Matt Rhule has signed a multi-year extension with Nebraska, keeping the third-year head coach of the Cornhuskers in Lincoln beyond 2030. This, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
An announcement is expected Thursday.
Since James Franklin was fired on Oct.12, Rhule has been speculated to be one of the top candidates, if not the top candidate, for the open Penn State job.
Not only is Rhule an alum of Penn State, he and current Penn State Athletics Director Pat Kraft have a relationship that neither has hidden. Rhule also called Kraft “one of my best friends” and a “great AD.”
After Rhule left Temple for Baylor, Kraft has said similar things: “I love Matt Rhule. Matt and I are good friends, and I said I wanted him to make the right decision for his family and for him, and I thanked him for all he did for this program.”
Nebraska athletics director Troy Dannen has been working in recent days on an extension that would keep Rhule in Lincoln, ending any conversation and chatter about the 50-year-old head coach returning to his alma mater. According to one source, ground was made up in the last week between the two sides. The Rhule camp wanted more money. It’s “going to cost a lot.”
Next. Matt Rhule wants more money spent on roster. Matt Rhule wants more money spent on roster. dark
The day after Franklin was fired at Penn State, Rhule was asked about the open job. In an early answer, he spoke about what Nebraska could do moving forward. “The thing I’ve always said, we have to be unabashed. You can’t always worry about the optics of everything. It’s a really hard time in higher education. There’s cuts. There’s all these different things,” Rhule said.
He added, “In a world of $30 and $40 million rosters, which isn’t going away, I’d like us to do the same thing. There’s sort of like a, ‘Hey, that’s not really the Nebraska way.’ I’d like it to be. I’d like to invest. I’d like to be at the front of everything. We have a history here at being at the forefront in investing. I just don’t want to stop that. I want to be the absolute best at it. I think we can be a perennial, one of the best teams in the country.”
Specifics of the deal are not known at this time, but the additional years will come with a raise. Rhule was set to make $7.5 million this season, with escalators taking it from $8.5 million in 2026 to $12.5 million in 2030.
Rhule is not the first Nebraska head football coach to receive an extension during a season. Three days after opening the 2007 season with a 52-10 win over Nevada, Bill Callahan signed a new deal that would have kept him in Lincoln through the 2012 season. He was fired less than three months later, following a 5-7 campaign and a second season without a bowl berth in his four years in charge.
Matt Rhule has Nebraska bowl eligible in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2015 and 2016. / Kenny Larabee, KLIN
12 seasons later, on the morning of Nebraska’s matchup with a top 25 Wisconsin team, Nebraska announced Scott Frost was getting a two-year extension that would have kept him as the Cornhuskers’ head coach through 2026. Nebraska lost 37-21 that day, dropping his record to 8-14 in close to two years at the helm. In 2022, he was fired after three games.
The timing of the extension is notable. Nebraska is 6-2 as it enters November, the best record for the program after eight games since their 7-1 start in 2016. Still technically in the race for the College Football Playoff, Nebraska has games against USC, UCLA, Penn State, and Iowa. Any record from 10-2 to 6-6 is realistic at this point.
As one source said, “If he was smart, he’d sign now, before running the risk of a losing streak at the end of the year.”
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