Report: Nebraska football parting ways with two staff members

The Nebraska Cornhuskers and two members of the support staff, Omar Hales and C.J. Cavazos, have parted ways, according to a report by the Omaha World-Herald. They are no longer listed on the staff directory and are referred to in the past tense by Nebraska online.

Omar Hales was the program’s player personnel for high schools while C.J. Cavazos was the program’s director of football relations.

Hales has been with Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule at several previous stops, including Temple, Baylor, and the Carolina Panthers. He played a key role in recruiting for the Cornhuskers, helping put together the 22nd-ranked recruiting class in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. However, there is still time to add to that class.

For his part, Cavazos’ job was to oversee the walk-on program and was a contact for high school coaches. He has also previously run his own recruiting company and has ties to the state of Texas.

Both Hales and Cavazos are leaving after one season with Nebraska. However, the exact reason for their departure is currently unclear. It was Rhule’s first as the head coach of the Cornhuskers, going 5-7, with hopes of building on that going into 2024 and beyond.

This news also comes a little more than a week after it was reported that former West Virginia and Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen was in talks to join the Nebraska staff. However, no official announcement was made and it was unclear what role he was in talks to take with the program.

Matt Rhule addresses how he will fix Nebraska’s close losses

One of Nebraska’s biggest problems in recent years has been an abundance of close losses. That continued in 2023 under Matt Rhule, but he does have a plan on how to fix those losses.

“What might to the outside world look like, ‘Man,’ to me looks like unbelievable job by a lot of people to get everything this close and to battle like this,” Rhule said.

“That doesn’t excuse to the question about having to call timeout there, your last timeout there, I mean that’s ridiculous, right? But there will be a day when we have seven wide receivers traveling with us and active and those things won’t happen. We’re just not quite there yet, and that’s why I’m so proud of these guys, because they battle and they fight and we don’t make excuses, we just come back. But I think that’s the key moving forward.”