[Husker] Very good (and lengthy) write up on Bo and NU football

[Marc Regenos]

I would LOVE to give credit to the author, but since it came to me in  
an email, not sure who that is......

The Bo Era at NU (very long)

TRADITION
This year, two college football teams, Alabama and Oklahoma will join  
the ranks of a very rare group of teams; the over 800 win club. They  
will come in 7th & 8th team to accomplish this, some 25 wins behind  
Nebraska which ranks 4th on the all time wins list.

1 872 Michigan
2 835 Texas
3 831 Notre Dame
4 824 Nebraska
5 807 Ohio State
6 800 Penn State
7 799 Alabama
8 789 Oklahoma

(taken from football.stassen.com)

Most people are surprised that NU would rank so high on this list, or  
that NU would have more wins than programs like Oklahoma or Southern  
California. The fact is, if NU didn't have two whole decades so  
severely down during the war years, they could easily be the top  
football school in the nation. Since Nebraska's first season in 1890,  
they have accumulated not only 824 wins, but 5 National Championships  
(2 in back to back wins), 46 Conference Championships, 3 Heisman  
Trophy winners, 7 Outland Trophy winners, 14 Hall of Fame players and  
6 Hall of Fame coaches. Records in consecutive bowl game and ranking  
appearances, highlighted by an unprecedented sellout record, NU  
maintains a gold standard in college football if there ever was one.

Winning at football is a tradition at NU, so the question is not about  
our past accomplishments, but can we repeat them? Nebraska has NEVER  
been in the path of great recruiting regions. Its not blessed with a  
large population, and the fact that it has consistently found a way to  
win for well over a century speaks to something unique about the  
people of this state. What is it that makes a place like Nebraska so  
accustomed to winning? Is it mere chance, or is it that once we see  
how its done, we know what to look for and how to do it again?

I personally believe that its all about leadership and great coaching.  
Bob Devaney proved that. Great coaches simply find a way to win. They  
play smart, teach well, prepare hard and know how to motivate and get  
the best out of their players.

Bo Pelini is about to start his second season as coach. In this age of  
College Football parity, with perennial winners and great recruiting  
in Texas and Oklahoma, with places like Missouri and Kansas on the  
rise, can the lightning of winning keep striking in Lincoln? Does Bo  
have the stuff of greatness in him?

COINCIDENCES
Bob Stoops has restored the winning tradition at Oklahoma and is  
considered one of the top coaches in the nation. His connections with  
Pelini are deep but also intriguing. Both are from Youngstown and  
played at Cardinal Mooney High School under the tutelage of Bob  
Stoop's father (DC). Both played in the defensive secondary at Big 10  
schools where both got degrees in Marketing. Both started their  
coaching careers as graduate assistants at Iowa under Hayden Fry. Both  
became head coaches after winning national championships as defensive  
coordinators. Both got their first head coaching jobs at Big 12  
schools following some of the worst stretches of losing in both  
schools history. Both hired their brothers as defensive coordinators  
their first year, and both had winning seasons in their debut.

Fine and dandy, but does any of this actually mean anything? Well,  
considering that some of the greatest coaches currently in the game  
come from the Youngstown area, I'd still have to weigh in more heavily  
that all great coaches likely do have a lot in common, so such  
coincidences are to be expected. While none of this proves that Bo is  
going to be a great coach, you have to, and I mean HAVE TO like his  
chances when so much lines up in his favor.

He has been under the direction of some of the best names in the game;  
Hayden Fry, George Seifert, Pete Carroll, Mike Sherman, Bob Stoops and  
now Tom Osborne. There can be no questioning his football pedigree. As  
a defensive coordinator he has consistently fielded some of the top  
defenses in the nation. His first year as NU's HC didn't produce the  
same, but the improvement was certainly significant.

The remaining ring of coincidence is the recent success of great  
coaches who have won national championships in their 2nd or 3rd year;  
Stoops, Meyer and Carroll. No one is even remotely predicting such for  
Pelini, but considering how well he fared in his first year with a  
patchwork of walk-ons and coming off the worst defensive effort in the  
history of Nebraska, it will be entertaining to say the least to see  
what Bo can do with a bunch of hungry red-shirts in his second year.


THE BO METHOD
Bo has already established himself as a brilliant football strategist,  
a strong (if not legendary) motivator and certainly showed that his  
management skills were not lacking in year one. What other ingredients  
are needed for his leadership that might indicate a great coach in the  
making?

The most recent list of coaches on the "Hot Seat" shows Pelini's job  
as safer than Stoops right now. Not only have past rifts in Husker  
nation been healed under Bo, but there have also been a growing string  
of supportive statements from former Husker greats on the way Bo is  
coaching the players up. Does Bo have what it takes to bring a new era  
of greatness yet again to Nebraska? Bo is more than a guy with  
motivating speeches, he has a unique and well developed approach with  
his players to get them to play to their highest potential. Below are  
some interesting quotes to consider about the "Bo Way".


THE OSBORNE - BO CONNECTION
After Osborne fired Callahan, it was pretty obvious that the job was  
going to go to one of two excellent candidates, Bo or Turner Gill. It  
was, at the time anyway, hard to imagine that Osborne would pick Bo  
over Gill, considering how close Gill is to Osborne, yet that is  
exactly what happened. Considering Gill's amazing coaching record at  
Buffalo, his impeccable character, and his immense potential to  
recruit at the top level, one has to wonder what Osborne saw in Bo to  
pick him over Gill.

The obvious answer is that we needed a defensive shot in the arm, but  
there is likely a lot more to this story. Osborne, himself a master  
motivator and hall of fame coach with a doctorate in educational  
psychology, knew exactly what he was looking for in a head coach, and  
obviously found just that in Bo. While some will cite his fire, or his  
hard working Youngstown roots, its more than likely that it was Bo's  
talent for handling players in a unique way that gave our AD great  
confidence in putting the program into his hands.

I would also add that Bo's fire was known for sometimes going  
overboard. His final tutelage under Osborne could be the finishing  
touch to what could be a great coaching career. Considering the  
difference in Bo's sideline antics before and after the Oklahoma game,  
it seems that the Osborne-Pelini connection may be a match made in  
heaven.

Many on these boards argue the merits of talent versus scheme, but  
coaches who get the most out of their players are the coaches who win  
over and over again. This is what makes great players want to come and  
play for such coaches no matter where they are, and its something that  
seems to permeate NU in Bo's second year. Bo looks well set up to  
succeed. His assistant coaches are still relatively unknown, but look  
to be an excellent group with tremendous potential, more than many are  
recognizing at this point. They are sharp, and they along with the  
players are clearly buying into Bo's system.

Nebraska has ALWAYS defied the odds in maintaining a winning tradition  
here. We are about to turn the page to the next chapter in that  
glorious story. Most services are giving Bo consideration as they are  
including the Huskers in the top 25 pre-season rankings. As always,  
time will tell, but there is a lot of reason to think that the Huskers  
are about to make their long awaited return to great football.


QUOTES & STORIES


During the first scrimmage of spring practice, Pelini ordered his  
defense into one very basic scheme for the entirety of practice. Won't  
the offense catch on and expose us, Husker defenders asked. Doesn't  
matter, Pelini said. Success starts with effort, not scheme. "We went  
out and just dominated the scrimmage," Ricketts said. "Right then and  
there, everybody bought into the system."

Pelini turned up the intensity during fall camp, establishing a  
culture of aggression and confidence that players said was missing in  
2002. Repeatedly, he told weary defenders: "You haven't seen tired yet."

The night before the season opener against Oklahoma State, Pelini  
delivered the first of his Friday night pep talks, which took on  
legendary status among players. He mixed motivational stories of  
famous people with life lessons and personal experiences.

Only Pelini could've taken over for the Alamo Bowl and held the team  
together, walk-on Jeff McBride said. He did it his own way. Before the  
2001 Rose Bowl, players said, they practiced and conditioned under  
Solich several hours a day. By the time they met Miami under the  
lights, they were exhausted. In contrast, Pelini intensified but  
shortened practices. He relaxed the regimented schedule. By game day,  
the Huskers were itching to crunch shoulder pads. They won 17-3.  
Pelini left the field to chants of "We want Bo!"

LSU's defensive consistency the past three years is unmatched. In 2005  
and 2006, LSU ranked third in the country in yards allowed. This  
year's unit is second. Only twice has it allowed more than 300 total  
yards. "Pelini's defense doesn't copy anyone that I've seen," said  
Steve Spurrier, South Carolina's head coach, in September. Before  
Pelini's 35th birthday, he assisted the Packers, Patriots, 49ers,  
learning from coaches like George Seifert, Pete Carroll and Ray  
Rhodes. He's accumulated mountains of knowledge, enabling him to  
diminish the role of chance. He's a stickler for details and  
masterfully teaches technique. He's comfortable scrapping a game plan  
at halftime and drawing up something new. His blitzes come forcefully  
but disguised. But athletic directors have yet to find Pelini as  
impressive as opposing coaches and players do.





Pelini tells the coaches his goal always is to field “the best-effort  
defense” in the nation. “Our philosophy is to create a culture of  
swarming to the football ? that’s the first thing we do,” he says. “I  
want opposing teams, when they’re watching film of us, to say, ‘Wow,  
how do they get those guys to play so hard?’” To that end, Pelini  
grades defenders’ effort on every play in practice, always looking for  
“11 guys playing in one continuous motion from the time the ball is  
snapped to the time the ballcarrier is on the ground.”

* Pelini avoids “beating guys down” with negative tones and harsh  
language. “I take this philosophy: There hasn’t been a player ever  
that has tried to make a mistake out on the field,” Pelini says. “If  
he made a mistake, he made it for a reason. Well, as a coach, you need  
to search for that reason ? search for a way to get through to that  
kid. Ultimately, when you coach that way, the players are going to  
believe in you. And at the end of the day, they’re going to want to  
run through a wall for you.”

Pelini tells a story from 2003 when he served as Nebraska’s defensive  
coordinator. A defender made a mistake in practice, and one of the  
Husker assistant coaches castigated the player. The assistant ranted  
and raved and even ran from the sideline into the defensive huddle to  
get in the player’s face. “I called the assistant coach over to me and  
said, ‘All that stuff you just did: Was that for you or for the  
player? Because I heard you yelling at that kid and not one time did  
you tell him what he did wrong,’” Pelini says. “I told the coach, ‘So,  
the next time, it’s on you.’”

The key, Pelini says, is “getting kids to understand what they’re  
doing so they can do it fast.” “If I get after a kid, (later) I’ll  
walk up and put my arm around him and say, ‘You’re better than that,  
right? You know you’re better than that, right?’”

One of his main objectives is to take the opposing offense out of its  
comfort zone and disrupt the quarterback’s play-calling rhythm. To  
that end, Pelini says, he’s somewhat rare among defensive coordinators  
in that he scripts his calls early in games. In scripting his calls,  
he says, he tries to gives the offense “multiple, multiple looks”  
early on. He uses this tactic “to get in the heads” of offensive  
coordinators while simultaneously trying to dissuade the offense from  
using certain plays later in the game. “If an offense has a couple of  
plays I know I don’t want to see, I’m going to run some blitzes and  
pressures and things that say, ‘OK, those things aren’t going to be  
there for you this week,’” Pelini says. “Because later in the game,  
when I get into my game plan, I don’t want to see a couple plays (from  
the offense). If I can put in their heads, ‘OK, let’s go away from  
that stuff,’ we’re going to be in a better situation as a defense.”

He says defensive coordinators shouldn’t show panic, because their  
players will sense it and react accordingly. “I’ve been around coaches  
who act like the world came to an end if the offense got a 3-yard gain  
on first down,” Pelini says. “What happens is, you act like that  
toward your players, they get in there and get more aggressive and  
boom ? you start getting beat on play-action (passes) and ultimately  
you get beat over the top, and that’s how you lose games.”