Bo's time with Niners left an impression

[Husker_Power]

Steven M. Sipple

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You have to appreciate this about Bo Pelini: He's absolutely confident in himself. We're certain of that by now after reading his comments and studying his demeanor. It's not a front, folks.

 

Tim McDonald experienced Pelini's confidence in 1994, when Pelini was a 27-year-old assistant secondary coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Many of the players were older than Pelini, including McDonald, the six-time Pro Bowl strong safety who was 29 at the time. As you might expect, knowing what we now know about Pelini, the young coach asserted himself in the Niners' meeting rooms and at practice. He didn't hang back, as young coaches tend to do.

 

"That's why Bo is where he is right now," says McDonald, now 43, referring to Pelini's new gig as Nebraska head coach. "He was never afraid to test the waters. If something didn't sound right, if something didn't feel right, Bo would step up and say, 'Hey, let's work our way through this.'

 

"He would work with the players and listen to the players. But at the same time, he was strong enough to say, 'This is right and this is the way we should go about it.'"

 

If you bleed Husker red, you also have to appreciate this about Pelini: He has coached in some gargantuan games, including two of the last four BCS national title games (with Oklahoma in 2005 and Louisiana State this past season). What's more, he coached in Super Bowl XXIX on Jan. 29, 1995, when San Francisco dismantled San Diego 49-26 in Miami.

 

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Pelini says.

 

OK, a quick test: So, Bo, do you remember what happened on the third play of the NFC Championship Game against Dallas, the historic contest that set the stage for Super Bowl XXIX.

 

"It was a pick for a touchdown," Pelini says without hesitation. "We were in cover-2, and (cornerback) Eric Davis baited Dallas into throwing an option route, and Davis picked it off. Eric was a smart player, and he baited Troy Aikman into making a bad decision.

 

"That was a huge game."

 

Essentially every game was huge in 1994 for San Francisco. Then-Niners head coach George Seifert proclaimed: "With this team, nothing short of a Super Bowl was enough." Seifert's team ultimately performed superbly in the bright lights of Miami, jumping to a 14-0 lead and waltzing past the underdog Chargers.

 

"Playing great, especially in high-pressure situations, it's all about eliminating distractions and staying focused," Pelini says. "That's a huge part of playing good football, period. In a situation like that, in the Super Bowl, I saw it front and center.

 

"Just watching and learning throughout that 1994 season, at that relatively young age, it gave me a foundation to build upon," Pelini adds. "It's like anything else. If you don't have a foundation, you have nothing."

 

Pelini's coaching foundation was fortified by teaching the likes of McDonald, free safety Merton Hanks and cornerback Deion Sanders. ("It was easy coaching Deion," Pelini says. "I mean, he obviously was talented, but he came to practice hard every day.") Sanders was among a handful of veteran defenders who joined the Niners in 1994 as free agents with the objective of winning all the marbles.

 

Pelini, of course, always has embraced such high expectations.

 

"Everywhere I've been, it's been like that," he says.

 

Which brings to mind another trait you have to appreciate about Pelini: He seems tough enough and seasoned enough to handle the sometimes unwieldy expectations of fervid Nebraska fans. Any Husker head football coach obviously must be confident and self-assured. After bad losses, he gets skewered by thousands of armchair fans and the media, and he better be prepared to publicly smile and tell everyone how much he appreciates their passion for the program.

 

In other words, he better be as thick-skinned as a rhinoceros.

 

Pelini, by the way, had a note on his office desk Friday to call McDonald, now a high school coach in Fresno, Calif., with whom Pelini has stayed in contact over the years.

 

"Bo's been a definite, definite student of the game," McDonald says. "He's a fiery guy who pretty much every defensive back in our locker room in San Francisco just adored. It was his work ethic. He worked so hard, and you knew he wanted it so bad. I always knew it was just a matter of time before he put it all together because he always had great ideas. And I think Bo really took off when Pete Carroll came to San Francisco (as defensive coordinator in 1995).

 

"That really helped Bo realize his potential."

 

Pelini rattles off a list of names of coaches who had great influence on him, including a few who worked with him in San Francisco. He originally was hired in 1994 to work in the Niners' scouting department, but was immediately promoted to assistant secondary coach. He soon was preparing for the world's biggest football game.

 

"I remember the firecrackers and stuff going off after the national anthem," Pelini says. "There were all these distractions. Then I remember looking down the sideline and seeing (the Chargers) looking around at everything going on. I looked over at our sideline and our guys were just locked in."

 

San Diego had steady Stan Humphries at quarterback, big Natrone Means at running back and a nice, controlled passing attack.

 

"They were a physical team," Pelini says. "But they had some guys who could run, too."

 

Yep, Bo remembers it all like it was yesterday.

 

"I'm good at remembering things," he says. "And, hey, that was a special time in my life right there.

[Blackshirt316]

There's no such thing as an armchair fan in Nebraska.

[DaveH]

There's no such thing as an armchair fan in Nebraska.

wah?

[hack]

There's no such thing as an armchair fan in Nebraska.

 

yah! HELL YAH! that's what i'm... uh... wut?

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

While he wasn't head coach, Coach Pelini has a Super Bowl win and BCS Championship win on his resume. That's some hardware that might impress some young recruits if he chooses to use it.

[Glendower]

There's no such thing as an armchair fan in Nebraska.

wah?

 

Hello? We all sit on couches. I thought that was pretty obvious.

[huskered17]

There's no such thing as an armchair fan in Nebraska.

wah?

 

Hello? We all sit on couches. I thought that was pretty obvious.

 

I did a lot of standing and walking back and forth the last 4 years

 

GBR!!!

[BOBELIEVER]

that's funny.. last year I got so pissed off in that loss to Missouri that I started doing 50 push ups every time the other team scored a touchdown... Callahan and Cosgrove literally drove me crazy and turned me insane... and I'm sure the beer muscles had something to do with it

[Cy the Cyclone]

that's funny.. last year I got so pissed off in that loss to Missouri that I started doing 50 push ups every time the other team scored a touchdown... Callahan and Cosgrove literally drove me crazy and turned me insane... and I'm sure the beer muscles had something to do with it

 

I know that feeling well...I got so pissed off during the Kansas game I actually tried to find the remote!