Matt Rhule calls time spent as Panthers head coach a 'purifying fire'

Matt Rhule is establishing himself in Nebraska, shaking thousands of hands and eating lots of lunches and dinners in small towns across the state. That’s what new college coaches do.

But as Rhule looks ahead to the start of next month’s preseason training camp as Cornhuskers head coach, he’s also glancing back at the time he spent with the Panthers. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for the coach, the fans and the players. It’s what happens when you lose more than twice as many games as you win.

He likens Carolina to a cleansing experience.

“Going through the fire in Carolina was a purifying fire that melts away all the impurities, all the hubris, all the worrying about stuff that doesn’t matter,” Matt Rhule said in an interview with ESPN. “I learned very much to worry about what matters. I have a focus and a desire in me. (And) I watched what my kids had to go through in Carolina. And we’re not going to let ’em go through that here.”

Under Rhule, the Panthers posted a paltry 11-27 record. He was fired in October, 2022, nearly three years after Carolina owner David Tepper gave Rhule everything a young coach desires. There was the $62 million contract and permission to make all the personnel moves. But it didn’t take. After receiving a $40 million buyout, Rhule stayed unemployed for all of a month.

Matt Rhule might be most comfortable on college sidelines

Maybe Matt Rhule, like so many college coaches before him, just isn’t suited for the NFL. He looks more comfortable on a college sideline, especially one in the Big Ten. He spent most of his childhood in NYC. But his parents moved the family to State College, Penn., when Rhule was in high school. Then he walked on as an undersized linebacker at Penn State. Rhule did try the NFL route at first. He worked as an offensive line coach with the Giants. That’s when head coach Tom Coughlin became his mentor.

Rhule’s first head coaching job was at Temple. That first year, the Owls finished 2-10. By year three, Temple was 10-3. Baylor hired him to salvage a football program decimated by a sexual assault scandal that took out the previous head coach, athletic director and school president. The Bears finished a woeful 1-11 in 2017, Rhule’s inaugural season in Waco. In year two, Baylor won a bowl game. Then in year three, the Bears were 11-3 and playing Georgia in the Sugar Bowl berth.

That’s when the Panthers came calling. So did the New York Giants. Rhule said yes to the Panthers and Coughlin helped Rhule hire his first staff in Carolina.

He’s working hard to resurrect the Cornhuskers, a long-time powerhouse that is enduring its worst football luck in six decades. Nebraska hasn’t made a bowl trip in six years. And the only Power 5 programs who have fared worst since 2017 are Arizona, Vanderbilt, Rutgers and Kansas.

Nebraska bluebloods don’t like to be adjacent to such programs. So maybe Matt Rhule’s cleansing in Carolina will lead to a career and program revival in Lincoln.