Topic: Bo Pelini

Mark “Bo” Pelini (born December 13, 1967) is the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He had previously been defensive coordinator for the LSU Tigers. On December 2, 2007, one day after coaching in the 2007 SEC Championship Game, Pelini was named as head coach at Nebraska by athletic director Tom Osborne.

Pelini was raised in Youngstown, Ohio, a former center of steel production with a strong athletic tradition. He was nicknamed "Bo" after former Cleveland Browns running back Bo Scott. After graduating from Youngstown Cardinal Mooney High School (the same high school as Oklahoma Sooners Head Coach Bob Stoops), he went on to play free safety for the Ohio State University Buckeyes under Earle Bruce and later John Cooper from 1987 to 1990, as a starter in his last two years. Pelini served as a team co-captain in his senior year, along with Vinnie Clark, Jeff Graham and Greg Frey. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business marketing from Ohio State University in 1990 while playing for the Buckeyes.

Following his playing career, Pelini began his coaching career at the University of Iowa as a graduate assistant from 1991 to 1992 for the Iowa Hawkeyes under Hayden Fry. During this period, he also completed his master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio State University in 1992. In 1993, at the conclusion of his two-year term as graduate assistant at Ohio, he served for one year as quarterbacks coach at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown.