Nebraska AD Trev Alberts explains how Mickey Joseph could earn job amid coaching search

On Sunday, Nebraska decided that the Scott Frost era was over. The school announced that he had been fired less than a month before the season began and less than a month before his buyout dropped from $15 million to $7.5 million.

Athletic director Trev Alberts named Mickey Joseph as Nebraska’s interim head coach. He will coach out the remainder of the season. Now, there are questions about whether Joseph could earn the job as the full-time coach.

While speaking to the media, Trev Alberts explained what Mickey Joseph would have to do to become the next head coach at Nebraska.

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“I met with Mickey, and I told him we were going to do a national search,” Trev Alberts said. “So, we’ll continue to do a national search and we’ll see how the season unfolds. But, I think we have an opportunity, you know, to hire an outstanding coach that can lead our program.”

From that, it sounds like Mickey Joseph will be one of many candidates for the Nebraska job. However, Alberts did leave the door open for Joseph to earn the job.

“And, I’d love to see Mickey, you know, grow into that, and we’ll just see where it goes. But, again, we’ll do a national search and if that point, you know, Mickey is an obvious candidate, he’ll be part of that conversation as well.”

Mickey Joseph, like Scott Frost before him, played quarterback at Nebraska under Tom Osborne. After his playing career, he began his time as a coach. That includes being the wide receivers coach at LSU during their 2019 national championship season. He returned to Nebraska in 2022 as the assistant head coach and is the first black coach in any sport in the school’s history.

Now, Joseph has nine games to prove himself at Nebraska. That starts with a game against the Cornhuskers’ traditional rival, Oklahoma, at Memorial Stadium.

Matt Campbell tabbed as the favorite for the Nebraska job

Iowa State coach Matt Campbell is often brought up as an exciting coaching candidate for the success he’s had at a traditionally difficult job. Nebraska is no different. According to former Sports Illustrated writer Lars Anderson, sources are telling him that Campbell is Alberts’ first choice for the job.

“I’ve never claimed to be a breaking news person, but here we go: Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell is the primary target of Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts. It is HIGHLY expected that Campbell will eventually be the next head coach of [the Huskers],” Anderson tweeted.