Nebraska Board of Regents approves $1 million Learjet as donor gift for recruiting

The Nebraska Board of Regents approved a donor’s gift that will help with recruiting, according to KETV. A $1 million Learjet from an anonymous donor can be used by the coaching staff to help with recruiting.

In addition, the board approved a $1.8 million contract for the initial phase of the Memorial Stadium improvement project. That’s one part of the $450 million plan to renovate the stadium, which Trev Alberts announced in late September.

Nebraska is coming off the first season of the Matt Rhule era, which ended with a 5-7 record to just miss out on a bowl game. The Cornhuskers looked like they might lose defensive coordinator Tony White to a possible head coaching opportunity, but that speculation came to an end when the university gave him a restructured contract.

“I am proud of what our players accomplished this year and am excited to build on that success moving forward,” White said in a statement. “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to coach at Nebraska, and to work for a great leader in Coach Rhule, and I feel honored to work alongside our defensive staff every day.  Go Big Red!”

Nebraska’s defense took a huge leap after White took over when Rhule came in over the offseason. After allowing 414 yards per game in 2022, the Cornhuskers held opponents to 303 yards per contest in 2023. It was quite the improvement, and rumors swirled about whether White would get some looks for any head coach vacancies.

Instead, he’s staying in Lincoln.

“Tony White has all the attributes you look for in a coordinator or assistant coach,” Rhule said. “He builds great relationships with his players and fellow coaches and is an elite teacher and communicator.

“We made great strides on defense this past season, and I look forward to continuing to work with Tony as we move forward and build this program.”

Nebraska will look to build off this year’s improvement, and Rhule said it starts with finding out what the roster will look like next year.

“I try to go back and look at the season, obviously, the football,” Rhule said. “Right now, a lot of it is the roster. There’s not a ton of time, really; you don’t get too much time right now if you want to do a great job with the roster with the current players.

“But when the emotions are gone, and all that’s done, I try to make sure I go back and look at everything and just sort of say, ‘Hey, what did we do well?’ ‘What did we not do well?’ But more importantly, why?Why did we do these things well? Why did we not do these things well?”