Will Pelini
bring Huskers
back to glory?
Posted: Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Some will wonder, I'm sure, what Bo Pelini has done to become the new head football coach at the University of Nebraska.
After all, the 40-year-old Youngstown, Ohio, native has never been a head coach.
Indeed, he seems to be the quintessential "right place at the right time'' kind of guy.
Fresh out of The Ohio State University, where he lettered four years (1987-90) at free safety, Pelini landed a graduate assistant coaching job under Hayden Fry at Iowa.
After playing one year for Earle Bruce and three for John Cooper at OSU, it certainly didn't hurt the resume to spend one season learning a few more ropes under Fry.
Still, two years later, after finishing up his master's degree at Ohio University, Pelini was back at his prep alma mater, Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, coaching quarterbacks in the fall of 1993.
And, this is where he either got very lucky or simply demonstrated that he's got something special going for him.
I suspect the latter, frankly, because a 26-year-old kid who has spent all of one year as an assistant coach at his old high school does not often, if ever, make the giant leap to coaching in the National Football League.
Sure enough, though, Pelini landed a job as a scouting assistant with the San Francisco 49ers. And, it was only a matter of weeks before George Seifert, the 49ers' head coach, decided to make the kid his defensive backs coach, instead.
Less than a year later, Bo had an NFL championship ring, thanks to the Niners' 49-26 win over San Diego in Super Bowl XXIX.
After three years with Seifert, Pelini spent three more seasons with Pete Carroll's New England Patriots, then another three with Mike Sherman's Green Bay Packers. Those were both good places to be, it turned out, and the consensus finally became that he'd helped make them that way.
That's when Pelini first surfaced on the Nebraska radar, arriving in Lincoln in 2003 as the new defensive coordinator under Frank Solich. It was the last of six seasons at the helm for Solich, who wasn't around when Pelini served as interim head coach for a 17-3 Alamo Bowl victory over Michigan State, capping off a 10-3 season.
Four years later, after one year directing Bob Stoops' defense at Oklahoma and three in the same role for Les Miles at LSU, maybe this first head coaching job no longer qualifies as a break. Maybe it's just time to see if the coincidental success almost everywhere he's been isn't a coincidence at all.
Sometimes, it's not simply that you can drop names like Earle Bruce, John Cooper, Hayden Fry, George Seifert, Pete Carroll, Mike Sherman Bob Stoops and Les Miles.
Sometimes, the respect you've earned from such a list of luminaries is just an overwhelming endorsement.
Nebraska is 86-41 in 10 seasons since Tom Osborne bowed out with his third national championship in a five-year period -- a five-year stretch in which the Huskers went a remarkable 60-3.
Solich actually did rather well, considering his six-year mark of 59-19 was downright spectacular by comparison to the four-year ledger of 27-22 that sent Bill Callahan packing.
Pelini's first season starts with five consecutive home games and the 12-game slate includes eight home appearances for the first time since 2002.
Favorable as that seems, Nebraska faces no fewer than four of the final Top 10 from last season's AP poll -- No. 4 Missouri, No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 Virginia Tech. The only other team in America that will tackle that many 2007 Top 10's is Colorado.
Then again, Missouri, Kansas and "VPI,'' as we used to call the Hokies, must all come to Lincoln. And, I'm guessing that may soon become about as unenviable a trip as it always used to be.
Nebraska's spring game, incidentally, is a week from this Saturday, on April 19.
Sioux City Journal sports editor Terry Hersom can be reached at (712) 293-4214 or by e-mail at terryhersom@siouxcityjournal.com.
After all, the 40-year-old Youngstown, Ohio, native has never been a head coach.
Indeed, he seems to be the quintessential "right place at the right time'' kind of guy.
Fresh out of The Ohio State University, where he lettered four years (1987-90) at free safety, Pelini landed a graduate assistant coaching job under Hayden Fry at Iowa.
After playing one year for Earle Bruce and three for John Cooper at OSU, it certainly didn't hurt the resume to spend one season learning a few more ropes under Fry.
Still, two years later, after finishing up his master's degree at Ohio University, Pelini was back at his prep alma mater, Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, coaching quarterbacks in the fall of 1993.
And, this is where he either got very lucky or simply demonstrated that he's got something special going for him.
I suspect the latter, frankly, because a 26-year-old kid who has spent all of one year as an assistant coach at his old high school does not often, if ever, make the giant leap to coaching in the National Football League.
Sure enough, though, Pelini landed a job as a scouting assistant with the San Francisco 49ers. And, it was only a matter of weeks before George Seifert, the 49ers' head coach, decided to make the kid his defensive backs coach, instead.
Less than a year later, Bo had an NFL championship ring, thanks to the Niners' 49-26 win over San Diego in Super Bowl XXIX.
After three years with Seifert, Pelini spent three more seasons with Pete Carroll's New England Patriots, then another three with Mike Sherman's Green Bay Packers. Those were both good places to be, it turned out, and the consensus finally became that he'd helped make them that way.
That's when Pelini first surfaced on the Nebraska radar, arriving in Lincoln in 2003 as the new defensive coordinator under Frank Solich. It was the last of six seasons at the helm for Solich, who wasn't around when Pelini served as interim head coach for a 17-3 Alamo Bowl victory over Michigan State, capping off a 10-3 season.
Four years later, after one year directing Bob Stoops' defense at Oklahoma and three in the same role for Les Miles at LSU, maybe this first head coaching job no longer qualifies as a break. Maybe it's just time to see if the coincidental success almost everywhere he's been isn't a coincidence at all.
Sometimes, it's not simply that you can drop names like Earle Bruce, John Cooper, Hayden Fry, George Seifert, Pete Carroll, Mike Sherman Bob Stoops and Les Miles.
Sometimes, the respect you've earned from such a list of luminaries is just an overwhelming endorsement.
Nebraska is 86-41 in 10 seasons since Tom Osborne bowed out with his third national championship in a five-year period -- a five-year stretch in which the Huskers went a remarkable 60-3.
Solich actually did rather well, considering his six-year mark of 59-19 was downright spectacular by comparison to the four-year ledger of 27-22 that sent Bill Callahan packing.
Pelini's first season starts with five consecutive home games and the 12-game slate includes eight home appearances for the first time since 2002.
Favorable as that seems, Nebraska faces no fewer than four of the final Top 10 from last season's AP poll -- No. 4 Missouri, No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 Virginia Tech. The only other team in America that will tackle that many 2007 Top 10's is Colorado.
Then again, Missouri, Kansas and "VPI,'' as we used to call the Hokies, must all come to Lincoln. And, I'm guessing that may soon become about as unenviable a trip as it always used to be.
Nebraska's spring game, incidentally, is a week from this Saturday, on April 19.
Sioux City Journal sports editor Terry Hersom can be reached at (712) 293-4214 or by e-mail at terryhersom@siouxcityjournal.com.
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SMSgt Larry Brooks wrote on Apr 9, 2008 11:45 AM: