Carl Pelini resigned as Florida Atlantic’s head coach on Oct. 30, 2013 after admitting illegal drug use, then rescinded that resignation a week later. No matter. Three weeks after that, Florida Atlantic repealed his resignation and fired its former head coach with cause, officially for failure to report a staff member for using illegal drugs. (Then-defensive coordinator Pete Rekstis also resigned for using illegal drugs.)
Now, Pelini is going after the former assistant that turned him in.
According to Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated, Pelini filed a defamation lawsuit against former FAU defensive line coach Matt Edwards, seeking damages in excess of $25,000. (Edwards is now the defensive coordinator at Tiffin University in Ohio; Pelini was hired earlier this month as Youngstown State’s defensive line coach.) Pelini alleges that Edwards turned his then-boss in for using cocaine and marijuana after Pelini confronted Edwards about an alleged inappropriate relationship with a woman close to the program named Allison Stewart.
“It’s been a very frustrating time,” Pelini told SI. “An embarrassing time. There’s a lot of false information and misinformation out there. Everybody seems to have a theory as to what happened. I feel like this is going to be an opportunity for me to go under oath and state the facts as they really happened.”
Stewart reiterated her claim in a phone conversation with SI that she witness Pelini using drugs.
Pelini said he waited until landing a job on his brother Bo’s staff to file the suit because he didn’t want it getting in the way of any potential job prospects.
“People wonder why I’ve stayed quiet and not been more aggressive, but ultimately, I wanted to be hirable again,” he said. “I wanted to allow Youngstown State or any perspective employer to have some input on how I went forward. Different employers may have looked at it differently. I wanted to make sure this was approved before I went forward.”