Former Nebraska head football coach Tom Osborne was named interim athletic director Tuesday afternoon, replacing Steve Pederson who was fired on Monday.

The 70-year-old Osborne returns 10 years after finishing a celebrated coaching career that culminated with three national championships in his last four seasons.

During a news conference, Osborne said he would wait until the end of the season to evaluate the Husker coaching staff.

Osborne said he'll support coach Bill Callahan and his staff any way he can, but added that he will demand accountability. "I don't want to be someone who micromanages, watches over people's shoulders," Osborne said. "If they want me to come to practice or go to meetings, I'll go. If they want to stay away, I'll stay away."

Osborne didn't seem as panicked as some of the Huskers' fans about the team's play. "It's worth pointing out that we're 4-3. We've won more than we've lost. There are other programs, some pretty good programs, that haven't won more than one or two games. But we'd like the intensity level to pick up to what we're accustomed to."

Osborne said because he cares about the program, he agreed to be paid $250,000, "the lowest-paid athletic director in the Big 12," Perlman quipped. Pederson would have been paid $500,000 next year.

Osborne met with university chancellor Harvey Perlman on Tuesday morning to discuss the job and Osborne agreed to serve until the chancellor hires a permanent athletic director.

Perlman said Osborne would be given "full authority" to make decisions about football and other athletic matters. "I'm counting on him to do what needs to be done to move our program forward and make progress here," Perlman said.

The widely popular Osborne is seen as someone who can unify a fractured fan and donor base. "With the population base here, if we're seriously divided, it's not going to work very well," Osborne said. "That's the number one thing I'll try to get done."

He also said recruits shouldn't be scared off by the changes being made in the athletic office and the team's struggles on the field. Osborne emphasized the great people and facilities at the university that remain in place.

Since leaving coaching, Osborne has served three terms in Congress, made an unsuccessful gubernatorial run, taught in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's business school and worked as a consultant for local college athletic departments.

Though his name is on Nebraska's athletic department headquarters, Osborne has been mostly dissociated from the Cornhuskers' program since Callahan became football coach in January 2004.

Osborne said he talked with Callahan for about an hour Friday during the reunion of the 1997 national championship team. He said he would meet with the entire football staff soon.

Osborne recommended Pederson for the athletic director's job in 2003, but their relationship soured after Pederson fired Frank Solich. Solich had been Osborne's longtime right-hand man and hand-picked successor, and Pederson did not consult with Osborne before making the move.

Osborne's return is a back-to-the-future move for Nebraska. He joined the Huskers' coaching staff in 1964 as an assistant under Bob Devaney, who established a culture that made football a point of pride in this state of 1.7 million.

Osborne was named head coach in 1973 and built upon that Devaney tradition. He gave Nebraska a unique identity with a ground-based offense and his reliance on hardworking, homegrown players.

The triple option remained a staple under Solich, as did the tremendously popular walk-on program.

Callahan ditched the option in favor of a West Coast system and, in a move that upset the fans, greatly reduced the walk-on program.

Callahan has not completely severed ties with Nebraska's past, but he made it clear he wanted to move the program in a different direction. The public's patience with Callahan has waned as he has failed to go through a season with fewer than four losses.

In addition to winning all or part of three national titles, the Huskers won 12 Big Eight titles and one Big 12 title under Osborne. Of Osborne's 25 teams, 17 finished in the top 10. His career coaching record was 255-49-3.

Upon his retirement, the College Football Hall of Fame waived its customary three-year wait for entry and inducted Osborne in December 1998.

Former Husker players who worked with Osborne believe he is the right pick for Nebraska.

Clinton Childs is now in his 11th season as Omaha North High's running back coach.

Back in 1993, ’94 and ’95, we saw Childs on the field at Memorial Stadium playing for the Huskers under coach Osborne.

"No name around Nebraska is larger than Tom Osborne to where there's going to be a lot of things that's brought to the table and I think that's one guy that can rekindle the tradition that needs to be brought back to the university," says Childs.

Another former player who helped build the tradition of excellence and add to football history with a Heisman Trophy in 1972 is Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers. He agrees Osborne knows Nebraska, its fans, its football and is the right man to make changes. But he's also realistic.

"People expect a lot from him and he went out with a bang, on top, and now he's coming into a losing program and so people expect it to turn around all of the sudden,” says Rodgers. “It's not going to be all of the sudden, but we do know it will happen."

Rodgers is confident Osborne will bring back the excellence he once brought before, but also a sense of team to UNL athletics.

“It's always in conjunction with others that you make your greatest accomplishments and teamwork makes your dreams work and he's going to be able to bring that teamwork style back into the athletic department, to the football team and throughout the state," says Rogers.

Rodgers says Osborne's care and concern for Nebraska, along with his extensive knowledge of football, will help turn things around.

One challenge expressed though, that Osborne won't just be the athletic director for football, but will have to handle all sports at UNL.

Here is the entire news release from UNL concerning Osborne's appointment, which was given to the media more than two hours before Osborne was formally introduced during the late afternoon news conference:

In a new development in leadership changes in the athletic department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Chancellor Harvey Perlman announced today that Tom Osborne has agreed to serve as director of intercollegiate athletics on an interim basis.

Osborne left his head coaching post at Nebraska in 1997 after 30 years coaching football, including leading the Nebraska Cornhuskers to three national championships, 12 Big Eight titles and one Big 12 title. Osborne's teams finished in the top 10 17 times. He ended his head-coaching career with a record of 255-49-3.

Since Osborne left his post as 3rd district U.S. representative following a gubernatorial bid in 2006, he has been a senior lecturer in the UNL College of Business Administration, teaching leadership and business ethics.

Osborne met with Perlman this morning to discuss the interim post and Osborne agreed to serve, on an open-ended arrangement, until Perlman finds a permanent athletics director. Perlman, on October 15th, fired Steve Pederson, who had held the AD post since 2002. Osborne said he looks forward to the challenge.

"I've spent the majority of my life working with the Athletic Department at the university and I want to do what I can at this point to continue in the pursuit of excellence that has been previously established," he said.

Osborne said he anticipated taking over duties right away and would also finish the semester teaching his two classes, which he enjoys. Chancellor Perlman said he is pleased that Osborne agreed to provide leadership and that the university will benefit from Osborne's vast experience.

"I am very pleased that Tom Osborne has agreed to help bring some leadership and direction to our athletic program. Tom is committed to making the entire program successful. He brings the right experience, an understanding of Nebraska, and our aspirations. I look forward to working with him.