Former FAU football coach Carl Pelini had his first interview since resigning in late October by way of 1110 KFAB, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Listen to the interview here.

In the 30-minute interview, Pelini had no reservations when speaking about his former Athletic Director Pat Chun. He believes Chun had a vision in mind that did not include him.

“Ultimately, I think it boiled down to an athletic director who didn’t hire me. It was an athletic director who wanted to go a different direction, and he was looking for an excuse to do that.”

Pelini revoked his resignation only to be fired by the school on Nov. 26.  Despite blaming Pat Chun for costing him his job, he did take part of the blame.

“I think there are things, maybe, that I could’ve handled differently, but I don’t make excuses for anything I did.”

He also made a point to defend himself against the allegations of illegal drug use during a trip to the Florida Keys.

“[Chun] misrepresented that trip down to the Keys. My defensive coordinator Pete Rekstis had a daughter who was undergoing weekly blood transfusions. He had a very difficult week that week. During our bye week, I gave our coaches 48 hours off, and I took their families and we went to the beach on a family trip. There was a lot that [was] portrayed to make me look bad.”

Because he feels Pat Chun tarnished his image, Pelini will pursue legal action not against the university itself but against people associated with it. While he declined to name anyone specifically, Chun is presumed to be in the crosshairs.

“I think  it’s very important for me [to clear my name]. There will be legal actions — I just don’t think it will be against the university itself, but against some of the people involved.”

Pelini also feels that he was betrayed by the athletic director, as he stated, because none of what was promised by Chun during crisis time was actually executed.

“I was coming out of the practice field and I was pulled in a private room by two armed policemen. At first I thought it was something one of my players had done. I sat down for 45 minutes and spent 30 seconds in the athletic director’s office,” Pelini said.

“I had no legal advice at the time, so I trusted [Chun]. He looked at me over the desk. He said ‘if you sign this paper, I will take care of you and tell everybody exactly what went down and will be very clear about why you resigned,’ and instead he went back on his word. It really dissapointed me.”

Pelini has moved to Nebraska where he intends to take a sabbatical year from coaching. He will be looking to publish a novel which he has written about his early days growing up, but as of now is still without a publisher.

Rodolphe Ganthier is a contributor for the University Press. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Rodolphe22.