I was wrong about Fred Hoiberg

[WTFMatt]

At the point many (foolish) people wanted Fred fired, he'd notched just 40 wins in his first four years, and only 24 in the first three. Zero winning seasons. In basketball. They discounted what he did at previous stops, and focused on his record here, and almost fired the best coach in our history, even though he had a strong historical resume (in context), and was taking over a badly struggling job in need of a full rebuild. While his first hires and recruits weren't ideal, he adjusted, and by year 4 had stabilized the program, following with two tourney bids in the next three years and a Sweet 16 bid. Rhule is quite a bit ahead of that 3 year pace, increasing wins every year, guiding us to back to back bowls and two winning seasons after a 9 year string with only one winning season.

Patience is a virtue.

Fred had a collegiate history of winning at Iowa State. A couple conference tournament championships and competitive in the NCAA tourney. This is also Nebraska basketball we are talking about, as opposed to the bread and butter of NU history. Rhule won a conference championship in the AAC, which while good, seems to be the basis for his legacy.

I'm sorry, but Fred earned the patience he was given by being a great coach in a great conference in a sport that NU has historically sucked at. Rhule has taken a sleeping giant and kept it a sleeping giant. He has done nothing in his history to justify the patience Fred was given.

 

[Maker23]

Fred had a collegiate history of winning at Iowa State. A couple conference tournament championships and competitive in the NCAA tourney. What has Rhule ever won?

Won 11 at Baylor, losing only two close games to playoff bound OU, then lost to Georgia in the bowl game. Had the identical record as 2025 Nebraska the prior year. Came from Temple where he had back to back 10+ winning seasons. Was highly thought of enough to go pro, where impatience and poor Qb play resulted in his termination early in his third year. He then tied the second best regular season win mark in the previous 10 years in his first season, took NU to a bowl in Yr 2 after a 7 year absence, and then won 7 regular season games despite an all- time bad defensive front. He then upgraded several coaches. Very difficult schedule will make another record improvement unlikely, but the team should be quite a bit better.

 

[nu2u]

Won 11 at Baylor, losing only two close games to playoff bound OU, then lost to Georgia in the bowl game. Had the identical record as 2025 Nebraska the prior year. Came from Temple where he had back to back 10+ winning seasons. Was highly thought of enough to go pro, where impatience and poor Qb play resulted in his termination early in his third year. He then tied the second best regular season win mark in the previous 10 years in his first season, took NU to a bowl in Yr 2 after a 7 year absence, and then won 7 regular season games despite an all- time bad defensive front. He then upgraded several coaches. Very difficult schedule will make another record improvement unlikely, but the team should be quite a bit better.

Rhule is 2-25 vs. Top25 teams. I believe I read that recently.

 

[HUSKERFAN66]

Rhule is 2-25 vs. Top25 teams. I believe I read that recently.

Yeah let that sink in

 

[HuskerInCarolina]

Won 11 at Baylor, losing only two close games to playoff bound OU, then lost to Georgia in the bowl game. Had the identical record as 2025 Nebraska the prior year. Came from Temple where he had back to back 10+ winning seasons. Was highly thought of enough to go pro, where impatience and poor Qb play resulted in his termination early in his third year. He then tied the second best regular season win mark in the previous 10 years in his first season, took NU to a bowl in Yr 2 after a 7 year absence, and then won 7 regular season games despite an all- time bad defensive front. He then upgraded several coaches. Very difficult schedule will make another record improvement unlikely, but the team should be quite a bit better.

That 11-win season is a fluke. He went 11-3 playing only 3 teams with more than 8-wins after a bowl game. Plot twist, he went 0-3 in those 3 games. The Big 12 was trash that season and he capitalized on it with a team that could only beat up on scrubs and lose to the good teams. Chocolate covered turd.

 

[nu2u]

NM

 

[goldencohusker]

Rhule is 2-25 vs. Top25 teams. I believe I read that recently.

Record was 2-17 before taking over at NU. Hard to make that turd look worse, but he has done it.

 

[dinglefritz]

If Huskers lose to Vanderbilt they may not even finish in the top 25, we should expect Rhule to finish a season in the top 20, that shouldn't be a miracle but right now it seems to be such. Now if we beat Vanderbilt and compete with Florida or Iowa in the sweet 16 that would make it a really special season.

I was called a Debbie downer for being concerned about every loss this past season and what it meant for tourney seeding. I’m a HUGE Fred supporter but I will be shocked if he gets similar results this next season.

 

[Poster FKA schuele]

At the point many (foolish) people wanted Fred fired, he'd notched just 40 wins in his first four years, and only 24 in the first three. Zero winning seasons. In basketball. They discounted what he did at previous stops, and focused on his record here, and almost fired the best coach in our history, even though he had a strong historical resume (in context), and was taking over a badly struggling job in need of a full rebuild. While his first hires and recruits weren't ideal, he adjusted, and by year 4 had stabilized the program, following with two tourney bids in the next three years and a Sweet 16 bid. Rhule is quite a bit ahead of that 3 year pace, increasing wins every year, guiding us to back to back bowls and two winning seasons after a 9 year string with only one winning season.

Patience is a virtue.

If patience is such a virtue, why did Rhule squeal for a contract extension when he was already under contract through 2030?

Does the "patience" thing work both ways, or is it just a one-way gravy train where NU bends over for a mediocre coach and keeps moving the goalposts to make it seem like he is succeeding?

 

[Wasker73]

At the point many (foolish) people wanted Fred fired, he'd notched just 40 wins in his first four years, and only 24 in the first three. Zero winning seasons. In basketball. They discounted what he did at previous stops, and focused on his record here, and almost fired the best coach in our history, even though he had a strong historical resume (in context), and was taking over a badly struggling job in need of a full rebuild. While his first hires and recruits weren't ideal, he adjusted, and by year 4 had stabilized the program, following with two tourney bids in the next three years and a Sweet 16 bid. Rhule is quite a bit ahead of that 3 year pace, increasing wins every year, guiding us to back to back bowls and two winning seasons after a 9 year string with only one winning season.

Patience is a virtue.

So, tell me when Matt the Hat is going to have at least 10-3 season or are you OK with yearly 7-6 records because he is the king of producing teams that lose at least 6 games? Seven out of ten years he has been a college head coach. History does not lie.

 

[WTFMatt]

Won 11 at Baylor, losing only two close games to playoff bound OU, then lost to Georgia in the bowl game. Had the identical record as 2025 Nebraska the prior year. Came from Temple where he had back to back 10+ winning seasons. Was highly thought of enough to go pro, where impatience and poor Qb play resulted in his termination early in his third year. He then tied the second best regular season win mark in the previous 10 years in his first season, took NU to a bowl in Yr 2 after a 7 year absence, and then won 7 regular season games despite an all- time bad defensive front. He then upgraded several coaches. Very difficult schedule will make another record improvement unlikely, but the team should be quite a bit better.

I want Rhule to succeed, but are you serious with your last sentence? Year 4 and even a sunshine pumper like you is saying NU isn't going to be any better record-wise. Think about that.

 

[Huskers12345]

I was called a Debbie downer for being concerned about every loss this past season and what it meant for tourney seeding. I’m a HUGE Fred supporter but I will be shocked if he gets similar results this next season.

That's because everyone but you seemed to understand that we weren't going to go undefeated. In the end, our matchups ended up being about as good as we could hope for. The losses you were so upset about didn't matter. Our fate was in our hands, with winnable games to the final four.

 

[OxfordComma]

Rhule is 2-25 vs. Top25 teams. I believe I read that recently.

Those 2 wins were against the powerhouses of Navy and Memphis. Rhule has never beat a ranked P4 team. I think he never will.

 

[dinglefritz]

That's because everyone but you seemed to understand that we weren't going to go undefeated. In the end, our matchups ended up being about as good as we could hope for. The losses you were so upset about didn't matter. Our fate was in our hands, with winnable games to the final four.

“So upset about”? MOST on here had the delusion that we might be a 2 seed. I was hoping to cling on to a 3 so that we at least had a good chance of winning ONE game. We won multiple close games that we should have probably lost. Lost a couple we could have won. I just feared history repeating itself. Battered wife syndrome maybe.

 

[Huskers12345]

“So upset about”? MOST on here had the delusion that we might be a 2 seed. I was hoping to cling on to a 3 so that we at least had a good chance of winning ONE game. We won multiple close games that we should have probably lost. Lost a couple we could have won. I just feared history repeating itself. Battered wife syndrome maybe.

Battered wife syndrome is understandable given our history.

 

[dinglefritz]

Battered wife syndrome is understandable given our history.

Fred got WAY more out of that team than we could have hoped for. I kept waiting for that giant fly swatter to drop. Love Sam and Jacobson but damn I was waiting for more physically talented teams to squish the juice out of them. Unfortunately it ended up being %##%€#¥! Iowa.

 

[Huskers12345]

Fred got WAY more out of that team than we could have hoped for. I kept waiting for that giant fly swatter to drop. Love Sam and Jacobson but damn I was waiting for more physically talented teams to squish the juice out of them. Unfortunately it ended up being %##%€#¥! Iowa.

Honestly can't wait until next year to try and run it back. So happy Fred was able to maintain momentum, something the football program doesn't know how to do. We reloaded, rather than rebuilt.

 

[dinglefritz]

Honestly can't wait until next year to try and run it back. So happy Fred was able to maintain momentum, something the football program doesn't know how to do. We reloaded, rather than rebuilt.

Don’t be too shocked if it doesn’t turn out as well next year. I always look forward to another year of Husker basketball. Especially since we hired Fred but I’m not going to get too far out over my skis.

 

[Huskers12345]

Don’t be too shocked if it doesn’t turn out as well next year. I always look forward to another year of Husker basketball. Especially since we hired Fred but I’m not going to get too far out over my skis.

Yeah, you never know, but we look pretty dang good. Just returning 2 players like Sandfort/Frager gives us a pretty high floor.