LSU’s Miles pleased Pelini still on board

Nebraska’s new coach has unfinished business for the Tigers.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Before new Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini could return to LSU’s sideline for one last game as defensive coordinator, he and Tigers head coach Les Miles had to set a few ground rules.

“I agreed that he could call the entire defense, call every play,” Miles said. “I also agreed that we would be ahead at the end of the game and that if he called a defense that didn’t allow that to happen, then he would be relieved of duty immediately. We’ve agreed that he will not wear an ‘N’ on his cap when he coaches on the sidelines.”

Apparently, Miles either isn’t very worried about Pelini’s dual commitments or he’s covering up his concerns with humor.

Whatever the case, Pelini, who returned to Baton Rouge for LSU’s first practice after final exams this week, said LSU has nothing to worry about — not even the fact that the Mooney High graduate once played at Ohio State, which will be LSU’s opponent in the BCS national championship game on Jan. 7.

“I played there and had a great experience there, but this is a different time, place and situation,” Pelini said. “I have a job to do and that is part of being a professional. You have to have to take your own emotions out of it.

“I owe a lot to LSU. I love this place and the kids I coach. It’s a different time and a different place and right now I’m all about LSU.”

Pelini is no stranger to big games. As an assistant coach in the NFL, he helped the San Francisco 49ers win Super Bowl 29. He also coached in numerous NFL playoff games with the New England Patriots in the late 1990s and the Green Bay Packers earlier this decade before returning to the college ranks as an assistant at Nebraska.

He spent one season with the Cornhuskers, taking over temporarily as head coach for the 2003 Alamo Bowl, which Nebraska won. He then moved on to Oklahoma, where he was an assistant on the squad that lost to Southern California in the Orange Bowl for the 2004 national championship.

He arrived at LSU when Miles took over in 2005 and has been part of a team that has now won 33 games during the past three seasons, including lopsided triumphs over Miami in the 2005 Peach Bowl and over Notre Dame in last season’s Sugar Bowl.

Now, he gets his second shot to be part of his first college national championship squad. His decision to temporarily wear two hats has been questioned by many, but not by LSU players or by Miles, who say they appreciate how Pelini’s return shows that coaching football still has a human, emotional side. It’s not always the cold, calculated business it seems to be when he coaching carousel starts turning around this time of year.

“It’s us and him recognizing that he’s a part of our team and until we saddle this one up and ride this last one out, he’s with us,” Miles said. “It benefits not only us, our team, him, but Nebraska. Their coach is coaching in a heck of a game. I just think it’s a win-win. ... I never thought of doing it any other way.”

While LSU got a couple weeks off after the Southeastern Conference title game for final exams, Pelini said he filled out his Nebraska staff and got caught up, if not ahead, on watching film of the Buckeyes by the time he got back to Baton Rouge.