Carl Pelini sues ex-assistant coach Matt Edwards for defamation

Carl Pelini filed a lawsuit against his former assistant coach who helped get him fired at Florida Atlantic by accusing him of using drugs in 2013.

In the lawsuit, Pelini, who went 5-15 over two seasons as head coach of the Owls, accuses his former defensive line and special teams coach Matt Edwards of defamation. Pelini accuses Edwards of knowingly signing an affidavit that included false accusations, and that he made false statements about Pelini. According to SI.com, Pelini is seeking at least $25,000 in damages.

“It’s been a very frustrating time,” Pelini told SI. “An embarrassing time. There’s a lot of false information and misinformation out there. Everybody seems to have a theory as to what happened. I feel like this is going to be an opportunity for me to go under oath and state the facts as they really happened.”

Though Pelini initially resigned from his position in response to the accusations of using cocaine and marijuana, he later withdrew the resignation. The school still fired him for failure to properly monitor his staff.

Pelini has not coached since leaving FAU. He has been teaching English composition at a community college, but he recently joined his brother Bo’s staff at Youngstown State. The brothers are from Ohio, so the new position is a homecoming for them. Carl says he waited before filing the defamation suit because he did not want to have anything deterring programs from hiring him. Now that he has a job with Youngstown State, he is seeking to clear his name in the matter.

Edwards is said to have turned in Pelini for using drugs after being confronted by the coach about having an affair with a woman.