Arrest warrant issued for longtime college football coach Carl Pelini

An arrest warrant has been issued for longtime college football coach Carl Pelini. Currently the head coach and athletics director at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio, he is the younger brother of former Nebraska coach Bo Pelini.

Boardman (Ohio) Police are seeking Pelini’s arrest after his wife reported a domestic violence indecent at the couple’s home on Sunday morning. According to television station WKBN, the couple got into a physical altercation at their home in Boardman, and Carl Pelini then left the residence.

Police found Pelini’s wife with a black eye and blood on the kitchen floor. She was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Pelini recently started his second year at Cardinal Mooney but has been placed on administrative leave.

Carl Pelini background

Pelini spent time as a grad assistant at Kansas State and Nebraska until landing at Minnesota State University, Mankato as the team’s defensive coordinator in 2004. After one season he rejoined Frank Solich in Athens, Ohio, with Ohio University. Pelini spent three seasons with the Bobcats as their defensive line coach.

Pelini was named defensive coordinator when his older brother took the head job at Nebraska in 2007. He took his first head coaching job in December 2011 at Florida Atlantic, but only lasted two seasons before resigning due to reported illegal drug use. In his two seasons at FAU the Owls went 5-15 and only won three conference games.

After teaching at a Nebraska community college for a year, he returned to college football in 2015, rejoining his brother, this time at Youngstown State. He remained at Youngstown State until 2018 when he joined the Bowling Green coaching staff. When Mike Jinks was fired, Pelini was named interim head coach.

Pelini spent another season at Youngstown State in 2019 before eventually landing at Cardinal Mooney when Bo Pelini took over as LSU‘s defensive coordinator.