LINCOLN, Neb.—Nebraska has the same record it had a year ago after seven games. The players say that’s where the similarity ends.
No one knows how Bo Pelini’s first season will turn out on the win-loss ledger. But just over halfway through, it’s apparent Pelini has extracted the cold, football-as-a-business culture that took root during the Bill Callahan era and replaced it with human bonds between players and coaches.
Matt Slauson, the Cornhuskers’ 320-pound right guard, said that after feeling as if he were a “side of beef” who was “used and abused,” he’s feeling the love now.
Tough love, no doubt.
Pelini is fast to get in the face of his players. But he also is the first to hug and high-five them. And defend them.
To linebacker Cody Glenn, a key moment came Oct. 4, a few minutes after a 52-17 loss to Missouri that was Nebraska’s most lopsided at home since 1955. Glenn said he and his teammates were prepared for the worst as they waited for Pelini’s post-game speech.
“We got it handed to us, and he comes into our locker room and he takes the blame and puts it on himself,” Glenn said. “For a head coach to do that, you know he’s got your back.”
The Huskers (4-3, 1-2 Big 12) have improved in the two weeks since. They lost 37-31 in overtime at then-No. 7 Texas Tech, and they won 35-7 at Iowa State. They play at home Saturday against Baylor (3-4, 1-2).
“I don’t think it’s something where you can go become a psychologist and you wave a wand and you improve their confidence,” Pelini said. “Their confidence comes as they become more confident in what they’re doing. They’re starting to have a better understanding of what we’re asking.”
It’s not what Pelini is asking. It’s how he asks, the players said.
“Emotion, drive, everything. He brings it out in us,” Slauson said.
Pelini said his job, like that of all coaches, is to get the best out of his players. He talks incessantly about discipline, the importance of his players’ striving to outwork the other guy and aiming for perfection in practice.
“In the past, a lot of our practices were about repetition, getting in as many reps as we could,” Slauson said, referring to Callahan’s NFL-style mantra. “Bo isn’t about that. He’s about quality reps. If you sacrifice quantity, all right. But we’re going to get the best reps we possibly can.”
Pity the player who doesn’t meet Pelini’s expectation.
In the Texas Tech game, a television camera caught a red-faced Pelini getting in the ear of Quentin Castille as Castille returned to the sideline after coming up short on a crucial fourth-and-1.
Castille didn’t blink. He said he got what he deserved.
“I knew he was going to rip me,” Castille said. “It showed he had confidence in me. I should have gotten it.”
The players can withstand the tongue lashings because of the personal rapport Pelini has built with them, Glenn said.
“Just to know that he cares … with the old people, you really didn’t sense that a lot,” he said. “With him, you know it. He shows it, he tells you. You got a guy like that, you’re going to want to fight for him.”
There is, no doubt, a defined line between the coach and his players. But there also is camaraderie.
It was apparent Tuesday as Pelini made his way past bearded quarterback Joe Ganz at the team’s weekly media luncheon.
“Anybody know of an old-time barber with one of those razor blades?” Pelini said.
“I shaved last night,” Ganz shouted. “I’m a man. I’m a man.”
As Pelini walked away, Ganz yelled his direction, “I’ll throw some interceptions. I’ll give that defense a short field.”
Joking aside, Ganz said he and his teammates don’t want to let Pelini down.
“Guys are playing through injuries and practicing through them where maybe the last couple years they wouldn’t have,” Ganz said. “You don’t want him to think anything less of you, so you go out there no matter what and practice as hard as you can, play as hard as you can.”
Pelini treads softly when he discusses the Callahan regime. Pelini acknowledges that he inherited a program full of players beaten down from losing, often by big margins. The Huskers lost five straight at one point.
“I know one thing: coach Callahan and his staff know what hard work is,” Pelini said. “(Otherwise), I would be saying they didn’t know what they were doing. That’s not the case. I’m not exactly sure if we have the same philosophy or beliefs. I don’t really worry about what happened in the past.”
A change in coaches, of course, is supposed to produce a change in fortunes. But each of the six players interviewed for this story say the 40-year-old Pelini’s youth and drive have created a change that has exceeded their expectations.
Whether that produces more wins is the big unknown. If not, the players say, it won’t be for a lack of trying.
“He’s like a dad to us,” Slauson said. “He teaches you life lessons and he truly cares about you. We all can see that he loves us and we love him.”
———
On the Net:
University of Nebraska-Lincoln athletics:
