Steven Sipple: Rhule’s “controversial” comment on Nebraska recruiting actually shines meaningful light on key staff priority
Things I know, and things I think I know: Nebraska coach Matt Rhule started a sentence this past weekend with, “This will be controversial.” I mean, the guy is a quote machine, a sportswriter’s dream, but this sort of luck almost felt ridiculous.
He followed with comments that were much more pragmatic than controversial.
The subject: Why Rhule prioritizes having recruits attend practice over games.
“This will be controversial, but I actually prefer them at practice way, way, way more — because I think we have excellent coaches,” the second-year Husker boss said.
Rhule understands that many Nebraska fans assume game day in Lincoln represents the best way to sell the program to prospects. Make no mistake, it’s still important — yes, even though the Huskers have lost on their home field far too often in recent years.
Rhule, though, wants recruits to witness Nebraska players practicing on three different fields, as is now the case. In other words, unlike many schools, you see very few Huskers standing around doing nothing.
Rhule suddenly lapses into an impressive recruiting pitch
At this point in the conversation, Rhule lapsed into one heck of a recruiting pitch.
“I said this to a big-time recruit: ‘Just imagine with your talent if you came to a place that has an unbelievable weight room, an unbelievable recovery area, an unbelievable staff, unbelievable meeting rooms — best facilities in the country — and where no one stands around in practice, where everyone has a chance to master their craft,’” Rhule said.
He asked the recruit if he’s ever watched another team practice like Nebraska does. The recruit noted Georgia practices on multiple fields.
“Coach (Nick) Saban at Alabama and the Georgia guys, they have the multiple stations and all the reps,” said Rhule, referring to the retired Crimson Tide icon.
“I think it’s working out pretty well for them.”
Bottom line, Rhule said, he’s proud of the way Nebraska practices and wants to show it off. If you bleed Husker red, what’s not to like about that?
Nebraska coach says staff makes his life much easier
Sometimes, as you listen to Rhule, you almost have to remind yourself that Nebraska was 5-7 last season and dropped its final four games.
From an operational standpoint, he feels Nebraska is hitting on all cylinders.
In explaining why he feels that way, he takes you right into his program. It’s all very informative.
He was asked about the offseason addition to the staff of Nebraska quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas, who also serves as co-offensive coordinator under offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Marcus Satterfield. Of course, Satterfield coached QBs last year, and the position struggled mightily.
“If I’m being honest, the whole thing with Marcus and Glenn (being together) has been overblown,” Rhule said. “We did this before. It’s actually way more comfortable. You know, Glenn’s worked for me at two stops.”
Satterfield has been with Rhule at four separate stops.
“My life right now is so much easier than it ever has been at any stop I’ve been at,” said Rhule, noting the importance of chief of staff Dr. Susan Elza and general manager Sean Padden.
Padden “runs most of the personnel stuff with some great people underneath him,” Rhule said. “Then, I’ve got Corey (Campbell), who’s been with me before, running the weight room.”
There’s no reason for Rhule to micro-manage strength and conditioning.
What’s more, “I’ve got the best nutritionist in football (Kristin Coggin), I’ve got the best sports science guy (Mitch Cholewinski),” Rhule said. “On defense, Tony (White) runs everything, and I’ve got three guys who played for me (Evan Cooper, Rob Dvoracek, and Terrance Knighton) that I trust at the highest level to coach their guys.”
Rhule will run down the whole staff if you ask him. Bottom line, he feels he has the necessary pieces in place. Now, it’s a matter of improving the roster.
It seems like it’s all moving in a good direction.
But get back to me in December.
Best question of the weekend
About 800 coaches attended Nebraska’s coaching clinic this past weekend, and more than 100 former players were on hand for Saturday’s practice — as invited by the Husker Athletic Fund.
As I mentioned in Saturday’s coverage, Rhule embraces having eyes on his program — even inside his program.
The best media question of the weekend: What does Rhule hope people come away with as they leave Nebraska’s football facilities after such an “open” weekend?
“What I said to the coaches at the end of my (clinic) session was I hope when they come to our clinic and when they see we designed a logo just for the clinic, or when they see the signage, or taste of the quality of the food, or listen to the quality of the presentations …
“With all these little things, I hope they say, ‘Wow, everything in this program is really intentional, and everything is done at a really high level.’”
In other words, Rhule provided an excellent answer to the weekend’s best question.
Some golden nuggets to ponder
***Rhule enjoys being around people, and his joy seems to escalate around coaches. Which helps explain why he makes himself constantly available at Nebraska’s clinic. Not all head coaches do that.
***The Nebraska coach points out interesting tidbits. To wit: He appreciated that Tom Osborne wore a blazer for his clinic presentation — because it shows it matters.
***Rhule had a specific reason why he singled out Jaylen Lloyd — and only Lloyd — among those in the receivers group. “I love the fact he runs track and comes back and competes in football, and makes plays down the field,” the coach said. “He’s a football player and he’s a track athlete. He’s not one or the other, and that’s really, really cool.”
***The best quote of the weekend came as Rhule talked about Bill Belichick’s meeting with the Nebraska coaching staff on Friday. “Sometimes when you get around someone like that, you try to impress him,” Rhule said. “You tell him what you do. Any time one of the guys on our staff started doing that, I just looked at them like, ‘Hey, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care what you do, what we do. He’s teaching us. Let’s just be really honest and open and listen.’”
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