Steven M. Sipple: Pelini keeps focus on student in 'student-athlete'
OK, I’m guilty. Maybe you’re guilty, too.
I sometimes scoff at the “student-athlete” tag as it applies to big-time college athletics.
These guys care about school? They go to class regularly? You hear stories that make you wonder.
Actually, I’m guessing the majority of major-college athletes do attend class regularly, if Nebraska is any indication. NU’s record of academic achievement in athletics speaks volumes — a nation-leading 255 Academic All-Americans, for instance.
It appears Bo Pelini is trying to maintain, if not improve, Nebraska’s sterling academic tradition. Husker football players tell stories of athletic department academic counselors showing up on campus virtually every day to check on players, per Pelini’s orders.
Or sometimes it’s an assistant coach doing the checking.
Even Pelini himself has been known to turn up in classrooms.
“It’s a bigger deal here now,” says Nebraska senior linebacker Tyler Wortman. “We have people checking on everybody.”
Nebraska long has conducted class checking of football players, but it wasn’t as elaborate and extensive as now. For one thing, not every player was checked in the recent past, according to those close to the program.
Former Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan did a nice job emphasizing the academic area. Last spring, the Husker football program was honored as one of 34 in Division I-A that produced a graduation rate of 70 percent or higher.
But several people in the Nebraska program told me Pelini is ramping up the emphasis on academics — especially class attendance.
Pelini’s overriding philosophy regarding academics and going to class?
“Everything counts in this program, from the time you wake up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night — we’re going to hold you accountable in every aspect of what you do,” the first-year head coach says.
The 40-year-old Pelini — a three-time academic All-Big Ten selection as a safety at Ohio State (1988-90) — says players going to class is “part of who they are. If we can’t count on them to do the right things off the field, we can’t count on them on the field, either.”
Wortman, who carries a 3.98 grade-point average in mechanical engineering, says Pelini’s strict academic rules “make a lot of sense. I think it’s good.”
Perhaps this is merely a first-year head coach laying down the law early in his tenure to set the tone. You know how it goes: The boss eventually will relax a bit, right?
Uh, maybe not.
“It’s not up for debate,” Pelini says. “If you don’t want to go to class, turn pro.”
When Nebraska’s new football coaches first arrived on campus, they carried to classes photos of unfamiliar players on whom they were checking, Wortman says.
Players who get caught skipping class face a rugged 6:30 a.m. workout with their position coach, or perhaps with the head coach.
And if a player leaves a class early?
Well, Nebraska senior linebacker Cody Glenn recently was caught leaving a classroom 10 minutes before the end, necessitating a 6:30 a.m. session with running backs coach Tim Beck (Glenn since has moved to linebacker).
One part of the early workout was called a “pencil roll,” Glenn says.
“You lay down on your side and just roll 100 yards,” he says. “It doesn’t sound all that bad, but it gets you tired. It can make you want to throw up a little bit.”
“I shouldn’t have left early,” Glenn adds. “I knew there were consequences.”
Callahan also dished out early-morning workouts for wayward students.
“If a teacher e-mailed our academic counselors and told them people were being disruptive or missing class, you had to get up at 6 o’clock and climb stairs for 30 minutes or an hour with Coach K (former NU head strength coach Dave Kennedy).
“But we didn’t have anybody checking classes like we do now.”
It’s interesting watching Pelini at work in the early stages of his head coaching career. We’re getting a good feel for how he wants to run a program.
Several people saw Pelini making surprise visits to at least a couple Lincoln downtown taverns on a recent Thursday night, on the lookout for players who might have been violating team rules.
In the wake of a weekend last month that saw four Huskers run afoul of the law, quarterback Joe Ganz said players were barred from visiting various downtown bars for the rest of the semester. Pelini made clear his anger during a team meeting.
“He’s really good at getting his point across,” Wortman says.
We’re getting the picture.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
I sometimes scoff at the “student-athlete” tag as it applies to big-time college athletics.
These guys care about school? They go to class regularly? You hear stories that make you wonder.
Actually, I’m guessing the majority of major-college athletes do attend class regularly, if Nebraska is any indication. NU’s record of academic achievement in athletics speaks volumes — a nation-leading 255 Academic All-Americans, for instance.
It appears Bo Pelini is trying to maintain, if not improve, Nebraska’s sterling academic tradition. Husker football players tell stories of athletic department academic counselors showing up on campus virtually every day to check on players, per Pelini’s orders.
Or sometimes it’s an assistant coach doing the checking.
Even Pelini himself has been known to turn up in classrooms.
“It’s a bigger deal here now,” says Nebraska senior linebacker Tyler Wortman. “We have people checking on everybody.”
Nebraska long has conducted class checking of football players, but it wasn’t as elaborate and extensive as now. For one thing, not every player was checked in the recent past, according to those close to the program.
Former Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan did a nice job emphasizing the academic area. Last spring, the Husker football program was honored as one of 34 in Division I-A that produced a graduation rate of 70 percent or higher.
But several people in the Nebraska program told me Pelini is ramping up the emphasis on academics — especially class attendance.
Pelini’s overriding philosophy regarding academics and going to class?
“Everything counts in this program, from the time you wake up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night — we’re going to hold you accountable in every aspect of what you do,” the first-year head coach says.
The 40-year-old Pelini — a three-time academic All-Big Ten selection as a safety at Ohio State (1988-90) — says players going to class is “part of who they are. If we can’t count on them to do the right things off the field, we can’t count on them on the field, either.”
Wortman, who carries a 3.98 grade-point average in mechanical engineering, says Pelini’s strict academic rules “make a lot of sense. I think it’s good.”
Perhaps this is merely a first-year head coach laying down the law early in his tenure to set the tone. You know how it goes: The boss eventually will relax a bit, right?
Uh, maybe not.
“It’s not up for debate,” Pelini says. “If you don’t want to go to class, turn pro.”
When Nebraska’s new football coaches first arrived on campus, they carried to classes photos of unfamiliar players on whom they were checking, Wortman says.
Players who get caught skipping class face a rugged 6:30 a.m. workout with their position coach, or perhaps with the head coach.
And if a player leaves a class early?
Well, Nebraska senior linebacker Cody Glenn recently was caught leaving a classroom 10 minutes before the end, necessitating a 6:30 a.m. session with running backs coach Tim Beck (Glenn since has moved to linebacker).
One part of the early workout was called a “pencil roll,” Glenn says.
“You lay down on your side and just roll 100 yards,” he says. “It doesn’t sound all that bad, but it gets you tired. It can make you want to throw up a little bit.”
“I shouldn’t have left early,” Glenn adds. “I knew there were consequences.”
Callahan also dished out early-morning workouts for wayward students.
“If a teacher e-mailed our academic counselors and told them people were being disruptive or missing class, you had to get up at 6 o’clock and climb stairs for 30 minutes or an hour with Coach K (former NU head strength coach Dave Kennedy).
“But we didn’t have anybody checking classes like we do now.”
It’s interesting watching Pelini at work in the early stages of his head coaching career. We’re getting a good feel for how he wants to run a program.
Several people saw Pelini making surprise visits to at least a couple Lincoln downtown taverns on a recent Thursday night, on the lookout for players who might have been violating team rules.
In the wake of a weekend last month that saw four Huskers run afoul of the law, quarterback Joe Ganz said players were barred from visiting various downtown bars for the rest of the semester. Pelini made clear his anger during a team meeting.
“He’s really good at getting his point across,” Wortman says.
We’re getting the picture.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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