After college, Pederson had many jobs, one focus
Bundled in parkas, stocking caps and a blanket, two 20-somethings from the University of Nebraska's sports information office endured an afternoon of Husker baseball.
One of them huddled over a scorebook, using a pencil - pens freeze in such weather - to track stats at the "Tundra League" game. The other held a microphone in gloved hands, announcing the game for four fans.
A co-worker snapped a picture of the two before heading indoors, their smiles strained around sets of chattering teeth.
Bill Bennett, who started his sports information career at NU and now handles reporters' questions about UCLA basketball, kept score that day. Steve Pederson, a student intern who now directs NU's athletic department, called batters to the Buck Beltzer plate.
Bennett said he remembers Pederson as a witty kid, funny and fun to be around. Bennett also remembers how hard the kid worked.
"The look on our faces was funny," Bennett said. "We were thinking, 'What in the world are we doing here?' - But I needed help, and Steve was always there."
n n n
Despite a few detours, NU's future athletic director held one thing - advancement - constant in his sights, according to those who met him along the way.
Don "Fox" Bryant, the NUsports information director who was responsible for promoting, protecting and fostering the images of athletes and coaches, was one of the first to see Pederson's potential.
"He was a business student, a personable guy, and I guess he impressed us," Bryant said. "The longer he was around, the more we realized how bright he was."
Pederson's first love was Husker football.
He jumped into action when split ends coach Jerry Pettibone, who doubled as Tom Osborne's recruiting coordinator in the early 1980s, asked Bryant for someone to help with recruiting duties.
Although green, Pederson wanted to learn it all. Pettibone said the young aide studied film for so many hours that Pederson - who never played college ball - developed a keen eye for talent.
His responsibilities included calling coaches and organizing recruiting weekends.
"Steve Pederson has never met a stranger," Pettibone said. "He's so warm and engaging that any time we had recruits on campus - any time Steve met the public, he was a natural."
n n n
Bryant's longtime friend Dick Becker called from Ak-Sar-Ben, saying he needed a public relations person with oomph for the thoroughbred racetrack.
Stan Bowker had vacated the post to become director of racing and member activities, and the kid from North Platte saw the chance to run his own shop.
"I think Steve looked at sports information as one aspect of an athletics department, and once he had experienced that aspect, it was time for him to go experience something else," Bennett said. "That also meant going outside of athletics, which he did, and coming back in - so I'm sure he had a plan."
Bowker, now executive director of the Virginia Racing Commission, and Becker, who lives in a greater-Omaha retirement home, were impressed by Pederson's enthusiasm.
Soon, Bowker said, Pederson developed relationships with entertainers, agents and racing fans.
He also learned the key to good business and its corollary: Treat customers well, and they'll come back, and treat employees well if you want customers pleased.
Pederson showed a penchant for analyzing decisions, Bowker said, including deciding to rejoin Osborne's staff as full-time recruiting coordinator in 1982, less than two years after heading to Ak-Sar-Ben.
"I don't know if I went to Tom or if Tom went to me, but we just decided together that Steve was so good that he needed to be offered a job in recruiting," Pettibone said. "It was obvious."
n n n
Back in Lincoln, Pederson displayed the dedication that had impressed Osborne before.
George Darlington, a 30-year NU assistant coach, said he remembers Pederson as organized and creative.
Pederson is responsible for at least one NCAA rule regarding recruiting, Darlington said.
"Steve came up with the brilliant idea of taking our seniors' pictures in tuxedos, standing in front of a mansion and a brand-new Cadillac," he said. "All the poster said was 'Class of '82,' but it was such a hit, so profound, that other schools complained to the NCAA, which stopped any school from sending the posters after that. It was absolutely the top poster mailed."
Pederson enjoyed a four-year run that included the 1984 Orange Bowl heartbreaker against the University of Miami and the ensuing recruiting shift toward speed.
Realizing he could not climb farther up the athletic food chain as he stood, Pederson left for the greener pastures of private business. Or so he thought.
n n n
To exercise the business degree he earned at UNL, Pederson headed for Dean Witter, now Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter, a Lincoln financial adviser and securities trader.
He had developed ties to Dean Witter through the firm's participation in the NU parents' program, which offered brokers a chance to support out-of-town Huskers with home-cooked meals, a place to do laundry and more, said George Easley of Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter.
Easley said he remembers Pederson's engaging personality landed him the job, but that his lack of patience when things failed to quickly improve didn't allow him to excel. In the end, he looked elsewhere.
Another local broker with NU parents' program ties, Smith-Hayes Financial Services Corp., hired Pederson, setting off a financial fight over who should pay for Pederson's training.
But several months later, Smith-Hayes managers learned what those at Dean Witter had, that Pederson might not have the personality of a securities broker. When Ohio State offered him a chance to get back into athletics as a recruiting coordinator, Pederson jumped.
"Investment, by nature, is a business you have to build over time," Tom Smith said. "He needed to do well in a very short time to view himself as successful.
"Steve is an outgoing, friendly guy, but it's all about Steve."
n n n
In three years as John Cooper's recruiting coordinator, Pederson got a different taste of big-time football.
Along the way he met a young, Ohio-born Buckeye, Bo Pelini, now interim NU coach.
"I think the same of him now as I did then," Pelini said last week. "He's a good guy who does a good job at whatever he does."
Cooper, who came to Ohio State from Arizona State, said he remembers the day Pederson recommended the coaching staff take sales training from an insurance company.
He'd never heard of such a thing, but Cooper said the classes taught him and his staff more effective ways to recruit, how to speak more professionally on the telephone and how to close the deal with a signed letter of intent.
"Probably the best thing I did was hire Steve Pederson," he said. "We put our coaches through sales courses out there - and I promise you, one thing we could do was recruit."
The worst mistake Ohio State made was neglecting to offer Pederson the associate athletic director title he sought, Cooper said.
Pederson, having learned what the Big Ten had to offer, took a trip to Knoxville, Tenn., where his friend, University of Tennessee recruiting coordinator Bill Higdon, was about to be promoted.
Higdon, now Tennessee's assistant athletic director for event management, said he didn't think he had a chance to get Pederson, but after conversations between Pederson, Higdon and Tennessee coach Johnny Majors, he agreed to interview for a job as recruiting coordinator.
"Bill told me the best one in the country to get was Steve Pederson," Majors said last week. "Told me he'd been at Nebraska and at Ohio State, and it might be intriguing to him to find out how another strong program operates."
Majors invited Pederson and his wife, Tami, to dinner - saying he always learns more about a man from his wife - and said he was impressed with how the two worked in public. They socialized like a well-oiled machine, he said, laughing.
Pederson learned how to deal with Majors - he likes to be challenged and confronted, not coddled - quicker than anyone else, Higdon said.
"He had a good sense of humor," Majors said. "He liked to pull my leg occasionally. He'd tell me we didn't have a chance at some kid, then turn around, smile and say, 'Coach, he committed last night.'"
One key responsibility was meeting with Majors about which coaches needed, in Majors' words, to be "spurred up" to recruit a little harder. He also overruled some coaches' assessments of players.
Said Majors: "He's a results-oriented person who doesn't lack for confidence. He makes decisions whether anybody agrees with them or not, and he doesn't do a lot of debating."
That led to Pederson's first promotion into athletic administration, as assistant athletic director for recruiting, from 1992-93, then associate athletic director for football operations, 1993-94, and back to NU.
n n n
Osborne, who had followed the success of his former protege, talked NU athletic director Bill Byrne into hiring Pederson as associate athletic director for football operations, where he remained until leaving for Pittsburgh in 1996.
Pederson's years at Nebraska, from 1994-96, rank among the most successful in school history. The Husker football team went undefeated twice, winning two national titles.
Darlington said the athletic director-to-be contributed in ways Husker fans celebrated for years.
"The recruiting classes he helped get, who played from 1996 to 1999 when we were the best team in the nation, he was in charge of recruiting," Darlington said. "I hate to use terms that people talk about all the time, but he certainly was on the cutting edge.
"He was always thinking ahead."
Reach Aaron Sanderford at 473-7225 or at asanderford@;journalstar.com.
One of them huddled over a scorebook, using a pencil - pens freeze in such weather - to track stats at the "Tundra League" game. The other held a microphone in gloved hands, announcing the game for four fans.
A co-worker snapped a picture of the two before heading indoors, their smiles strained around sets of chattering teeth.
Bill Bennett, who started his sports information career at NU and now handles reporters' questions about UCLA basketball, kept score that day. Steve Pederson, a student intern who now directs NU's athletic department, called batters to the Buck Beltzer plate.
Bennett said he remembers Pederson as a witty kid, funny and fun to be around. Bennett also remembers how hard the kid worked.
"The look on our faces was funny," Bennett said. "We were thinking, 'What in the world are we doing here?' - But I needed help, and Steve was always there."
n n n
Despite a few detours, NU's future athletic director held one thing - advancement - constant in his sights, according to those who met him along the way.
Don "Fox" Bryant, the NUsports information director who was responsible for promoting, protecting and fostering the images of athletes and coaches, was one of the first to see Pederson's potential.
"He was a business student, a personable guy, and I guess he impressed us," Bryant said. "The longer he was around, the more we realized how bright he was."
Pederson's first love was Husker football.
He jumped into action when split ends coach Jerry Pettibone, who doubled as Tom Osborne's recruiting coordinator in the early 1980s, asked Bryant for someone to help with recruiting duties.
Although green, Pederson wanted to learn it all. Pettibone said the young aide studied film for so many hours that Pederson - who never played college ball - developed a keen eye for talent.
His responsibilities included calling coaches and organizing recruiting weekends.
"Steve Pederson has never met a stranger," Pettibone said. "He's so warm and engaging that any time we had recruits on campus - any time Steve met the public, he was a natural."
n n n
Bryant's longtime friend Dick Becker called from Ak-Sar-Ben, saying he needed a public relations person with oomph for the thoroughbred racetrack.
Stan Bowker had vacated the post to become director of racing and member activities, and the kid from North Platte saw the chance to run his own shop.
"I think Steve looked at sports information as one aspect of an athletics department, and once he had experienced that aspect, it was time for him to go experience something else," Bennett said. "That also meant going outside of athletics, which he did, and coming back in - so I'm sure he had a plan."
Bowker, now executive director of the Virginia Racing Commission, and Becker, who lives in a greater-Omaha retirement home, were impressed by Pederson's enthusiasm.
Soon, Bowker said, Pederson developed relationships with entertainers, agents and racing fans.
He also learned the key to good business and its corollary: Treat customers well, and they'll come back, and treat employees well if you want customers pleased.
Pederson showed a penchant for analyzing decisions, Bowker said, including deciding to rejoin Osborne's staff as full-time recruiting coordinator in 1982, less than two years after heading to Ak-Sar-Ben.
"I don't know if I went to Tom or if Tom went to me, but we just decided together that Steve was so good that he needed to be offered a job in recruiting," Pettibone said. "It was obvious."
n n n
Back in Lincoln, Pederson displayed the dedication that had impressed Osborne before.
George Darlington, a 30-year NU assistant coach, said he remembers Pederson as organized and creative.
Pederson is responsible for at least one NCAA rule regarding recruiting, Darlington said.
"Steve came up with the brilliant idea of taking our seniors' pictures in tuxedos, standing in front of a mansion and a brand-new Cadillac," he said. "All the poster said was 'Class of '82,' but it was such a hit, so profound, that other schools complained to the NCAA, which stopped any school from sending the posters after that. It was absolutely the top poster mailed."
Pederson enjoyed a four-year run that included the 1984 Orange Bowl heartbreaker against the University of Miami and the ensuing recruiting shift toward speed.
Realizing he could not climb farther up the athletic food chain as he stood, Pederson left for the greener pastures of private business. Or so he thought.
n n n
To exercise the business degree he earned at UNL, Pederson headed for Dean Witter, now Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter, a Lincoln financial adviser and securities trader.
He had developed ties to Dean Witter through the firm's participation in the NU parents' program, which offered brokers a chance to support out-of-town Huskers with home-cooked meals, a place to do laundry and more, said George Easley of Morgan Stanley-Dean Witter.
Easley said he remembers Pederson's engaging personality landed him the job, but that his lack of patience when things failed to quickly improve didn't allow him to excel. In the end, he looked elsewhere.
Another local broker with NU parents' program ties, Smith-Hayes Financial Services Corp., hired Pederson, setting off a financial fight over who should pay for Pederson's training.
But several months later, Smith-Hayes managers learned what those at Dean Witter had, that Pederson might not have the personality of a securities broker. When Ohio State offered him a chance to get back into athletics as a recruiting coordinator, Pederson jumped.
"Investment, by nature, is a business you have to build over time," Tom Smith said. "He needed to do well in a very short time to view himself as successful.
"Steve is an outgoing, friendly guy, but it's all about Steve."
n n n
In three years as John Cooper's recruiting coordinator, Pederson got a different taste of big-time football.
Along the way he met a young, Ohio-born Buckeye, Bo Pelini, now interim NU coach.
"I think the same of him now as I did then," Pelini said last week. "He's a good guy who does a good job at whatever he does."
Cooper, who came to Ohio State from Arizona State, said he remembers the day Pederson recommended the coaching staff take sales training from an insurance company.
He'd never heard of such a thing, but Cooper said the classes taught him and his staff more effective ways to recruit, how to speak more professionally on the telephone and how to close the deal with a signed letter of intent.
"Probably the best thing I did was hire Steve Pederson," he said. "We put our coaches through sales courses out there - and I promise you, one thing we could do was recruit."
The worst mistake Ohio State made was neglecting to offer Pederson the associate athletic director title he sought, Cooper said.
Pederson, having learned what the Big Ten had to offer, took a trip to Knoxville, Tenn., where his friend, University of Tennessee recruiting coordinator Bill Higdon, was about to be promoted.
Higdon, now Tennessee's assistant athletic director for event management, said he didn't think he had a chance to get Pederson, but after conversations between Pederson, Higdon and Tennessee coach Johnny Majors, he agreed to interview for a job as recruiting coordinator.
"Bill told me the best one in the country to get was Steve Pederson," Majors said last week. "Told me he'd been at Nebraska and at Ohio State, and it might be intriguing to him to find out how another strong program operates."
Majors invited Pederson and his wife, Tami, to dinner - saying he always learns more about a man from his wife - and said he was impressed with how the two worked in public. They socialized like a well-oiled machine, he said, laughing.
Pederson learned how to deal with Majors - he likes to be challenged and confronted, not coddled - quicker than anyone else, Higdon said.
"He had a good sense of humor," Majors said. "He liked to pull my leg occasionally. He'd tell me we didn't have a chance at some kid, then turn around, smile and say, 'Coach, he committed last night.'"
One key responsibility was meeting with Majors about which coaches needed, in Majors' words, to be "spurred up" to recruit a little harder. He also overruled some coaches' assessments of players.
Said Majors: "He's a results-oriented person who doesn't lack for confidence. He makes decisions whether anybody agrees with them or not, and he doesn't do a lot of debating."
That led to Pederson's first promotion into athletic administration, as assistant athletic director for recruiting, from 1992-93, then associate athletic director for football operations, 1993-94, and back to NU.
n n n
Osborne, who had followed the success of his former protege, talked NU athletic director Bill Byrne into hiring Pederson as associate athletic director for football operations, where he remained until leaving for Pittsburgh in 1996.
Pederson's years at Nebraska, from 1994-96, rank among the most successful in school history. The Husker football team went undefeated twice, winning two national titles.
Darlington said the athletic director-to-be contributed in ways Husker fans celebrated for years.
"The recruiting classes he helped get, who played from 1996 to 1999 when we were the best team in the nation, he was in charge of recruiting," Darlington said. "I hate to use terms that people talk about all the time, but he certainly was on the cutting edge.
"He was always thinking ahead."
Reach Aaron Sanderford at 473-7225 or at asanderford@;journalstar.com.
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