LINCOLN, Neb. — In the five days since Trev Alberts dropped the biggest bombshell ever on Nebraska athletics, the Huskers’ main athletic figures have returned home to reorganize.
When Alberts left, Fred Hoiberg and the Nebraska men’s basketball team were in Minneapolis ahead of the Big Ten tournament. John Cook was in Los Angeles, via a return from Hawaii with his volleyball team. Will Bolt and the Nebraska baseball team awaited the finale of a two-game midweek series in Wichita, Kan.
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The Nebraska football offices sat empty. Matt Rhule was golfing in Scotland with his college-bound son, Bryant.
It’s almost as if Alberts, the athletic director of three years who started the same job Friday at Texas A&M, orchestrated the timing of his departure to coincide with spring break and the scattering of students and staff.
As the sun rises on a new day in Lincoln, and Dennis Leblanc starts his first full week as the interim AD, it’s time to take stock.
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In the absence of Alberts, a power shift occurred. Rhule holds a more powerful hand than a week ago. As Alberts made clear after he brought Rhule to Nebraska in November 2022, the Huskers must move forward or risk losing their spot at the table in the Big Ten and in college athletics.
Going back to square one is not a viable option.
More than ever Nebraska rides on a football coach. Rhule, 49, has generated a small mountain of positive energy and momentum with his reshaping of the Huskers’ culture. Nebraska effectively received a head start on the five Big Ten football programs that hired head coaches this winter. And it needs every advantage it can create after seven consecutive losing seasons.
Alberts offered a sense of security. Rhule initially bought into Nebraska because of the vision that Alberts and president Ted Carter sold. When Carter left for Ohio State, concerns surfaced about how it might impact Rhule’s level of comfort.
If Rhule had an inkling that Carter and Alberts would leave less than 16 months into his time in Lincoln, the coach likely would not have considered accepting the job.
In this tenuous moment, it’s relevant to note that if Rhule leaves Nebraska to accept another job in football, Nebraska is to receive $6 million in liquidated damages, per his contract. That figure drops to $5 million on Jan. 1, 2025 — nothing that would stop a major program from pursuing Rhule if he’s seen as an attractive candidate.
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He’s still got to win, of course, on the heels of a 5-7 first season that finished with four consecutive defeats.
Here’s an equally important item: Rhule likes Lincoln. His family enjoys Nebraska. He’s found a place that embraces his holistic approach to the college experience. Nebraska is paying him like an elite coach, and he’s got the tools to recruit and consistently win.
And in contrast to Alberts, who e-mailed the athletics staff in the wake of his exit to endorse the appointment of Leblanc, Rhule reads the room well.
8/31/2024 pic.twitter.com/OL7vDZ0jSn
— Matt Rhule (@CoachMattRhule) March 13, 2024
Problems exist at Nebraska, as events of the past week exacerbated. The university system needs a permanent president to replace Carter. Gov. Jim Pillen, a former Nebraska football player and recent member of the Board of Regents, is pushing for quick action that could lead to dysfunction.
The Memorial Stadium renovation plan, targeted by Alberts to start in full after the 2024 season with a price tag of $450 million, requires a re-evaluation by the next athletic director.
Alberts’ successor will inherit plentiful resources and a lineup of programs under the Nebraska flag poised to continue on upward trajectories.
The importance of football to the long-term success of the department is massive. Rhule’s strong feelings for the school and the state aren’t enough to keep him entrenched. But his relationship with the next AD will factor in the attractiveness of Nebraska as a place to coach.
Any AD who has a coach or coaches coveted by others faces a good problem. No head coach in a premier sport at Nebraska has left for another coaching job since Dave Van Horn in baseball to his alma mater, Arkansas, in 2002.
It could happen, though, even with all that Big Ten money.
Hoiberg deserves attention, too. His Huskers are headed to Memphis Friday as a No. 8 seed against Alberts’ Aggies, with an opportunity to win the first NCAA Tournament game in program history.
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Incidentally, the sixth-seeded Nebraska women are also matched against Texas A&M this week in the first round of the tournament. Yes, the selection committees have a sense of humor.
Regarding Hoiberg, Leblanc ought to make sure the fifth-year coach knows immediately, despite the unsettled leadership, that Nebraska wants to lock him up beyond 2027 and with a raise from his $3.25 million annual salary.
“I’m all in on this place,” Hoiberg said in Minneapolis after his Nebraska men beat Indiana on Friday in the Big Ten tourney quarterfinals. “I love it. I want to be here.”
Hoiberg said he wished Alberts well and that Nebraska is well-positioned to attract a strong leader.
Rhule will surely say something similar on Monday during a news conference, planned before Alberts bolted, to preview spring football practice. It begins Sunday — a new day at Nebraska with many of the same old challenges but new considerations and new consequences.
(Photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
