ATHENS - He's 65 years old and he's spent more than half of his time on Earth either playing or coaching football.

Frank Solich established his credentials both as a player and a coach at the University of Nebraska, but seems to have found a second home and his second wind at Ohio University.

Solich's Bobcats will take a 9-4 record into Saturday's 1 p.m. Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl against Marshall University (6-6) at Ford Field in Detroit.

Yes, the same Ford Field in which the Bobcats competed in the Mid-American Conference championship game, where the 13-point underdog Cats gave Central Michigan a dogfight before succumbing, 20-10.

Although the loss was disappointing, OU's performance that night and its nine-win season made the Bobcats a natural to return to Ford Field for the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl.

It will be the second time in his five seasons in Athens, Solich has taken a team to a bowl, as his 2006 team, which finished 9-5, lost in the GMAC Bowl to Southern Mississippi, 28-7.

This time around, Solich's team goes into a bowl game as the favorite as the Bobcats are a three-point choice over a Marshall team that fired Mark Snyder after his fifth season ended with a 6-6 record, the best of his tenure but not good enough to save his job.

While Snyder, a former Ohio State assistant, was unable to build a winner in Huntington, Solich has been able to bring back the excitement to Bobcat football, compiling a 32-30 mark in Athens, which always has been considered a tough place to build a winner.

So thrilled were OU officials with the job Solich has done that in 2008 they extended his contract through the 2013 season.

And why not?

Few coaches have been around the game at the highest level as long as has Solich.

Solich was an all-state and All-America selection for Holy Name High School in Omaha, Neb.

His performances there earned him a scholarship to the University of Nebraska, where he was a member of the initial recruiting class for legendary coach Bob Devaney.

Solich, a fullback, quickly became known as 'Fearless Frankie', earning all-Big Eight honors and serving as one of the captains for the 1965 team.

It was that year that Solich rushed for 204 yards in a 27-17 win over Air Force, making him the first Nebraska runner ever to rush for 200 or more yards in a game.

That performance made Solich the first Nebraska player to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and also contributed to his induction in the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

After his stellar career at Nebraska, Solich returned home to coach his high school alma mater for two years before moving back to Nebraska for a long tenure at Lincoln Southeast High School.

After more than a decade there, he joined Tom Osborne's staff at Nebraska, spending 19 years serving the most successful coach in Cornhusker history. Solich was part of three national championships under Osborne.

When Osborne retired following the 1997 season, Solich became his successor.

While he won 58 games in six seasons, that wasn't good enough at Nebraska, where he was fired.

After taking a year off, Solich was ready to get back into coaching and Ohio University was ready to get back to winning.

It seemed a perfect match and the timing couldn't have been better.

The Solich era began with the largest crowd in Peden Stadium history witnessing a nationally-televised overtime victory against visiting Pittsburgh.

Atlhough his 2006 team is his only previous Bobcat team to play in a bowl, the Cats were bowl eligible in 2007, but were one of six teams passed over for a postseason berth.

This year's team won the Mid-American Conference East Division championship when it beat Temple, 35-17, at Peden Stadium. Following that game, Solich told his Bobcat players -who presented him with the game ball - that it meant more to him than any other game ball he had received. Like a fine wine, Frank Solich seems to get better with age.

Although he could be drawing Social Security, he's quite secure as the head coach of the bowl bound Ohio University Bobcats.