Huskers Football: Bo Pelini Now a Political Poker Chip

In a culture mixed with casual friendships (a small sample size would be a bar during a Huskers football game), there’s a firm rule for conversation: no politics and no religion.

The reason for this is obvious. Among acquaintances, you’re not changing anyone’s mind and people rage easily.

Unfortunately, in a state where football is part of the community’s fabric, the lines can blur easily.

Former Nebraska football head coach Tom Osborne ran for a chance to crash in the governor’s mansion in 2006 which made perfect sense. He had political capital gained from time on the Huskers’ sidelines as a coach and in D.C. as a member of the House of Representatives.

Football and politics smashed into one indistinguishable ball.

Fast forward about eight years and Huskers football is part of the political realm again. This time, it’s not about who backs the people running such as constituents or when Osborne publicly backed Mike Foley back in April, but who the candidates themselves favor.

Forget about Bo-lievers and Bo-leavers in the stands. It just got political.

More from Nebraska Football

To bring you up to speed, there’s a contested seat on the Nebraska Board of Regents. These people help oversee just about everything that goes on when it comes to the University of Nebraska.

Oh, and they control where the money goes. Pretty big deal, right?

Let me introduce you to Rob Schafer and Steve Glenn. The former’s battling to keep his position. Some Big Red fans may be familiar with Glenn. He was an offensive lineman for the Huskers in the 1970s, a Pawnee City, NE boy. He’s also not a fan of Pelini.

Kate Howard of the Omaha-World Herald reported that Glenn went to Schafer regarding the now-seventh-year head coach following last year’s lopsided regular season loss to Iowa. There’s two sides to the story, of course.

Schafer claims Glenn wanted him to flex his Imani Cross-like Regent strength to oust Pelini.

Glenn refutes this, but to a point. According to him, Schafer was contacted as an elected official to see if the university was addressing Pelini’s actions.

He’d swung his hat at a ref and laid down a scorched earth presser, if you don’t recall.

Now, to those who back the current Nebraska coach 100 percent, Glenn’s decision to run for the seat isn’t about whether or not he can control the fate of the football program. According to him, at least.

"“Five years of blood, sweat and tears I put on that Astroturf. I am fully behind the team and fully supportive of what’s there and who’s there. I want them to win.”"

To add even more evidence to that argument, he took just as much interest in the program during the Bill Callahan era.

Following the firing of then-athletic director Steve Pederson, Glenn stated that the action was, “the best thing to happen to Nebraska football in 10 years.”

Of course, at the time it was 2007, so he would be referencing the final days of Osborne’s tenure as coach. He went on to back the same man that previously coached him for the athletic director role. Osborne got the job, Pelini was hired and here we are.

Now, this is where it gets good.

According to Howard’s report:

"When Schafer refused to get involved, citing the hierarchy that actually hires and fires the football coach, Schafer said Glenn promised to run for his seat. “He said, ‘Well, if you don’t do it, I’m going to run for your position,’ ” Schafer said."

The report also states that the former walk-on chose to point out how the Pelini issue is a huge distraction from bigger matters such as the Board of Regents’ job of choosing a new university president.

Fans may be irritated by what happens online across the digital Husker Nation in regards to Pelini and his team, but the matter of his involvement with the football program has been turned up to 11.

If Pelini thinks what the media says is distracting to his team, let’s see how he influences the vote for a position that carries a ton of clout.

Home/Nebraska Football