Learning a little about the head coach 140 characters at a time

2 comments so far May 26, 2009 by Brandon Vogel

There are two kinds of people in the world right now: Those who are already using Twitter and those that think it's the dumbest idea they've ever heard. Made to choose, I would've slated Bo Pelini for the latter category but a little over a week ago he joined the former. Pete Carroll has been famous for his Tweets for a while now, Les Miles made news when he announced he was planning to Tweet during games this season and now we've officially reached the tipping point for college coaches on Twitter.

If you're not keeping up with the Joneses--June Jones for example--you're falling behind and while I'm not convinced Twitter is going to help anyone lure in recruits it's best not to let your absence online cost you recruits either. Therefore, Bo Pelini twitters and, if nothing else, it's illuminating.

The interesting thing about people who don't "get" Twitter--a group I'm currently aligned with but I'll admit to theoretically toeing the waters of late--is that the onus is always on the audience, never on the provider. Twitter explains itself as a service that allows people to frequently answer the question "What are you doing right now?" More often than not for non-Twitterers, this baseline explanation prompts another question and it never seems to be "Why would I want to do that?" Rather, it's almost always "Why would anyone care?" The concern isn't the process it's the outcome: what if nobody does care? It makes me think that on some level everyone wants to Twitter, to be socially connected using all the hot new gadgets, but some are scared off by the precise accounting of the limits of their social network.

At least that's my theory, but for Bo Pelini that's obviously not a concern. People are endlessly interested in everything Nebraska football and, maybe owing a little to the slow time of the year, Pelini's feed has offered a fun look into the life of the coach. For those of you who haven't been following, allow me to highlight some of what we've learned and you can judge for yourself whether or not it's interesting. And, since I'm mulling this whole Twittering idea and need to try it out, I'll do each highlight in 140 characters or less.

Pelini is playing a lot of golf.
You already knew he went and played Augusta with Doc Sadler, but so far golf Tweets outweigh everything minus Cleveland Indians updates.

Pelini is a real baseball fan.
It fills me with joy that Bo’s living and dying with his team each day like I am. Knew he was a Tribe fan, but the dedication is impressive.

And a hoops fan too.
Bo’s watching the NBA and, even when he’s not involved, he can’t help but point out poor officiating. My favorite Tweet so far.

It took him less than four days to surpass the number of followers we have at the Big Red Network.
Not surprised, but we’re keeping score here people! If you haven’t already, sign up. Also, why isn't Pelini following us?

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