Husker Dan: Nebraska Suddenly Finds a New AD and President

Fans might need a program to know who's who

My! People come and go so quickly here!
--Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz.

Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
It would be so fine to see your face at my door
--Lyrics to Carole King's So Far Away

What Dorothy and Carole meant might apply to the Husker sports program.

Let's take a look at the revolving door of administrators and football coaches over the past 10 years.

Athletic Directors

• Shawn Eichorst (2013-'17)
• Bill Moos (2017-'21)
• Trev Alberts (2021-'24)
• Troy Dannen (2024-present)

UNL Chancellors

• Harvey Perlman (2000-'16)
• Ronnie Green (2016-'23)
• Rodney Bennett (2023-present)

NU Presidents

• James Milliken (2000-'14)
• James Linder, interim (2014-'15)
• Hank Bounds (2015-'19)
• Susan Fritz, interim (2019-'20)
• Ted Carter (2020-'23)
• Chris Kabourek, interim (2023-present)
• Jeffrey Gold (pending regents' formal approval)

Head Football Coaches

• Bo Pelini (2008-2014)
• Mike Riley (2015-2017)
• Scott Frost (2018-2022)
• Mickey Joseph, interim (2022)
• Matt Rhule (2023-present)

One of the latest personnel bombshells at Nebraska happened a couple weeks ago when Trev Alberts resigned as athletic director to take a similar position at Texas A&M.  Alberts left even though just last November he signed a contract extension through 2031. At that time, he stated publicly that the AD job at Nebraska was "the best in the country."

Yes, NU had gone over 200 days withoutt a permanent university president. I get that. Apparently, the long delay didn't sit too well with Alberts.

So what did he do? Instead of being part of the solution, Alberts made the problem worse. TA split for "greener pastures" at Texas A&M. Like rats on a sinking ship.

I thought when the going got tough, the tough got going. So much for loyalty, commitment and leadership. Great leaders don't ditch their teams in their hour of need.

Sadly, the Trev Alberts we all thought we knew turned out to be a sham, a fake and a phony.

Some good news

The good news is that Alberts' leather chair didn't have a chance to get too cold before interim UNL President Chris Kabourek landed TA's replacement just seven days after Alberts left for A&M. Kabourek hired University of Washington's AD, Troy Dannen, who was at UW for only five months.  (If Husker fans think Trev wasn't at his "dream job" at Nebraska very long - 2½ years - think of how University of Washington sports fans are taking Dannen's cup-of-coffee stay in Seattle.)

More about Troy Dannen in a later column.

More good news

About a day after the hiring of Dannen, Jeffrey Gold was announced as the Board of Regents' "priority candidate" to be the new University of Nebraska system president. Here's the kicker. Gold apparently was Alberts' pick for the job.

Remember, Gold and Alberts worked together at the University of Nebraska at Omaha when Trev was the AD and Gold was UNO's chancellor.

Let's hope there are no additional bombshells in our furure.

How 'Bout Them Huskers

Will and I yak about the recent Nebraska administrative hires, the men's basketball team's first-round exit from the NCAA tournament, the Husker women's victory over Texas A&M and their loss to Oregon State. We also discuss what's going on in the world of the Husker baseball and softball teams. We also pose some questions going into the first week of Nebraska's spring football practice. Listen here.