I think part of it is Pelini has learned through his own mistakes how important the recruiting piece is.
So after a DC job at a school two years removed from a BCS title game appearances then another job at a program that played for one, then another dc job at a championship program, and finally six years of running his own program, he's finally learned that he should pay more attention to recruiting?
Quick learner.
Maybe you misunderstood. It's okay--those are mistakes that we constantly make. But maybe it didn't take Pelini that long to figure out that recruiting is more important, but rather how you can best reach the kids you really want to reach. In a constantly changing landscape, it's important to understand the unique aspects of each class, each generation, so that you can better tailor your pitches to your recruits. Perhaps that is what Bo was alluding to there.
Uh yeah,
Or Pelini either didn't think he needed to care about recruiting because he believes he's a genius or he didn't care because the didn't think there was any way he'd be at Nebraska at this point. He'd be so successful that Ohio st or someone would break the bank to get him and we'd all kiss his a$$ out the f'ing door.
Perhaps those could be reasons too.
Come on, there is no way that anybody becomes even a defensive coordinator without understanding the base importance of recruiting.
Especially at a place like Nebraska, which is starved for talent in-state and around neighboring states. Our location, our lack of a recruiting hotbed, means our coaching staff has to put in a lot more effort into a recruit who might not even commit to the school. For example, you have a kid who lives in Los Angeles. That's UCLA's yard, if the Bruins wanted to go after him, all they have to do is walk out the front door. If we want him, we take 2 hours to fly to Los Angeles plus whatever time it takes to get to where he lives, or where he plays football. Something as simple it taking longer to recruit one kid than your competitors makes managing time for yourself as well as for your recruiters all the more difficult. There's only 24 hours in a day, and you can't talk to a kid when it's 3 in the morning.
So maybe, when you only have a few recruits and your time to manage, you could develop the idea that recruiting is easier than it actually is; moving up to being the head coach presents a slew of other issues that might take some time (and yes more time if you're stubborn like Bo is sometimes) to learn.
But no, Pelini is a douche, you're right.