Grading Bo Pelini??

[MVPujols]

I am a believer in not rating coaches till 2 or 3 years into it. I like Bo, yes, but I dont think we can say how good of a job he is doing until we see how the team improves, recruiting, etc.

 

(However, I am going to go against what I just said and rate him anyway B+)

[skerfan1705]

Lets give him time. So far a SOLID B. I think he has done the exact same as he did in 2003. Took a struggling defense and turned them around and gave the whole husker fan base hope for better things to come...the only difference is that he has MORE TIME to build on it than he did in 2003....I tell you...I am excited as all hell to see what happens in the next few years!

 

GO BIG RED!

[knapplc]

I'm with MVPujols. It's too early for this kind of discussion, but if I had to give Bo a grade it would be B+.

[HuskerJen]

In honesty he did a descent job. Nothing remarkable in any way, other than possibly the Clemson game. His ability to coach and prepare were evident there. We were not the best team on the field that day, but we won and it was due solely to his ability to motivate and change.

 

I give him a C+ at best. He did not beat a top 15 team, but came close with Texas Tech. He has to win the first top 15 game before he moves into above average for me. I have questions as to whether that will happen this year. It does not look like it, but with his drive and determination it is possible. But he is going to have to prove he can build a QB. That will be a tough task.

 

I am happy with his work, as I did not expect it to be as good as it turned out. I still have questions about his maturity, but it appears he is making strides. I think his only saving grace is having TO looking at everything he does. I am sure he wants to please Coach Osborne more than anything else. That will take controlling his temper. He did a better job later in the season, and I am sure that came from guidance by Coach Osborne.

 

This year is going to be tough with so many high expectations. Any other team facing what we are facing this year we would say they have no chance, but some on here see Conf Championships and BCS games for a team with a QB that has not started a game, has no back up. Shoot high my friends, nothing wrong with it. I think we will have a better idea of where we are with out coach after this year. I am hoping he keeps moving forward like he did this year, because he turned out way better than I expected from him. I was not in favor of him coming to Nebraska, but he has changed my opinion and I am very happy he is here.

 

Wow, tough crowd.

 

1. The previous coach never beat a top 15 team either.

 

2. The previous coach never won a game when trailing at halftime, but Bo did...with the former coaches players.

 

3. I whole-heartedly disagree with your assessment that Bo didn't do anything remarkable in year one.

 

He completely changed the attitude, mind set and work ethic of the team. He also managed to get the team playing hard again with passion, intensity and purpose. Most importantly, Bo "reinvented" the feelings of belonging, family and unity that defines the culture of Nebraska football.

 

All in all, when taking into account:

 

I) where the Husker program was at the end of the '07 season,

II) what Bo had to work with talent wise and

II) what the '08 Husker were able to accomplish,

 

What Bo did in his first year was nothing short of remarkable.

[JTrain]

I agree it's in the B or B+ range

[huzkerbob]

In honesty he did a descent job. Nothing remarkable in any way, other than possibly the Clemson game. His ability to coach and prepare were evident there. We were not the best team on the field that day, but we won and it was due solely to his ability to motivate and change.

 

I give him a C+ at best. He did not beat a top 15 team, but came close with Texas Tech. He has to win the first top 15 game before he moves into above average for me. I have questions as to whether that will happen this year. It does not look like it, but with his drive and determination it is possible. But he is going to have to prove he can build a QB. That will be a tough task.

 

I am happy with his work, as I did not expect it to be as good as it turned out. I still have questions about his maturity, but it appears he is making strides. I think his only saving grace is having TO looking at everything he does. I am sure he wants to please Coach Osborne more than anything else. That will take controlling his temper. He did a better job later in the season, and I am sure that came from guidance by Coach Osborne.

 

This year is going to be tough with so many high expectations. Any other team facing what we are facing this year we would say they have no chance, but some on here see Conf Championships and BCS games for a team with a QB that has not started a game, has no back up. Shoot high my friends, nothing wrong with it. I think we will have a better idea of where we are with out coach after this year. I am hoping he keeps moving forward like he did this year, because he turned out way better than I expected from him. I was not in favor of him coming to Nebraska, but he has changed my opinion and I am very happy he is here.

 

Wow, tough crowd.

 

1. The previous coach never beat a top 15 team either.

 

2. The previous coach never won a game when trailing at halftime, but Bo did...with the former coaches players.

 

3. I whole-heartedly disagree with your assessment that Bo didn't do anything remarkable in year one.

He completely changed the attitude, mind set and work ethic of the team. He also managed to get the team playing hard again with passion, intensity and purpose. Most importantly, Bo "reinvented" the feelings of belonging, family and unity that defines the culture of Nebraska football.

 

All in all, when taking into account:

 

I) where the Husker program was at the end of the '07 season,

II) what Bo had to work with talent wise and

II) what the '08 Husker were able to accomplish,

 

What Bo did in his first year was nothing short of remarkable.

I agree, especially considering that the Huskers could have easily had a record of 10-3 or 11-1 last season had the cards fell right.

[skersfan]

You guys go from great talent to no talent to the talent was the problem to he worked miracles.

 

If you can not beat a top 15 team, you are not doing the job you were hired to do.

 

His comments were he had the talent to beat everyone on the schedule.

 

Those words mean something. If you talk the talk you have to walk the walk is my feeling.

 

I am not disappointed in his efforts by any means, but he beat absolutely no one all year long.

 

Clemson showed progress.

 

that is what earned his C+.

 

He got man handled by Missouri in our house. Oklahoma beat us like a drum.

 

He showed a great game plan against Texas Tech, and beat Kansas at our house. Kansas is a squeaker either way you look at it.

 

He should have beaten VaTech with a brand new QB on the road in our house. Most likely towards the end of the year he could have, but then you look at the Colorado game.

 

Colorado was a lucky win to say the very least at our house. Not much worse of a loss could have been endured is my guess. A kicker on a lucky lucky kick made the season. All would have been concerned had that kick not been made. We would have played in much less important bowl against a virtual no one.

 

See what actually happened, not just the numbers.

 

Again I think he is doing a great job. I have no disappointment in him at all. But I just do not swallow all the Kool Aid that you guys do. I did it with Clownahan and I got sick of it. I don't drink it anymore.

[huskers1]

You're saying look at what actually happened not just the numbers....we did play va tech in our house and they did have a new starting qb. we pretty much did as well. ours was maybe 10% as talented as theirs. they had so much more team speed than we did it wasnt even comparable. something that is obviously getting overlooked is that their whole staff has been together for many many years. all that and we still only lost by 5 and could have won. OU we had things happen that are in no way Bo's fault. He had an INT returned for a td, a good hit and fumble that was turned into a td and a tipped pass that was intercepted and turned into a td. 21 direct points were in no way his fault. yes they did score two tds on our d but with our safetys getting beaten the way they did is not bo's fault. I chalk up the mizzou game to the staff working the kinks out. We were still running an offense that turned out to be VERY different than what we ran at the end of the year. CU is a rivarly game and is ALWAYS close no matter what the teams are ranked or how big the talent gap is. Again we had two blown plays that led directly to 14 pts for CU and a fumble on the goaline that took away possibly 7 points for us. Like I said before, I think Pelini did as well as expected with not a lot of team speed. Yes we have talent but it was very young and undeveloped. We lost six guys on D..two of them were walk ons, two of them were jucos, one was a solid veteran and one of them was a coverted RB that hadn't played D since high school-1 of them were drafted. Doesn't sound like a D you can compete with the big boys with.

[husker rob]

i was as happy as everyone was that the Huskers went 9-4 a year after going 5-6. the standard at NU has been 9 wins for a long time and Bo did meet that standard.

 

meeting that standard does not mean you get a A for a grade. you have to exceed the standard.

 

NU had talent on the team that just was not used to its potential by the previous coaching staff. Bo and his staff was able to get players to play to their potential most of the time, but there were times that the players just didnt make it happen.

 

The game against Mizzu was not a players fault loss in my opinion, it was a coaching loss all of the way, offense, defense, everything. OU just outplayed NU and if it had been Callahan on the sidelines Stoops would have put up 80+ points.

 

I agree with skersfan on a lot of his comments. I wont go as far as a C+, but Bo definiately didnt bring out his "A" game all year long. I will grade out at a B.

 

some of you said that if the ball bounced the right way NU could have gone 10-2, but if you are willing to say that then NU could have very easily gone 7-6 also.

 

2 more years will have to pass before we really can start grading on a realistic level

 

and yes i do "BOLIEVE"

[redout22]

I will say B. But I bet Bo would give himself an incomplete because he isn't satisfied yet.

[nhuskers5]

I'd give him a B+. The CU game was closer than it should have been, and a lot of that was due to the fake FG which Bo called. Overall, I was very pleased with our progress last season.

 

What gives him the bump up in my opinion on the feild goal thing was that he admitted responsibility for it....afterwoerds, he admitted it was "a bonehead coaching decision".

[HuskerGBR]

Some of the posts on here just goes to show what the "vacation years" have done to the mentality of Nebraska fans. I say "vacation years" cause I see it as everyone in Nebraska took a vacation for four years and we didn't actually field a team during that time. That's a joke so don't analyze that comment. Anyways, those four years really took the culture and winning mindset out of some Nebraska fans. Pelini is not just rebuilding a football program...he is trying to restore the pride and culture of Nebraska football. He has a lot of work to do and I would say he is doing it pretty well. Saying we could have gone 7-6 last year is like saying the 95 team could have gone 11-2. Just hear me out here, every team has a chance at losing games but it's the ones with the winning attitude, heart, and perseverance that overcome those and win the day. These kids are getting that attitude back and I would say that is because of Bo. I give him a B+ for what he is doing for the program and it's only a B+ because he still has work to do. So quit this glass is half-empty crap because we are just getting back into the groove after our "vacation" time.

[zoogs]

I'd say a B is fair. Whatever, I'm still happy he's here.

[Enhance]

I say A. He tried to do too much leading up to Missouri (as far as the offense and defense goes) and we really saw the team excel (minus the Oklahoma game) after he realized.

 

I mainly give him the A because outside of Nebraska fans, very few though a 9 win season was possible. Hell, I bet many people figure a 5-6 win season lay ahead of in 2008, but we proved many wrong. He's a great guy, and will hopefully be a great long term coach that gives us championships.

[holvy83]

throwing in an "I" incomplete, he has a lot of work to do yet, based on last year alone maybe a "B". Give him time folks, he has earned respect so far, i think the jury is still out.