Nebraska’s Bo Pelini faces the music, reportedly tells a fib

Bo Pelini addressed Tuesday the audio recording of the profane comments he made about Nebraska fans and local media members back in 2011, and for the most part, he handled the situation well. He took responsibility for what he said that day, drawing praise for doing his best to explain the circumstances surrounding those comments.

“Obviously it was a shock to me,” Pelini said. “That was a conversation that was private that happened during an emotional time, in a private setting, and it obviously wasn’t representative (of my views). It was a difficult time. I vented in a situation where I thought it was a private conversation and obviously it’s unfortunate with it being out there.”

He also sounded a bit disgruntled about being in Lincoln on the recording, and while he said Tuesday he “never pursued jobs” at other schools, that might not be true. Both Ted Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune and Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports say that Pelini attempted to move on.

Despite the way Pelini handled himself, this might end up the dominant story line of the day. If Nebraska is looking for reasons to seek a new head coach -- or something outwardly resembling reasons -- this is one more data point in its favor.

Other Big Ten coaches chimed in on the controversy and came to Pelini’s defense, including Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.

That’s an exaggeration, but it’s not too far off, either.

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