For Marvin Sanders, the Bo Pelini era at Nebraska began in understated fashion. It was Dec. 2, the Sunday morning after Louisiana State won the Southeastern Conference title game. Pe
Posted: Friday, December 21, 2007 6:00 pm
For Marvin Sanders, the Bo Pelini era at Nebraska began in understated fashion.
It was Dec. 2, the Sunday morning after Louisiana State won the Southeastern Conference title game. Pelini, then LSU’s defensive coordinator, dialed up Sanders’ cell phone.
“Let’s roll,” Pelini told Sanders, and that was that.
Well, there’s beauty in simplicity, right? Pelini became Nebraska’s head coach later that day and soon would formally hire Sanders to be his secondary coach. There was no need for protracted discussion between pals. They’ve kept in touch regularly the last few years, and the Huskers should benefit from their chemistry and like-minded approach to coaching defense.
Pelini’s staff fell into place nicely, a tight and loyal family in the making, and Sanders now eyes a continuation of his one-year stint as Husker secondary coach in 2003.
“Bo and I always thought that if we had the opportunity to get back together, we would,” Sanders said Saturday.
Like Pelini, Sanders — Nebraska’s starting free safety as a senior in 1989 — believes outstanding defense is more about swarming to the football than magical schemes.
“When I got the defensive coordinator job at North Carolina (in 2004), Bo told me, ‘Just remember, give great effort every single day,’” said Sanders, who spent three seasons with the Tar Heels before sitting out this season after UNC head coach John Bunting and his staff was fired in 2006.
Sanders, 40, is at once intense and easygoing. He’s a high-level communicator with an optimistic nature. And some Nebraska fans could use a dose of optimism right now.
Nebraska lost a slew of verbal commitments in the past week — I lost count after five. Bloggers and message-board posters panicked. The new staff can’t recruit! Bo can’t close deals! The end of mankind nears!
We all understand college coaches are being judged nowadays in shrinking time frames. But three weeks?
“Anytime there’s a change in anything, there’s a little bit of uneasiness,” Sanders said. “Recruiting nowadays is based a lot on relationships that coaches build with young men and their families. We’ve had only a couple weeks to get out and build relationships.”
Part of the issue, Sanders said, is some of the de-commitments had verbally committed to Big Red after visiting Lincoln during the season. After it became clear the Nebraska coaching staff would change dramatically, those players started visiting other campuses and became “excited by the last person who took them to the dance, so to speak,” Sanders said.
What’s more, it was in large part a tight-knit recruiting class, so dominoes perhaps fell more rapidly than anticipated.
Nevertheless, “If a young man hasn’t visited our campus yet, we feel real confident that once he visits and sees our academics and atmosphere that surrounds Husker football, we’ll have a great chance to get them in the program,” Sanders said.
National signing day is Feb. 6. The new Nebraska coaches are in hurry-up mode with recruits, working to establish relationships. Recruits will visit NU’s campus on three weekends in January — a crucial period for Pelini’s crew.
“A coach may be able to go out and visit one-on-one with recruits, but there’s still some apprehension until they see how we all react together as a staff,” Sanders said. “Once players see the family feel we have, I think we’ll finish up recruiting pretty strong.”
Even during stressful periods, Pelini will make sure people in his program are having fun. Believe me, that’s an overlooked part of Pelini — the fun factor. He’s like a teen in some ways — sort of mischievous and often hilarious. And the Husker program could use some lightheartedness about now, considering the horrors of the past several months.
It’ll be interesting to watch Pelini’s style as a head coach evolve. In his coordinator role, Sanders said, Pelini allowed assistants a lot of input. In terms of defensive approach, Pelini’s system is similar to what Sanders taught at North Carolina — lots of cover-two and cover-three with a variety of ornery blitzes.
“Our philosophy is to create a culture of swarming to the ball — that’s the first thing we do,” Pelini said.
Pelini is masterful at building confidence in players — an area where Nebraska might need help on defense, for obvious reasons.
“But I think our players will believe in our staff,” Sanders said. “I think the confidence will come once we show some results. In general, football players are very confident people. Now, being under the microscope at Nebraska sometimes, that can wear on a young man. But I think all the signs are positive right now.”
Nebraska-level pressure would wear on most any coach or player as losses mount. It was torturous at times watching Bill Callahan’s last few weeks in charge.
Of course, Sanders understands expectations and traditions at Nebraska. Husker fans’ passion for the program is among the reasons he wanted to get into coaching in the first place. And now, that force of energy is why he’s thrilled to be back in the Big Red fold.
“I have more invested than most, I guess,” Sanders said. “It’s my alma mater. I have a lot of former teammates calling me giving me advice on how to get things back on track. They have all the answers. The thing is, they have a passion. Once you go to Nebraska, you get that passion. It becomes part of you.”
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.