Bo Pelini - big article

[np_husker]

LSU's Bo Pelini could be a candidate if Callahan, Nebraska part ways

BY DIRK CHATELAIN

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

BATON ROUGE, La. - Peel back the skin, layer by layer.

 

Get beneath the fight songs and $50 million facilities, beneath the polls and pundits, beneath the tailgates and trophies. Get to the core of college football.

 

Chance.

 

That's the nucleus: the idea that on each snap, each Saturday, each season, something good or something bad might happen.

 

And so the game is simply evaluating chance and deciding which to take. The game is shifting chance in your favor.

 

Why did Tom Osborne install the option instead of the run-and-shoot? A better chance to recruit top-flight talent, a better chance to execute when the weather turned ugly, a better chance to harvest linemen than receivers.

 

Why did Bo Pelini blitz a linebacker and two defensive backs on third-and-12 in the final two minutes of a tie game at Alabama? The chance of a punt or turnover exceeded the chance of a Crimson Tide big gain. Pelini was right - LSU forced a fumble and won the game.

 

Over the next month, Osborne and Pelini face another bout with chance. Osborne must decide in whose hands he will entrust the state's most sacred athletic institution. He must determine who can lift Husker football from a state of despair unseen in almost 50 years.

 

Above all the possibilities floating through Osborne's head, Pelini represents the core.

 

Down here in the Bayou, he's still waiting on chance.

 

 

The Motivator

 

 

During an autumn night in Baton Rouge, on a campus of stucco walls and primped Bermuda, in a cold, poorly lit hallway inside LSU's mammoth football complex, Les Miles praises his defensive coordinator, one of college football's hottest coaching prospects.

 

"He's got the whole package," said Miles on Tuesday.

 

He's a genius, according to Glenn Dorsey.

 

"He blows my mind on some things," said Dorsey, LSU's All-America defensive tackle.

 

Four years after Steve Pederson chose Bill Callahan, not Bo Pelini, to lead Nebraska, chance may bring the two sides together again.

 

According to sources close to Pelini, the Nebraska job would interest him if it were to come open. And if Callahan is fired, perhaps no replacement has a greater potential for excellence than Pelini.

 

But the unknown - the chance - might worry Osborne. Pelini, 39, has never been a head coach at any level. By traditional coaching standards, he's exhibited temporary lapses in judgment.

 

And, most important, the characteristics that make him soar as an assistant could undercut him as a head coach.

 

By all accounts, not an ounce of duplicity inhabits Bo Pelini. He's a straight shooter. He shuns political correctness. He nurtures deep-rooted relationships with players, enabling him to motivate.

 

Such attributes suit a defensive coordinator. Would they suit a football CEO?

 

"Being the head man is not just about X's and O's," said Charlie Weems, an attorney and LSU dignitary who knows and respects Pelini. "You've got to be able to manage a massive program. . . . It's a logistical nightmare.

 

"You've got to deal with boosters and alumni groups and fundraising and the university administration and compliance issues. It's a big step."

 

Could Pelini take it?

 

"I think he could, but there's no way to know that," Weems said. "Hard to know how a guy's going to do when all that stuff gets thrown at him."

 

Pelini has been a candidate for at least four positions since he left Nebraska: Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Michigan State and Minnesota.

 

If athletic directors consulted Pelini's current and former players, they'd get one ringing endorsement after another.

 

"You know how some people have it and some don't?" former Husker defensive tackle Titus Adams said. "He has it."

 

"He's the most dynamic motivational leader I've ever been around," said former NU cornerback Pat Ricketts.

 

In the early days of 2003, Frank Solich introduced Pelini to his new defense. There was nervousness in the room. Pelini had never served in a coordinator role. Players didn't know what to expect.

 

His first act: respectfully asking Solich to leave the room. He wanted to speak to players alone.

 

"From the moment we met him . . . you saw this could be a guy you could follow and go to war with," former NU defensive tackle Jason Lohr said.

 

The Huskers were coming off a disastrous 2002 in which they crumbled under Blackshirt expectations, resulting in coordinator Craig Bohl's dismissal.

 

During the first scrimmage of spring practice, Pelini ordered his defense into one very basic scheme for the entirety of practice. Won't the offense catch on and expose us, Husker defenders asked. Doesn't matter, Pelini said. Success starts with effort, not scheme.

 

"We went out and just dominated the scrimmage," Ricketts said. "Right then and there, everybody bought into the system."

 

Pelini turned up the intensity during fall camp, establishing a culture of aggression and confidence that players said was missing in 2002.

 

Repeatedly, he told weary defenders: "You haven't seen tired yet."

 

Minutes before the season opener against Oklahoma State, Pelini called his defense into the south end zone at Memorial Stadium. Curious, players followed him. Pelini started a mosh pit.

 

Nebraska held a high-powered OSU offense to seven points, the first step in the Blackshirts' resurgence. Standing on the opposite sideline that day was Les Miles, the Cowboys' head coach.

 

Pelini's skill sold Miles, who kept an eye on Nebraska's defense the remainder of the year as Pelini peeled back one layer, then another. A different zone coverage one week, a new blitz the next.

 

Pelini's energy accomplished what his design couldn't.

 

His Friday night pep talks took on legendary status. He mixed motivational stories of famous people with life lessons and personal experiences. He reminded many players of Charlie McBride.

 

"We probably maxed out at our potential," said Jeff Jamrog, defensive line coach in 2003.

 

But Pederson fired Solich in November, leaving the Huskers in turmoil. Only Pelini could've taken over for the Alamo Bowl and held the team together, walk-on Jeff McBride said. He did it his own way.

 

Before the 2001 Rose Bowl, players said, they practiced and conditioned under Solich several hours a day. By the time they met Miami under the lights, they were exhausted.

 

In contrast, Pelini intensified but shortened practices. He relaxed the regimented schedule.

 

"Up to that point, we were watched like a hawk," former NU defensive end Trevor Johnson said. "It was nice to have a little bit more freedom."

 

By game day, the Huskers were itching to crunch shoulder pads. They won 17-3.

 

Pelini left the field to chants of "We want Bo!"

 

Pederson wanted Bill Callahan, an offensive guru; a designer, not a motivator; a tried and tested head coach who had operated under the bright lights: the Super Bowl!

 

In other words, he wanted the coaching opposite of Bo Pelini.

 

 

A lighter side

 

 

Yes, a reporter from Nebraska has traveled to Baton Rouge to see him. Yes, it's probably a harmless interview request. Flattering even. But the game is evaluating chance and deciding which to take.

 

So Bo Pelini isn't talking - Miles turns down the request for him.

 

"When there's no job opening (at Nebraska), it appears that you're advertising," LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman said. "That's unprofessional. Bo won't do that."

 

Pelini has occasionally flirted with the bounds of professionalism.

 

After the 2004 season, he accused Pederson of sabotaging his chances at the Pittsburgh head coaching job. The same week, NU recruit Phillip Dillard told reporters that Pelini, then an Oklahoma co-coordinator, disparaged Nebraska during his recruiting process.

 

Pelini called Dillard's story untrue: "He's probably saying it because he's bitter about not coming here (to OU)."

 

Most notable, though, was the November 2003 episode when Pelini scolded Kansas State coach Bill Snyder at midfield for running up the score in a 38-9 win over Nebraska.

 

Pelini's players appreciated his fire.

 

"It might have looked bad to the fans and the media, but it showed that he really cared about his players, that he's fighting for you," Trevor Johnson said.

 

There's a misconception about Pelini, Johnson said. People think he's a mean guy.

 

But when a senior walk-on on the 2003 defense asked Pelini if he could include the coach as a reference for a job, Pelini said sure. Then he went one step further, calling the job recruiter to put in a good word.

 

Pelini's relationships with his LSU players are as strong as the sprawling live oaks that shade the campus streets.

 

He opens himself up to players to degrees most coaches don't. He's honest. A defensive tackle needs to lose weight to crack the rotation, Pelini tells him. A linebacker is too slow to start, Pelini tells him. Truth-telling breeds trust.

 

Pelini reveals a lighter side to players, too.

 

He duels them in paper, rock, scissors. He talks baseball - he's a huge Indians fan. He entertains them with his attempts to hit the field-goal crossbar with passes from 30 yards away.

 

Earlier this season, Pelini and an assistant interrupted a defensive meeting with an argument. It grew contentious and they took it to the hallway. Players heard yelling, bodies slamming against walls. Moments later, the coaches returned smiling.

 

Gotcha!

 

"He's like a big kid at times," said Tiger defensive back Chevis Jackson.

 

 

A different job

 

 

LSU's defensive consistency the past three years is unmatched. In 2005 and 2006, LSU ranked third in the country in yards allowed. This year's unit is second. Only twice has it allowed more than 300 total yards.

 

"Pelini's defense doesn't copy anyone that I've seen," said Steve Spurrier, South Carolina's head coach, in September.

 

Before Pelini's 35th birthday, he assisted the Packers, Patriots, 49ers, learning from coaches like George Seifert, Pete Carroll and Ray Rhodes. He's accumulated mountains of knowledge, enabling him to diminish the role of chance.

 

He's a stickler for details and masterfully teaches technique. He's comfortable scrapping a game plan at halftime and drawing up something new. His blitzes come forcefully but disguised.

 

But athletic directors have yet to find Pelini as impressive as opposing coaches and players do.

 

Could he effectively be the face of a program? Would booster functions and media interviews and managing 100 players suit him?

 

"I never really saw that side of him," former Husker Jeff McBride said. "Just from what I did know of him, I don't know if he would fit that role to a 'T' like maybe some other coaches."

 

Others say Pelini would thrive. His mentors are some of football's biggest names. No one works harder.

 

"He's been successful at everything he's ever done," Jamrog said.

 

But would the task inevitably force Pelini to change his personality or his routine? Would he have to sugarcoat things to appease the fan base or his employers? Would he have time, as he does now, to counsel players when they have personal problems?

 

Would changes affect the way players admire him and perform for him?

 

Officially, big decisions must still be made. A costly firing? A search for potential replacements? A hiring fraught with expectation?

 

Perhaps, somewhere between the Heartland and the Bayou, Osborne and Pelini will cross paths, the old legend desperate for hope, the young genius hungry for opportunity, the fate of each dependent on chance.

 

A man only gets so many.

[Blackshirtsguru]

I shudder when I read that Pat Ricketts aka TOAST endorsed Bo! The only thing Pat could cover was his eyes when he was costantly getting burnt by WR's!

[Apathy]

Reading this just got me FIRED UP to hire BO PELINI.

 

BRING BACK BO!

BRING BACK BO!!

BRING BACK BO!!!