Matt Rhule reveals three things that made Nebraska a perfect fit for him

With the coaching carousel complete following the 2022 season, everyone is settling into their new digs and getting comfortable. For coach Matt Rhule, the dust has settled enough that he can now readily say there were three things that made Nebraska the perfect fit for him.

Rhule joined The Hard Count with JD PicKell to discuss his new job, and he outlined what made him leap at the Nebraska opportunity.

“You know, I think there was probably three things,” Rhule said. “I think No. 1 was the leadership here. Trev Alberts, Admiral Ted Carter, when I talked to them, the questions I asked were the things I care about: player development, being tough, being physical, kids going to class, kids getting a better life for having been here. It told me that their mindset, the things they believed in were the most important.”

Rhule has been hard at work establishing that type of culture since he arrived, and these winter months will be paramount in making sure all of his players understand it and embrace it.

That sort of leads into the second thing Rhule saw that made Nebraska a perfect fit for him.

“I think No. 2, what Nebraska fans want, the style they want, playing defense, playing special teams, running the football, that’s who I am,” Rhule said. “Sometimes it’s hard to fit a square peg into a round hole. So I wanted to go somewhere that believed in the style of football that I believe in.”

Reasonable enough.

And the third thing that made Nebraska a perfect fit? Rhule won’t have to reinvent the wheel.

“And JD, I’ll tell you this, man, it’s one thing to go to a place and try to take it somewhere it’s never been,” Rhule said. “As I sit here in my office I can see the national championship ball right there. They’ve won five national championships. So we’re not trying to take Nebraska somewhere it’s never been, we just want to get it back to a place that we believe it rightly deserves to be at.”