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By Mark Znidar The Columbus Dispatch
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The amateur comedian inside Bo Pelini trickled out Saturday when a reporter asked about Youngstown State’s game against South Dakota State being his 100th as a head football coach.
Pelini stared at the man, paused for effect and kept a straight face before mumbling a dry reply.
“It feels like my 500th,” he said, drawing laughter.
A year ago at this time, everyone would have believed every word because Pelini was weeks away from a noisy, angst-ridden firing by Nebraska.
Pelini was one of six major-college coaches to have won at least nine games in each of his first seven seasons, but athletic director Shawn Eichorst said the Cornhuskers “weren’t good enough in the games that mattered, and I don’t see that changing.”
In retort, Pelini called Eichorst “a (blanking) lawyer who makes policies and doesn’t understand what a core value is.” He told his players that he’d rather work at McDonald’s.
To understand why Pelini, 47, chose to return home to coach a Football Championship Subdivision team rather than pursue another Power Five conference job is to know what makes his heart beat.
He graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School, which is 2.8 miles from campus. His wife, Mary Pat, also grew up here. They were married here.
It didn’t matter to Pelini that the last time he lived in Youngstown year-round was his senior year of high school in 1986-87. He went on to become a starting safety, senior captain and academic all-Big Ten team member at Ohio State.
“Some things change and some things don’t, but home is always home,” Pelini said. “It has been good for me and good for my family to come back. We were away from family and friends. We’re back in the community. This is what the doctor ordered for my family.”
One of the first things Bo and Mary Pat did after the hiring in December was to enroll Patrick and Katie at Mooney. Caralyn is in eighth grade.
The next move was to bring his brother, Carl, from Nebraska to be co-defensive coordinator. He retained family friend Ron Stoops Jr. as co-defensive coordinator.
The move to Youngstown has given the Pelinis a chance to breathe among their kind of people.
“Youngstown: It’s the people, it’s the values, it’s the work ethic,” Pelini said. “I was exposed to all of that growing up. The success I’ve had is due in large part because of my upbringing.”
Youngstown State is paying Pelini a Football Championship Subdivision wage, $213,894 per year for four years. He made a base salary of $3,075,000 in his final year at Nebraska. But Nebraska is paying out the nose in settlement for the firing, $128,009 per month through 2019.
Big money, family friend Joe Cassese said, is not that important to Pelini. Cassese is the former director of athletic development for Youngstown State. He runs the Mahoning Valley Restaurant, or MVR, that is within walking distance of campus and has been in business since 1927.
“First, we got Jim Tressel back home as university president,” Cassese said. “Now, we’ve got Bo back. You just hope you are not dreaming. Bo is a family man, first and foremost. He always does what’s best for his family. I’m sure he turned down millions to come back.”
The MVR lobby is decorated with pictures of Youngstown’s favorite athletic sons and adopted sons such as Tressel, Pelini, Bill Narduzzi, Steve Mariucci, Mark Dantonio, Ron Jaworski and Bob Stoops.
YSU players were taken aback when they learned that Pelini was going to be their coach.
“I was very surprised to hear that, a big man like that coming to Youngstown,” junior safety Eric Thorpe said. “The city is excited.”
Season-ticket holder and 1974 Youngstown State graduate Bob Coller hopes the expectations aren’t too high.
The Penguins won national championships in 1991, ’93, ’94 and ’97 and were runners-up in ’92 and ’99 under Tressel but have made the playoffs once since he left for Ohio State in 2001. Successors Jon Heacock (nine seasons) and Eric Wolford (five) fielded respectable teams but never great ones.
Youngstown State is 3-3 after consecutive losses to Illinois State 31-29 and South Dakota State 38-8. The other loss came to Pittsburgh 45-37 opening night.
“What the people in Youngstown don’t understand is that Bo can’t come in here and win the national championship right away,” Coller said. “He has to have time to get his recruits in here. The fans want every coach we have to be Jim Tressel. Bo needs be his own coach. I have 100 percent confidence in the guy.”
Pelini is grateful that athletic director Ron Strollo and Tressel are men who “value” football.
“I have talked a lot with Jim,” Pelini said. “Jim gets it. He has been through coaching. He understands team. He has been very supportive, and that’s all you can ask.”
The pressures of winning, Pelini said, come from within.
“I don’t worry about what comes from outside,” he said. “I just try to do my job and serve the kids on this football team. You want expectations to be high. You look at what you have to do to develop your football team. There is a process to be followed. You stay the course.”
A cynic would say that Pelini is cooling his heels in waiting for a choice major-college job to open. His winning reputation goes beyond Nebraska. He was an assistant when the San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl in the 1994 season and when LSU won the 2007 national championship over Ohio State.
“Bo isn’t going anywhere,” Youngstown State sports information director Trevor Parks said. “He’s going to be here for a long time.”
mznidar@dispatch.com
@MarkZnidar
Bo Pelini bio
Born: Dec. 13, 1967, in Youngstown
Education: Youngstown Cardinal Mooney High School, 1987; Ohio State, 1990 (bachelor’s in marketing); Ohio University, 1992 (master’s in sports administration)
Family: Wife, Mary Pat. Children, Patrick, Katie and Caralyn
