What Bo Pelini's return to LSU means for Ed Orgeron and the culture he's established
As rumors swirled a week ago about Bo Pelini possibly returning to LSU as the team’s new/old defensive coordinator, a media member from Louisiana who I talk with regularly sent me this text.
“I personally think (hiring Pelini) would be awful. I don’t think he fits the culture that Ed (Orgeron) has established there and I just don’t think it’s a good fit. Love to hear your thoughts.”
As we found out a week later, those rumors were true. Pelini will replace Dave Aranda as LSU’s defensive coordinator. Twelve years after he left LSU’s 2007 national championship team to take the head gig at Nebraska, Pelini’s second stint in Baton Rouge will sandwich 11 years he spent as a head coach.
To answer the request of the Louisiana media member who texted me, yes, I have thoughts.
I have thoughts as someone who lived in Nebraska and covered the 2 years of the Pelini era. I have thoughts as someone who got a first-hand look at the culture Ed Orgeron built at LSU. I have thoughts as someone who pondered a lot about the future in Baton Rouge in the wake of a historic season and a mass exodus (I’m guessing you also have if you’re reading this).
Let’s establish something at the top about Pelini — his shortcomings at Nebraska were part performance and part relationships. Pelini wasn’t necessarily at Gus Malzahn-levels of fans divided, but there was certainly a significant portion of the fan base who deemed that cranking out 9 wins wasn’t good enough at a traditional power like Nebraska.
That was at the root of everything that went wrong for Pelini in Lincoln. A person with a volatile anger streak was not the ideal personality fit in a fishbowl like Nebraska. In September 2013, audio leaked of Pelini cursing out fans and media members after a 2011 win against Ohio State. That relationship was never fully healed, though fans did seem to enjoy Pelini’s willingness to poke fun at the “Faux Pelini” persona that picked up steam on Twitter (we mustn’t forget that this happened):
How big has @FauxPelini become? Bo Pelini brought a cat to the Nebraska spring game. http://t.co/IZeAkdgHCk pic.twitter.com/HTpc464PIt
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) August 21, 2014
Months after that funny, feel-good moment, Pelini was fired and more audio leaked. The Omaha World-Herald got a tape of a players-only meeting that Pelini had in 2014 after he was fired. In it, Pelini had some extremely vulgar comments about then-athletic director Shawn Eichorst. It was no secret that they didn’t get along following Eichorst’s hiring in 2012. The fact that there was an expletive-laced rant released in the days after Pelini’s firing was about the least-surprising headline that could have come out of Lincoln.
Combine those things with Pelini’s animated, intense sideline behavior and yeah, it’s fair to wonder how he fits into the LSU puzzle in 2020. It probably also doesn’t help that Pelini was the coach who refused to offer Joe Burrow a scholarship even though Nebraska was his dream school. Some might also point to the post-Year 2 struggles Pelini had at Youngstown State and wonder if his best days are behind him.
All of those are reasonable concerns for LSU fans to have for anyone coming on staff, much less for the person tasked with replacing the even-keeled, successful Aranda.
But LSU fans need to remember a few things about Pelini.
One of which is that there’s misconception that players didn’t like him, and that he won’t gel with a players-first coach like Orgeron. Despite all of those aforementioned things, go back and look at how Nebraska players reacted to Pelini getting fired.
You really think we wouldn’t meet with Coach Bo? Think again. Everyman got their chance to say goodbye tonight pic.twitter.com/HjXchlpXl3
— Samuel Hahn (@daHAHNi) December 3, 2014
Pelini might be wound tighter than most, but anyone telling you he’s some stiff disciplinarian without a soul is mistaken.
Speaking of him being wound tighter than most, I’ll be stunned if Pelini is the same person he was a decade ago. He might have a somewhat similar personality in terms of what gets his blood boiling, but so many of the dynamics surrounding him are different now.
He’s not a head coach anymore. He won’t be dealing with media constantly, nor will he have the burden of leading what was once the most dominant program in college football.
Will Pelini still have a lot of pressure on him to succeed? Absolutely. You don’t get paid $2 million annually to go through the motions. The last thing LSU fans want to see is for that defense to fall off after Aranda left for Baylor. The annual expectation will be that Pelini yields results like he did in his first stint as LSU’s defensive coordinator when he rattled off 3 consecutive top 3 defenses.
As for whether Pelini sticks with Aranda’s 3-4 or he uses his traditional 4-3 base defense is a different discussion. Either way, he’s loaded with talent on that defensive line.
Scheme fit wasn’t the reason Orgeron hired Pelini. It probably wasn’t based on whether they would become best friends, either. Orgeron is about sustaining success. That means going out and hiring someone who gets LSU and at his best, showed that he knows how to coach up a defense at an elite level.
It’s the type of roll of the dice that a coach coming off a national championship with a fresh new extension can make. If Pelini isn’t a fit — as some fear — he’ll get 1-and-done treatment like Matt Canada. It’ll be well-documented, too. Like, we’ll see clips of Pelini looking like he’s about to decapitate an official (can we picture how he would have reacted to the Devin White targeting call?). If Pelini clearly isn’t a fit at season’s end, the only question will be what date LSU will make his firing official.
But Orgeron isn’t banking on that. He’s instead banking on his uncanny ability to evaluate people. More times than not, that has worked out in LSU’s favor. He earned the right for fans to trust his hires.
Time will tell if Pelini makes Orgeron look like a genius. We need to see how he handles criticism. We need to see how it responds to injuries like the 2019 group did. We need to see if Pelini is truly embracing this new chapter in career. Something tells me he wouldn’t have signed on the dotted line if he wasn’t willing to do that.
So yeah, those are my thoughts.
i’ll take him. aranda was great and will be a huge loss. bo pelini was a stud d-coordinator and probably not meant to be a head coach due to his volatility(see will muschamp). i think it will work out just fine.
Some people just cant handle the stress of being the head coach and heavy criticism when you arent winning is something you have to deal with. Hopefully his stint as HC will help him take a step back and focus on doing what he does best.
Coach O’s culture may make it a much better environment for him. Short, intense practices could fit perfect with his style of coaching. Like you said Connor, only time will tell.
“He (Coach O) earned the right for fans to trust his hires.”
That summarizes it perfectly for fans like myself who aren’t exactly jumping up and down with excitement about Pelini returning. Coach O keeps making the right moves.
Pelini’s on field demeanor as a DC reminds me of Muschamp, and to a lesser degree, Kirby Smart. His issue is that he hasn’t been near the recruiter that those two guys are. He’s going to have to improve there to make the impact LSU fans are hoping for.
I don’t think Kirby would cuss out his athletic director in front of his players, though Greg McGarity has probably given many a UGA sports coach reason for doing so.
Kirby and Muschamp are different people off the field than they are on the sideline. Not so with Pelini. But it remains to be seen how he handles himself moving forward. He won’t be in the same situations with the media as a coordinator.
He’s an extremely knowledgeable defensive guy and I think that’s why Coach O hired him.
Coach Oeaux is the king of recruiting… Beaux just needs to focus on getting those studs in the right place.
No, the DC will need to be a recruiter. That is certain. O can’t be everywhere.
Watch Jordan Burch flip… Beaux and Oeaux will be just fine… one team one heartbeat
i.e position coaches, co-coordinators, analysts. Wont be the first time a DC or OC doesn’t recruit. If anything it gives more time for O to recruit. Having former HC in your back pocket.
That seems kind of silly. How could it benefit LSU to have less recruiters than the competition?
Aranda was not a recruiter, neither was Chavis. LSU does not really have a track record of DCs who can recruit yet they tend to stay stocked with defensive talent.
Aranda wasn’t a great recruiter either, but LSU still had recruiting success overall.
Coordinators generally are not the main recruiters on the staff, not supposed to be.
Pelini should be a good hire, a little too high of a payout since it’s been 07 the last time at that position but we shall see.
It’s not gonna be terribly hard right now for LSU to recruit D players, given the new National Title. LSU has any easy time getting the D heavy weights. Pelini’s results on the field and further success on a national stage will keep bringing in top D talent. Like him or not the man is an outstanding DC. What everyone keeps missing is players love playing for him, which totally fits in with Coach O…and gruffy isn’t gonna turn off Coach O either. The bigger whole to fill on Coach O’s staff is on the offensive side of the ball. As Burrows been the best LSU QB in over a Decade. Yalls issue has long been quality QB play…and that goes back a long ways history wise.
Yea, Lsu tends to recruit itself more or less. So much talent in-state with no real competition except for Bama of course.
The recruiting will not drop off anytime soon that’s for sure.
Interesting hire. To quote the stock market, past performance does not guarantee future results. Having said that, every person in coaching deserves a second chance. He did well before at LSU, and if he has mellowed just a bit, he will be successful I think. He’ll have them play hard, no matter what.
True there’s no guarantee but if we base this off stats at best the defense is better than Aranda has ever done and at worst bo at Nebraska was about the same as this yr defense. And remember we’re comparing much less talent
Not a fan of Pelini. I liked him when he was at LSU, but his Nebraska teams looked like they went for the injuries.
I admit, I didn’t follow Pelini’s tenure at Nebraska. I just heard a lot of talk about how he was a bad coach and went with it. He had four 9-4 years and three 10-3 years.
Point being, I wonder what Cornhusker fans currently think of all their cat jokes and serious problems about cussing in the locker room? I’ll bet after two years of Super Coach Scott Frost all that looks pretty awesome right now.
I wonder how much of that was intentionally released by the AD to the media to move him down the road. Just didnt seem like he and the AD got along. Doubt we’ll ever know the full story. If you think coaches and 18-22 year old boys dont cuss in the locker room, youre wrong. Roll Tide what?
One does get the impression it was all about the relationship with the AD, yes.
Another thing I’ve since learned about Nebraska football is that its a Tom Osborne Cult. Scott Frost admits and embraces this. So if Osborne didn’t cuss in the locker room it means its definitely bad and probably cause for termination.
In any case, I don’t expect 9 wins to be the floor of the Nebraska program again in my lifetime.
100% right. Like the reason behind the whole hire, culture, all the complaints show they cant handle real football in nebraska. Glad you mentioned the floor because the ceiling is 9wins for them.
He was the best HC at Nebraska since Tom Osborne.
Hopefully Pelini works out, and Coach O has found a permanent DC. I wonder if this was part of O’s decision to hire him, as I’m not so sure Pelini is an attractive HC hire at this point, and it’s going to take a lot of $$ to get him away from Baton Rouge again.
is there a such thing as a permanent DC for a school like LSU? I think 3-4 years is a good run. Either they are winning and he will become a HC or they are not and he will get canned.
You’re right, maybe there’s not such a thing – but look at Joe Burrow’s dad Jimmy Burrow, who was Ohio University’s DC from 2005-2018. Pelini had a chance with a major program and couldn’t give them what they wanted – and then ended up at Youngstown, and couldn’t really give them what they wanted either. Is another program that can match LSU’s funds going to give him another shot especially considering his past records, and his questionable demeanor and actions (not to mention his cat). If LSU remains at the level of success they’re having now then I agree it may be hard to keep him, but I think it could just as easily go the other way with him becoming a part of the LSU culture – cause I don’t think Coach O is going anywhere any time soon, unless he just tanks it in the near future. Time will tell…
OHIO is not LSU…it may look as if Pelini didn’t give Nebraska what they wanted, but his worst season there was 9-4. they have only sniffed a winning record once since he left. I would imagine they would be very happy to have him winning there again. Bo is coming to LSU with the hopes of restoring his name and getting another Power 5 HC position. If LSU’s defense is good, he will not be there longer than 3-4 years.
Venables.
LSUMC – Exactly!
Venables is an anomaly. Either he doesn’t want a HC job or they have some serious dirt on him. I guess that it’s possibily tgat at 52, Bo just wants to make 20-25M over the next 8-10 years and call it quits.We shall see.
I just typed out a long comment. It is not here. SDS is working like a liberal rag.
I had a comment with the word”D-A-M-N-I-T” in it and it is still waiting for a moderator….6 hours later.
I had a post awaiting moderation. The word that was the problem is V-i-c-t-i-m. Who knew that needed moderation.
Mine is still waiting 5 days later and I have no idea what word was the trigger.
Will be interesting after as DC in the sec or anywhere in 13 years
Did good at nebraska as HC but that definitely guarantee the game hasn’t passed him by at a least a bit
Good luck finding another Glen Dorsey
Another glen Dorsey won’t be hard but the game is a tad different. Not so much that they can’t adjust. Maybe a little more man than what bo usually does
I’m good with the hire. If it doesn’t work out, he gets fired and Orgeron finds another one. But Pelini was a great DC before he ventured into head coaching. Orgeron certainly has earned the right to hire his coaching staff.
People criticize ND fans for being delusional about their program and living in the past but in my opinion, Nebraksa fans might be the most delusional. At least ND has come back to a certain point in the past 10 years but Nebraska hasn’t been relevant since the early 2000s. I never understood how and why Nebraska become a blue-blood program with the lack of in-state talent so bare it makes Iowa look like Texas! Entitled fans that they get rid of coaches after 9 and 10 win seasons(Pelinni and Solich) but their fan base escapes criticism! Why? Because they are nice? I don’t get it.
I dunno, I don’t think they’re escaping criticism these days. There was recently a sort of ESPN deep-dive on the state of the Nebraska program and I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry. I could seriously see them joining the Mountain West within a decade.
I don’t see Nebraska ever returning to it’s former days of dominance. They have too many hurdles to clear in the Big 10, and with everything based on recruiting – how does the Big Red compete consistently against the SEC in luring the blue chippers from the southeast? Ever spend time in Lincoln from November through April? If I were a Nebraska fan, I would feel grateful for the kind of record that Pelini brought to the program. 9-10 win seasons should be considered huge accomplishments. Gone are the days of Devaney and Osborne. Hell, Solich did a great job and was railroaded out of town by the unrealistic fan base. I admire Nebraska’s past and I actually like their program. That said….times have changed. Nebraska fans need to readjust their expectations. As a Vol fan, I would argue that it may be easier for Tennessee to return to prominence than Nebraska – just by conference affiliation alone. Either way, both programs are light years removed from the 1990’s. A whole lot of catching up to do. I wish Pelini well at LSU. Either he succeeds and lands another HC job eventually elsewhere or he will retire in the sunset after a couple of years. It really will be a boom or bust experience for him.
They won 9+ games for 7 straight seasons under Pelini. The administration is responsible for the post-Pelini decline because they made a terrible hire and Pelini being in limbo and the transition classes have hurt them badly in recruiting. Plus they have changed schemes multiple time.
Frost is recruiting at a high level and has signed 21 4 star players and 11 Top 250 players in the past couple cycles. They will have schematic consistency going forward. It is going to take time, but they will turn it around there. Nebraska has put up 500+ yards against Wisconsin the past couple seasons and Iowa has needed last second FGs to beat them the past two years as well. Give him another couple seasons.
Did we really just hire a guy that brought a cat to practice?
Gawd I love LSU
Pelini is an excellent DC. Probably the only thing better would have been to convince Muschamp to come back and be DC before he inevitably gets fired next season.
Muschamp isn’t leaving all that money on the table. His only advantage over Pelini is recruiting. Pelini was actually the better DC.
Watch it now. I figure Champ is our next year since Lanning will prob get offers next year
Pelini legitimately has a personality disorder and needs psychiatric help. It goes beyond being “passionate” or “volatile”, he goes way, way over the line. That said, his players love him and he has a great defensive mind. His 2009/2010 defenses at Nebraska were spectacular. The issue with him defensively was that he couldn’t recruit the talent to fit his scheme and when he lost the elite talent he inherited from the previous regime he was in trouble. Even with substandard talent, Nebraska would play defense at a high-level for 10 games a year and then suffer a beat down against Ohio State or Wisconsin where they would run for 400 yards.
He should be a great fit at LSU where he won’t struggle to get the talent needed to run his schemes and he doesn’t have to deal with being the focal point of the press. I predict LSU will routinely have the best pass defense in the nation and be great overall, but will suffer some spectacular breakdowns in run defense against teams like Bama or a team with a great mobile QB.
I’m going to try to write referenced facts again here, since the last ones were erased.
Few people stay employed or even stay in their profession when they attack their employers. See newspaper stories in Omaha/Lincoln.
All the information I disclosed here is available as record from other privately owned and public information sources. The facts are that Pellini lost half as many conference games as he won at Nebraska. Here were his opponents: a much weaker than today Iowa State, a weaker than today Kansas State, and Kansas, a all-time weak Colorado, plus 4 cupcakes. You can say they had to play Missouri but they lost to Missouri half the time under Pellini, just like they did under Callahan before Pellini. His conference record at Youngstown State’s was 18-22.
We all know that LSU just won the CFP bowl challenge. I’m challenge any reader here to make a case about what LSU needs going forward.
Pellini was hired because he was such a great fit into LSUs culture. Orgeron made that mistake already with Canada and learned lesson. He’s not going to make it again. He didnt settle for Pellini. No was his top choice and he pursued him until Bo signed.
The BR airwaves are filled with former players that are stoked about Bo being back…
People get older and wiser. I think hes a great fit .
I saw his exit interview with a YSU reporter. He seems to have matured and was quite calm, almost humble. I feel better about him after seeing that. I trust he will still be intense on the sidelines, but I’m ok with that.
Bo Pelini is/was a hard nosed guy who you want on your side in a fight and he is the kind of guy who could once again could become a valuable part of a top notch program. however, my view of bo soured at his time in nebraska. he did things that a coach (or any decent person) simply should not do. he acted like a spoiled little brat and he got paid for it even after he got fired and went to YSU where, rather than dominate at that classification he sleep walked to a mediocre 33-28 record. for such a highly touted head coach, that’s extremely disappointing. how will the next chapter read for bo? if he returns to lsu with the same attitude he has had since he left, he will be more like a cancer to orgeron than a help. but, if coaching at lsu is his true desire (and he is more fitted as a dc) he could be a strong asset to ed, as long as he realizes what his job is. i suspect he may initially seem like a good hire, maybe he’s hoping to buckle down and coach a year or two, get some accolades and get hired at another power 5? i dunno i wouldn’t touch him after what he did at nebraska, but maybe someone would. if that doesn’t happen his troubles might return. as an aggie fan, i hate lsu, but i respect ed orgeron. he is a good man and a good coach. a fine leader. bo pelini is not.