Bo Pelini fired by Nebraska

Bo Pelini has been fired after seven seasons at Nebraska, the school announced Sunday. Pelini leaves Lincoln with a fairly impressive career record there of 67-27, but zero conference titles and an inability to get over the 10-win mark eventually did him in. Offensive line coach Barney Cotton will serve as the interim head coach.

After several seasons of solid, if unspectacular results, Pelini faced his most difficult campaign in 2013. In addition to another middling season, several off-field issues began cropping up as well, issues that surely contributed to Pelini’s firing just as much as any loss on the field -- a very public dispute with former Huskers legend Tommie Frazier certainly didn’t help his cause, nor did a leaked recording in which he ripped the Nebraska fanbase.

Perhaps the best illustration of Pelini’s tenure at Nebraska is the team’s 7-17 record against ranked teams. The Huskers rarely had issues putting away the teams they should beat, but they rarely beat teams ranked ahead of them. There are a lot of expectations at Nebraska, and “pretty good” was simply not enough to satisfy them.

Pelini’s predecessor, Bill Callahan, was fired after posting a 27-22 record in four seasons. Callahan was hired to replace Frank Solich, who went 58-19 at Nebraska before being fired after a nine-win season, like Pelini.