Carl Pelini

College coach infobox
Name = Carl Pelini


Caption =
Title = Defensive Coordinator
Defensive Line Coach
College = Nebraska
Sport = College football
Conference = Big 12
CurrentRecord =
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1965|07|15
Birthplace = flagicon|Ohio Youngstown, Ohio
DateOfDeath =
Deathplace =
OverallRecord =
Contract = $190,000 [ [http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10214412 Husker assistants' salaries set] ]
BowlRecord =
TournamentRecord =
CFbDWID =
Championships =
Awards = Suburban Conference Coach of the Year (1997)
CoachingRecords =
Player = Y
Years = 1983-1984
Team = Columbia University
Position =
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1987-1988
1989-1990
1991
1993-1994
1995-1999
2000-2002
2003
2004
2005-2007
2008-"present"
CoachTeams = Cardinal Mooney HS (AC)
Kansas State (GA)
Kansas State (REC)
Blue Valley North HS (DC)
Winnetonka HS (HC/AD)
Austintown-Fitch HS
Nebraska ((GA)
Minnesota-Mankato (DC/DB)
Ohio (DL)
Nebraska (DC/DL)
FootballHOF =
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF =

Carl Pelini (born July 15, 1965) is the Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Line Coach for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team. He is also the older brother of Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini.

Biography

Early life

Carl Pelini was born in Youngstown, Ohio, a former center of steel production with a strong athletic tradition, and graduated from Youngstown Cardinal Mooney High School (the same high school as Oklahoma Sooners Head Coach Bob Stoops).

Playing career

Pelini had a relatively short playing career, putting in just two seasons at Columbia University in New York City in 1983 and 1984 as a middle linebacker before returning home to finish his degree [ [http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=2&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=1354988&Q_SEASON=2008 University of Nebraska Coach Profile: Carl Pelini] ] .

Coaching career

Prior to finishing his first degree, Pelini began his coaching career with a two year stint beginning in 1987 as an assistant at his alma mater, Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown.

The following year, 1989, Pelini completed his bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Youngstown State University, and later in the same year was brought aboard the staff at Kansas State University by Bill Snyder as a Graduate Assistant. Two years later he moved up from Graduate Assistant to a position on staff as a Restricted Earnings Coach, while he simultaneously completed his Master's Degree in Journalism at Kansas State. Coincidentally, Pelini's last year on the Kansas State coaching staff was also the first year future fellow Nebraska Assistant Mike Ekeler played for the same team.

Pelini then spent two years out of coaching while finishing his third degree, a Master's in Education, from Ohio State University in 1993, and then promptly returned to the coaching ranks as the Defensive Coordinator for Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park, Kansas for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

In 1995, Pelini was appointed Head Coach for the first time, while also assuming the role of Athletic Director, at Winnetonka High School in Kansas City, Missouri. During his four year tenure at Winnetonka, he orchestrated a remarkable turnaround for a program that had achieved a winning season only once in the previous 25 years, and his 1997 squad finished 8-2 and led to Pelini being named Suburban Conference Coach of the Year.

In 2000, Pelini was once again tapped to revitalize a suffering high school program and welcomed the opportunity to return to his roots for a short time when he was hired as Head Coach at Austintown-Fitch High School in Austintown, Ohio, Ohio, a suburb of his hometown of Youngstown. Again, Pelini started the resurrection of an unsuccessful program that had gone without a winning season in the previous eight years. Today, Austintown-Fitch High School boasts one of the top high school programs in Northeast Ohio.

Pelini moved back into the college ranks, again as a Graduate Assistant, when hired by Frank Solich at Nebraska, where he worked side by side with younger brother Bo Pelini who had also just been hired by Solich as Defensive Coordinator. At the conclusion of the regular season, despite posting a 9-3 record, Solich was fired by new Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson. Bo Pelini was named the interim head coach and with the rest of the coaching staff still on board led the Cornhuskers to a 17-3 win over the Michigan State Spartans in the 2003 Alamo Bowl [ [http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=3&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&KEY=&Q_SEASON=2003 2003 Nebraska Football Schedule Results] ] . Bo Pelini interviewed for the Nebraska head coach position, but Pederson instead decided after a 41-day search to hire Bill Callahan, who had just been fired by the Oakland Raiders after a disappointing 4-12 season. Both Pelini brothers departed Nebraska.

Jeff Jamrog, another Nebraska assistant let go following the dismissal of Frank Solich, was hired as Head Coach at Minnesota-Mankato for the 2004 season. Jamrog brought Carl Pelini over as well, hiring him as Defensive Coordinator and Secondaries Coach. Minnesota-Mankato finished 6-5 that year, a major improvement over their winless season the year prior.

The following year, in 2005, after taking a year off to study the game, Frank Solich rejoined the ranks of head coaches when he was hired at Ohio to turn the Bobcat program around, and Pelini accepted a position under his former boss at Ohio, as Defensive Line Coach. 2006 was the year of resurgence for the long-suffering Ohio program, as they finished win nine wins and won the East Division Mid-American Conference title. The 2006 Bobcats also played in the GMAC Bowl against Southern Miss, Ohio's first bowl appearance since 1968.

At the conclusion of the 2007 season, a coaching change again influenced Pelini's career. Bill Callahan, Frank Solich's successor at Nebraska, was fired after four seasons. Carl Pelini's brother Bo was named Callahan's successor and brought Carl with him upon his return. Carl returned to Nebraska, this time in the role of Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Line Coach.

References