A reinvented Matt Rhule? Not exactly, but Nebraska’s coach more ‘serene’ in Year 3

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LINCOLN, Neb. — A football coach bored at practice? That’s what Matt Rhule said.

The coach has made many notable remarks in two years at Nebraska. This admission didn’t rank near the top. But it was intriguing, nonetheless. So, on Tuesday, inside Memorial Stadium during the 20 minutes open to media for observation, I focused on Rhule.

Not the offensive linemen in the north end zone. Not the six quarterbacks throwing to backs, tight ends and receivers.

Just the 50-year-old coach, with his cup of coffee in the chilly spring air.

He chatted briefly with offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen around the 30-yard line on the south side, then moved toward midfield near the east sideline to talk with Kristin Coggin, Nebraska’s chief nutritionist. Rhule shook hands with two guests and chatted them up as QB Dylan Raiola hit freshman receiver Isaiah Mozee on a dig route.

Stacking 🧱#GBR x #WhatsNExt pic.twitter.com/nDaxnNRP4p

— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) April 4, 2025

Raiola connected in stride with Emmett Johnson on a wide screen. Rhule saw it from his distant perspective. He stayed in the background as longtime assistant Ron Brown barked instructions to a running back.

E.J. Barthel coached the backs on details. Tight ends coach Marcus Satterfield, the former OC, patrolled near the line of scrimmage. First-year receivers coach Daikiel Shorts wore a blocking pad on his right arm and shadowed routes on the west sideline, knocking at balls in the air to distract the pass catchers.

Holgorsen took a central view in the secondary, from behind the spot that a middle linebacker would occupy. He ran the drill. But for the most part, the drill ran itself.

“We talk about our process,” Rhule said last week. “We say, first, you have to learn it. Then you start to live it. Eventually, you defend it.”

To enter Year 3 at Nebraska, Rhule’s players have entered the “defend it” stage.

His coaching staff is bigger, more experienced and prepared to cover more ground than in 2023 and 2024 at Nebraska.

“My job is to figure out where we need help and insert myself there,” Rhule said.

Rhule reinvented? Not exactly, but something has changed.

Satterfield fits among three former coordinators on this coaching staff. He’s worked for Rhule with four organizations. Satterfield sees a new kind of freedom in Rhule this year.

It’s on Holgorsen to build an offense and John Butler to build a defense.

“Coach Rhule is responsible for building the best team,” Satterfield said. “He’s able to not have to worry about 10 different things. He’s just worried about the team and developing the team.”

And that is what Rhule means by “bored.”

“Bored” to him means something different than it might to almost everyone else in the workforce. Rhule said he made the observation about himself during practice in one of those side conversations with new special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler. Rhule meant it as a compliment to his coaches and players — as an illustration that he can step away from the minutiae during a practice session this spring and let the leaders lead.

“I used to walk on the field and yell at people,” he said. “I’m not doing that anymore.”

Rhule sees no need to infiltrate drills directed by offensive line coach Donovan Raiola. Holgorsen has a green light to engineer the offense in his vision. It’s the same with Ekeler on special teams. And Rhule has his trusted longtime lieutenant, 69-year-old Phil Snow, alongside Butler, the new coordinator, as part of a bolstered defensive staff.

“I’ve been with (Rhule) a long time,” linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek said. “I kind of know what the standards are.”

His standard starts with accountability.

“It’s not my program, that’s the great news,” Rhule said. “First year, it’s kind of my program as we try to teach it. I think people, as they’re out there at practice, they see a much different version of me. A much more serene me maybe, because we have so many elite people in so many areas running the practices.

“It’s our program now, which is a really cool thing, especially with the players. The players are doing such a good job of coaching each other.”

Rhule gives credit to transfers Dane Key, the wide receiver from Kentucky, and offensive guard Rocco Spindler from Notre Dame.

“Rocco just played for a national championship,” Rhule said. “He hasn’t come in and said, ‘Let’s do this.’ He’s just kind of adapted.”

It speaks to the third-year culture in Lincoln that successful players saw something to attract them to Nebraska — coming off its first winning season since 2016.

On Tuesday, as Rhule lingered in the distance, Key and Cal transfer Nyziah Hunter worked among the top group of receivers.

Spindler and Alabama transfer Elijah Pritchett occupy top spots on the O-line.

Even with four experienced starters out because of injury this spring, the offensive line rates as a “high spot,” according to Rhule.

“They know how to practice,” he said. “They know how to handle the work volume.”

Some of this freedom allows Rhule to get involved in areas of growing importance. If he can help expand the Huskers’ multiplicity on defense — an offseason objective — during the time that he assisted with quarterbacks or the kicking game last spring, Nebraska is better for it.

“I’d like our defensive staff to push a positionless mindset,” he said. “Who are the guys who can affect the game?”

He wants the best 11 defenders on the field. The philosophy sounds simple.

Recently, the Huskers sent a GoPro camera into the offensive huddle. Rhule didn’t pay much attention until Holgorsen and others told him to check the footage. Rhule watched. He listened. And he learned more about his quarterback’s improving leadership style.

Don’t think of Rhule as bored at practice. Think of him as redirecting his eyes and ears. And his energy.

What has he found?

A good team, Rhule said.

“We’re right where I thought we’d be.”

On track to keep him bored until August.

(Photo: Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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