Coaching Carousel Rumblings: Is Matt Rhule the frontrunner at Nebraska? What does the news out of West Virginia mean for Neal Brown?

Will Matt Rhule be the next head coach at Nebraska?

The Midwestern winds seem to be blowing in that direction. 

To be sure, the Cornhuskers have not yet made a hire or offered the job to anyone yet, but the former Carolina Panthers’ head coach has emerged as the most discussed name around Nebraska’s search to replace Scott Frost. 

Husker Online’s Sean Callahan mentioned Matt Rhule as a name he’s heard  “too much in the last 24 to 48 hours,” while The Athletic’s Mitch Sherman went a step further and reported that Rhule and NU “have had talks” about the opening and is “at or near the top” of the university’s wish list. 

Sherman also noted a maybe-something, maybe-not nugget that “A private jet, registered to an Omaha trucking company that has provided significant financial support to the football program, flew Monday from Omaha to Charlotte, N.C., the home of Rhule, and back to Omaha.”

Well then. 

While I made cases earlier this fall for Lance Leipold, who remains in contention for Nebraska’s opening, and Mark Stoops, Matt Rhule makes a ton of sense for the Cornhuskers, too. 

He’s a fast-talking Yankee who had success in Texas. In 25 years, he’s coached more than half the positions on the field — DL, OL, LBs, TEs, RBs, QBs, STs and offensive coordinator. 

He won at Temple (20-7 in his last two seasons in Philly). He resurrected a wheezing Baylor program (1-11 in Year 1 to 11-3 in Year 3), and while he’ll need to adapt some to the new landscape of NIL and transfer portal, his track record of talent development, particularly turning raw athletes in NFL prospects, is much-needed at a place like Nebraska. 

The Cornhuskers have a war chest of NIL money, so Rhule could immediately mine the transfer portal for impact talent, too. 

Nebraska plays Iowa on Black Friday in its season-finale, so an announcement could come in roughly a week. 

Notably, after paying Frost $12.5 million to go away, AD Trev Alberts could save some money by hiring Matt Rhule since Carolina is on the hook for $40 million, minus whatever contract Rhule signs. Alberts would avoid paying another buyout for a sitting head coach, money that could go to Rhule’s pool for assistant salaries and off-the-field support staffers. 

THE LATEST AT WEST VIRGINIA

It sure looked like Neal Brown secured a signature win Saturday, as West Virginia’s head coach stopped the bleeding from an ugly three-game losing streak to upset Oklahoma on a last-second field goal. 

Pause on any hot seat talk?

In the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend.”

Brown, just 21-24 in his fourth season in Morgantown, is still the Mountaineers’ head coach, but the athletics director who hired him — and publicly backed him earlier this fall — is now out. 

Shane Lyons, a WVU alum, was fired Monday, bringing more uncertainty to Brown’s long-term future at West Virginia. 

School president Gordon Gee and interim AD Rob Alsop were emphatic that Brown’s “fate” isn’t “tied together” with Lyons’ ousting. 

“I want to disavow that,” Alsop said. 

Still, it’s skeptical to think otherwise, especially when Alsop also reiterated that the school isn’t “satisfied” with the football’s win-loss record (4-6 and likely to miss a bowl with games left against Kansas St. and Oklahoma State) and that the new AD (one they hope to have within a month, which is a hasty timeline if you’re content with your football coach) will make the final call on Brown’s future.

“As you might imagine, when a new Athletic Director comes in, they’ll do an evaluation of the general direction of the department,” Alsop said. 

“We are all not satisfied with the wins and losses. President Gee and the new Athletic Director will take an appropriate long-term look at the direction of the department of athletics, and will make a thoughtful decision moving forward. That’s where we are right now, moving forward. “

Suddenly, Brown’s $20 million buyout doesn’t appear to be quite the safety net some imagined. 

If West Virginia does move quickly and have an opening this cycle, a name floated among insiders was former WVU coach Rich Rodriguez, who is 7-2 in his first season as the head coach at Jacksonville State. It’s natural to be skeptical about a reunion though, as Rodriguez had an ugly exit when he left Morgantown for Michigan. Others mentioned around the potential opening include Liberty’s Hugh Freeze, Western Kentucky’s Tyson Helton and Kent State’s Sean Lewis. 

MORE COACHING CAROUSEL RUMBLINGS

On Mondays, On3’s Auburn Live site reported that the next “48 hours could be important” within the Tigers’ search for a new foo ball coach. No white smoke has emerged yet from the Plains, but Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin remains the Tigers’ top target, per multiple industry insiders. … Per insiders, Colorado’s search continues to center around a couple of former head coaches not currently employed anywhere, as former Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall and former Texas head coach Tom Herman are both seen as attractive candidates for the Buffs. … No one knows what to make of what’s going on with Arizona State‘s search, which is hardly a surprise because it’s unclear who is actually making the call there — embattled AD Ray Anderson or the search firm he doesn’t want involved. … It’s looking increasingly likely that there will be multiple G5 openings soon, barring strong finishes at Memphis, Bowling Green and Texas State. … Finally, it’s slowly starting to spin already, but the assistant coaching carousel will heat up here shortly, too. Schools like Texas A&M, South Carolina, Iowa, Oklahoma and Virginia look destined for coordinator changes, same at a place like Northwestern, where head coach Pat Fitzgerald publicly admitted this week that staff moves are “something he’ll look into after the season.”