Good article on the Rhule rebuild

[HBK4life]

Nebraska's New Rhule: Huskers have a plan for returning to college football's land of contenders

Matt Rhule rebuilt Temple and Baylor, but can he lift Nebraska back to the land of contenders after a generation was lost in the college football wilderness? It will take innovation, old-school principles and a commitment to excellence.

247sports.com

Matt Rhule rebuilt Temple and Baylor, but can he lift Nebraska back to the land of contenders after a generation was lost in the college football wilderness? It will take innovation, old-school principles and a commitment to excellence.​

A few hundred yards away, construction workers raced to complete a state-of-the-art, $165 million football performance center along the northeast side of Memorial Stadium. Rhule says his current office inside the Osborne Athletics Complex is the nicest he has ever called home. He'll get an upgrade soon when he receives the keys to a new office inside the adjacent 315,000-square-foot facility.
“He's gonna hate that I said this,” said Nebraska defensive line coach Terrance Knighton, who played for Rhule at Temple, “but he is borderline genius. He does everything with a purpose. He knows how to get things out of certain guys and coaches. He builds a competitive nature within a locker room. He's just got this way to express himself. You can feel it's authentic.”

“The talent is great, the university is great, the resources are great,” Rhule said. “It's kind of like a beast we need to awaken.”

 

[HBK4life]

 

[salsa red]

Its cool that he's looking at what worked in the past and aknowledging that you have to play a style of football that works in the wind & cold weather in NE. He's not doing a cookie cutter approach of what worked in Temple and Baylor and trying to make it work here.

 

[HBK4life]

The 'cookie-cutter model' Matt Rhule is working to avoid at Nebraska, and why it matters

Coaches last season publicly questioned whether the players believed they could win. That's why generating self-confidence is on Matt Rhule's mind this spring.

journalstar.com

“It’s really humbling to work in a place where we know that if we aren’t good next year, people are still going to come,” Rhule said. “The loyalty of the Nebraska fan base is unbelievable. It’s kind of a blessing and a curse; you can get soft (because) of that.”

 

[RBigredMax]

Please translate to results on the field. Please translate to results on the field. Please translate to results on the field. Please translate to results on the field. Please translate to results on the field. Please translate to results on the field. Please translate to results on the field. Please translate to results on the field.

I think we are truly blessed with a guy that just flat out gets it, has a great plan, genuine caring of the team and the job he is here to do. Rhule is the man.

 

[dinglefritz]

Its cool that he's looking at what worked in the past and aknowledging that you have to play a style of football that works in the wind & cold weather in NE. He's not doing a cookie cutter approach of what worked in Temple and Baylor and trying to make it work here.

It’s fine to look at what worked in the past but TO was always evolving and doing new things too

 

[HBK4life]

 

[ADV1]

It’s fine to look at what worked in the past but TO was always evolving and doing new things too

Agreed, and I think that's why I like the direction... Create the foundation with a recipe that works and then get creative and put your spin on it with current trends and weaknesses of your opponent... Determination & perseverance at the highest of levels from a team that's bought in to enforce their will on opposing teams...

That's what I see from practice videos, interviews, spring game, insider/media reports, and yes the hype videos... I believe in what's happening and am ready to see it hit the turf... I honestly can't remember the last time I was this juiced for a season!

 

[Long Time Lurker]

Rhule is doing a lot of the things I hoped Riley would do when he was hired- Embracing Nebraska traditions while making the program his own, using his coaching connections to hire experienced coordinators and pair them with up and coming position coaches, highlighting his folksy nature to connect with local community members. and learning from his past coaching success and failures.

 

[dinglefritz]

Rhule is doing a lot of the things I hoped Riley would do when he was hired- Embracing Nebraska traditions while making the program his own, using his coaching connections to hire experienced coordinators and pair them with up and coming position coaches, highlighting his folksy nature to connect with local community members. and learning from his past coaching success and failures.

One great thing he has done is that he has embraced Tom, Frank and football alums. Frank multiple times made the point that nobody else including Scott made the effort to contact him.

I think maybe since Frank was fired nobody including Bo has tried to seek out Tom’s input and blessing like Rhule has. I thought Scott would be the one to heal old wounds but it appears to me it’s going to be Rhule.

One other thing I think I see is a great culture being instilled.

 

[Long Time Lurker]

One great thing he has done is that he has embraced Tom, Frank and football alums. Frank multiple times made the point that nobody else including Scott made the effort to contact him.

I think maybe since Frank was fired nobody including Bo has tried to seek out Tom’s input and blessing like Rhule has. I thought Scott would be the one to heal old wounds but it appears to me it’s going to be Rhule.

One other thing I think I see is a great culture being instilled.

I really thought/hoped that Riley would be the one to connect with Osborne. Outside of a perfunctory lunch date, it didn't seem to happen. He did embrace Tenopir, fwiw.

 

[dinglefritz]

I really thought/hoped that Riley would be the one to connect with Osborne. Outside of a perfunctory lunch date, it didn't seem to happen. He did embrace Tenopir, fwiw.

Riley tried. Tom was too angry about them firing Bo.

 

[HBK4life]

Is Matt Rhule the man to return Nebraska to college football's elite?

Nebraska's last bowl game was in 2016. Its last top 20 finish was in 2009. Matt Rhule is now tasked with restoring the former college football power.

www.usatoday.com

Planting the Nebraska flag back in Texas​

In a poll conducted by Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine in the summer of 2019 asking over 250 participants which of the 12 FBS head coaches in the state they trusted the most, Rhule drew 21.5% of the vote, exceeding the combined total of the head coaches at Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

This appeal paid off in the 2023 class. Rhule and his staff signed six players from Texas, matching the program's combined haul of signees out of the state during the previous four cycles. The last time the Cornhuskers inked six recruits out of Texas was in 2011, heading into Nebraska's first year as members of the Big Ten. Three of the six known verbal commitments in the Cornhuskers' in-process 2024 class are from Texas.

Staff additions speak to the overwhelming emphasis placed on maximizing relationships and connections in this talent-rich state.

In addition to bringing along several on-field and support staffers from his time at Baylor, Rhule hired former Baylor quarterback Garrett McGuire, the son of Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire, as the Cornhuskers' wide receivers coach. To coach the tight ends, Nebraska hired Bob Wager, formerly the highly successful and respected coach at Arlington's Martin High School.
Rhule's chief of staff is Dr. Susan Elza, previously the director of athletics for the University Interscholastic League, the Texas high school governing body over all inter-school activities and the largest organization of its kind in the world.

After years of recruiting swings and misses in the state, Nebraska has made a deep recommitment to making Texas one of the program's key hubs for unearthing the quick-twitch, often-overlooked athletes that sparked Baylor's rapid transformation.

"We went right back to the well," Rhule said. "I think if we can be great in Nebraska and great in Texas, we’ll find a lot of other players in a lot of other places."

 

[HBK4life]