Sipple article

np_husker · February 12, 2008

Steven M. Sipple: Pelini puts in face time

Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 - 12:17:03 am CST

As you’ve probably figured out, Nebraska’s new head football coach lacks pretentiousness.

“What you see is what you get,” Tom Osborne says of Bo Pelini.

We’ve been seeing plenty of Pelini lately — at a couple of Husker wrestling duals and basketball games, at NU men’s basketball coach Doc Sadler’s luncheon downtown, at the Metro Football Coaches Association banquet in Omaha with his entire coaching staff in tow, despite an ornery snowstorm.

Pardon me if I left out a function or three.

This isn’t to say that a coach regularly mixing with the masses will magically translate into victories. And I’d be the last guy to suggest the Nebraska head football and basketball coaches should take on the public persona of a polished politician. Give me Bo Schembechler over Rick Neuheisel any day.

I guess it just feels kind of nice to see Nebraska’s two most high-profile coaches rubbing elbows with John and Jane Q. Public, and enjoying it all the while.

Yes, Pelini and Sadler are throwing us a nice change of pace.

“Doc, from the day he got here (Aug. 8, 2006), was out seeing people and connecting,” says Osborne, the Husker athletic director. “Bo has been very good that way, too. I think that’s a good thing. The fans feel more connected to the coaches and the program.

“It isn’t anything I’ve asked them to do,” Osborne adds. “They operate as they see fit.”

Says Sadler: “I think it’s the responsibility of whoever the head (basketball) coach is at Nebraska to make the people of Nebraska feel they’re a major part in this program. It’s no longer a deal where you can just coach and go home.”

Why?

“There are too many other things for people to do,” Sadler says, perhaps referring to Americans’ propensity to play video games and channel surf.

At any rate, “If you’re going to ask people for their support, then you have to do your part and get out and extend yourself,” Sadler says.

These observations about Sadler and Pelini should not be construed as an indictment on their predecessors, Barry Collier and Bill Callahan, respectively. Collier and Callahan obviously are fine gentlemen and excellent coaches. They could be charming in public appearances. But both obviously valued privacy to a large degree.

Callahan, in particular, had something of a strained existence in Lincoln. For instance, he generally avoided restaurants because he thought fans would recount his every move.

Because most people never really got to know Callahan, he failed to build up a lot of good will among NU fans. Good will can come in handy for a coach when losses begin to mount, as we learned this past fall when Callahan endured intense fan and media backlash.

Of course, it’s impossible to quantify how much, if any, the impact of creating good will and positive karma in the fan base affects wins and losses. But maybe, just maybe, building good will among the masses can help matters on a fourth-and-1 late in a key game on Stadium Drive, when Big Red needs that extra oomph to close the deal.

In the unruly Big 12, Pelini and Sadler need any edge they can muster.

“I don’t really know what’s gone on here in the past, and I don’t really concern myself with that,” Pelini says. “I just enjoy sports. I enjoy a wide variety of things. My kids enjoy being out and going to things with the family. We’ll be out there. That’s just who we are.”

For what it’s worth, former Nebraska head coach Frank Solich tended toward a generally private life away from work, especially during his first four years in charge.

As for Osborne, “Early on as a head coach, I was out and about a lot,” he says. “I did all the Touchdown Club luncheons on Mondays and all the Big Red breakfasts (on Fridays). I did a TV show and had radio responsibilities. But after I had my (heart) bypass in 1985, I realized I had to start focusing my energies a little bit.”

Pelini obviously has plenty of focus as a coach. But I’ll say it again: The guy is going to have fun, and his players are going to have fun. Same goes for Doc’s program. After all, it isn’t the Pentagon they’re leading.

So, perhaps you noticed Pelini sitting next to Sadler at a recent Husker wrestling dual. Then, at Sunday’s dual, Pelini was seated with son Patrick on the Husker bench, next to NU wrestling coach Mark Manning.

Pelini showed up for Sadler’s basketball luncheon last week, a day after national signing day. The night before signing day, Pelini gathered all of his assistants and they drove to Omaha in a snowstorm — it took them 30 minutes just to reach Interstate 80 from Memorial Stadium — to attend the Metro coaches function.

Perhaps Pelini and Sadler are establishing strong relationships in advance of long careers at Nebraska (assuming they win enough games, of course).

They act like they want to be Nebraska coaches, as opposed to being coaches at Nebraska — an important distinction.

Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.