The hot seat in Lincoln, apparently, was very real. Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini has been fired by the university. Nebraska Athletics Director Shawn Eichorst informed Pelini of his decision on Sunday morning. Pelini’s termination is effective immediately, so he will not coach Nebraska in a bowl game.
“Earlier this morning, I informed Coach Bo Pelini of our decision to move forward in a new direction,” a statement by Eichorst released by Nebraska said. “Coach Pelini served our University admirably for seven years and led our football programs transition to the Big Ten Conference. We wish Coach Pelini and his wonderful family all the best and thank him for his dedicated service to the University.”
Pelini coached 94 games for the Cornhuskers, starting with one game as an interim head coach in 2003. Pelini was named the head coach of the program in 2008. Pelini took Nebraska to two Big 12 championship games and one more Big Ten championship game, but Nebraska failed to win a conference championship under Pelini’s watch. Pelini coached Nebraska to a record of 67-27 and never lost more than four games in a season. This, perhaps, was the biggest problem.
Nebraska hit a plateau under Pelini. Despite nine wins each season coached by Pelini, Nebraska was never able to get over the hump to relive the glory days of the 1990s. Removing Pelini as head coach despite a tremendous amount of success most programs would be envious of is a clear sign that the leadership at Nebraska expects its program to compete at a higher level. Pelini was a very successful coach at Nebraska, but the bar is set higher than what Pelini has been able to clear.
As for Pelini, what comes next is anybody’s guess. He could still be a good head coach for some other program in need fo a head coach. He would also make for a good defensive coordinator. Nebraska’s defense may not have been great the past few years, but scale back the responsibilities for Pelini and let him focus just on defense and he would likely be a valuable asset to a coaching staff.
UPDATE 3:04 p.m.: Running game coordinator Barney Cotton has been named Nebraska’s interim coach.