that coach Frank Solich will continue not only the winning tradition of Nebraska football but the unparalleled academic achievement and the unwavering integrity that have become the national hallmark of this program,'' Osborne said.

Solich played for Nebraska coach Bob Devaney in the mid-1960s. He coached high school sports in Omaha and Lincoln before joining Nebraska's coaching team in 1979. He was named assistant head coach in 1991.

Despite weighing less than 160 pounds, Solich was an All-Big Eight fullback and co-captain of the Huskers' 1965 team. He held the school's single-game rushing record for 10 years (204 yards against Air Force in 1965). He still holds the Orange Bowl record for return yards with 166 in 1966.

Born in Pennsylvania, Solich grew up in Cleveland. He and his wife, the former Pamela Wieck of Beatrice, have two children.

Athletic director Bill Byrne said Solich was an obvious choice.

''Promoting Frank allows us to maintain the continuity and stability of the program, which is exactly what every school in the country is striving to attain,'' Byrne said.

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