Football

It’s been almost a year since Matt Rhule was hired at Nebraska – 363 days to be exact, and while year one has had its share of ups and downs, the guy who hired him – Trev Alberts – is pleased with football coach. Alberts sat down with KETV’s own Andy Kendeigh for a one-on-one interview, saying this program is trending in the right direction.”But what I’ve really been focused on, and I think consistently, since I’ve been here, Andy is, you know, let’s focus on the things that lead to the outcomes we want,” Alberts said.”And, you know, we can get really fixated on trying to win games, which of course, we want to win games, right? Of course, we’re disappointed that I think there were times when we looked at every single one of these games, we have a chance to win every single one of these games, we have a chance to lose. I mean, we’ve talked about how razor thin these margins are. And so that’s why those very little intricate details matter,” he said.”But first and foremost, you know, we hired someone to help us understand the infrastructure necessary to build a top program. It isn’t just a coaching staff. It’s the recruiting staff. It’s secondly, you need somebody who’s good at building culture. I want a tough team this is Nebraska,” said Alberts.”Look at our soccer team. We have a tough team. John Walker’s built tough team. You look at our volleyball team,” Alberts said. “Physically tough, but mentally tough bunch of freshmen like that’s a tough team.”Meet the coaches: Meet Matt Rhule’s first Nebraska football coaching staff. See the story here.”So, we want a tough team. Matt, I think we have a tough team. I think our practice habits are different. Development matters here. I don’t like excuses,” he said. “We you know, I’ve never heard coach Rhule in our staff talk about the roster of previous coaching staffs or you know, the next man up concept is real here and its development.””So, I’m grateful that matt is our coach. I think he represents our university very well. And we’re just gonna keep our heads down and keep working. And obviously we needed to do the best we can to find a way to beat I well on Friday,” he said.Kendeigh asked Alberts.”You always talk about incremental growth, and I’m sure you’ve heard from colleagues and maybe even former huskers, or maybe people outside the program. What kind of feedback have you got because this is a different team than it has been in years past?””Yeah, I get that. You know, I do get that kind of feedback. I mean, obviously there’s, there’s disappointment at time. I think. I think the turnovers throughout the course of the year has been challenging and obviously I’m not speaking for matt, but it doesn’t you know, the layperson can see it’s really hard to win football games when you give the other team the ball,” Alberts said.”More importantly than almost anything else is not just football and they like in working with our coaches. I know what our fans want. Of course, they want to win, but more importantly than that, they want a team that they can identify with, and they want a hard-working team that’s tough. That is a, you know, a team that united and then never ever quits,” he said.Head Coach Matt Rhule: Nebraska football coach shares his life philosophies, goals for the Huskers. See the story here.”When Fred’s, Fred’s got a team that kind of represents that now. People are gonna rally around that. Amy Williams has had that John Cook has had that. Matt Rhule is building that, so you know for me culturally across the board, that’s when I want our athletic department. We’re never going to win all the games. Look, right. You know, it’s a highly competitive environment. But we better have a team that our fans identify with embrace and admire, and respect and I believe that that’s what Matt’s building,” Alberts said.Stability is so important in college football or in college athletics really. Nebraska may have some now at the departmental level as Alberts received an 8-year contract extension that will double his salary and keep him in Lincoln until 2031.”It was important that it wasn’t something that I was pushing is not something that I asked for it, but I am grateful. You know, I love this place. I love the state of Nebraska. I don’t want to be anywhere else,” he said.”And I have a belief based on what I know of what’s happening in college athletics and the shift and happening. I believe that this is the best athletic director job in the country,” said Alberts. “And I think that as more and more the realities of our shifting business model sort of manifest themselves, it’ll become more obvious.””I guess in the end, Andy, I believe that when all the dust settles, the healthiest balance sheet gives us the most reasonable opportunity to do three things, okay, which I know are very important to our fan base,” said Alberts.”Number one is competitive success. Resources do not guarantee you competitive success. We’ve been pretty good at showing that. But number one that’s really important. Number two financial independence from taxpayer dollars and student fees is a point of pride for our state. So, ensuring that we self generate, every dollar we spend is important,” he said.”And finally, and very important here is a broad based athletic department. Our ability to continue to invest in women’s athletics at high level is really important to our fan base,” Alberts said.Memorial Stadium renovations: Husker fans eager for more room, modern bathrooms, and more at the stadium. See the story here.This game against I will be the last time I was here with this current configuration of the stadium when will when will fans be get to know more than intricate details kind of what’s happening in the next phase of this rollout of the development? “Well, we have a lot of work to do. So, it’s always the challenge on projects like these. Typically, what you’d like to do is you’d like to have at you know, most of your thinking pretty well, you know, in the bag and even some of the fundraising,” he said.”The challenge is you have to go in front of a publicly elected board to get approval on a project before you’re actually able to do and so you’re sort of forced to be more public than you’d really like at the time,” said Alberts.”And that just really honest and it creates angst within your fan base because there’s anticipation and to your point. There’s not the detail behind it that you really need,” he said.”I assure you, there will be no effort to be less than transparent on every possible detail. I can also assure you that there’s going to be some consternation from a lot of people because we have a lot of work to do,” Alberts said.The project is supposed to start right after the 2024 season is over.Get the latest headlines from KETV NewsWatch 7