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Nebraska fires head coach Bo Pelini

Bo Pelini

Bo Pelini

AP

One of college football’s traditional plum jobs has opened.

Nebraska has parted ways with head coach Bo Pelini, the school announced on Sunday morning.

The 46-year-old Pelini helped lead Nebraska to a 67-27 mark in his tenure, with the program winning nine or 10 games in all seven of his seasons. However, the Cornhuskers lost four games in each of his first six campaigns, and speculation about his job security circulated in each of the last two seasons. The Huskers are 9-3 in 2014.

Given Nebraska’s resources and tradition, the school can likely command a top-caliber replacement for Pelini. How athletic director Shawn Eichorst proceeds remains to be seen.

Pelini has some NFL experience. He was the 49ers’ assistant secondary coach from 1994 through 1996 before joining the Patriots as linebackers coach from 1997 through 1999. In the final five of those seasons, he worked with now-Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll. Pelini was also the Packers’ linebackers coach from 2000 through 2002.

It’s possible Pelini could find a soft landing in college. His Huskers teams won at a 71 percent clip — a rate that would be more than acceptable at numerous other schools.

But it wasn’t quite enough at Nebraska.