Nebraska’s new football coach said he’s “been going 100 miles an hour,” which explains why we haven’t heard much from Bo Pelini since he took the job on Sunday.

Busy with recruiting and finalizing his coaching staff, Pelini did stop for a moment on Friday morning to do an interview with Jim Rome on his national radio show.

Among Pelini’s more interesting comments was what he had to say about Nebraska’s offense and Shawn Watson, who served as offensive coordinator this season.

It’s been known since early in the week that Watson would be retained on the Husker staff, but the exact roles of assistants have not been officially announced. From Pelini’s words Friday, it sounds as if Watson will have plenty of input on the offense next season.

“Offensively, we’re not making a ton of changes,” Pelini said. “We’ll tweak it a little bit here and there. And Coach Watson will put his flavor on it. They’ve moved the football and that’s a real positive, and we have a lot of guys returning on offense.”

Pelini expressed the obvious when he said there is “some building to do” on defense.

“But I believe that I can get that done. I look forward to that challenge. It’s going to be fun. I kind of went through it the first time I came here and got it fixed pretty quick. And I’m hoping to do the same thing here starting next year.”

As defensive coordinator in 2003, in his one season at Nebraska, Pelini transformed the Huskers into the 11th-ranked defense in the country. The year before his arrival, the team ranked 55th.

This past season, Nebraska went 5-7, was 112th out of 119 major college football teams in total defense and 114th in scoring defense, giving up almost 38 points a game.

“There’s never a quick fix,” Pelini said. “Things have to be developed and a culture has to be built, but there’s talent here. And we just need to build on that talent and keep recruiting the right way — get the kids buying in and believing again.

“You start going through some tough times and people forget what it takes to win and how to win and a bit of doubt starts creeping in their minds. We have to remove that doubt and get believing again.”

Though his assistant coaches have not been officially announced, Pelini’s pretty much done assembling what he called “a top-notch staff that I think will be on the cutting edge of what we’re doing.”

Pelini said he expects his staff to have an impact right off the bat.

“I don’t think (we’re) that far off,” he said. “I think we’ll be significantly better next year. How that equates in wins and losses, I don’t know yet.”

Pelini still has one more game to coach for LSU, where he served as defensive coordinator the past three seasons. He expressed appreciation to NU interim athletic director Tom Osborne for his willingness to let Pelini coach the Tigers in the national title game against Ohio State on Jan. 7.

“They not only allowed me to do it,” Pelini said. “They wanted me to do it, and they knew that it was the right thing to do.”

The excitement of a championship game aside, Pelini said spring ball can’t get here soon enough.

“You see that there’s kind of an air of excitement around the program again,” he said. “I think you go through these tough times and you need to get uplifted. I think the whole fan base is excited. We (can) get the state excited about Nebraska football again and build on that. Let’s go. I’m ready to go win some football games.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.