Pelini’s task: Pick up the pieces at Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. — A large family portrait hangs on the wall behind Bo Pelini’s desk. In front is a window overlooking the Nebraska weight room, a sort of window to the future.

In between is Pelini, who’s four weeks from his first game as the Cornhuskers’ football coach. Since his hiring in December, the 40-year-old former Ohio State defensive back and Mooney High graduate has become the most talked-about person in Nebraska and the most recognized next to the man upstairs, athletic director Tom Osborne.

Osborne remains the face of Nebraska football, though it’s been 11 years and three coaches since he left the sideline. Osborne’s teams averaged 10 wins a season and won three national titles in his 25 years, but the program started to falter in Frank Solich’s six-year run. Then came, by Nebraska standards, the total collapse under Bill Callahan.

Pelini’s task is to pick up the pieces and make right a program that hasn’t seen the top 10 of the Associated Press poll since October 2003.