Pelini keeps open mind as YSU spring practice begins

March 18, 2015 at 12:09a.m.

New coach keeps open mind entering first spring practice

YOUNGSTOWN

Bo Pelini, Youngstown State’s famous (and occasionally infamous) new coach with the fire-breathing reputation, spent most of his first spring practice as an observer, content to let his assistant coaches run things while sporadically stepping in to, say, correct the footwork during a defensive back drill.

Surprising? It shouldn’t be, he said.

“Contrary to popular opinion, I’m not a screamer and a yeller out on the practice field,” Pelini said afterward. “I believe you have to teach. It’s like I told the team, the times we’re going to get after you is when I see a lack of effort.

“I didn’t see a lot of lack of effort out there today.”

The practice also marked the coaching return of Pelini’s brother, Carl, who was officially hired as the team’s defensive line coach, a move that’s been rumored for weeks. Carl has not coached since he was fired as Florida Atlantic’s head coach in October of 2013.

Because it was windy and YSU’s players were in shorts, Bo Pelini moved Tuesday’s practice — the first of 15 this spring — to the WATTS, wanting to remove the elements from his first impressions. In fact, Pelini was so intent on keeping an open mind that he avoided watching much film of last year’s team.

“I want to make my own judgments,” said Pelini, a Cardinal Mooney High graduate who spent the last seven seasons as Nebraska’s head coach. “I want to coach these guys and be hands-on with them and evaluate accordingly. To me, sometimes it’s hard to evaluate guys when you’re not sure what they were being asked to do and how they were being asked to do it.

“To be fair to these players, this is a little bit of a new lease on life for them, especially on the defensive side and the guys that are going to be on special teams. For a guy who wasn’t playing or a guy who hasn’t had the type of career [he wanted] up until now, to go and put his best foot forward and have a chance to make their mark.”

Pelini retained Wolford’s offensive coordinator (Shane Montgomery) and offensive line coach (Carmen Bricillo), so YSU’s offense should look similar to the past five years. Defensively, it will look different, even though the coordinator (Ron Stoops) spent the past five years coaching safeties and linebackers under Wolford.

“Defensively, it’s going to be drastically different than what they’ve done in the past,” said Pelini, who plans to play a much more aggressive scheme. “Philosophically, what it comes down is, to be a good football team, you have to have really good attention to detail in all areas. Not as much in what you’re doing but how you’re doing it. The level of detail, the level of fundamentals, the level of technique you’re bringing to the field every day.”

YSU’s defense was a weak spot during the Wolford era, particularly his first four seasons. But it improved last season, helping defensive linemen Derek Rivers and Terrell Williams and linebacker Dubem Nwadiogbu earn all-conference honors.

“You can tell he really focuses on defense because defense wins championships and offense wins games,” Nwadiogbu said. “There’s a little bit of different concepts. It’s not really more of a zone, so we have to get used to getting patient and reading what we have to read. It’s a little hard but the more we went on, the more we got the hang of it.”