Nebraska's Matt Rhule Ranked 10th Among Big Ten Head Coaches

This fall, the standards change.

Sept. 5 officially marks the beginning of year four of the Matt Rhule era, and expectations are ramping up. Through three seasons, Rhule has led Nebraska to a 19-19 record, though the Huskers appeared to be on track for their best season in nearly a decade before things unraveled down the stretch in 2025.

Regarded as a middle-of-the-pack head coach by On3 entering 2026, Rhule finds himself at a pivotal point in his tenure. Things can change quickly, for better or worse, but for now, his ranking likely reflects where NU currently stands as a program within the best conference in college football.

Here's a look at where Rhule stacks up, the peers he'll have an opportunity to surpass this fall, and what a realistic best-case scenario could look like by this time next year.

NEW: Big Ten head coach rankings via @AriWasserman🔥

1. Curt Cignetti, Indiana
4. Kyle Whittingham, Michigan
10. Matt Rhule, Nebraska

View: https://t.co/KoLPl2FJgv pic.twitter.com/8XGMynt84Z
— On3 (@On3) June 16, 2026

Rebuild Pattern

Temple	Baylor	Nebraska
Year One: 2-10	Year One: 1-11	Year One: 5-7
Year Two: 6-6	Year Two: 7-6	Year Two: 7-6
Year Three: 10-4	Year Three: 11-3	Year Three: 7-6
Year Four: 10-3	NA	Year Four: TBD

Before arriving in Lincoln, Rhule built his reputation as one of the best program builders in college football.

At Temple, he inherited a program that went 4-7 the season before his arrival. After a 2-10 debut in 2013, the Owls improved to 6-6 in year two and 10-4 in year three. By the end of his tenure, Temple had reached back-to-back American Athletic Conference Championship games and gone bowling three times.

Rhule's next stop was Baylor, a program attempting to recover from one of the most noteworthy scandals in college athletics. The Bears went 1-11 in their first season, improved to 7-6 in year two, and finished 11-3 in year three while appearing in the Big 12 Championship Game and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Nebraska's trajectory has been slightly different. The Huskers improved from five wins in 2023 to seven in both 2024 and 2025 and secured back-to-back bowl appearances for the first time since 2016. However, the type of breakthrough season that defined Rhule's third year at both Temple and Baylor has yet to occur.

Matt Rhule talks to Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart before the Sugar Bowl. | Chuck Cook-Imagn Images

Why Expectations Remain High

On the surface, Rhule's overall record as a head coach doesn't necessarily impress. Across stops at Temple, Baylor, Carolina, and Nebraska, he currently boasts a 77-89 all-time mark.

Yet wins and losses alone fail to explain his overall success, or lack thereof. At both Temple and Baylor, Rhule inherited difficult situations and produced drastically different results within three years. Those rebuilds helped make him one of the hottest coaching candidates in the country in 2020 and again in 2023.

Nebraska hired Rhule with the belief that he could replicate that success in Lincoln. For the most part, he has. While the Huskers have yet to experience the same magic, there are still signs of progress.

However, entering year four, the conversations surrounding the Big Red are no longer about rebuilding the roster. They're about whether the investment being made in the program will translate into wins.

Curt Cignetti prepares to lift the trophy on the podium after the College Football Playoff National Championship game. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Next Step

Yes, Curt Cignetti and Indiana messed everything up. Gone are the days of fan bases waiting patiently for coaching staffs to turn things around. Fair or not, it is what it is. Rhule knows that.

Even so, most Nebraska fans aren't demanding national championships, at least not yet. More than anything, they want the Huskers to field a team they're proud of. It's been 25 years since Nebraska played for a national title. It's also been a decade since the program won more than seven games.

That's the next step for Matt Rhule. NU doesn't need to become one of the best teams in college football overnight. It simply needs to prove it can avoid embarrassments against the programs that are. After three years of laying the foundation, year four is about showing the Huskers belong in those conversations once again, especially given the resources being poured into him to do just that.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema disputes a call in the first quarter of the Music City Bowl against Tennessee. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Coaches Ahead of Him

Of the nine conference opponents Nebraska will face this fall, six enter the season with head coaches ranked ahead of Rhule. That's not necessarily where the Huskers hoped to be entering 2026, but it also presents half a dozen opportunities to change the narrative.

NU is scheduled to face each of the top three coaches in the conference rankings, while also taking on three more ranked between fifth and eighth. Nothing about that will be easy, but with a roster largely constructed by his staff, Rhule enters the upcoming fall with fewer built-in excuses than ever before.

The aforementioned Curt Cignetti, along with Ryan Day and Dan Lanning, currently lead programs operating at a level Nebraska is attempting to get back to. Meanwhile, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Illinois' Bret Bielema, and Washington's Jedd Fisch occupy the tier directly above where Rhule currently stands.

A successful fourth year doesn't require the Huskers to surpass them all. However, closing the gap would represent a selling point you can't deny. If Nebraska can win more games, remain competitive in the ones they don't, and break through some of the barriers that have limited the program under previous staffs, Rhule's standing within the league could look very different by this time next year. It would also help alleviate the pressure NU's athletic department faces after offering an extension last fall.

A Realistic Best-Case Scenario

Rhule has only spent one full four-year stretch at a single program: Temple. That stint helped establish his reputation as a coach and is a large reason Nebraska hired him in 2023.

A decade later, he's approaching that same milestone again.

At Temple, year three ended with a 10-4 season before the Owls followed it up with a 10-3 campaign the next fall. It represented the peak of Rhule’s first rebuild and the best example yet of what his timeline can look like when everything clicks.

Whether NU reaches that level remains to be seen, but his previous trajectory provides a potential preview of what to expect this upcoming fall.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule and running back Emmett Johnson embrace before a game against Houston Christian. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Given the schedule ahead, the challenge is hard. Even so, nobody's asking for perfection, just proof.

For the Huskers, eight wins are realistic. It would mark clear progress over back-to-back seven-win seasons and signal that the program is (slowly) moving closer to becoming a consistent factor in the Big Ten.

That's what the fan base wants. That's what Rhule wants as well. Time will tell how things progress this fall. For now, expect him to keep his head down and go to work.

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