After going 9-3 this season, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini was fired. Over his career at Nebraska - his first career head coaching stop - Pelini had a 67-27 record and never had fewer than nine victories and was 4-3 in bowl games. However, his three division conference titles were not followed by conference championships, and he lost at least four games in every season except the current one.
I do not expect the fallout from his firing to affect Michigan very much, since the two schools have not crossed paths very often in the current or upcoming recruiting cycles. Furthermore, nobody who chose Nebraska over Michigan was strongly considering the Wolverines.
2015 commits with Michigan offers: None
Roster players offered by Michigan: WR Kevin Gladney, S Charles Jackson, DE Greg McMullen, LB David Santos, S D.J. Singleton, OG Paul Thurston, DT Vincent Valentine, DT Kevin Williams
Pelini played college football at Ohio State and has spent a lot of time as a defensive coordinator, including at Nebraska, Oklahoma, and LSU. He has also spent some time as a position coach in the NFL. He could go somewhere else and become a head coach (after all, there are lots of teams who would love to win 9 or 10 games a season), or he could return to being a defensive coordinator at the college level.
Gutsy call by Neb administration, I think. Pelini was popular among players and former players and won at least 8 games in a consistent basis.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Nebraska is attractive enough for a lot of HS football players as it did back in the times of Devaney and Osborne (1960s-1990s). The competition from other schools are a lot stronger. Nebraska is a very boring place in the middle of nowhere, and the state has a small population (not even 2 mil). To say, it will be very hard to win at Nebraska better than Pelini did now. I wonder who they'll hire, but it would be difficult to top Pelini.
I know its a little out there, but does Nebraska have any veteran QBs on their roster that may move on and we might be able to pick up for depth? Potential graduate transfer thing.
ReplyDeletePretend for a second the Harbaugh hail-mary is incomplete...why isn't Pelini a viable option for Michigan?
ReplyDeleteI think he'd be better than a lot of the people being thrown out there as potential candidates (including Les Miles and every other CC you've named so far, Thunder). His success at Nebraska is not at that same level as Miles but he's turned that program around into being a perennial championship contender and he's not going to cost $8M a year or whatever other ridiculous money people want to throw around on top of the millions we'll be paying to Hackett, Hoke, Brandon, etc. Give Pellini better support and he can turn 9 wins a year into 10 or 11. I think we'd take that in a heartbeat.
Hire Bo!
I think you are making a good point here. Michigan certainly has more resources than Nebraska. I don't think his personality would fit at Michigan, but if Pelini can muster better talent than in Neb, which he will be able to do at Michigan, he can do big things. At least 10 wins every year imo. Hiring an OSU grad would also be interesting.
DeleteHe's still in his late 40s, and he made less than 3 mil at Nebraska. We can give him something like 3~3.5 mil and he would jump at the opportunity. Michigan job is an upgrade from Nebraska job. Hackett MUST consider interviewing Pelini.
DeletePlease do not hire that nut case pelini. Please. Would rather have a proven winner. I don't want to settle for winning 9 games a year. Michigan wants to compete for national titles
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