Yes, Pelini did win consistently at Nebraska. So did Fred Akers win consistently at Texas. Bob Davie also won consistently at ND (as did Charlie Weiss). They just didn't win enough. All these schools have one thing in common. They're football factories and high talent recruits just about walk in the front door to be part of their legendary programs. Mediocre head coaches can still have winning albeit not outstanding records at these schools just because their rosters are packed with high talent players. However, note that neither Akers nor Davie (nor Weiss) were able to able to achieve any success after becoming head coaches at lesser programs. I suspect that they were not accustomed to having to scrap for recruits or for top notch assistants at the lesser programs. Coaching at the lesser programs probably exposed their coaching weaknesses: inability to recruit, to develop players, and to manage games.
We need another coach like Joe Tiller. Success at a lower tier program over a long enough time frame to show continuous improvement in recruiting, developing players and game management. Also note that Cowboy Joe had dedicated assistants who followed him to West Lafayette. So did Jerry Kill, at Minnesota, who also fits this description. Unfortunately, he's not available and, even worse, Purdue will go against his teams every year. So, is this guy from Colorado a possibility?