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I have problems equating coach Osborne and character building. I seem to remember a running back named Phillips who liked to beat-up the coeds. Osborne coddled him time and time again. Phillips played at the next level, but got into trouble everywhere he played.

If my memory serves me right, Phillips is doing time now. There were others similar to this, but I can’t remember them now.

I am assuming you know all of the inside details of what went on between Osborne and Phillips. I think it is very unfortunate the direction that Phillips chose to take. Osborne could not choose for him. I don’t know for sure, but I am certain that for every one Phillips, there were a hundred Brook Berringers.

You are correct. Osborne covered for, excused and interfered with the prosecutions of his thug players. From a 2001 article from Debbie Schlussel (here)

In 1993, when his player, Christian Peter, sexually assaulted Miss Nebraska Natalie Kuijvenhoven, George [magazine] reported that Osborne minimized the serious nature of the assault, questioned her motivation, making up a baseless story that her boyfriend had been cut from the team. After convicted and sentenced, Osborne suspended Peter for only a practice game.
When Kathy Redmond reported Peter's two rapes against her, Osborne questioned her motivation – fabricating allegations that her sister had been raped, too, and she wanted the same attention from family members as her sister. He also minimized the brutal assault by player, Lawrence Phillips on his former girlfriend, attacking the eye-witness account of Sandy Worm, who saw him drag her by the hair down three flights of stairs and then pounding her head against the wall.
"There was no brutal beating," Osborne told George.
None of this is to mention Osborne-defended players (like Tyrone Williams and Riley Washington) who shot at people or (like Jason Jenkins) took out a victim's eye. "I'm certain there was no intent to hit anyone with gunfire," said Osborne. According to George, "Lincoln County Attorney Gary Lacy complained publicly that in a string of cases Osborne had used 'his influence to disrupt the criminal justice system.'" Interfering with investigations, obstructing justice.

A real paragon of virtue there!