Sipple Q&A with Pelini

[Whistlebritches]

SNIP:

Q: Some folks wonder if, as the boss, you're too hesitant to change the way you're doing things, perhaps even a bit stubborn. Your reaction to such a perception?

A: We make changes all the time. Things always are getting reworked. We look at every aspect of what we do. That's an asinine perception. There are a lot of different facets to what we do, in every facet of the game. For instance, defensively, we change all the time. We're different now than we were two years ago, in some ways. You're always adjusting and looking for ways to make things better.

--hey thanks for calling us all stupid again!

Not all of us.

By the way, a good journalist would have asked Bo to elaborate on that point.

We do change things frequently. We had a new punt return scheme this year, for instance.

This was a joke, right?

The most disappointing thing I saw in the interview is how Pelini doesn't even acknowledge how bad our punt return game is and instead talks about how good our own punter is. We were 123rd out of 125 teams in punt return yardage last year. Yeah, we have guys that have trouble fielding the ball but there's more to it than just signaling fair catch. That's a glaring problem and it's been getting worse every year since Mike Ekeler left the staff. The same guy Georgia hired just recently to fix their special teams.

 

[Landlord]

this board is becoming unbearable to read.

where did you come from?

 

[Mavric]

Yes, that was a joke. My point is the "Pelini never changes anything" is a caricature that people like to use who are unhappy with the results. If you watch the games without trying to find everything possible to be upset with, we are doing a lot of different thing almost on a game-by-game basis.

 

[husker_99]

Yes, that was a joke. My point is the "Pelini never changes anything" is a caricature that people like to use who are unhappy with the results. If you watch the games without trying to find everything possible to be upset with, we are doing a lot of different thing almost on a game-by-game basis.

except the W and L columns never change.

 

[Landlord]

Yes, that was a joke. My point is the "Pelini never changes anything" is a caricature that people like to use who are unhappy with the results. If you watch the games without trying to find everything possible to be upset with, we are doing a lot of different thing almost on a game-by-game basis.

except the W and L columns never change.

REALLY I DON'T THINK ANY OF US WERE AWARE OF THAT

(hence the constant speculation and division and doom-and-gloom. Our coaches are making changes but the end result isn't changing - nobody knows what is wrong.)

 

[sd'sker]

More from Sipple:

The seventh-year Nebraska head football coach is opening spring practices, essentially all of them, to the media -- a first in his tenure.
I didn't see that coming.

"I might do it for the fall, too," Pelini told me last week.

Why in the world is he opening practices to media this spring? The first practice is Saturday.

"Why not?" he shot back.

that is an odd response. why not? you tell us, as you have had them closed before.

but frankly, i am just glad he was not too stubborn to change up the defense. took a lot of fortitude to change something that was absolutely not working.

 

[Mavric]

Yes, that was a joke. My point is the "Pelini never changes anything" is a caricature that people like to use who are unhappy with the results. If you watch the games without trying to find everything possible to be upset with, we are doing a lot of different thing almost on a game-by-game basis.

except the W and L columns never change.

The W column has changed several times.

 

[Mavric]

More from Sipple:

The seventh-year Nebraska head football coach is opening spring practices, essentially all of them, to the media -- a first in his tenure.
I didn't see that coming.

"I might do it for the fall, too," Pelini told me last week.

Why in the world is he opening practices to media this spring? The first practice is Saturday.

"Why not?" he shot back.

that is an odd response. why not? you tell us, as you have had them closed before.

but frankly, i am just glad he was not too stubborn to change up the defense. took a lot of fortitude to change something that was absolutely not working.

I figured someone would jump on that. You've never heard anyone else respond that way when asked about something?

 

[sd'sker]

I figured someone would jump on that. You've never heard anyone else respond that way when asked about something?

all the time, but usually not when it is an 180 degree change from previous behavior.

what is frustrating is that bo does not think we have memories. he is rather disingenuous and i find it to be a turn off. this is not new to him. he decides things should be all right and he plays up this cool bravado after previously being combative, defensive, and not allowing anyone closer than arms' length. he gives these flippant answers and we are left scratching our heads. just like when he brazenly said he does not apologize to anyone and next day he is apologizing. it is hard to take him seriously.

just give a reason. maybe even build a bridge to the fans. "the fans deserve to know what we are doing and that we are improving... the benefit i believe existed in closing practices does not exist..."

 

[Saunders]

True touched on this, but for emphasis:

Q: Can you go directly to athletic director Shawn Eichorst if you feel the need? Folks continue to wonder about your relationship with Eichorst.

A: Yes. That's not an issue. Everything we've asked for, we've gotten.

Scratch one more excuse off the list.

Like he's gonna throw his boss under the bus.

lol.

 

[Saunders]

I do think the defensive scheme, or approach, or the way we called it, whatever you want to say, I think that did change this year. It's kind of been an unexplained phenomena in my book how that halftime ( whatever game it was) the players told the coaches to do more of what the players wanted to do. It seemed to be the turning point. We became aggressive as hell. Blitzing increased or at least appeared to to me. Regardless, they changed something, and it worked. I know there will be an argument that maybe the guys just finally started "getting it". Yea, maybe a little, but there was more than that. Some will say this was Bo's defense all along, but I've seen enough bend don't break garbage to know that's not the case. We went after em more. We turned the front four loose more. Whatever change it was, I liked it, so I credit the staff for that. Or the players?

I think the defense was the biggest change we have had in Bo's tenure, outside of coaching changes. We went to a 2 Gap, something some board members harped that we wouldn't do and bashed every mentioning of it. A scheme that I think worked out very well for us and went better than I had originally thought by end of season. We now have the talent to let these guys loose, rather than playing containment. When your that much smaller than the OL, its hard to bring pressure. Defensively, we are looking bright. Offensively, just unsure.

HNN, I think you're a funny guy and I think you try to be level-headed but ultimately your love for the Huskers wins over what your logic tells you. Just a complete guess, but even though you're more of a Bo-supporter than most, I think you're far less delusional than most.

With that said, I think you need to completely re-word the complete 100% incorrect bolded statement. It is both logically and factually flawed. Perhaps you should do some research on both Bo's traditional defense, our defense the second half of the year, along with our fan bases's perception of those defenses.

Or hopefully you just had a typo in there that would make this whole thing a lot easier.

I wasn't gonna say anything, but yea, I think the bolded part is actually completely backwards.

I'm not defensive guru, but I actually think we moved away from that stupid a$$ two gap concept quite a bit.

We've never run a true 2 gap. It's just a buzzword people use to sound smart.

 

[Mavric]

I figured someone would jump on that. You've never heard anyone else respond that way when asked about something?

all the time, but usually not when it is an 180 degree change from previous behavior.

So now you're downgrading Pelini for changing?

 

[TAKODA]

I do think the defensive scheme, or approach, or the way we called it, whatever you want to say, I think that did change this year. It's kind of been an unexplained phenomena in my book how that halftime ( whatever game it was) the players told the coaches to do more of what the players wanted to do. It seemed to be the turning point. We became aggressive as hell. Blitzing increased or at least appeared to to me. Regardless, they changed something, and it worked. I know there will be an argument that maybe the guys just finally started "getting it". Yea, maybe a little, but there was more than that. Some will say this was Bo's defense all along, but I've seen enough bend don't break garbage to know that's not the case. We went after em more. We turned the front four loose more. Whatever change it was, I liked it, so I credit the staff for that. Or the players?

I think the defense was the biggest change we have had in Bo's tenure, outside of coaching changes. We went to a 2 Gap, something some board members harped that we wouldn't do and bashed every mentioning of it. A scheme that I think worked out very well for us and went better than I had originally thought by end of season. We now have the talent to let these guys loose, rather than playing containment. When your that much smaller than the OL, its hard to bring pressure. Defensively, we are looking bright. Offensively, just unsure.

HNN, I think you're a funny guy and I think you try to be level-headed but ultimately your love for the Huskers wins over what your logic tells you. Just a complete guess, but even though you're more of a Bo-supporter than most, I think you're far less delusional than most.

With that said, I think you need to completely re-word the complete 100% incorrect bolded statement. It is both logically and factually flawed. Perhaps you should do some research on both Bo's traditional defense, our defense the second half of the year, along with our fan bases's perception of those defenses.

Or hopefully you just had a typo in there that would make this whole thing a lot easier.

I wasn't gonna say anything, but yea, I think the bolded part is actually completely backwards.

I'm not defensive guru, but I actually think we moved away from that stupid a$$ two gap concept quite a bit.

We've never run a true 2 gap. It's just a buzzword people use to sound smart.

2 Gap, 2 Gap, 2 Gap, 2 Gap, 2 Gap, 2 Gap!

hehehehe!

 

[NUpolo8]

True touched on this, but for emphasis:

Q: Can you go directly to athletic director Shawn Eichorst if you feel the need? Folks continue to wonder about your relationship with Eichorst.

A: Yes. That's not an issue. Everything we've asked for, we've gotten.

Scratch one more excuse off the list.

Like he's gonna throw his boss under the bus.

lol.

Bo Pelini's track record of saying the smart thing instead of the honest thing, or the thing he really wants to say isn't exactly stellar. I'm taking him at his word on this one.

 

[sd'sker]

I figured someone would jump on that. You've never heard anyone else respond that way when asked about something?

all the time, but usually not when it is an 180 degree change from previous behavior.

So now you're downgrading Pelini for changing?

no, for his attitude. look, i know this is going to come off as petty, but it is not. the way pelini most demonstrates he is in over his head as a head coach is through his attitude. he is furious at everyone after a big win, his is pugnacious after embarrassing loses willing to go nuclear, he releases apologies without sincerity, then he tries to be the laid back guy that does not need to give a reason for doing something that is probably good for the program, even though he staunchly opposed it before. who is he and how does he lead?

maybe i am reading too much into this, but it just seems like the bo p.r. machine working in overdrive and hard to take it seriously. he is losing credibility, basically.

i think it is great that he is opening up practices, i am just confused why he did not before and is doing it now.