LINCOLN Ron Brown always knew Bo Pelini to be a man of his word.
However, with four years having gone by since the two coached together as assistants at Nebraska in 2003, Brown said he wouldn't have harbored any hard feelings if Pelini would've forgotten his offer to Brown. The offer was for Brown to be part of Pelini's staff should he ever become a head coach.
As things turned out, Pelini was named as the Cornhuskers' head coach on Dec. 2. Soon after, it was revealed that Brown would be a member of Pelini's staff.
That invitation especially impressed Brown because he and Pelini had spoken just once in the four years since they teamed up on Frank Solich's staff to post a 10-3 record and win the Alamo Bowl 17-3 over Michigan State. That meeting came in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a national coaches' convention.
"I'm only surprised because most people don't keep their word for four years," said Brown, who returns to coach tight ends for Nebraska. "I would have totally understood if Bo would've said, 'Well, you've been out of it for four years Ron,' and gone in another direction.
"He always said to me that if he ever became a head coach, he wanted to have me on his staff. He told me that before, he told me again when he saw me at that coaching convention, which was about three years ago, and then this thing happened at Nebraska and he followed through. He's a man of his word."
Barney Cotton found the same to be true. He returns as Nebraska's associate head coach and offensive line coach after also receiving the same promise from Pelini.
"I was always hopeful," Cotton said. "A couple of times a year, Bo and I would talk. I'd usually run into him at the coaching conventions and we'd spend some time together there and he called me in the past when he had different things going, so I was hopeful that if and when he ever became a head coach, he would consider me as a potential staff member.
"He did reach out to me, which is awesome, because I really enjoy working with him."
Pelini and several members of Nebraska's 2003 coaching staff bonded during a tumultuous season. Despite the Huskers eventually winning 10 games, Solich was fired at the end of a 9-3 regular season and Pelini was named interim head coach for the bowl game.
"I really respected him during our time together in 2003," Cotton said. "We created a close bond then and we kind of retained it the last four or five years."
Cotton and Brown are two of five returnees to Nebraska's staff from the 2003 season. Pelini also brought back his brother, Carl Pelini, as defensive coordinator along with Marvin Sanders as secondary coach and Jeff Jamrog as the Huskers' assistant athletics director for football.
Cotton, who coached at Iowa State from 2004-06 and then volunteered as an assistant at Ames (Iowa) High School after former Cyclones coach Dan McCarney stepped down, said it's amazing to be back in a place he loves. Even better, Cotton said, with former Nebraska coaching great Tom Osborne now serving as the school's athletics director.
"Never in a million years would any of us probably have imagined that any of this was possible, to have it go full circle like it did," Cotton said. "But probably the whole key to that puzzle is to have Coach Osborne back in charge of the athletics department. I can't imagine how any program could be headed by a better person than he is."
Cotton, who was born in Omaha and played for Nebraska from 1975-78, said there's nothing quite like being home again.
"There are just the simple things like three times during the recruiting process, I was going through Omaha or was in Omaha and I was able to call my folks and have a bite to eat with them," Cotton said. "You don't maybe get to spend a whole lot of time with them, but it sure is nice to go and be able to have a pizza or a burger with them and see them face to face some instead of just talking to them over the phone.
"Being back home is something I never expected, let's put it that way, but it sure is nice."
Brown feels the same.
"I feel God's pleasure," Brown said. "I believe that this is something He wanted me to do. I love the state of Nebraska and when the coaching opportunity came my way, I felt like it was God's plan for me to do it."
Brown had served as an assistant coach under Osborne and Solich for a total of 17 seasons before being let go when Bill Callahan took over as head coach in 2004. He had offers to stay in coaching, but instead opted to remain in Nebraska as the state's Fellowship of Christian Athletes director.
"I felt very called to Nebraska and that's why I didn't leave," Brown said. "I had a chance to coach elsewhere after we were fired in 2003 and, after a lot of prayerful consideration, I did not feel called to leave. I felt very committed to the state of Nebraska, so I was not looking for coaching outside of this state.
"It's difficult to say what I would've done if Bo would've gotten a job elsewhere and asked me to come, but when he got the job here and asked, it seemed like that's what I should do."
While so might wonder of four years away from the game might hinder Brown's abilities to coach, he believes quite the opposite is true. Since being out of coaching, the 51-year-old Brown worked as an analyst for ESPN and Sports Spectrum on Internet, TV and radio broadcasts.
"I just got a whole different view that I wouldn't have gotten if I was still coaching," Brown said. "Now, putting all that together, I feel fresh. I feel like I got a press box view of things, a clearer view and I'm ready to go back to work."
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