FS Bo Pelini (official thread)

[Buckskin86]

Forging futures
BY J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH
The Wichita Eagle

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio ? The neighborhoods in the shadow of the steel mills produced tough little boys.

On Detroit Avenue, when it was bedtime and the four Stoops brothers wouldn't stop roughhousing, they'd hear their father coming up the stairs, belt in hand. During the day, they'd use his belts to play a game called "hide the strap." The kid who found the strap first had the right to whip the others' legs until they made it back to base.

A few miles south on Forestridge Drive, Bo Pelini grew up wanting nothing more than to play football at Cardinal Mooney High. He'd heard about the practices that raged into the cold nights, the fathers who pulled their cars close to the field as the sun went down and turned on their headlights.

Forging futures | Kansas Jayhawks | Wichita Eagle

[NFBuck]

Big game for Bo and his Huskers tonight. I'm really rooting for him to succeed in Lincoln.

[Buckskin86]

Pelini, Stoops have long history in football
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com
Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2009

LINCOLN ? Bo and Bob go way, way back.

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini and Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops grew up together in Youngstown, Ohio.

In fact, the entire Pelini clan is connected with the Stoops family. All the boys ? Bo and brother Carl as well as Ron, Bob, Mike and Mark Stoops ? played football at Cardinal Mooney High school for legendary coach Don Bucci.

Their coaching careers have connected, too. Like when Bob and Carl coached together as assistants at Kansas State.

?I grew up with the whole Pelini family, so I knew Carl,? Stoops said Monday during the Big 12 teleconference. ?I had him come work for me as a graduate assistant at Kansas State. He lived with me for quite awhile. My wife would say longer than he should have.

?No I?m just kidding. I?ll tell you a funny story. I told my wife Carl was going to come live with us and I had to go recruiting for three weeks. But that?s kind of how we are. Carl is a great friend. He has an amazing personality. My wife is very attached to him. She feels like he?s her brother.?

Bob Stoops also hired Bo Pelini as an co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2004 before Bo went on to be an assistant at LSU.

Pelini, now in his second year as head coach at Nebraska, has a 15-7 record for his career. Stoops is 114-27 in 11 years at Oklahoma, including a national championship in 2000.

The two men will meet up for the second time as head coaches Saturday when Nebraska (5-3, 2-2 in the Big 12) plays Oklahoma (5-3, 3-1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Lincoln. The game will be carried live on regional basis by ABC.

The two Youngstown natives are alike, but they?re also different. How are they different?

?He?s won a national championship and I haven?t,? Pelini said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. ?Bob?s been doing it for a long time, and I obviously consider him a friend. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I would hope there would be some similarities. If that?s the case and people perceive it that way, it means I?m doing some things right because I think he does things right. He runs a great program.?

Pelini said they are obviously different personalities, but there is certainly one common ground. Both are fierce competitors.

?I think if you asked the people that know us both well, it?s about competing,? Bo Pelini said. ?It?s about competition and how you compete and the type of fire you bring to work every day to your trade and your job. I think that?s probably the greatest similarity.?

Pelini, Stoops have long history in football > The Independent > Sports > Huskers Hq

[Buckskin86]

Published Friday November 6, 2009
FOOTBALL
Out of his shadow
By Dirk Chatelain
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER



Their lives are like a game of H-O-R-S-E.

Bob drains a 3-point shot over his shoulder, only to see Bo call ?bank? and ? Swish!

Bob Stoops, brilliant athlete and bright student, graduates from Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1978.
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? When: 7 Saturday
? Where: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln
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In 1986, Bo Pelini follows him.

Bob earns a scholarship to a Big Ten school ? Iowa ? where he stars at safety. Bo earns a ticket to Ohio State.

At 22, Bob starts a coaching career as a graduate assistant for Hayden Fry. At 23, Bo takes the same job.

Shot for shot, they go on.

At 36, Bob wins a national championship as an SEC defensive coordinator. Bo's a few years late on that one, 40, but only because of a detour through the NFL, where he coaches in three prestigious franchises and scores a Super Bowl ring.

At 38, Bob gets his first head coaching job at one of college football's superpowers, a perennial force in the old Big Eight. He hires his brother to coordinate the defense, revitalizes a fallen program and wins seven games his first year.

OK, OK, that's the equivalent of bouncing one off the wall and through the net, right?

Bo concedes nothing. In 2008, he copies Bob's formula and wins nine.

Each grew up in a large, middle-class, Catholic family. Each has three kids.

Each possesses the innate ability to walk into a room and command respect. Each would rather lose 63-7 than mince words.

Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Big Red Today - Out of his shadow