The majority of Nebraska football fans probably spent most of this season hoping for a staff shakeup this offseason — at least on the offensive side of the ball. I doubt too many were hoping the Blackshirts would be under new leadership in 2025.
Late Saturday afternoon, news broke that Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White was a leading candidate to join Florida State head coach Mike Norvell’s revamped Seminole staff.
In the ensuing couple days, I suspect athletic director Troy Dannen tried to negotiate financial terms that would have kept White at Nebraska. Simultaneously, head coach Matt Rhule was likely getting his ducks in a row in case that didn’t happen.
With White being a hot commodity last offseason — he was a candidate for head coaching jobs at UCLA, Syracuse and San Diego State — I doubt Rhule was caught flat-footed and I’m sure he’s had a contingency plan in place.
By Monday morning, several news outlets had begun reporting that White had accepted Florida State’s offer and that he was prepared to take D-line coach Terrance Knighton with him.
Where does Matt Rhule pivot?
One obvious option for Rhule is to hand the keys of the defense over to secondary coach John Butler, who was hired in July to replace Evan Cooper. Butler parted ways with the Buffalo Bills last February when head coach Sean McDermott bypassed him in favor of LB coach Bobby Babich when filling his defensive coordinator position.
Butler has a strong résumé as a position coach in the NFL and was Bill O’Brien’s defensive coordinator at Penn State in 2013 before following him to the NFL’s Houston Texans. He put together top-level secondaries at Houston and Buffalo in the 10 years since.
Despite returning several key players from last season, the secondary took a step back this year, which isn’t a good look for a position coach hoping to take over the entire operation. But after arriving a few weeks before fall camp started, is it fair to place the brunt of the blame on Butler?
Butler hasn’t had the chance to put his thumbprint on the room. He hasn’t had any time to recruit his players and it’s unclear how much say he had in the overall scheme or the coverages. He’s not without fault, of course, but it will be up to Matt Rhule to determine how much promise he showed as a cog in the machine.
When he was initially hired to join the staff, the assumption was Rhule wanted the experience of working with Butler in anticipation of needing to replace White. We could soon find out how impressed Rhule was with Butler if he decides he’s the best candidate to take over for White.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Matt Rhule gauged the interest of Phil Snow, his longtime associate who was his defensive coordinator at Temple, Baylor and with the Carolina Panthers.
Snow was brought in after the UCLA loss — along with Dana Holgorsen — to give Matt Rhule a fresh set of eyes on the state of the program. Snow, who turns 69 in a few weeks, turned down the opportunity to join Rhule’s Husker staff when he took the job in November 2022.
After spending the 2023 season as a senior defensive analyst for the Chicago Bears, has Snow’s battery been recharged? Has he changed his mind about taking on the rigors of a full-time position coach?
Like the vast majority of coaches, when Matt Rhule took the Husker job he assembled a staff primarily consisting of coaches he had worked with in the past.
When Phil Snow chose not to accompany him to Lincoln, Rhule had to make a hire outside his network. It resulted in the hire of Tony White, the best coach on his staff. That approach has also resulted in the addition of Dana Holgorsen — easily the most accomplished coordinator hire in the history of the program.
During his Nov. 11 press conference ahead of the USC game, when discussing Holgorsen, Matt Rhule used the comparison to Nick Saban in regard to his reputation for brining in former head coaches that were once prominent coordinators to rejuvenate their careers in Tuscaloosa. It’s a strategy I absolutely love, especially for CEO-style coaches like Rhule.
Find an expert on both sides of the ball and make them the de facto head coach for that side of the ball. Rhule is unbelievable at establishing a culture and setting the standard. He’s a forward-thinking coach who understands the process of building a program from the studs. He’s a big-picture coach; no detail is too small and no step is overlooked. He isn’t the sort of coach who will allow his program to grow stagnant.
I think it will serve him well to take this approach with his coordinator hires from now on and I would encourage him to not settle on promoting John Butler or trying to lure Phil Snow back out of semi-retirement. Even if one of those scenarios ends up being the best course of action, I’d like to see Nebraska cast a wide net in the search and for Rhule to swing for the fences.
He needs to consider a large pool of candidates and take into account a coach’s résumé as much as his prior connection.
I think Rhule should take a hard look at recently fired Purdue head coach Ryan Walters. Prior to taking the Boilermaker job, Walters was arguably the best defensive coordinator in the Big Ten during his two season with Illinois. Prior to that, he earned a reputation as a rising star in the profession as the defensive coordinator at Missouri for five seasons.
Walters was in over his head at Purdue, but he’s a proven commodity as a coordinator. I like the idea of hiring someone with a track record in the Big Ten and Walters fits that bill. He was one of the best recruiters in the country as an assistant and would bring strong ties to key areas like Missouri, Illinois and Texas.
Another coach I would contact is Jim Leonhard. The former longtime Wisconsin defensive coordinator coached in Madison for seven seasons, including finishing the final seven games of the 2022 season as the interim head coach.
After going 4-3, Leonhard was bypassed for the permanent position when Wisconsin hired Luke Fickell, although he stayed on to coach the defense for their bowl game when Fickell came onboard to coach the team in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
Leonhard spent the 2023 season as a senior football analyst for Bret Bielema at Illinois. He’s currently the defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach for Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos.
This would be an absolute homerun hire. Under Leonhard’s direction, Wisconsin finished among the nation’s top five in total defense and top 10 in scoring defense four times. He had the chance to become Green Bay’s defensive coordinator in 2021 but stayed in Madison. He’s quickly become a hot name in NFL coaching circles and would probably need to be given a $2 million salary to return to college. He’s worth every penny.
I would at least take another swing at Georgia’s Glenn Schumann. I was told Matt Rhule contacted him when he initially took the Nebraska job and that Schumann considered the offer. Is Schumann interested in getting out of Kirby Smart’s shadow and putting together a defense with only his fingerprints on it? He’s making $2.003 million with the Bulldogs, so it would take a hefty salary for him to consider it. Yeah, it’s a long shot, but I’d put together a three-year, $7+ million contract and make him tell me no again.
Or Matt Rhule could go after another current Georgia Bulldog staffer, Will Muschamp. Long considered one of the brightest defensive minds in the country, Muschamp has been the defensive coordinator under Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. He was a failed head coach at both Florida and South Carolina, but has coordinated elite defenses at places like LSU, Auburn and Texas. He was reassigned to an analyst position at Georgia to make room for former Alabama secondary coach Travaris Robinson this past offseason.
Matt Rhule could also try and use a stable program environment to lure away a proven coach from another prominent program. I would take a stab at Auburn’s DJ Durkin. Another failed head coach, Durkin has put together exceptional defenses everywhere he’s been: Florida, Michigan, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and now Auburn. He’s also an elite recruiter.
Al Golden is a respected defensive mind. The current defensive coordinator at Notre Dame was the head coach at Temple when Matt Rhule was on his staff in various roles. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman is expected to be a candidate for NFL jobs this offseason. Would Golden consider picking his landing spot in preparation for a possible staff shakeup if Freeman decides to leave South Bend?
Will Matt Rhule try and reunite with his former D-line coach Elijah Robinson, who is currently the defensive coordinator at Syracuse? Robinson is considered a rising star in the profession, but is he ready for a job like Nebraska?
Could we see a combination of Phil Snow and Elijah Robinson as co-coordinators in Lincoln? With the rule changes regarding recruiting, I could see Snow taking on the architect role and Robinson taking over the D-line and being the face of the defense on the recruiting trail — Robinson was regarded as one of the best recruiters in the country while at Texas A&M.
Perhaps Matt Rhule will look to the NFL to fill the vacancy. Los Angeles Rams senior defensive assistant/associate head coach Sean Desai was on Al Golden’s Temple staff with Rhule. Desai has an impressive résumé. He was the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears (2021) and Philadelphia Eagles (2023), and has been on coaching staffs under well-respected defensive minds Pete Carroll and Vic Fangio.
Maybe Rhule will look to the Group of Five ranks to try and steal a promising young coach on the rise. Bill Brechin of Miami (Ohio) could be a sneaky good hire. So could Scott Symons (SMU), Nick Benedetto (Northern Illinois) and Greg Gasparato (Tulane).
Matt Rhule could decide to target a highly regarded co-coordinator, giving them the opportunity to have full-say of the defense. Oklahoma assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator Jay Valai is extremely well-respected in coaching circles and could be an under-the-radar move who could turn out to be a great hire.
USC co-defensive coordinator and D-line coach Eric Henderson had a great reputation for development in the NFL and could be getting his own gig soon as well.
It wouldn’t be a popular move for the fanbase, but Rhule could decide to give a prominent position coach a shot at running the defense. Notre Dame D-line coach and run game coordinator Al Washington should be getting calls to be a coordinator soon.
Personally, I think Matt Rhule would do better by targeting a proven commodity. Some college coordinators who should be vetted and forced to tell Rhule no are Pete Golding (Ole Miss), Kane Wommack (Alabama), Tosh Lupoi (Oregon), Chris Marve (Virginia Tech), D’Anton Lynn (USC), Tony Gibson (NC State — if he doesn’t get the head coaching job at Charlotte), Brad White (Kentucky), Wes Goodwin (Clemson), Ron English (Louisville), Joe Rossi (Michigan State), Jon Heacock (Iowa State), Shiel Wood (Houston), Joe Klanderman (Kansas State) and Robert Livingston (Colorado).
I also wouldn’t turn my nose at grabbing an up-and-coming NFL position coach. Names that come to mind are Karl Scott (Seattle Seahawks passing game coordinator/DB coach), Ephraim Banda (Cleveland Browns safeties coach), Anthony Campanile (Green Bay Packers LB coach/run game coordinator), Brian Duker (Miami Dolphins passing game coordinator/secondary coach), Donald D’Alesio (Kansas City Chiefs safeties coach), Larry Foote (Tampa Bay Buccaneers ILB coach/passing game coordinator) and Ken Norton Jr. (Washington Commanders LB coach).
This is a pivotal hire for Matt Rhule. The only thing that had gone right in his first two years in Lincoln was the defense. He’s a self-admitted defensive-minded head coach who knows how important an elite defense is in the Big Ten and how vital it is to have one in his attempt to return Nebraska to national relevancy.
He checked a big box by securing Dana Holgorsen for the foreseeable future to right the ship on offense. He needs to get the right guy in place on defense too.
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