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‘Crazy’ Pelini brothers mostly mellow so far
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
When Youngstown State defensive end Avery Moss found out the Penguins were hiring Carl Pelini as the defensive line coach, he reached out to his cousin, Todd Peat, who played for Pelini at Nebraska.
“One of the first things I asked was, ‘Do you like him?’” said Moss, who played with the Cornhuskers in 2012 and 2013, immediately after Pelini was hired as Florida Atlantic’s head coach. “He said, ‘I love him, but he’s crazy.’ And I was like, ‘Well, he’s a Pelini.’”
Thing is, through the first six spring practices, the Pelini brothers have been pretty mellow. (Well, by football coaching standards.) Former YSU coach Eric Wolford was much crazier in his first year with the Penguins, and he had several coaches (most notably Joe Tresey, the defensive coordinator in 2012 and 2013) who were more likely to blow their stack.
Carl Pelini believes their volatile reputation is mostly a media creation.
“Especially Bo,” he said. “A lot of it comes down to a few instances where he lost his temper during a game. But if you turn on any college football game on Saturday, you see other coaches doing the same thing. But once you have that reputation, there’s always a camera on you and it’s magnified. For the most part, I really didn’t see a difference between his behavior and 90 percent of the coaches out there.
“I think we have fun with the players. We’re intense, but in a fun way at practice.”
Both coaches pride themselves on being teachers first — Bo mostly observed during his first practice at YSU, but has been very hands-on since — and they’ve gotten good early reviews from their players.
“[Bo is] a great guy,” tight end Kintrell Disher said. “I don’t see what everyone else is talking about. He’s a cool, calm, collected guy. He’s a people person. He greets us and just shows us that he’s here for us and he’s here to make us better.”
“I love [Carl],” Moss said. “Getting to know him the way he coaches, his attention to detail — I love it all. I think he’s going to be a coach that can get me to the next level.”
YSU defensive end Derek Rivers, who earned first-team all-conference honors last season, was close with last year’s defensive line coach, Tom Sims, who was hired at his alma mater, Pitt, in the offseason.
When asked about Carl, Rivers said, “I like him a lot. Coach Sims was a great coach. I love Coach Sims to death. That was my man right there. But Carl’s a good dude. He’s not too far from Coach Sims, and I love playing for him.”
Showing improvement
The Penguins had their sixth practice (out of 15) on Friday, and Bo has been impressed with the players’ effort so far.
“One thing I appreciate about this group is they’re always playing hard,” he said. “We’re not always playing smart, but I’m seeing progress. That’s all you can ask for.”
The biggest weakness? Attention to detail.
“I think our attention to detail at times is lacking as far as being able to translate some of the coaching and really carry it over to the field,” he said. “We’ve got to play smart and do it the way we’re coached to do and stay with our technique and fundamentals.”
Pelini signed about 30 players in this year’s recruiting class, which means not everyone on the spring roster will make it to August.
“What happens out here [at spring practice] determines who comes to training camp,” he said.