Steven Sipple: Ted Carter acutely aware of struggles in major Husker men’s sports, but thinks tide will turn led by Matt Rhule
Ted Carter, president of the University of Nebraska, notices the phenomenon.
It’s a phenomenon some Husker football fans have come to regard with a degree of contempt.
“We’re winning the offseason with Matt Rhule like never before,” Carter told HuskerOnline last week in a wide-ranging interview in his East Campus office in Lincoln.
Carter, 63, is as in-tune with athletics as any high-level university administrator you’ll ever find. He thoroughly understands sports and competition and doing what it takes. A graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun), he flew 125 combat missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Bosnia, and Kosovo.
He helps set the tone for Nebraska’s athletic department. More on that in a moment.
He genuinely likes what he’s seeing from Rhule this offseason, and thinks it’ll matter in the long run.
“Matt has an authenticity and sincerity about him that just draws everybody in,” Carter says. “He’s likable. I think people can see that translate into the players.
“Matt’s a straight-shooter. You’re going to get what you get. There’s no doubt he has a gift to be able to stand up and deliver a message, and that comes in handy.
“He’s about as good at it as I’ve seen, and I’ve been around a lot of coaches.”
Ted Carter says struggles at NU must be addressed
Yeah, Nebraska is indeed winning the offseason again. That phenomenon has been around essentially since the Mike Riley years as head coach (2015 to 2017). Am I wrong? Bo Pelini (2008 to 2014) never did much to foster such a feeling. He was as bottom-line oriented as any coach I’ve covered.
But “winning the offseason” is not the worst thing in the world, right? It’s about hope. If you lose hope, then what?
Along those lines, Carter is acutely aware of the struggles in Nebraska’s three most prominent men’s sports — football, basketball, and baseball.
“We have to address it,” he says. “It’s the elephant in the room. You can’t dismiss it. You can’t sweep it under the rug.”
His thoughts turn back to Rhule, who was formally introduced as Nebraska’s head football coach in late November.
“I believe in this investment in Matt Rhule, and it is an investment,” Carter says. “It may not happen the first year. But it sure as hell is going to happen over some period, and it’s going to start a sequence of things that are going to make us more attractive for other athletes whether we’re still holding on to all the same coaches or not.”
To be clear, Carter expresses confidence in Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg and Husker baseball coach Will Bolt. But Carter is in lock step with Husker athletic director Trev Alberts in believing that winning must always be a high priority and losing should forever feel “devastating,” Carter says.
Losing can’t be something anyone gets used to.
“Success breeds success,” Carter says.
No sports will be cut on Carter’s watch, he says
Carter served as team captain for his U.S. Naval Academy hockey team. He’s always cared deeply about sports and the positive impact it can have on a university. In fact, he says, there’ll be no Husker sports cut on his watch. They’re too important to the culture, personality and feel of a campus, he says.
Football, of course, stands above all, at least in Nebraska’s case.
“It’s the one thing that synchronizes this entire state,” Carter says. “So, I want to make sure we’re doing everything right at the policy level, and at the NCAA level. There needs to be the right voice there.”
Make no mistake, Carter’s voice is critical, and it’s likely set to become more so. Two members of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents have proposed making Carter responsible for providing policy direction and oversight to Husker athletics.
If the proposal is approved later this month by the entire board of regents, and by the Big Ten, Alberts would report to Carter instead of the incoming UNL chancellor. Carter also would take over UNL’s spot on the powerful Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors.
The new Big Ten commissioner, Tony Petitti, surely would benefit from Carter’s athletic background and general wisdom about complex matters facing collegiate athletics.
Carter, though, is also fully aware of the impact he can have on Nebraska’s athletic landscape, most notably the culture in the Husker athletic department.
“You know why?” he says. “Matt Rhule talks about this: When the president, the chancellor, the athletic director and the coach — all the way down to the players — are all aligned, a strong culture has a way of starting to set in.”
The lack of such alignment, particularly during the Frank Solich and Pelini tenures, played a large role in Nebraska’s demise as a football program.
Coaches need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re well-supported.
“They have to know that they’re going to be able to get what they need, and then you’re going to be able to attract the right level of athletes to stay here,” says Carter, who at this point in the conversation displays his grasp of the “new” college football landscape.
“College football is so much different now than it was just five years ago,” he says. “The transfer portal has completely changed the game. Most people don’t even get that.”
Big Ten is only going to get tougher
Carter believes the transfer portal is largely about two elements: Opportunity and loyalty.
“Loyalty is directly attached to culture,” he says. “These are words that a lot of people have a hard time getting their arms wrapped around. But I believe there is a level of loyalty that must happen up and down the chain of command.
“When you have alignment, then culture has a chance. If a coach is doing it all on his own, good luck.”
That’s especially true in the powerful Big Ten, and it’s only going to get tougher when USC and UCLA join the fray in 2024 and divisions go away.
That conversation can wait. That’s what Rhule would tell you. He preaches the importance of winning the day, and it seems people listen to the man.
After all, he’s winning the offseason.
Hey, it’s better than losing it.
“One of my favorite moments in all of sports,” Carter says, “is listening to Herb Brooks talk about going out and beating the Soviets (in Olympic hockey). Bottom line, you must have an ability as a coach to get in there and find that right spark.”
Perhaps Rhule will find that spark, and Nebraska football will soar once again.
Carter envisions it happening, and I can’t help but think his role would be critical, too.
The post Steven Sipple: Ted Carter acutely aware of struggles in major Husker men’s sports, but thinks tide will turn led by Matt Rhule appeared first on On3.
