The Therapist is In: Matt Coatney Returns for Another Year of Big Red Reaction

For the first time in 243 days, it's game day for the Nebraska football team.

The Huskers arrived in Kansas City on Wednesday and will be going through a casual morning before ramping things up for kickoff against Cincinnati at 8 p.m./CT on ESPN. For so many in this state, the start of another season is the equivalent of Christmas morning, but the presents can't be unwrapped just yet, and you won't know if they're any good until they're completely out of the packaging.

Like so many Husker fans trudging through work ahead of the season opener, Matt Coatney is waiting. However, he's not just waiting for kickoff like the rest of us. Instead, he's also bracing for the storm that follows after the game.

Matt Coatney is entering his 13th year as studio host of Big Red Reaction. | Matt Coatney

Coatney is entering his 13th year as the studio host of Big Red Reaction, the postgame call-in show where Husker fans call in to break down the game that just ended minutes before they picked up the phone. Back in 2012, it was a job that literally fell into Coatney's lap without much warning.

"I was asked if I could fill in until they got a full-time person hired," Coatney said. "They hired somebody, and he quit on the first day, on a Thursday morning! As with most things in broadcasting, it certainly wasn't some master plan for me to join the football broadcast, so I kind of fell backwards into it, and I'm very lucky. I love what I do."

Coatney will once again be stepping into the ring with grief, frustration, and stubborn hope—often all at once. On the good nights, though, he's met with optimism and pride. However, even then, criticism of the team and its coaches still creeps in.

Typically a studio host is known for being the talkative one, but when at the helm of Big Red Reaction, Matt Coatney admits listening is more important. | Matt Coatney

Following losses, the famed Husker broadcaster and studio host says it doesn't take long for the armchair quarterbacks from across Nebraska and the rest of the region to chime in — even if their understanding of the situation isn't necessarily up to par.

"I think the average fan really doesn't have a good finger on the pulse of the amount of preparation times 50 that goes into every game," Coatney said. "When a fan makes the comment about 'why didn't they do this,' I think about what did they see on film, what worked in practice...all those things that happen in a practice that Joe Six Pack watching the game probably doesn't think about."

Add on the fact that the reaction part of Big Red Reaction comes in nearly zero seconds flat. If you've listened to a Husker football game on the radio, you know the timing between the end of the actual game and the moment Coatney is thrust into the spotlight is awfully quick. After the final whistle, Coatney gets a few commercial breaks and the locker room interviews at best, and if it's a loss, you can imagine how lengthy those locker room chats are.

The short turnaround doesn't give Coatney a lot of time to process his own emotions, let alone the emotions of the Nebraska fan base that is waiting on lines 1-17 once he sits down in the studio host chair.

"I don't have time to go back and watch the tape," Coatney said. "The game just ended, and it's 'why did we go for an onside kick when we were up 11 points?' Nobody has had a chance to read the newspaper or every dog with a blog. It is as raw as it gets."

Sports analysts have a step up on the callers you'll hear on Big Red Reaction, because the analysts actually get time to analyze the games they break down for their respective audiences. The callers, on the other hand, are trying to understand what just happened in real time with Coatney on the other line.

Sometimes the thoughts are thorough and comprehensive. Other times, it's Coatney letting a caller ramble for 2-3 minutes when ultimately, they were just upset with certain play calls or decisions made down the stretch. Because Coatney doesn't know what's going to be on the other line until it's physically on the other line, he's developed quite a few personalities that he deploys as host of the show.

"In a lot of ways, I consider myself to be a commissioner, a therapist, a coach, and psychiatrist all at the same time," Coatney said. "I tell people that hosting Big Red Reaction is like a combination of 'The Gong Show' and 'The Jerry Springer Show.' There isn't a lot of preparation."

Coatney admitted that the lack of preparation that can be done acts as a double-edged sword. It forces him to react in real time to keep the show balanced and entertaining, but he's also got to be ready for fans who are angry at coaches, players, and even his bosses in the Nebraska Athletic Department. Over the last 12 years of Husker football, you can only imagine how some of those calls have gone.

Ultimately, to do his job to the best of his ability, Coatney says he goes into every Big Red Reaction with a clear mindset and realization.

"(At the end of the day) It was a football game," Coatney said. "We're not talking about death, we're not talking about nuclear war, and we're not talking about being invaded. We're talking about a football game."

And if you follow Coatney, you also know he's known for much more than being the studio host of Big Red Reaction. He's more widely known for his catch phrase, "You Betcha," as the play-by-play voice of the Nebraska women's basketball team, and given the timeline of the two sports, Coatney's schedule gets a little muddy come November.

In fact, a simple glance at both the Nebraska football and women's basketball schedules shows that the Husker women will already be seven games into their season by the time Nebraska's football team is kicking off with Iowa on Black Friday.

"I don't get a lot of sleep, but I don't care — I can sleep in the summertime," Coatney said. "There have been many days where I have called a women's basketball game and a full football broadcast. There are 2,000 sportscasters out there who would love to do what I do. The day that I get a little bent out of shape about that is the day I need to stop doing this."

Spoiler alert — Coatney won't be hanging up the headset any time soon. His passion for his role within the Nebraska Athletic Department is one that's built on decades of relationships and fan support. He may be entering his 13th year on the mic for Big Red Reaction, but he's doubled that when it comes to his time with the Nebraska women's basketball team.

Jeff Griesch and Matt Coatney — Matt Coatney listens on as color commentator Jeff Griesch breaks down a play during a Nebraska women's basketball game. | Matt Coatney

The 2025-26 women's basketball season will be the 26th for Coatney, and he says he still has the enthusiasm of a first-year broadcaster at the university. Coatney's approach pairs well with the old adage of never working a day in your life if you're doing a job you love.

It's now time for another season of Nebraska football, and in turn, another year of Big Red Reaction on your radio dial. Like so many years before, Coatney will be there from the start of the pregame show all the way until sign-off.

What happens during the game will be anybody's best guess, but Coatney said he already has a slight inkling as to what the first call may be about once the season opener is in the books.

"It's probably going to be about playcalling," Coatney said. "I think people have had a great honeymoon period with Dana Holgorsen, and that's going to end the first time the Huskers go for it on 4th and 1, and it doesn't work. Everybody owns a video game at home, so they're better playcallers at home than Dana Holgorsen is on a headset."

Joking aside, Coatney genuinely can't wait for another year in the studio. Ultimately, the tone and the topics of each Big Red Reaction will be determined from the product on the field, and it's a product that Coatney expects to be improved. When put on the spot on how he thinks the season will go, Coatney didn't miss a beat when he said 9 wins. If that pans out, Coatney will have a lot more happy callers in 2025.

Night after night, season after season, Coatney shoulders one of the most unforgiving jobs in Nebraska broadcasting. It’s a role that demands thick skin, sharp instincts, and unshakable endurance. Big Red Reaction isn’t just a radio show—it’s one of the toughest assignments in sports, and it's got one of the toughest guys in the business making it look easy.

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