Grading Nebraska Football Coach Matt Rhule's First Two Seasons

On this week's Saturday Morning Coffee Show, Josh Peterson and Jack Mitchell did their first deep dive into Husker football since the season ended. They took questions from their subscribers, including one from Chris: How would you grade Matt Rhule in 2023 and 2024 on a 1-10 scale?

Below is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation on the podcast.

Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic director Troy Dannen, football coach Matt Rhule, and Matt Davidson meet before the game. — Mar 1, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic director Troy Dannen, football coach Matt Rhule, and Matt Davidson meet before the game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. | Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

Josh: He landed Dylan Raiola. And the other thing I would say is this: We can do revisionist history on why the hell did he hire Satterfield in the first place? And that's totally fine. But he is the first Husker coach that I can remember who recognized a problem early in his tenure and fixed it. And he fixed it in season. And it's not just that he fired him because it's easy to fire a guy; Who are you gonna get then?

He got Dana Holgorsen. And I think I said this to you, I know I've said it somewhere. Jack, if they would have hired Dana Holgorsen after the season, we wouldn't be talking basketball. We would only be talking about Dana Holgorsen. But because he hired him in November and then we got to see four games of him as offensive coordinator, it did lessen the discussion point of that in the off season. Maybe that's gonna ramp up with spring ball. He got Dana Holgorsen, man. Like that is a reason alone to bump the grade up to a six if you want to.

Jack: Let's kind of tackle this another way. I'd say five, but it doesn't have to be five. His biggest successes and his biggest failures are in the years that he's been here. Biggest failures are gonna be easier because they're the ones that we just mentioned. To me, it's in-game management number one, to be honest.

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule high fives quarterback Heinrich Haarberg (10). — Sep 28, 2024; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule high fives quarterback Heinrich Haarberg (10) during the first quarter against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Josh: Well, and special teams!

Jack: That's the second one. In-game management number one. Because of in-game management, they would have at least three morel they probably have three more wins. Which would change everything.

Josh: Yeah, they're 12-13 and only a few games in there are you like, yep, they did not belong on the field. Like the Michigan game, right?

Jack: Not changing players, not changing anything else, they have three games if you [were] making the exact right decisions at all the time with that; that's number one.

Number two is special teams. Never getting better. That's number two for me. Number three for me is Jeff Sims. Okay. Horrible. That's number three. And then I think number four for me is some of the initial, believe it or not, some of the initial assistant coaching hires.

Nov 23, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule and athletic director Troy Dannen walk off the field after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers at Memorial Stadium. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Josh: My wife says it's game management, the original coaching staff. Yeah You put them behind the eight ball.

Jack: That's number four for me. And then number five for me is just not having depth at a couple of key positions, right? At quarterback in year one and at running back throughout the course of the whole thing.

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