Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule expressed his desire to stick with Nebraska amid uncertainty that has arisen as a result of the departure of athletic director Trev Alberts.
Rhule, who will be heading into his second year as the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, quelled Husker fans’ fear of his departure coming shortly after Alberts’ departure in a press conference Monday.
Rhule hasn’t only done so with what he said in the press conference, but his actions line up with the idea that he intends to stick around. According to Mitch Sherman of The Athletic, Rhule is sending his son to Nebraska next fall and his wife plans to open a business in Lincoln.
Many speculated about bad things happening on a deeper level with the Nebraska Cornhuskers when AD Trev Alberts left and that Matt Rhule wouldn’t be far behind
When it was first announced that Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic director Trev Alberts was leaving to go to the Texas A&M Aggies, many fans speculated that there were deeper problems at the University of Nebraska and that these deeper issues would result in a departure from head coach Matt Rhule not long after.
Alberts played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the mid-1990s, winning the Dick Butkus Award in 1993, and was constantly praising his alma mater during his time as the athletic director. He called Nebraska “the best fanbase in the world” less than a year ago at their world-record-breaking Volleyball Day.
Another thing that contributed to speculation about deeper issues was the fact that Alberts just got an eight-year extension that doubled his salary to $1.7 million. The contract, which was signed just four months ago in November, ensured that Alberts would remain one of the top three highest-paid athletic directors in the Big Ten on top of being one of the top 10 highest-paid athletic directors in the entire country.
The university president who brought in Rhule and Alberts, Ted Carter, left for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Many speculated that the failure to replace Carter promptly caused Alberts to leave while simultaneously pointing to bigger issues.
If trye, Im So confused right now. Imo this shows Trev does not believe in the direction of nebraska athletics, or the leadership at the top. Not a good look. I doubt it’s about the money. Neb could match anything a&m could give.
— SkersNews🌽🇺🇸🔴⚪️ (@SkersNews) March 13, 2024
Nebraska clearly has a problem that stems deeper than just problems with football coaches
— megan svehla (@megsvehla) March 13, 2024
Despite the two people who brought Matt Rhule to Nebraska now being gone, Rhule doubled down on his feelings about the program. As of right now, Rhule does not have plans of moving on from the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule is LOCKED in with the Cornhuskers🔒🌽
(via @HuskerOnline) pic.twitter.com/v9Wyni9l11
— On3 (@On3sports) March 18, 2024
Rhule said in an article from the Associated Press that ignoring the noise and speculation is imperative when it comes to bringing the Huskers back to their glory days.
“We have to be unabashed in our desire to be the best,” Rhule said. “We cannot worry about optics. We cannot worry about what people say. The way you win in college athletics today is you invest. I can’t think of a state that knows that better than this amazing state — whether it’s all the amazing financial institutions, the people in Omaha, Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. All the agriculture across our state — you won’t get a harvest unless you sow seed and water it.
“Whether it’s salaries, facilities, upgrades, whatever it is… We need to return to the days when everybody across the country is coming to the University of Nebraska to see how things are being done.”
Matt Rhule was on the edge of success with the Nebraska Cornhuskers last season
Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule went 5-7 in his first year, and if the past is any indicator it means the Huskers are on the cusp of success. The Huskers were 5-3 before going on a four-game skid to miss a bowl game for the seventh straight season.
While the four-game skid was disheartening for many Husker fans, a 5-7 record means Rhule is ahead of schedule in his usual program-building method. Rhule went 2-10 and 1-11 in his first years with the Temple Owls and the Baylor Bears, respectively.
Rhule improved to a team that was around the .500 mark in his second year with Temple and Baylor. He went 6-6 during his second year with Temple, and he went 7-6 during his second year with Baylor. If history repeats itself, this means Rhule essentially skipped the first year of misery during this current rebuild and started on year two of his plan.
Rhule won 10 games in each of his next two years with Temple, and he won 11 games and made a trip to this Sugar Bowl in his third year with Baylor before leaving for the NFL. If Rhule manages to make a similar jump with the Huskers in year two, he will solidify himself as the coach who pulled them out of the throws of mediocrity.
One important caveat to the typical path Rhule takes when rebuilding is the introduction of NIL and the transfer portal. Rhule did not have those two landmark changes to college football at his disposal when rebuilding Temple and Baylor.
NIL and the transfer portal could make Rhule’s job as a recruiter easier. He did land ESPN’s No. 1 overall pocket-passing quarterback in the 2024 class, Dylan Raiola, which may have been a taller task without the benefit of NIL.
Regardless, past trends in the college football world have to be taken with a grain of salt due to the massive changes in the landscape that have taken place in recent years. Rhule and the Huskers could benefit greatly from the new changes, but they could also get lost in the mix of a college football landscape that increasingly lacks parity.
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