BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green interviewed Notre Dame assistant coach Brian Polian and interim coach Carl Pelini for its open head coaching position, a source close to the situation told The Blade.
The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because Bowling Green has not commented publicly on its coaching search.
Polian, 43, currently is the special teams coach and recruiting coordinator for Notre Dame, where he has spent two seasons on Brian Kelly’s staff and helped the Fighting Irish to a 12-0 regular season this year.
Pelini, 53, took over at Bowling Green after it fired former coach Mike Jinks in October. Under Pelini, the Falcons won two of their final five games to finish the season 3-9.
A few players publicly advocated for Pelini to become the full-time coach. Cornerback Marcus Milton said after Bowling Green’s final game that he supported Pelini having the interim tag lifted.
“I’d take a bullet for the guy,” Milton said last week. “It was awesome playing for him.”
The school had hoped to announce a hire this week, though winter weather in the Midwest has delayed BG’s interview process. The Falcons would like a coach in place quickly to give the coach time to recruit ahead of the Dec. 19 beginning of the early signing period for recruits.
Before the hiring of Jinks, two different coaching staffs had led the Falcons to a Mid-American Conference championship in the past six seasons. Bowling Green won the MAC in 2013 under Dave Clawson, who departed to coach Wake Forest, then won it again under current Syracuse coach Dino Babers in 2015.
Former Bowling Green director of athletics Chris Kingston hired Jinks after Babers accepted the Syracuse job, but the program did not sustain its winning ways. Current BG director of athletics Bob Moosburgger fired Jinks in October after a 1-6 start to the season and seven wins across parts of three seasons.
Both Pelini and Polian have head coaching experience and ties to Ohio.
Polian served a four-season stint at Nevada from 2013-16, during which the Wolfpack went 23-27 and qualified for bowl games in both 2013 and 2014. Nevada and Polian separated after a 5-7 season in 2016 in what the school called “a mutual parting.”
Polian played college football at John Carroll University near Cleveland and has recruited the Midwest regularly in seven years at Notre Dame, at which he also was an assistant from 2005-09.
During his career, Polian also has made stops at Buffalo, Baylor, Central Florida, Stanford, and Texas A&M.
A native of Youngstown, Pelini was the head coach at Florida Atlantic for parts of two seasons but was dismissed for failure to discipline a member of his coaching staff for alleged drug use. The Owls went 5-15 in his tenure there.
Before arriving at Bowling Green this past off-season as the team’s defensive coordinator, Pelini held that same job under his brother, Bo, at Youngstown State. Pelini also made FBS coaching stops at Nebraska, Ohio, and Kansas State.
First Published November 27, 2018, 11:36 p.m.
