Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.

LINCOLN — Bo Pelini is on a mission.

His words, not mine. Pelini's voice was filled with passion when he said it. There was a focus to it. The focus of a man ready to take it to the next level?

This was Thursday, the day after signing day. I had arranged to meet Pelini in his office after his daily workout and before he headed into an offensive staff meeting. He had agreed to squeeze in 15 minutes to talk about where Nebraska football is headed.

We talked for nearly an hour-and-a-half.

The Husker coach expounded on that mission. To win a Big Ten title. To find the password to the Rose Bowl. To figure out how to get his team off the roller-coaster games, which have become like the Riddle of the Sphinx for Pelini.

He's obsessed with that next level. And he read my mind.

That was my theme going in. It's the obvious theme. The elephant in North Stadium.

For the last three of Pelini's four years at NU, the coach and his teams drove themselves into the ditch on the road to glory.

Take the lead against Texas in the Big 12 game, then make crucial mistakes that open the door to a controversial loss.

Take a big lead against Oklahoma a year later, then blow it again.

New league, same Huskers. A 14-7 lead at Wisconsin. Then give up 34 straight points, with three turnovers.

Down 17-10 at the half at Michigan. Then fumble the second-half kickoff and here comes another second-half meltdown.

The inexplicable flat performance in the home loss to Northwestern? Seems to happen once a year.

Then there was the Capital One Bowl, where the Huskers pushed South Carolina around for a half, before the latest meltdown: a Hail Mary, more turnovers, a star player ejected and a coach revisiting sideline antics.

I told Pelini the same thing I had written more than a month ago: NU has a good, not great, program. Solid. The Huskers aren't out-recruiting Ohio State or Michigan, just as they didn't with Texas or Oklahoma. But they could have beaten UT and OU had they cleaned up their act.

There's something — a mental block, a lack of focus, lack of commitment — getting in the way at all the wrong times. It's getting in the way of the program going forward.

Pelini agreed. He was way ahead of me.

For an hour, we talked about what some of those issues might or might not be: inexperienced coaching staff, his loyalty to certain players, how he chooses captains, the transition of going into the Big Ten and the head coach's own roller-coaster demeanor at times. He didn't agree with everything. But he acknowledged that something has to change.

"You come in here and things aren't in very good shape," Pelini said. "I think we've pushed it right to the brink of getting it over the top. We're right there. I feel like we're really close.

"My message to the team, the staff and to everyone is, we have to have that much more attention to detail, more commitment, more urgency, more accountability and push it through the whole program.

"I don't take anything away from the teams that have beaten us. But we can't ride a roller coaster. We've been our own worst enemy. We've done a lot of great things, academically and off the field. But if you want to go to the next level, you have to go to the next level in every phase of your life.

"My goal is to hold our guys, myself, everyone associated with our program, to do it to a level we haven't been to yet."

Doing it better, doing it smarter than the other guy is Nebraska tradition. Tom Osborne's teams were some of the most well-coached, well-drilled in college football. They would squeeze all they could out of special teams — a blocked punt, a big return — and kept the turnovers and penalties to a minimum.

But Pelini, who has talked to Osborne about these issues, also adds a good point: Osborne's teams often had more talent than most of the teams in the Big Eight and were in enough blowouts to build depth during games. Life in 2012, in the Big Ten, won't be that way.

"I understand what the challenges of this job are," Pelini said. "We're not going to be the most talented team all the time. We're not going to overwhelm people with talent every game. We have to do it better and cleaner than the next guy.

"We've been good in special teams. But it's putting the ball on the ground, a penalty here, a penalty there. Look at the games we lost. It's the little things."

Pelini said his Huskers haven't handled success very well. And he brought up what he thinks is a valid reason: the atmosphere around the program, including social media. Pelini said the fans and media ride the roller coaster after big wins or losses. His players tend to pick up on it.

Nebraska coaches and players have faced that issue for decades. The emotions are more accessible on a computer now. But it's the coach's job to get his team to focus. Pelini is trying to get a handle on that.

"Our fan support is phenomenal, "Pelini said. "But they get really high when it's high and really low when it's low. They tend to jump the gun.

"It's like I tell recruits: It's not about doing anything extraordinary. It's about doing the ordinary things consistently every day. It comes down to us, being more accountable, not being moody. You get to week eight, not worrying about what the dress is that day or how many periods in practice. Having the attitude of, let's go, whatever it takes. I'm not saying we haven't had that, but you need every single guy to do that every single day."

Pelini isn't calling himself insane, but I loved this line from him: "One of the definitions of insanity is to keep doing something the same way and expecting different results. I'm not doing things the same way."

The fifth-year coach has made a significant change for him: He's encouraging his older players to take more ownership of the team, starting now. Full-time captains? Pelini still says no. His ideal would be to have 20 full-time captains without the title.

"We're changing up how we do that," Pelini said. "I still like how we do the captains thing. A lot of people like it the other way. I believe when you're really good, when the leadership is really good, it's spread out. You have a lot of guys doing it the right way. In an ideal world, it should be difficult to pick three or four guys to lead your team.

"We need everybody."

• On the Big Ten move:

There was so much excitement about the historic season that this factor hasn't gotten the attention it probably deserved. Pelini was getting settled in, with a system, a Peso defense and a niche to recruit toward, and ready to move upward when suddenly he became a Big Ten coach. Then he needed to get bigger linebackers, bigger running backs and get a map of Ohio high schools.

We saw a flash of that transition in this year's recruiting class. Is it something that has thrown him off his schedule? Will this take longer now?

"I don't think you change what you're doing, but you have to adjust. I wouldn't say it set us back. But it created a whole new challenge for us.

"A little bit of this recruiting class, I wouldn't say it was experimental, but as a staff we sat down and talked about making adjustments from what we did last year and getting into new areas. I still don't have a clear idea of what effect (the move) had on us. I think in another year it will be a lot clearer for me."

Pelini said much of the offseason has been spent looking at "what we did, who we are and what we want to be," especially on offense. NU ran the ball 68 percent of the time in Tim Beck's offense last year. Pelini wants to balance it more.

"We were installing a new offense last year," Pelini said. "Now we should have a hell of a lot better understanding of what we're trying to do. Now it's time to get better at what we're doing, get better at the details. Attack at a whole other level, which is exciting to me."

• On Taylor Martinez:

Pelini and I disagreed on two issues with his quarterback. He called Martinez "a young guy." Martinez is not young. He'll enter his junior year, and fourth year of college.

"What I mean is, this will be the first time in his college career, and maybe a long time, where he's had the same offense and same offensive coordinator for two straight years," Pelini said. "I think he grew a lot from his first year to his second. If we get that same growth this year, we should be able to double or triple what we do."

The other thing: I asked Pelini why Martinez is no longer the running threat he was as a freshman. Has he lost a step? (He got caught from behind in the bowl game.) Are coaches afraid to lose Martinez to injury because the backup isn't ready? Martinez's running numbers were down this season, especially in the second half of the season.

"I think he's still a threat running the football,' Pelini said. "I still think teams do things to try and stop him and take that away, which opens up other things. They are very cognizant of what he can do."

But teams scheme to defend Denard Robinson and he still burns them occasionally. Can't NU find a way to get Martinez in the open?

"Absolutely," Pelini said.

• On Brion Carnes and whether he should have played more, whether he's a threat to push Martinez:

"Brion got better as the season went on, and I think that with this spring, it's going to be good competition," Pelini said. "There were a couple of games where I thought we should have gotten him in at the end. But it's not because he can't play. There are some things he does really, really well.

"I think this offseason is big for him. He was a young guy trying to learn the offense last year. I think it's about his overall grasp of the offense. Once he becomes totally confident in what he's being asked to do, you're going to see his athletic ability come out."

• On Jamal Turner:

"He's going to be special. His biggest thing is, he's been a quarterback. He's learning the position." Pelini dismissed the idea of Turner returning to quarterback but said, "There are some things we can do with him down the road in the Wildcat."

• On the critics of Barney Cotton and the offensive line:

"I thought last year was the best the offensive line has played since I've been here. I think it was pretty good. Mike Caputo was good. Spencer Long was (second team) All-Big Ten. We were beat up. Losing Jake Cotton hurt us. A-Rod (Andrew Rodriguez) was in and out. We're heading in the right direction."

• On the Capital One Bowl:

Pelini took issue with a comment in my bowl column that accused him of pointing the finger at his players after the loss to South Carolina. That was a rarity for the "point the thumb" coach. A lot of people were taken aback by that. I gave him a chance to explain.

"I didn't mean it like that," Pelini said. "I've got my players' backs. But it's like I said, at the end of the day, our accountability has to go up, me included. Our attention to detail. We were this close to putting that team away. Putting them away. Then the game flips in about a two-minute span, a lot of it because of us. We never should have been in that position. We didn't do what we were supposed to do."

Pelini said the comment likely came because he was still teed off about one play in the game, a play that still tees him off, to paraphrase him. He said it was a play where his players didn't do what they were coached to do, and were reminded to do just before the play.

He wouldn't say the play, but the educated guess here is it was the Hail Mary touchdown just before halftime.

"That's a great example of what I'm talking about," Pelini said. "When you think that play isn't going to come up, and it comes up, and you haven't prepared for it, that's what is holding us up. We as coaches and players have to do that in every area of life. When you think you can slide in one area, class or practice or take a play off, you can pick and choose, then you're not going to do it all the time. And you're not going to be there for the team."

Pelini disagreed with me on another take: that his team's meltdown, penalties, lack of focus — and Alfonzo Dennard's ejection — are a byproduct of a head coach who can lose his cool on the sideline. Is Bo setting the roller-coaster example?

He doesn't think he's that bad. I would agree with that. This season, Pelini controlled his temper. There was the press conference attack after Ohio State. And South Carolina. But Pelini was relatively calm at Wisconsin and Michigan. You can't totally connect the dots there.

But he got grilled for it in the bowl game. The perception came back. He'll pay the price for Texas A&M 2010 for a long time. He knows that.

"It was one time," Pelini said of the bowl game. "And I would do it again. People don't even know what I was mad about. A guy (South Carolina) kicking and shoving our guy's head into the ground. I made my point to the official, who was standing right there and saw it. He says he didn't see it. I moved on.

"If you watch, people blow it out of proportion. If you watch Brian Kelly, Nick Saban, Bob Stoops, down the list. There are guys who are way worse than me. But people put that on me. That started here.

"Think about it, even back in 2003. Believe me, I'm an intense human being. I'm a competitor. Do I have a temper? Yes. But there was this persona, before I even took the job, coming in from Green Bay, people referred to me as a fiery guy. They created this image. It's so much different than what they are used to here. But it's blown out of proportion."

Pelini says he hears all the time how people are afraid to approach him because he's intimidating. I told him he's a pussycat compared with a guy I used to cover, former Missouri basketball coach Norm Stewart. Pelini then throws out this stunner: Stewart recruited him to play basketball at Mizzou. The Youngstown, Ohio, kid chose Ohio State, of course. But imagine Pelini playing for Stormin' Norman. Two peas in a pod.

There are similarities. Two complex men. Norm had a charming side, a sense of humor, he could flash to smooth things over with the public. Bo doesn't show that side very often. He should do it more.

"People don't see the times you put your arm around a kid after you get on him," Pelini said. "The players in this program know I would run through a wall for them. And they would do the same for me. We have a mutual trust. It's like my own kids. And the way my father was with me.

"I just said it to the football team yesterday. Leadership happens when there has to be trust involved. You never take things personally. You always understand that although someone might be hard on you, you have to know deep down that person is doing what is in your best interest, doing it to help you.

"These guys don't even understand how much further they have to go, how much room there is for them to grow in life. They have to be pushed. Guys who haven't worked with me, they have to know that's who I am. I am going to keep pushing. And I'm not going to stop."

• On his coaching staff:

Pelini is fiercely loyal to his guys, coaches who have been with him through the wars. He also likes to give young coaches a break in the business, as others did for him. But is that the best way to win a championship?

"Let me ask you something: Do you realize that we're one of seven teams in the country that have won nine-plus games in the last four years?" Pelini said. "What I found years ago, you find good people, you find people you believe in, intelligent people, good workers, the whole package, you better hold onto them."

• On the Penn State thing:

One thing I've always thought about Pelini: He was made for college football in the 1970s, or even into the mid '90s. Back then, there were only two reporters at practice, not 30. There were coffee shops, not message boards that stretch from coast to coast. And animated coaches were accepted and not hounded by cameras. And a coach's image was not the thing, and even if it was, it was more easily protected in a less politically correct world.

But that was then, this is now. Part of Pelini's job in 2012, besides getting his team to clean up the meltdowns, is dealing with not only the media, but the whole thing. And by that I mean the whole thing.

Pelini's name came up in the Penn State job search last month. He denied it. But when asked to renew his vows to Nebraska, tell 'em how much he loved them, he declined.

He doesn't think he should have to do it all the time. I understand. But Nebraska gave a top job to a defensive coordinator who hadn't been a head coach a day in his life and is paying him $3 million a year. He can give a hug, can't he?

"I get tired of the question," Pelini said. "I get tired of having to deal with everything that comes up, the stuff out there that is so absurd, about this guy or that guy, the rumors that start on the Internet. If I had to deal with everything that comes up, I wouldn't have time to do anything."

So, Bo, here's your chance ...

"I love it here," Pelini said. "I've said this before: This is not a steppingstone job. This is a destination. I enjoy what I'm doing here, I love who I'm working with, I love who I'm working for. I'm not looking for another job. I'm committed to winning a championship here. I'm passionate about winning a championship here."

You might say he's on a mission. In fact, he did.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

twitter.com/tomshatelOWH

« Sports - Big Red Today

Share