Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst said on Saturday that Bo Pelini will return as the Cornhuskers head football coach.
There had been rumors about Pelini’s job as the Huskers are struggling this season. In September a two-year old audio tape was released and Pelini criticizes Nebraska’s fans and talked about leaving the school on the tape. The Cornhuskers lost to Iowa on Friday to end the regular season. After Friday’s loss, they are 8-4 and waiting for a bowl bid on December 8. Despite the Cornhuskers struggles on the field and the release of the audio tape, Pelini will still be the head coach.
"My approach has always been not to comment publicly about our coaches until their full seasons are complete, as I strongly believe it is unfair and counter to best practices," Eichorst said in a statement, according to ESPN. "However, given the volume of unfounded speculation and conjecture about our head football coach, I want to reaffirm what I have said many times since I arrived at the University of Nebraska -- that I positively respect, appreciate and support our football student-athletes, coaches and staff, as we do everyone in the Husker family."
Pelini is 57-24 in six seasons with Nebraska, according to the Associated Press. However Nebraska hasn’t won a conference title since 1999. Pelini’s teams have won nine or ten games in each of his first five seasons.
Pelini, who won a national championship at LSU, is under contract through 2017. His contract is extended one year after each season that he gets a positive job review. Since 2009 Nebraska hasn’t finished higher than 20th in the final AP poll, and they hope that Pelini can change that.