This is something I was thinking about last night and this afternoon after hearing Matt Rhule say at his presser yesterday, “Ed's doing what we’ve always done.”
All of this impressive stuff we are seeing from Rhule and the coaching staff? The work ethic, some of the new implementations in the program, etc?
They’re pretty much running the Baylor playbook.
I went back and read @GeoffExstrom's long form feature from December – the inside look at how Rhule built his program at Baylor (LINK) – and we’re seeing a lot of the same things. That story was published almost two full months ago, so it's interesting to take a look back and see that a lot of it has unfolded the same way.
– Rhule being a CEO type who oversees everything in the program and intervenes when he deems it necessary
– Top objectives are to create a family atmosphere within the program and a player-led organization (like Terrance Knighton said on Monday)
– Creating events to help teammates bond with each other (literally bonding over food)
– Prioritization of Texas and building relationships there
– Even the ping pong tables for God’s sake!
There’s more in there, but that’s a handful. It’s not overall surprising, I guess, but is worth taking note of – especially because it's predictive of what’s about to come.
Having 103 scholarship players right now? On top of some of the things Rhule talked about yesterday (like there being some “rules” they can take advantage of to get that number down to 85), I don’t think anyone should truly be worried about that roster getting cut down after reading this excerpt from Geoff's story:
Rhule was a different beast on the field. He wasn’t afraid to coach players hard, but that first offseason in Waco was rough. Rhule never ran anyone out from the previous roster, but he made the winter workouts brutal enough to weed out those who couldn’t cut it.
“He’ll rip you in front of the team. He’ll put you through the ringer. He’s ripping coaches. He’s holding everyone to that same standard and he’s letting you know,” Blackmar said. “Then, it’s like you can sit down and have a regular conversation with him 10 minutes later and it’s like it never happened. He’ll even tell you, ‘Well, I said this because I want to invoke this type of reaction, or I said this because I want the guy behind you who’s three years younger than you to take notice.’”
All of this impressive stuff we are seeing from Rhule and the coaching staff? The work ethic, some of the new implementations in the program, etc?
They’re pretty much running the Baylor playbook.
I went back and read @GeoffExstrom's long form feature from December – the inside look at how Rhule built his program at Baylor (LINK) – and we’re seeing a lot of the same things. That story was published almost two full months ago, so it's interesting to take a look back and see that a lot of it has unfolded the same way.
– Rhule being a CEO type who oversees everything in the program and intervenes when he deems it necessary
– Top objectives are to create a family atmosphere within the program and a player-led organization (like Terrance Knighton said on Monday)
– Creating events to help teammates bond with each other (literally bonding over food)
– Prioritization of Texas and building relationships there
– Even the ping pong tables for God’s sake!
There’s more in there, but that’s a handful. It’s not overall surprising, I guess, but is worth taking note of – especially because it's predictive of what’s about to come.
Having 103 scholarship players right now? On top of some of the things Rhule talked about yesterday (like there being some “rules” they can take advantage of to get that number down to 85), I don’t think anyone should truly be worried about that roster getting cut down after reading this excerpt from Geoff's story:
Rhule was a different beast on the field. He wasn’t afraid to coach players hard, but that first offseason in Waco was rough. Rhule never ran anyone out from the previous roster, but he made the winter workouts brutal enough to weed out those who couldn’t cut it.
“He’ll rip you in front of the team. He’ll put you through the ringer. He’s ripping coaches. He’s holding everyone to that same standard and he’s letting you know,” Blackmar said. “Then, it’s like you can sit down and have a regular conversation with him 10 minutes later and it’s like it never happened. He’ll even tell you, ‘Well, I said this because I want to invoke this type of reaction, or I said this because I want the guy behind you who’s three years younger than you to take notice.’”
Wing Wednesdays and NASCAR: How Matt Rhule became right fit for Nebraska
An inside look at Matt Rhule's tenure at Baylor and how his approach and strategy in Waco can breed success at Nebraska.
nebraska.rivals.com
