Bo Pelini...The Man and The Myth

[LuteHawk]

Bo Pelini was the head football coach at Nebraska for 7 years.
He always won at least 9 games a season and was fired last
November because Nebraska wanted to go in a new direction.

This season they are going in a new direction with an opportunity
to lose 9 games with new coach Mike Riley. There are rumors that
Riley will be fired after this season is over.

The big thing against Pelini was that he was abrasive and uncouth
in his speech with his players and the press. Bobby Knight was
guilty of the same sins, yet he lasted longer at Indiana as the head
basketball coach because he won a lot games, conference titles
and NCAA titles.

Pelini celebrates his 48th birthday this year. Yet, his birthday cake
will not have as much heat as the seat of the Nebraska Athletic
Director who fired him.

 

[B1G]

IMHO, I don't think you can judge a new coach halfway thru season #1. it's just not fair.

 

[UNIowaHawk]

Plus Nebraska has to understand this is a new era. You can't continue to populate your roster with criminals and rejects who wouldn't be eligible at most other schools any longer. The media would kill you. And you aren't playing the likes of ISU, Kansas, KSU, Colorado, or Mizzou.

 

[TS568]

That's no excuse. Colorado had a dominant run including a national title in the 90's, Kansas won the Orange Bowl the year before Iowa did, Missouri played for the SEC championship in year 2 in the conference, and Kansas State has always been good since the Bill Snyder era. Hell, the worst team of them all- Iowa State- even beats our Hawks more than we'd like. I think Mike Riley is going to be outclassed in any conference, and given their atrocious pass-d it may be a Godsend that they're in a run-oriented, clock-eating conference like the Big 10 as it's probably the only thing keeping his games close.

 

[gohawkz]

IMHO, I don't think you can judge a new coach halfway thru season #1. it's just not fair.

Agreed, but maybe judge him by his record as a head coach? His best years were the same result that got Bo fired. In all his years as an NFL and college coach he never once had a championship team. NOT ONCE!

I'm thinking that Nebraska fired Bo and thought they were still living in 1992 when it was an elite program. Now it's a more of an even playing field and good coaches know that's a bad job.

Still a bad hire. Would have been better taking a shot at hot shot guy from a small MAC type school. At least there's a small chance that he's the next Urban Mayer. If you hire a guy who's coached 15 years and never won anything big..that won't work. You're not a mediocre coach that long then all of a sudden figure out how to win championships.

 

[Herkmeister]

IMHO, I don't think you can judge a new coach halfway thru season #1. it's just not fair.

You're a Democrat, right?

 

[LuteHawk]

The shadow of Tom Osborne still hangs over the Nebraska
football program. The Husker fans still believe his era was
the norm for their team. Unfortunately, they are not recruiting
guys like Roger Craig anymore.

 

[swagsurfer02]

IMHO, I don't think you can judge a new coach halfway thru season #1. it's just not fair.

Nebraska recruits better than everyone else in the west division. Their cupboard wasn't devoid of talent. Reilly was a bad hire.

 

[GPRHAWK]

You're a Democrat, right?

Think if we had judged Ferentz half way through his first year or even second year. Not saying Riley will succeed. He won't, but I think any coach should get two years at least. Pelini would not have been much better this year (probably wouldn't have blown the Illinois game). Cupboard was left pretty bare with Abdullah, Bell and Gregory gone.

 

[KuwaitHawk]

The one game that saved Charlie Strong at Texas was the win over OU, otherwise he could have been dismissed at the end of this season as the team would have folded after that game. UTex still has a chance at 6 wins, but there are some tough games ahead.

 

[BubsFinn]

Strong was not going to get fired fromTexas had they lost the OU game. The rational people (aka the ones with the money) know how bad things were when Mack left the program. As long as they could see progress, Strong was going to get at least three years.