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LSU assistant, future Nebraska coach's path began in Youngstown
Former Ohio State captain and defensive back Bo Pelini will direct LSU's defense against OSU.
Friday, January 04, 2008
NEW ORLEANS — Bo Pelini is first and foremost a 1986 Youngstown Cardinal Mooney High School graduate. Since, the LSU defensive coordinator has been many things on different coaching levels.
But listen to him tell it, and Ohio was the most important stop.
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"It's about your upbringing, and a little bit culturally," Pelini said. "It's very blue collar, and that blue-collar aspect to you, especially where I come from in Youngstown and the upbringing you have, teaches you a lot of things as far as what it takes to build a football team."
Soon, Pelini will get a chance to build his own team, which, coupled with his native state and his playing past, makes him one of the most interesting characters in next week's BCS championship game between Ohio State and LSU.
Known briefly for his interim coaching stint at Nebraska, Pelini has built one of the country's best defenses in Baton Rouge but will return to Lincoln as Nebraska's head coach after the title game.
In a game full of respected coaches from Ohio — OSU's Jim Tressel and LSU's Les Miles leading the line — Pelini will soon fit in as another straightforward, intense college football character built from the same high school as the Stoops brothers — Bob and Mike — and reared in Nebraska and Louisiana.
"Passionate fans, great traditions, the people ... they're just rich football traditions, all three of them," Pelini said.
After graduating from Cardinal Mooney, Pelini became an Ohio State defensive back and was a team captain in 1990, his senior season (as well as a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree).
He began his coaching career in 1991 as a graduate assistant at Iowa before serving as an NFL assistant coach with San Francisco, New England and Green Bay from 1994-2002.
"At a young age, I was very fortunate; I was around great coaches," Pelini said. "I learned the right way to do things."
Pelini used that experience to join the Nebraska staff in 2003 and served as interim head coach when the school fired Frank Solich before the Alamo Bowl, in which the Cornhuskers beat Michigan State 17-3. Nebraska hired Bill Callahan after a search that many Cornhuskers fans hoped would center on Pelini, so he connected with Bob Stoops in Oklahoma before coming to LSU when the school hired Miles in 2005.
Pelini's LSU defenses have ranked third nationally in total defense in each of his three seasons.
Now coaching his last game for the Tigers before moving into his Nebraska office, Pelini still uses the countenance and values he learned as a Youngstown resident in molding his teams.
"Some places you feel you go and you fit in," Pelini said. "Every place is different. My year there I thought I would relate to the people there. I feel like I can relate to the people in Louisiana. I had a tremendous experience there, and I'm looking forward to going back there."
Bo Pelini
Born: Dec. 13, 1967 in Youngstown
College: Ohio State, free safety, 1987-90
Coaching
1991: Iowa (graduate assistant)
1993: Youngstown Mooney High School (quarterbacks)
1994-96: San Francisco 49ers (defensive backs)
1997-99: New England Patriots (linebackers)
2000-02: Green Bay Packers (linebackers)
2003: Nebraska (defensive coordinator)
2004: Oklahoma (co-defensive coordinator)
2005-07: LSU (defensive coordinator)
'It's about your upbringing, and a little bit culturally. It's very blue collar, and that blue-collar aspect to you, especially where I come from in Youngstown and the upbringing you have, teaches you a lot of things as far as what it takes to build a football team."
Bo Pelini
On Ohio and its effect on him
