Coach Pelini's Six Strengths

Sam McKewon reviews the first year of the Pelini regime and also finds six strengths or items of note to the new Husker leader and his team.

First, while the team often started slowly, falling behind 113-98 in the opening quarter, the defense made adjustments (an idea Kevin Cosgrove should adopt for certain) and allowed the offense to spark some furious come from behind efforts including wins against Baylor and Colorado as well as a near misses versus Virginia Tech and Texas Tech. This was something almost entirely lacking in the Callahan years other than the lone come from behind win against A & M in 2006.

Secondly, Pelini's defensive philosophy appears tailored well to the current times, with a defensive scheme designed to compete with the plethora of spread offenses, one in which the base defense doesn't have to substitute against offensive personnel packages.

"Pelini wants a fast, agile defense, one durable and flexible enough to withstand offensive personnel changes from play to play without making its own. Pelini was forced to use a whole array of packages and players in 2008, calling on guys like Matt Holt and Matt May, linebackers in safeties’ bodies, to attack spread offenses. Long term, Pelini wants two dominant safeties, active linebackers and a couple heroes in the interior defensive line. This how the great college defenses are generally built today, with a back seven who can cover and tackle in space, with two shortish fireplugs down low."

Darren over at Big Red Network has also noted the DT recruits being pursued appear to be short and thick types, while the defensive backs are tall guys who can run with the big wideouts prevalent throughout the conference. Four of the five DB commits for 2009 are over 6 foot. He also noted that NU is pursuing kids from big time high school programs that are used to winning.

Thirdly, McKewon sees that Pelini doesn't throw the kids or other coaches under the bus after a loss, he takes the heat himself, which is a nice change from the previous regime. Watson appears to have the same attitude, telling reporters after the CU game he made a "stupid call" when Ganz was sacked to set up the third and 25 that led to the 57 yd FG from Alex Henery to win the game.

Next he addresses the impact hire of S & C Coach Jim Dobson from Iowa, which has led to a much trimmer squad able run and swarm to the ball on defense. Quick, lean and athletic with explosiveness is the new watchword in Lincoln. Another major change noted is in "saving for the future" and not burning players redshirts for special teams play or a particular opponent. (The loss of LB Lance Brandenburg's eligibility due to a handful of special teams plays five years ago still burns particularly bright in many minds.)

Last, he covers the fact that Pelini "gets it" when it comes to the peculiar and unique fan base that comprises the Husker Nation, and the obvious comraderie that exists between Pelini and his staff and the rest of the university's sports coaches, such as Doc Sadler, Mark Manning and John Cook.

"Making allies comes easily for Pelini. He might be better at it than Tom Osborne was, to be honest. Inter-departmental relationships are not a small thing, folks.
Former athletic director Steve Pederson flunked that part of the exam and nobody, outside his coaching staff, really seemed to know Callahan. Pelini stops at a local coffee shop nearly every morning before he drops his kids off for school, signs autographs, orders his drinks – you know, the regular people stuff. Those little details are the glue that helps makes a football coach an institution, and not just the richest public employee in the state."

Such little things go a long ways towards creating an atmosphere of trust and admiration with his customers (us fans) all across the state. Callahan certainly didn't understand it. Bo most certainly does, and has already achieved near cult status because of it.

Buffalo Bulls and Turner Gill

Late congrats to the the MAC champion Buffalo Bulls and their Head Coach, former Husker QB and coach Turner Gill. Buffalo, winners of only 10 games in the seven seasons previous to hiring Gill, went 8-5 this year to win its first conference title. Facing previously unbeaten Ball St and given little chance to win the game, Buffalo forced four turnovers, inlcuding two fumble recoveries for TDs, to defeat the Cardinals 42-24.

"The Bulls (8-5) capped the program's first bowl-eligible season since joining college football's top tier of teams in 1999. Buffalo athletic director Warde Manuel said the school accepted an invitation to play in Toronto's International Bowl.

"To have the game an hour and a half away is a reward for our fans," coach Turner Gill said.

Manuel said members of Buffalo's 1958 team will join the current program on the trip because they turned down a chance to play in the Tangerine Bowl because their black players wouldn't have been able to participate.

"The 1958 team deserves a bowl experience," Manuel said.

Gill is supposedly under consideration for the open head coaching gigs at both Syracuse and Auburn, and is one of only four black head coaches at the BCS level (OWH story here). Gill faced a great deal of skepticism in interviewing for head jobs after leaving NU due to the fact he had never served as a coordinator, but the Buffalo AD (also black) took a flyer on the former NU star, who was the the Green Bay Packers of the NFL as Player Director after leaving NU under Bill Callahan. Also of note is the great job former NU LB/DE Jimmie Williams is doing as Gill's DC.

Husker FB

OWH looks into the Husker Football notes for the week. Biggest news is that Linebackers Cody Glenn and Phil Dilliard practiced this week after being absent from the field in the loss to Texas Tech last Saturday and that soph Javario Burkes has earned the starting left tackle spot over fellow soph Mike Smith. The offense is also running sprint drills for every penalty that occurs on the field after another game in which a strong effort was plagued by far too many yellow hankies. One gem out of the game against Tech was the emergence of Meno Holt in the receiving corps. Holt had a career high 6 catches for 55 yards. Also of note, Coach Bo flashed signs he is relaxing a bit more in front of the local media.

"Pelini, apparently, is growing more comfortable with the setting at his weekly press conference. On Tuesday, he was quick to joke with the news media. Here's a sampling:

Q: Are the Huskers a dangerous football team?
Pelini: "Dangerous to themselves or to somebody else?"

Q: How will the Iowa State offense attack NU?
"I don't know," Pelini said. "Could you get into their practice and come back and tell me?"

Q: Does Nebraska's lack of execution often drive him nuts?
"Yeah, but it always does," the coach said. "By the end of the week, you can usually put me in a rubber room." "

Ekeler Confident of Young Husker LB Corps

More from the OWH on Husker LB Coach Mike Ekeler and his young charges. Mike is confident that the players will be able to perform well under the new system despite not having any returning starters. As he sees it, the challenge will simply be to get the best players on the field.

"Here's what was left for Ekeler when he arrived from Louisiana State to assume his first job as a full-time assistant:

• Not one returning full-time starter from last season, and only one player with more than a dozen career tackles.
• Just one senior, who happens to be a walk-on.
• Only five scholarship linebackers, one of whom was recruited to play safety.

For comparison, NU has seven scholarship receivers. Yet Ekeler looks insulted if you question what he has to work with during spring football practice. "We're fairly deep," Ekeler said. "We've got some good guys. We don't look at it as scholarship and non-scholarship. We just need to see who's going to rise to the top. That's what it boils down to."

NU hasn't had to replace all three positions since 1997. Mike backer Phillip Dillard has three career starts, bur has played in 24 games total and looks to establish himself as a defensive anchor. Blake Lawrence and Latravis Washington (moved from safety) seek to fill the starting spots with competition from scholarship LBs Nick Covey, Austin Stafford and walk-on senior Tyler Wortman. In addition, the current crop will recieve four scholarship recruits in the fall, including highly touted prospects Will Compton and Millar North's Shawn Fischer, as well as Micch Kriekemeier and Alonzo Whaley.

"So what makes the perfect linebacker?"A guy who is sharp, a guy who's going to play with fanaticism, play with his hair on fire and a guy who's going to just be relentless and refuse to get blocked and make plays," Ekeler said. "That's perfect to me."

Sounds perfect to me too. Good luck to Mike and his players.

Husker LB Coach Mike Ekeler

Marc Hudgens of RealFootball365 interviews my fellow BHS alum and Husker LB coach Mike Ekeler. Beyond the usual questions about expectations at NU, the transistion from grad assistant to position coach, and the fact no one on the Pelini staff will "color" their view of the players by watching tape form last year's defense, he was asked to get specific about his new crop of four linebacking recruits, and had this to say about the young men:

"Q: So far you have four linebackers committed, the most in three years. This is a pretty large linebacker class.

EKELER: Yeah, no question. Alonzo Whaley, he's out of Houston, out of Madisonville, Texas; he's a guy we really, really like, and we really feel like he was one of . . . I don't know if I saw a better fullback in the last few years than Alonzo. So he's got an opportunity; he's such a versatile athlete that he could play a number of positions for us. So we'll have to see how that shakes out with him. I tell you what, he's a hammerhead now.

As far as the other ones . . . we're really, really, really happy, obviously, with our recruiting class. You know, Will Compton at a mike 'backer, the guy's 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, can run like a deer, is an all-state receiver as well, just tremendous athleticism, body control. Really, really a smart guy. He's about a three-nine student, already got fifteen hours of college credit, and the guy gets it. I mean absolutely gets it. I went in on a recruiting trip and the first time I met him, we started going over our defense and talking about adjustment and the questions he asked, I mean he asked what you wanted to hear. I mean he's just a sharp, sharp guy, and really, really, really excited to have the opportunity to coach him and to get him in our program.

And Sean Fisher, 6-5, 30 pounds right now, out of Millard North here in Omaha. He is a fantastic, fantastic athlete. Played running back in the state championship game, nearly carried his team to a state championship, played safety, and he can run. Again, another guy who can run like a deer.

And that's kind of the theme; that's kind of what we look to recruit, guys who are tremendous athletes, and guys who can just flat-out fly. Our whole defense, we're predicated on speed. And those guys, those two guys, those guys bring it right there. And Alonzo Whaley again, I touched on him earlier, he's a guy who is a tremendous athlete. Really, really good speed, really a physical, physical football player, and adds a lot of versatility to our team.

And then you have Micah Kreikemeier, out of West Point, Nebraska . . . I told Micah, it's kind of a funny story, told him that he put more pressure on me than any coach in the history of the game. Because if he doesn't turn out good, I'm probably going to lose my job. That was coach [Tom] Osborne's last . . . coach Osborne offered him right before we got here. And so, technically, he's coach Osborne's final recruit. And so, we're having fun with that, Micah and his parents and myself. I just keep on ribbing him on that, that he'd better bring your lunch pail because we got to get to work and get you ready to roll. We got to make coach Osborne right on his last recruit. But again you look at Sean Fisher, and Micah as well, they're two 4.0 students, actually greater than 4.0, and just fantastic, fantastic kids. Great character, these guys are going to come in and just work their tails off.

And then on top of that, we've got some guys who turned down major, major scholarships and walked on here. We got a number of guys who I'm just unbelievably fired up about. I can't comment on those guys right now due to NCAA rules, I guess I can comment on them, saying it in general terms, but I can't mention their names because technically they're still recruitable athletes until school starts and they're enrolled. But I'm telling you what, we just, Barney Cotton and Jeff Jamrog, our director of football operations, did a fantastic job of just scouring the state, and really, really, really happy."

Mike also answered questions about working with Tom Osborne, recruiting prospects, what gets him "revved up", the loudest stadium he's been in, what some of his favorite things are and what else he might like to do it he wasn't in coaching. Great interview.

Spring practice under Coach Pelini and the rest of the staff opened yesterday.

Husker DE Coach John Papuchis

I caught this interview by Bill Jordan with Husker DE Coach John Papuchis the other day. Papuchis arrived from LSU with Head Coach Bo Pelini and Husker LB Coach Mike Ekeler. They first covered John's role on the staff.

"Bill Jordan for the Biz of Football: What is your role on the team besides coaching the defensive ends?

John Papuchis: Well, I’ve been working with Bo for a couple years, so as far as helping him put together a plan on defense from week to week and I coach our punt team. I also have a role with our special teams from an administrative prospective as well. I’ll be assisting it and putting together the depth chart and stuff like that. Primarily I’ll coach the defensive ends; I’ll coach the punt team and from an administrative perspective take care of special teams."

They also covered recruiting in general and it's is different between the two schools, his geographic area responsibilities for it, compared Bo's coaching style with LSU Coach Les Miles, how the LSU players reacted to the news of Pelini's hire at Nebraska, how welcomed he has felt at NU, how they prepared LSU for the NC game against Ohio State, and several other interesting tidbits. It's a very nice read on the new coach.

Another Take on Pelini Hire

I ran across a short inteview with Husker Heas Coach Bo Pelini at Yahoo! Sports conducted by Rivals.com sportwriter Olin Buchanan. He also talked with Husker legend Tom Ruud, father of recent linebackers Barrett and Bo about the new coach and the program. Buchanan points out the key to the hire:

"In making his first address to the team, Pelini brought a direct, no-nonsense message of great expectations and demands.

“I told them everybody is going to be held to extremely high standards,” Pelini said by phone last week. “They’re expected to do things right on and off the field and develop a sense of accountability. That’s not up for debate.”

Neither is that Nebraska’s once-proud “Black Shirts” defense hit bottom in ‘07 by allowing at least 40 points six times, including an all-time high 76 points in a loss to Kansas. Nebraska’s defense allowed at least 40 points 11 times in four seasons under Callahan. Before Callahan, the Huskers had allowed at least 40 points just 11 times in 45 seasons from 1959-2003.

But Pelini is a master architect of powerful defenses, having coached top-20 ranked defenses in each season as coordinator at Nebraska (2003), Oklahoma (2004) and LSU (2005-07). Restoring some teeth to the once-ferocious “Black Shirts” is the first step in leading Nebraska back to national prominence."

As a college assistant, Pelini's teams have never won less than 10 games, AND have never been ranked below #13 in total defense and #17 in scoring defense. Pelini indicated there will be subtle yet significant differences in how he runs our program from how his former bosses ran there own teams. Ruud stated that while Callahan was a good coach, Pelini has embraced the state and the culture in a very different way than Callahan, and Buchanan points out how the state has responded to the hire in a very postive manner, even going so far as to list the different T-shirt captions that have caught on utilizing the Coach's nickname.

Nice to have a positive article on the program for a change.

How Bo Came to NU the First Time

HuskerExtra has the story of how Frank Solich, smarting from a subpar 7-7 season, went about looking for a new defensive coordinator to replace Craig Bohl after the 2002 season.

"How did Pelini go from a Green Bay Packers linebackers coach to the toast of Nebraska? The short version: Solich called Monte Kiffin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kiffin called Pete Carroll of the USC Trojans. Carroll told Kiffin: “Monte, you could not find a better guy than Bo. He’s enthusiastic and he’ll get players to play for him.”

Solich explained that he wasn't necessarily looking for an NFL coach, but he wanted to keep the process simple, interview two or three cnadidates, and thought Kiffin, with ties to the program, would be able to point him toward some talented coaching assistants. Kiffin in turn asked his former Defensive Coordinator Pete Carroll for advice, and Carroll, in turn mentioned a guy he'd worked with in San Fransisco, and whom he had hired as an assistant when Carroll was hired at New England - Bo.

Solich also looked at Bud Foster of Virginia Tech and John Tenuta of Georgia Tech, ultimately deciding on Pelini over Tenuta for his 2003 DC, while Carroll inteerestingly enough wound up with a job at USC. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Bo Doubters Need to Chill

Apparently some fans have spouted off about the number of decommits from the initial recruiting list being compiled from the previous regime. The Nebraska State Paper's Sam McKewon is telling the Husker naysayers (back on the 19th of Dec) to relax and give the new coach the benefit of the doubt, and lists the repairs our new coach has to conduct, and how it appears he's going about it. Of course, people might chill out now that Bo has a NC ring to go along with his Superbowl ring.

"Overhaul the defense in attitude and aggression. Simplify the offense while keeping the essence of it. That's what Pelini's staff is built to do.

Now think about two of the great failures of the Bill Callahan era. The defense looked lost, ticked off, and trapped inside its own collective brain. The offense, meanwhile, had its moments, but often couldn't get out of its own way when it really needed to score. So Pelini's staff is designed to perform triage on two major wounds of Callahan's regime.

And Pelini's doing a bad job? You wanted more credentialed assistants? Why? Staff continuity and chemistry is far more crucial than credentials. Phil Elmassian had a ton of credentials as a defensive backs coach. His guys also made an art out of face-guarding. You wanted better recruiters? Give it time.Clearly, Pelini's hitting the trail with a different message than Callahan's troops did.

There's a difference between straight talk and sweet talk."

Amen.

Another Husker note is that the staff is complete with the addition of former Kansas WR coach and "Passing Coordinator"(? it's s new one to me) Tim Beck as the new RB coach. Beck is also from the Pelini's hometown of Youngstown and a fellow grad of Cardinal Mooney High. The word with Beck is that he is a good to excellent recruiter with some strong ties to Texas from a period as a high school coach there.

Also, we gained a QB recruit out of the Lone Star state, Kody Sprano, who is billed as a dual threat run/pass type. He runs about 6'2 and 200 lbs, and will get a jump by enrolling at NU for the spring semester.

Pelini Names Assistants, Roles

via HuskerExtra, New Husker HC Bo Pelini offically named all but one member of his staff yesterday. As expected, the only holdovers from the Callahan regime were OC Shawn Watson and Ted Gilmore, who will be receivers coach, recruiting coordinator and also have the title of Assistant Head Coach. Former Husker (and ISU) OC Barney Cotton will be O-line coach and associate head coach, while former Husker receivers coach Ron Brown will coach the tight ends. The new running backs coach is the only member of the new staff not named, although the decision has been made.

"“Barney will assist me in a number of key administrative duties within our program,” Pelini said, adding that Gilmore will “play a key role in the overall direction of our program.”

Pelini said Gilmore was on his radar even before he became a candidate for Nebraska’s head coaching job. “And since I’ve been here, he’s only exceeded expectations,” Pelini said.

Not made known is who will coach the running backs. Pelini has already hired someone for the position, but said he will name the individual in early January, after that coach has finished working with his current team in a bowl game.

Pelini said the running backs coach could also carry the label of special teams coach, but said that special teams is “something we’ll split up as a staff and all handle, everybody but the offensive coordinator.”"

Th defensive staff will also see a good mix of familiar faces and some new blood, as
Bo's brother Carl, defensive ends coach for Frank Solich in 2003, returns to coach the line and serve as coordinator, and Marvin Sanders will handle the secondary and (most likely) co-coordinator. The new blood comes in the form of two LSU staff members getting their first chance as full time assistants. Blair native Mike Ekler (formerly an LSU assistant strength coach) will be coaching the linebackers and LSU intern John Papukis will coach defensive ends.

Pelini was quoted as saying the staff shaped up exactly as he intended, getting all the coaches he was targeting, and that he will call the defensive plays but that all the defensive coaches will have equal input.

Article concludes with a short bio of each coach, well worth the read. Personally, I'm liking the way things have fallen into place. It will be interesting to see who lands the open RB coach spot, as it was hinted they may also coach special teams, which was often an issue during the previous regime. The job now is to land a recruiting class and get the players through winter conditioning, then it will be time for the spring game. Whoo-hoo! Can't wait.

More on Husker Coaching Staff

via HuskerExtra, more on the possible new staff. Definites are Carl Pellini, Marvin Sanders, Ron Brown, and Barney Cotton, along with Shawn Watson and Ted Gilmore. Randy Jordan is still a possibility. New announcements are John Papuchis and Mike Ekeler from the LSU staff. Gilmore and Pelini were in California recruiting, AD Tom Osborne was in Iowa, and I thought I saw something about Watson being in Texas. Pelini and Osborne spent time tlaking to local high school recruits earlier in the week as well.

Ekeler is a Nebraska native of Blair, my hometown, and I know him slightly, as he was a freshman there the year I graduated. Ekeler played linebacker at Kansas State and has been an serving as an assistant strength coach for the Tigers. He appaarently met Pelini while both were at Oklahoma in 2004.

Husker Coaching Staff

via HuskerExtra, former Husker receiver coach Ron Brown has been hired by Head Coach Bo Pelini (I love writing that) to coach tight ends for the new staff. He had been serving as the Director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for the state of Nebraska. Brown spent 17 years as a Husker assistant to Coaches Osborne and Solich before being dismissed by the Callahan regime. Brown stated that Pelini had made a promise in a conversation in 2004 when both were Husker assistants to hire Brown should Pelini ever become a head coach.

Speculation on further assistants is rampant.

Names being mentioned on offense are former Husker player, offensive coordinator and former ISU OC Barney Cotton as offensive line coach, and retaining Callahan assistants Shawn Watson and Ted Gilmore in their current positions as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator. There is also some speculation Callahan running back coach Randy Jordan might be retained.

Defensively, things could get pretty interesting. No holdovers are expected on this side of the ball.

Possibilities include former Husker QB, NFL safety and current Northern Iowa LB coach Scott Frost at defensive back coach, former Husker defensive ends coach and current Ohio University defensive line coach Carl Pelini (Bo's brother) at defensive line, former Husker safety, defensive back coach, and former North Carolina defensive coordinator Marvin Sanders as defensive coordinator, former Husker all-Amercian DE, linebacker coach, NFL LB and current Buffalo defensive coordinator Jimmy Williams as linebacker coach, and current LSU special teams coach Bradley Dale Peveto at that position.

Gotta like the number of former Huskers being mentioned for spots on the staff. Cotton, Sanders and Brown have not been coaching this last season. I still wish we could land Tom Rathman, but he's tied up in the NFL right now with the Raiders. Time will tell.

The BO has Landed

via HuskerExtra and OWH, Bo Pellini has landed in Lincoln and has met shortly ago with the Husker players with an announcment that he will be Nebraska's next head coach expected at 4 pm today.

Oustanding news. Former Husker assistants Marvin Sanders and Ron Brown may be a part of the staff, as well as current Husker OC Shawn Watson. Pelini told the LSU players yesterday before the SEC Championship game that he was leaning toward taking the Husker head position, referring to it as a "dream job". The Tigers defeated Tennessee 21-14 yesterday and have apparently risen to #2 in the BCS to take on Ohio State for the National Cahmpionship.

Callahan Fired

Rare weekend post due to the happenings at the alma mater.

Just finished watching the press conference where UNL interim AD Tom Osbourne announced that Husker Head FB Coach Bill Callahn has been fired, as expected. Bottom line, two losing seasons out of four just doesn't get it done in this neck of the woods. The nine assistants will continue to work on recruiting and will be under contract through January 2009, with NU making up any difference in pay from their current levels if they wind up taking another job later elsewhere.

Osbourne said he has not talked to anyone about the head position yet, but he has had an unnamed individual or firm approach some coaches to gauge interest in the job if it opened up. The head coach will make all decisions on all current or potential assistants according to Osbourne, but he also said that he would give his opinion if asked about particular individuals that he is familiar with from past experience.

Coaches with Nebraska ties are expected to be among those that might be interested in either the head job or position coaching spots, but the search will not be exclusive to such persons. Osbourne said the most important factor in the search would be finding someone of integrity, and one that knows football and can motivate the players. The Lincoln Journal-Star is reporting that Bo Pelini has been contacted through an Atlanta search firm, but that report could be just another rumor - but I'd certainly welcome Bo back to Lincoln with open arms.

Huskers Name Watson OC

via OWH.

The departure of offensive coordinator Jay Norvell to UCLA for the same position there has allowed Head Coach Bill Callahan to promote TE Coach and recruiting coordinator Shawn Watson to OC, a position he held under Gary Barnett for the Colorado Buffalos. Watson was CU OC for six years, and passed up OC opportunities at both Cal and San Diego St. to join Callhan's staff a year ago.

"The relationship between Callahan and Watson goes back to the 1980s, when they worked together on Mike White's staff at Illinois. Watson was head coach at NCAA Division I-AA Southern Illinois from 1994 through 1996, then joined Barnett for the first time in 1997 at Northwestern. At Colorado, Watson helped the 2001 team become only the third in school history to average better than 200 yards passing and rushing. The 2004 team was only the second at CU to produce a 1,000-yard rusher and 2,000-yard passer.

Watson is likely to give up the RC position after the Feb. 7 recruit signing date. No word yet on potential replacements for the new opening on the Husker staff.