Bo Pelini Breaks Promise To Navy Serviceman
by Peter Bean on Jan 6, 2011 8:38 AM CST
in Texas Longhorns Football
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PrintBo Pelini has issues: anger issues, media issues, victim-complex issues. And, apparently, heartlessness issues.
Prior to Nebraska's appearance in this year's Holiday Bowl in San Diego, both Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian and Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini had lunch aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, dining with a hall full of sailors. And at no time were the cheers or excitement higher than when Pelini announced that one lucky sailor would get to call a play for Nebraska during the Holiday Bowl.
You can imagine how excited Petty Officer 3d Class Morgan Ryan was when his name was chosen to watch the game from the sidelines and call the play.
Ryan didn't spend a lot of time devising a special play, although a couple of his buddies suggested the "Fumble-rooski."
Instead of focusing on a play he might call, Ryan studied "Washington's defense, looking for a weakness." And while he didn't tell any of his friends back home about his swag, he did call his mom in Minden to make sure she was going to watch the game.
The only problem? Bo Pelini never let Ryan call the play. And if it had turned out that in his manic raging Pelini simply forgotten, we all would have shaken our heads knowingly.
But it's worse than that:
Unfortunately for Ryan, he never got the opportunity. Nor, as it turns out, did Pelini ever intend to honor his commitment.
"It was a joke, ma'am," the sour head coach barked at me in his Holiday Bowl postgame news conference.
A joke?
That was news to Ryan, who told me this week that no one told him he had been punked by Pelini. In fact, Ryan said numerous Nebraska assistant coaches and some of the players had talked with him after the luncheon. "A lot of players, maybe 15, asked me what play I would call," Ryan said.
I asked Ryan what his reaction would be if he had found out Pelini had no intention of letting him call a play?
"I would understand," Ryan reasoned. "It's a bowl game. It's not just a regular game."
When I informed Ryan that Pelini told me the whole thing was a joke, his face fell.
He sat in front of me, looking a bit stunned. He displayed no anger, just sat there, staring into space.
Ladies and gentlemen, Bo Pelini!
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But isn't this what nouveau Husker fan wants?
I don’t care if he’s spitting on reporters and exposing himself to the Iowa School for the Deaf’s elementary students, just win those f#%*ing games!!!!!!!!!
- herpiehusker @ cornnation.com
I'm saying..
…he was never one of their “classy” fans, and he’s come over here saying that he hates the moniker. So, it’s not a surprise for him to say something like that. I’ll be surprised if that is the overall sentiment at corn nation.
by vy til i die on Jan 6, 2011 10:32 AM CST up reply actions
Pelini has changed the landscape there
When we say ‘classy’ in football terms I think we really mean respectful and this charade by Pelini was shameless. It speaks volumes of their fan base, administration and Osborne that they support him.
We should let the Navy guy call an offensive play. I won’t say anything bad about GD but you know what I’m thinking :)
All is not lost. We're still Texas and we still have female cheerleaders.
by SpiritOfTheFedora on Jan 6, 2011 12:55 PM CST up reply actions
I think very, very few Husker fans
Actually support Pelini’s demeanor overall, especially over the latter half of this year. Most of us are pretty upset with the way he carries himself, actually.
But this particular story struck many of us as patently absurd. That’s really all there is to it.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 6, 2011 1:00 PM CST up reply actions
And another one....
I don’t care about all the media hoopla, upset reporters who’s feelings are hurt (including Nebraska’s own reporters), or the fact that reporters themselves are trying to be the stories instead of just reporting them. Me and 99.9% of America could give two #% about Lisa Horne’s opinion.
- HuzkerFan @ cornnation.com
why would you want that as a username?
Husker fan with herpes?
by goingforthecorner on Jan 6, 2011 11:07 AM CST up reply actions
Bo Pelini’s tenure in the Big 10 will answer the age old question: “How long would Woody Hayes have coached if he didn’t win football games?”
proud to swim home
by learned hand on Jan 6, 2011 8:51 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Different time.
Coaches like Hayes were all over the CF world so it really wasn’t an issue. The final straw was the punch. Hayes became a PR liability for the school.
Hopefully we are more enlightened now, but how long did take Mangino to lose his job? How long had he abused players before some school forced him out? I’m not defending Kansas. They had to know some of this was happening, but they let it go because he produced football wins in a basketball school.
What we have here is a failure to execute.
I suppose I don’t expect Pelini to last long solely because of the difference in quality of competition between the Big 10 and the Big 12 North. Nebraska would abide a PR disaster, and jackass, if he won. I expect Nebraska to fight it out with Northwestern for worst team in the Legends conference for the near future.
And Pat Fitzgerald will still coach circles around Pelini every year.
proud to swim home
This story makes you get a horrible feeling in your stomach. You just sit there, stunned, as if this just can’t be true.
At some point, Osbourne will have to address this coaching hire. Despite every shot I’ve taken at him about realignment and Cornhusker whining, Osbourne is an honorable and honest man. He was a great coach and an even better representative for Nebraska. How long can he sit back and let this ass demean Nebraska’s reputation?
What we have here is a failure to execute.
Disagree
Dr. Tom isn’t much better. Remember he’s the coach that “suspended” his starting RB for one game after he beat up his girlfriend and threw her down a flight of stairs. His Nebraska program was dirty, dirty, dirty. Remember Christian Peter as well? When he became a politician he finally found his true home.
Who are you?!
I'm Kick Ass!
by TexasGarcia37 on Jan 6, 2011 10:03 AM CST up reply actions
We will disagree on some of this. :-)
First of all, thanks for calling those issues what they were. It is very nice when a guy recognizes that those players for what they were.
I’m not going to attempt to defend Osbourne concerning either player. He made egregious errors in both cases. Both guys were predators that should have been locked up. The sports world in which Osbourne was a part and the one that still exists continues to allow and dismiss this type of behavior. (See Steeler QB, etc. and their boys will be boys and he needs to grow up attitude.)
AS a whole, Osbourne ran a relatively clean program in the Big Eight, compared to the other schools.
Really? Christian Peter became a politician? Please tell me you were joking…
What we have here is a failure to execute.
by dimecoverage on Jan 6, 2011 10:59 AM CST up reply actions
sorry
when Dr. Tom became a politician he found his home. never been a fan of his.
Who are you?!
I'm Kick Ass!
by TexasGarcia37 on Jan 6, 2011 12:51 PM CST up reply actions
Classy coaches
Cook- the volleyball coach – nearly came to blows with his counterpart after the Washington Huskies knocked the Huskers out of the post-season. He gets away with his antics because he is one of the top coaches in the sport and wins wins wins.
Still a Blaine Irby fan
by patienthornsfan on Jan 6, 2011 10:22 AM CST up reply actions
Just sad
“If we were still in the Big 12, (I’d want to see) Texas at Nebraska,” Ryan said with a smirk. “Texas at Nebraska . . . so maybe we can get some fair calls.”
They need new leadership. They have to get over their little brother syndrome. They’re supposed to be Nebraska. Texas/Nebraska may never play again and after Pelini punked him, he’s still obsessing. Just sad.
Oct. 16, 2010: Texas 20, Nebraska 13
Played in Lincoln. Did they not get any fair calls in October?
"But dammit Will, didn't you know the HCIW statement was just a joke?" - Mack Brown
(Disclaimer – this is not an actual quote.)
by TXStampede on Jan 6, 2011 9:14 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
but in seriousness,
I side with Mack on this.
I don't want NO PART of yo' tired ass country club, YA FREAK BITCH!
POS
I hope someone breaks off that beak of his then shoves it up his brothers ass. I’m hoping the university will require mr classy to call the kid and give him a group of tickets for the OSU game.
by Natedogg14 on Jan 6, 2011 9:33 AM CST via mobile reply actions
is Pelini worth it?
Pelini has already disgraced himself and his QB on national TV with the Martinez incident at the A&M game. his behavior after the Big12 title game last year was an embarrassment. now this dishonor. Nebraska wasn’t even that great this year. is he worth it? stay classy, Nebraska.
"you can destroy a man, but you cannot defeat him." - e.h.
What a Douche
As a Navy reservist myself i feel for this kid. Bo Pelini is such a douche bag i am so glad he is in the big 10 right now. we might have had a terrible season this year but we still beat Nebraska. 9 for 10 suck it Cornhuskers
Shhhhh!!!!
Fan Shots are for us peons.
"I live in the tower with Coach Brown." -Bevo
by run Bevo run on Jan 6, 2011 10:11 AM CST up reply actions
Whills is the only one who gives me any luv ;-)
Thanks for the footnote….I was really torn on it because the article is a bit slanted to make the serviceman look like he didn’t get the joke and that is pretty unfair to him. He didn’t deserve the drama of this—it is all on Pelini for not handling it before it got to the point of being on the front of most sports cites. I feel for the guy.
To the Nation's Finest?
I’m sickened. It would be one thing if he was so embroiled in the game if he forgot. What he did was douchie and he deserves to be fired.
What's this? Mcnabb's been benched and Vick can't have a puppy? Now if Eli could just get coal in his stockings I'd have a Merry Christmas.
Disclaimer: Don’t listen to me I usually make bad decisions. Don’t take advice while operating machinery. Do not listen if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. See your GM for more advice
Good riddance
Notice how under the Pelini regime, nothing is ever his fault? Lost the Big XII championship to Texas? The refs jobbed us! Lost at home to Texas in the biggest game in recent NU history? The refs jobbed us! The serviceman who I promised could call a play didn’t get to? It was a joke!
And let’s nor forget: The Big 10 came calling and we came running with dollar signs in our eyes? It was Texas’ fault!
I feel for the state of Nebraska, which is filled with decent and excellent people and deserves better than this.
Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity. - Charles Bukowski
I found a better picture of Bo to use with the story.
"It's all bullshit, and it's bad for 'ya." -George Carlin
Geez, guys
Hate to sound like a Husker homer here (believe me, I’m about as fed up with Bo’s PR/media ineptitude as anyone else), but is no one here going to use their powers of common sense to see the inherent ridiculousness of this story?
It seems pretty clear to everyone but the reporter and the sailor that Pelini was joking. (Tom Osborne’s response is in the comments of that last link.) The local reporters, who aren’t terribly fond of Pelini themselves, spent yesterday ripping the story on Twitter, even refuting some of Horne’s assertions. The player said yesterday he was never even upset about the whole thing.
I realize y’all hate Pelini and it’s your prerogative to rip him on teh interwebs, but it’s worth noting that this seems more than a bit Thayer Evans-ish. And you guys know what that’s like.
Did YOU watch the video?
It may have been (and I believe it was) intended as a joke, but it didn’t come off as one. If maybe he had said, “We’re honored to have him on the sideline. Who knows? We might even have him call a play!” then this would be pretty pointless. He straighted the idea that the guy was going to get to call a play then made a joke ABOUT that statement which didn’t come off right.
The real thing is how he rebuffed the question. That’s something at least worth a personal phone call if there was a misunderstanding. If the failed joke didn’t make him look bad, laughing off that the guy took it seriously is.
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!" - Texas Offensive Production on the resignation of Greg Davis
by inVINCEable on Jan 6, 2011 11:53 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I did watch the video
The footage alone seems fairly ambiguous, and when you consider that no one from Nebraska followed up with the sailor to give him details of how the playcall would work, plays to choose from, etc., it seems pretty credulous of the guy to believe that he was actually going to call a play based on that remark alone.
As for his response to Horne in the press conference: You’ve just laid the biggest turd of your head coaching career, and some reporter you don’t know asks you a question out of left field accusing you of breaking a promise based on some remark you made a few days ago that you thought was just an offhand comment. Wouldn’t you probably respond the same way?
Now that the issue has been blown up, I agree that Pelini probably needs to give the sailor a phone call, more for PR than anything. (Who knows, he may already have done that.) But it seems clear that Ryan is not nearly as concerned about this as the columnist makes him out to be, or as she is herself.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 6, 2011 12:31 PM CST up reply actions
Where did you read that?
Not being antagonistic – I’m just curious.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 6, 2011 12:45 PM CST up reply actions
Duh
Never mind – it’s there in the article.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 6, 2011 12:47 PM CST up reply actions
probably true
If NU was at the Huskies 1 yard line and the sailor elected to punt the ball im pretty sure Pelini would be in some deep shit
I hope that is the case because this makes Pelini sound like a complete ogre.But you also have to realize that Pelini has set himself up for this type of press and reaction. His boorish behavior in the past makes people less inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
What we have here is a failure to execute.
by dimecoverage on Jan 6, 2011 11:54 AM CST up reply actions
Agreed.
I think 95% of the commenters at Corn Nation would agree with you, too. In fact, there was a post there making the same point this morning.
Pelini has seriously underestimated the degree to which interacting with the media and the public is a component of being a successful head coach. And he’s failed miserably in that aspect.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 6, 2011 12:34 PM CST up reply actions
No need
for being belligerent.
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!" - Texas Offensive Production on the resignation of Greg Davis
You know what I really like about Pelini?
He finds such creative ways to tell the world he’s an insufferable asshole.
I realize the sunshine pumping of the day coming out of the corn state is that it really was a joke and everyone knew it except this one idiot reporter (with the sexism outright stated in a few places, implied in most others), but anyone with eyes, ears, and a functioning frontal lobe can tell from the video that Pelini didn’t present it as a joke, and not a single person in the room interpreted it as such. The fact that Nebraska fans have taken to the streets (aka Better Off Red, Corn Nation, etc.) to attack the 20-year-old serviceman says really all that needs to be said about present-day Huskers.
It’s really, really sad to see when I really enjoyed our rivalry for so many years.
Last drive o fthe 4th quarter in holiday bowl
Shouldve just let the sailor call the damn play since NU was gonna lose anyways
Pelini serves a purpose
It is considered vulgar to call someone a “horses’ ass.” Now we can just say, “You are a Pelini,” or “Stop being a Pelini,” and convey the same meaning more tactfully.
"Only angry people win football games." --DKR
The worst thing I've ever said about someone
was that they were acting like aggy. I now have a new insult to add to the list. Thanks for the suggestion.
There is not a situation or individual that cannot be improved by the addition of chocolate.
Of course he's going to say that.
It’s like the Tennessee fan that didn’t want to press charges after being robbed by some players.
Exactly
Coach Pelini loves me, he would never hurt me like that. Sure, he gets a little upset sometimes, but he always brings me a nice win over Iowa State to make it feel better. You just don’t understand Coach Pelini. If I were a better fan, he wouldn’t have to get so upset.
by lhb98 on Jan 6, 2011 12:54 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
What's that bruise on my face?
Oh, nothing. I just got hit by Der Viener Schlinger. No, really, it’s nothing.
by Cheeseandcorn on Jan 6, 2011 1:06 PM CST up reply actions
Everyone read this...This is what Coach Pelini shouldve done
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2172623
^LonghornEm will especially appreciate that article haha
by MJY6087 on Jan 6, 2011 12:56 PM CST reply actions 4 recs
Just curious...
I’m not saying that article made me tear up, but if it had…would I still be welcome here?
"There are three kinds of people in this world: those who are good at math, and those who aren't..."
--GA Horn--
I think you would be invited to not come back if you didn't
I don't want NO PART of yo' tired ass country club, YA FREAK BITCH!
Awesome story
Thanks for sharing.
I don't want NO PART of yo' tired ass country club, YA FREAK BITCH!
Charlie Weiss story is awesome
I believe ESPN had done a TV piece on it as well around the time that it happened. It got me twice.
Sometimes, you just gotta do.
It's like watching the first 20 minutes of "Up"
no avoiding it.
" Answers --Become Resources."
Without Questions, There are limited Resources...
I was so not prepared for that
I bawled my eyes out.
Whoever said laughter is the best medicine had clearly never tasted Scotch.
Saw that wrangler86 got his love
I saw that and gave a quickie on my navy experience. Huskers did the same when UT played ’em in the Holiday Bowl except they let the lady call the play. Bo Pellini is an angry Lane Kiffin doucher.
Sometimes, you just gotta do.
pelini
What a jerk. It’s always fun to watch him bitch and moan on the sidelines as if Nebraska never deserves to have a call go against them. He just about blew a gasket during the Texas game, and I suspect he must/should feel like crap for losing to them after the way the season turned out.
Fan called plays
Letting fans call plays is just a bad idea. Back in the 70’s an experimental “interactive” TV network (Q) got a local coach to agree to let fans call the plays during one quarter. At first, the plays were pretty reasonable, but as the team fell behind, the fans kept calling for the bomb. The poor coach had to go on TV (interactive, remember) and explain to the fans that the opponents had caught on and were playing 7 men deep.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.
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