Matt Rhule explains desire to be involved in community

In his first year at Nebraska, head coach Matt Rhule is trying to completely rebuild the football program. That’s both on the field and off of it. A big part of helping to rebuild the program is by being as involved in the local community as he possibly can be.

Rhule explained why being involved in the community is so important to him while he was at the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.

“I don’t think any coach strictly focuses on football,” Matt Rhule said. “I think they focus on other things that we don’t see, like some focus on just their family or golf or a charity. So, for me, again if I list out those core values, my focus is on our players first, and recruiting, and then it’s the football, and then it’s the community, and the campus community.”

As Matt Rhule explained, the goal for him and the program isn’t necessarily to get attention for their actions in the community but to help make it a better place.

“I always look at it like this, how many little kids are in 100 square miles, you know 20 square miles, that our players can impact? So, some places have a culture where they do community service and the cameras are all on there and it’s all scripted, and we got guys, we got Elliott Brown going back and talking to schools in Omaha. We have five guys helping kids read and no one ever hears about it,” Rhule said.

“So, you know, my wife got here the first thing she did was start a charity. We just want to be involved. We want this to be our home. So, if you want it to be your home, you better not just take, you better give.”

Matt Rhule gave an update on Nebraska’s roster

Nebraska, like many programs, does not currently have all 85 scholarship roster spots filled. There is still time to add players through the transfer portal. So, Matt Rhule could fill those spots if he wanted to

“Yeah, and I hope you guys understand from my perspective, there are some things that are still like kind of out there. But we still have room if we need to do something,” Rhule said.

“We have the head coach exception. We have one or two guys who’ve asked to do that. And I won’t share their names right now because that’s their personal business. Maybe they didn’t ask, but we talked about it; it was the right thing. But not a ton of those guys.”

One change Matt Rhule did make was by placing two walk-ons on scholarship. Tight end Nate Boerkircher and linebacker John Bullock impressed Rhule, earning scholarships at Nebraska.