The breakdowns posted on page 1 give a good snapshot of how dysfunctional Pelini's entire tenure was.
I posted this in another thread but Pelini is very likely Bi-polar. When Manic he thinks he is invincible and 100% right on every single thing ever and anybody who disagrees with him is personally attacking him. When Depressed he thinks every action by every person in the world is intentionally working against him and only him, and everybody knows exactly how he is feeling/what he is thinking despite Pelini never communicating with anybody these feelings/thoughts.
Excuses chasing each other off the page. Unwarranted paranoia of "everybody out to get me" and inventing enemies when none existed. Playing the victim at all times to the point of mentally tricking an entire team into thinking they are the victims of the most loyal fan base in sports. (Bo again went back to that well after Lewan mentioned how nice Nebraska fans are, oh no no no Taylor they are actually Al Qaeda and I'm an innocent baby puppy)
You wanna talk about damage done to a program? Look how Compton exaggerates to defend Pelini and that era, look at how he openly lies to defend Pelini and that era of teams and look how he talks about Nebraska's history with utter disdain. I've heard many many players from that era speak of Nebraska like this; and by "Nebraska" I mean the football program history, the fan base and the State. Kenny Bell, Corey Cooper and multiple OL.
Pelini's bullshit spread like a disease to the entire team and a good chunk of the fan base and we are still dealing with the repercussions of it.
Pelini did not have to make it so hard on himself, his staff, the team, UNL administration, the media or the fan base.
Pelini was almost always his own worst enemy and created problems where none existed or aggravated minor problems into major ones.
He failed in many aspects of Coaching and still takes zero accountability for most of it. Pelini instead blames everything from conspiracy theory 'esk hypotheticals to "the big bad Nebraska media and fan base". (if you think Nebraska media or fans are remotely close to being as bad as any major east coast city or most of the SEC fans bases/media than you live in a parochial bubble)
The worst part now is reading/hearing people who don't remember or weren't there for it and instead look back on 4 sunbelt wins + a soft as shit Big 12 schedule and think going 10-4 with Callahan's players makes him a god. Pelini's only 10 win season in the Big 10 Nebraska played 1 ONE ranked team in the regular season and we got blown out, feasted on the sun belt and a FCS school to get to Indy and have 3rd place Wisconsin rape us. But hey.... 10 wins baby GOAT shit! GBR #FOE
PS: Notice how the "Pelini was actually a good HC and the best DC ever" takes have now faded away after he tanked Youngstown State and LSU.
Youngstown State = 5-6, *12-4, 6-5, 4-7, 6-6 --> *put on probation for multiple violations relating to getting so many "new" and ineligible players for the miracle 2016 season when they went 12-4
LSU = multiple school records for worst Defensive performance in school history, multiple SEC records for most yards given up in conference history. Defense was filled with NFL talent, including multiple 1st round talent. Team coming off a National Championship.
In a 10 game season his defense gave up over 44 points in 5 games. He is unemployed because nobody wants him as a HC or a DC.