Pelini lauds high school coaches at NCA clinicBy BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Bo Pelini’s first in-person evaluation of Ndamukong Suh went something like this:
You stink.
It occurred not long after Pelini was hired as Nebraska’s football coach in December 2007, when Suh had just finished his sophomore season.
In the one-on-one meeting, Suh told Pelini he was thinking of transferring. He didn’t want to go through a coaching change, and he didn’t know who Pelini was.
“Honestly, I didn’t know who Ndamukong Suh was,” Pelini said. “I didn’t really care.
“I said, ‘Hey, if you want to leave, go, because you aren’t any good, anyway. I just watched your tape. You stink. You want to be good, get your butt back here.”
Pelini paused.
“Thank God he stayed, huh?”
Some 2,500 high school coaches erupted in laughter, all the while appreciating Pelini’s upbeat, passionate message Tuesday in his keynote address at the Nebraska Coaches Association’s annual clinic.
Leadership means being honest and building trust.
“I think that was first time in his life, or the first time in his college career that somebody had really told him the truth,” Pelini said. “He looked at me like I had three heads.”
Suh, of course, went on to a decorated Nebraska career and was the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL Draft.
And Nebraska’s program, meanwhile, is finally developing the culture Pelini envisioned when he was hired. A culture of setting high standards and taking ownership. A culture of players being held accountable for their actions, and, more importantly, holding each other accountable.
“I really believe that’s why our program is headed in the right direction,” Pelini said. “For the first time, I felt like after that (Holiday) bowl game, and leading up to the bowl game, that our culture was starting to take hold. Our kids understand what it means to put a hard day’s work in. They understand what it means to play for the guy next to him, and the guy next to him, instead of for himself.”
As an example, Pelini told of how two senior players showed up to a fellow position player’s individual meeting with Pelini. The player was in the coach’s office because he’d missed class.
“They basically said, ‘Coach, that’s not going to happen anymore,’ ” Pelini said. “When that starts happening, when that starts taking hold, when people on the football team start taking leadership (roles), it becomes a great thing. If it’s always coming from me, we have a problem. It’s when it’s important to the kids, when they start stepping up and saying, ‘That’s not OK.’
“Believe me, when I got here, it wasn’t like that. It was in disarray. There wasn’t a lot of communication.”
Pelini said the first thing he had to do was establish trust and build relationships with athletes.
Like with Suh.
“Unless you really understand who they are, you’re never going to understand what buttons to push,” Pelini said. “If you don’t gain trust, I can promise you, they’re not going to do what you ask them to do. I always tell them this: I will have your back no matter what, but I expect you to have mine.”
Pelini recalled his job interview with athletic director Tom Osborne, and his answer when Osborne asked him about his coaching philosophy. Pelini said his job wasn’t to win football games. It was to prepare players for the rest of their lives. By doing so, he was also preparing them to win on Saturdays.
“It goes hand in hand,” Pelini said. “The same things that are going to allow them to have success are the same things that are going to allow them to be a man.
“When I go recruiting kids, I don’t tell them about how much they’re going to play or how many championships they’re going to win, how many All-American honors they’re going to get. I tell them, ‘We’re going to give you an opportunity, we’re going to prepare you, we’re going to have your back, we’re going to give you every opportunity to make sure you’re ready for that next step in your life.
“I also say if you’re not ready to come out and hit and compete and get after it on a daily basis, you’re coming to the wrong place, because we’re going to ask you to compete in every area of your life. And if you’re not, we’re going to take our foot and kick it square up your you-know-what.”
Pelini told the coaches he appreciates everything they do.
“You guys have the kids at such an impressionable age,” he said. “You touch so many lives. It’s a heck of a lot more important than what I do. Let’s face it. You guys don’t get rewarded the way I do. You don’t get the thanks that is really necessary.”