[Husker] Bo Observations

[Mike Nolan]

> In any event, Pelini acknowledged his mistake almost immediately after the game.  I think he'll learn from it, but I'm not convinced that it won't happen again.  Pelini is a fiery leader, and this is one of the downsides to it.  You had to expect that it was coming at some point.  You just hope that he can keep it toned down and not have it hurt the team again.

It still isn't clear to me just what happened, did he use a word that
was a no-no?  

It is possible that the officials aren't cutting him the same slack that
they would a long-time college coach, and may have him pegged as a hothead.  
I think Joe Paterno gets away with all sorts of abuse of the officials, 
I don't recall him ever getting a flag for it, even the time he chased 
an official 40 yards.

I also wonder if Bo isn't still adjusting to the difference between
college football and the NFL.  Every time one of the networks puts a
live mike on an NFL coach, I'm amused at how much abuse the officials
working the sidelines have to take.  (The reference to Lou Pinella
was spot on, too.)

However, I think I'd rather have a coach who has that kind of fire in
his belly towards the game, including officiating (and follows it up 
with the Big 12 office afterwards when needed, which IMHO is not the 
case here, I think the out-of-bounds hit penalty was proper even though
unfortunate for the Huskers) than one who didn't seem to be building 
up a sweat even when losing games badly (and in the case of Callahan, 
putting in TWO losing seasons that didn't seem to bother him that much 
either.)  

And if that costs a few flags (or maybe even a fine or two for post-game 
comments), it may well be worth it over the long term.   (Eddie Sutton 
made what I think is the best post-game comment I've ever heard from a 
coach when he told the press, "I'm not allowed to comment about lousy 
officiating.")
--
Mike Nolan