10 Reasons to Believe Matt Rhule is the Guy Nebraska Needs

Matt Rhule’s honeymoon phase is over. We now have two full regular seasons to dissect and scrutinize, plus a bowl game on the way.

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Read also 10 Reasons to Doubt Matt Rhule is the Guy Nebraska Football Needs

Matt Rhule’s honeymoon phase is over. We now have two full regular seasons to dissect and scrutinize, plus a bowl game on the way. Is Rhule still the man for the job? Can he do what his forebears could not? Here are 10 reasons to believe he is, in fact, the right man to continue leading Big Red.  

1. He understands the formula that Nebraska needs to win 

Nebraska has a tried-and-true formula for winning they've developed over the decades, one that includes playing physical defense, emphasizes culture, gets its backups lots of practice reps, plans on dominating the 500-mile radius in recruiting and commits to running the football. Rhule believes in all of it, even if he doesn’t always abide by the running-the-ball part. 

But he pays appropriate attention to strength, conditioning, and nutrition, an area where Nebraska has historically had a leg up. Rhule found a big advantage in luring Kristin Coggin away from the SEC. He understands that Nebraska must be, first and foremost, a developmental program. Other coaches thought they could get by on slogans and branding. Rhule is a no-frills grinder.  

2. His talent acquisition strategy is aggressive

Because of their lack of proximity to recruiting hot beds, Nebraska will always be at a disadvantage. Innovation and aggression are must-haves for any Husker head man looking to stockpile talent.  

The two best recruits Rhule’s signed to Nebraska, Dylan Raiola and Dawson Merritt, initially committed to arguably the two biggest programs in college football. Rhule was undeterred. He stayed on them and won their commits before Signing Day. In 2025 alone, he flipped recruits from Oregon, Alabama, and Oklahoma. 2025 was all the more impressive given that the Huskers had abrupt departures from their defensive architect in Tony White and their beloved D-Line coach in Terrence Knighton.  

He’s also developed inventive ways to find talent, starting postgraduate camps to find hidden gems, as he did most recently in German-born David Hoffken and NAIA MVP Jalyn Gramstad. The summer before he found James Williams. Williams may be leaving Lincoln early, but he made a heck of an impression while here, recording seven sacks and sealing the Rutgers game in 2024. 

3. He recruits the state of Nebraska hard 

Rhule’s classes have ranked higher than his predecessors. Much of his success can be attributed to his focus on the state itself. Current NFL players Harrison Phillips, Noah Fant, and Breece Hall were all born in the state and all were passed over by the head coaches in charge at the time of their matriculation. Frost's staff were shut out for the state’s top four recruits of 2022. They also slow-played Kade McIntyre and Beni Ngoyi in the 2023 class and lost both as a result. 

Rhule has made securing the borders his top priority. He and his staff have visited schools from Scottsbluff to Omaha, and their efforts have bore fruit. The number one player from Nebraska has committed to Rhule three years in a row.    

4. He’s already shown he can identify and develop players at Nebraska 

If, as Trev Alberts noted during his coaching search, the Huskers need to be the premier developmental program in the Plains, then he was right to hire Rhule, who had a history of polishing diamonds in the rough before coming to Lincoln and has already turned heads in his two years. Raise your hand if you knew who John Bullock was before Rhule showed up. Known quantities like Nash Hutmacher and Ty Robinson were underperforming under previous staffers. Tommi Hill was buried on the depth chart at wide receiver. Bryce Benhart was courting hate online before becoming the steadiest hand on Rhule and Coach Raiola’s line. If this is what Alberts was hoping for, it appears he got his wish.  

5. He gets Nebraska and appears to love it here 

The book of Nebraska may as well have been written in Mandarin the way it’s confused outsiders. Bill Callahan never understood Lincoln. If he had, he wouldn’t have dismissed the lost bowl streak as “one game, one season.” Mike Riley tried, even seeking out Tom Osborne before his first fall. But he discarded coach’s advice about running the football and instead treated everyone else’s counsel like gospel. That’s not a recipe for success at a Blue Blooded program. Bo Pelini got a lot about Nebraska, but he clearly didn’t love the job, especially after the move to the Big Ten, a conference that’s humbled him and successors.  

Rhule got phone calls from Florida, Oklahoma and LSU in his time away from college football. He had big-time opportunities, including the choice to sit back and enjoy his millions. But instead, he chose Nebraska.  

In his time here, he’s shown he gets what an important role the head coach plays. He ran a fullback trap on the first play of his first Spring Game as an homage to Frank Solich. When a potential rift with the volleyball team emerged, he squashed things by taking the women’s team to lunch. When Trev Alberts abruptly left for College Station, he stood tall as a leader in a way his forebears did not.  

He’s routinely raved about his experience. He moved his parents to Lincoln, had his wife open a business in the city, and enrolled his son in the University. You have to love being the head man to be good at it.  

6. His culture is something fans can get behind 

It’s funny to write as fans suffer through a mass transfer exodus in light of the 105-man roster limit, but Rhule’s players clearly do like him. Nebraska had the fewest transfers of any Power 4 team last off-season. The relationships he builds with players, even when they transfer, is heartwarming stuff.  When asked what the culture is like, players talk about Nebraska being a family, with those that produce getting the playing time. “It’s a different vibe.”  

While records haven’t been vastly different, the Huskers have looked much improved since 2020 – 2022, when the team won a combined 10 games and often looked downright dysfunctional doing it.  

7. He's not arrogant

Rhule’s predecessor was gratingly cocky at times. It made sense when he was 0-0, taking about making the Big Ten change for his offense and “teams better get us now.” But Frost still regularly crowed and poked at his Big Ten rival coaches and then got beat by them. It’s one thing to be arrogant; it’s another to be arrogant and lose.  

Rhule points the thumb, not the finger, as Bo purported to do until he began throwing everyone else under the bus. Someone with self-awareness can improve. Rhule has often shouldered the blame with confidence. Nebraskans like the modesty they came to know under Dr. Tom and Coach Solich. Speaking of whom, Rhule has admitted to leaning heavily on both in order to master the blueprint for winning in Lincoln. He's not too proud to give a tip of the cap to others.  

8. He practices and preaches in a manner Nebraskans can get behind  

Husker fans pride themselves on conducting themselves with class. It’s part of why they’ve grown famous for their hospitality and sportsmanship. As Tom Osborne said: "Nebraskans place a lot of emphasis not only just on what happens, but they're also quite concerned with how it's done." Not only does Rhule sermonize in a way that revs up fans and players alike, but he encourages his team to play with class. He admonished his players who went rogue and refused to shake hands at Iowa, saying that’s not who the Huskers are. His one conceivable foot-in-mouth moment, which led Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders to call the 2023 game “extremely personal,”  was exorcised after he applauded the soon-to-be NFL QB for sticking up for his father. It didn’t hurt that Nebraska beat the brakes off Colorado in the rematch.  

Rhule’s relentlessly upbeat, pumping sunshine in the darkest hours, most recently during the Huskers’ off-season transfer migration, reassuring fans that “It’ll all be great.” My read is Husker fans don’t like wallowing in misery and would rather see the glass half-full. Don’t neglect the likeability factor Rhule has as he continues to get his feet under him in this role.  

9. He acts with urgency 

Rhule is known for his bumpy starts as he builds programs from the ground up. But at Nebraska he knows he must win now. Never was that more obvious than when Rhule replaced Marcus Satterfield with three games left in the season, a virtually unprecedented move that spoke to Rhule understanding just how poorly another 5-7 season would have gone over with fans and recruits. He knows Husker fans are fed up with losing.  

10. He has a proven track record and he’s on schedule at Nebraska 

As dissatisfying as a 6-win season may have been given the 5-1 start, the win total improved in his second year, just like it did in his second seasons at Temple and Baylor. Rhule said it best when he observed: “My history has always been to be 6-6 in the second year, and get to a bowl game. Then in the third year make a jump, and we’ll make a jump.” There’s that unrelenting positivity again. You hope it rubs off on his players and fans alike this off-season.   

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