Lincoln, NE -- (Sports Network) - The University of Nebraska has called a press conference for 5 p.m. (et) today, when it's expected LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini will be named the new head football coach of the Cornhuskers.

The Lincoln Journal Star reported Pelini will get the job to become the 28th head coach in Cornhusker football history.

Pelini, who had a one-year stint as Cornhuskers defensive coordinator under Frank Solich in 2003, has reportedly agreed to take the job opened when Bill Callahan was fired on November 24.

The move comes a day after LSU beat Tennessee in the SEC championship game. Pelini has spent the past three seasons running LSU's defense. He was reportedly picked over Buffalo coach Turner Gill and Wake Forest's Jim Grobe.

Callahan's firing came one day after the Cornhuskers wrapped up a dismal 5-7 campaign with a 65-51 loss at Colorado. Nebraska has only had two losing seasons since 1962, and both came under Callahan, who was 27-22 in four seasons.

Pelini will be asked to rebuild a Cornhuskers defense which endured one of the most embarrassing seasons in school history. In addition to a 35-point setback at Missouri and a 31-point home loss to Oklahoma State, the Huskers were blown out at Kansas by a 76-39 margin, a school record for points allowed.

The soon-to-be 40-year-old Pelini served as interim coach for Nebraska in 2003 after Solich was fired by then-athletic director Steve Pederson. His other career stops include Oklahoma, where he was co-defensive coordinator for a team that played in the 2004 BCS title game, and stints in the NFL on the defensive staffs of the 49ers, Patriots, and Packers between 1994 and 2002.

An Ohio State alum, Pelini began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with Iowa in 1991 before coaching at his high school, Cardinal Mooney of Youngstown, Ohio -- the same school that produced Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Arizona coach Mike Stoops.