Rhule’s class coaches

RBigredMax1

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Jul 16, 2025
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I realize the vast majority of fans are in support of Rhule and the job he is doing. I thought it would be good to line up the other coaches who started with their teams when he was hired.

Cignetti - 5-0
Mike Elko - 4-0
Brohm - 4-0
Rhule - 3-1
Jonathan Smith - 3-1 (will find out Saturday with the early tiebreaker)
Freeze - 3-2
Fickell - 2-2 (about to be waaaaay worse)
Sanders - 2-3

Will be interesting to see how things play out this season. Rhule is rebuilding and our trajectory is absolutely moving in the right direction. Cignetti is an outlier and deserves all the props he receives.
 

cestrup

All-Conference
Sep 23, 2021
3,073
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Rhule has helped Nebraska improve. But I don’t think he’s a championship level coach. To be fair, I really don’t think anyone on that list is but I’d take a few of those guys over Rhule. Brohm, Elko, Cig, Smith and Freeze
 

gaper

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2001
3,589
1,030
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I realize the vast majority of fans are in support of Rhule and the job he is doing. I thought it would be good to line up the other coaches who started with their teams when he was hired.

Cignetti - 5-0
Mike Elko - 4-0
Brohm - 4-0
Rhule - 3-1
Jonathan Smith - 3-1 (will find out Saturday with the early tiebreaker)
Freeze - 3-2
Fickell - 2-2 (about to be waaaaay worse)
Sanders - 2-3

Will be interesting to see how things play out this season. Rhule is rebuilding and our trajectory is absolutely moving in the right direction. Cignetti is an outlier and deserves all the props he receives.
Cignetti and Elko aren’t in the same class- they are 2024
 

RBigredMax1

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Cignetti and Elko aren’t in the same class- they are 2024
Bart De Wever Oops GIF by de_nva

my bad
 
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Huskers+123

Sophomore
Dec 6, 2024
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I realize the vast majority of fans are in support of Rhule and the job he is doing. I thought it would be good to line up the other coaches who started with their teams when he was hired.

Cignetti - 5-0
Mike Elko - 4-0
Brohm - 4-0
Rhule - 3-1
Jonathan Smith - 3-1 (will find out Saturday with the early tiebreaker)
Freeze - 3-2
Fickell - 2-2 (about to be waaaaay worse)
Sanders - 2-3

Will be interesting to see how things play out this season. Rhule is rebuilding and our trajectory is absolutely moving in the right direction. Cignetti is an outlier and deserves all the props he receives.
Kenny Dillingham - 4-1
 
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Pennsyhuskers

All-Conference
Jun 3, 2022
632
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Rhule has made some mistakes with his coaching staff. But overall he has Nebraska headed in the right direction. Our game against MSU will tell us a lot about how our season will end up. But I see a good chance we go 9-3 or better. I think he can get us to championship level.

If we beat MSU (and I think we will) I think the games against Maryland, USC, and PSU will all be really tough games. Beating Maryland on the road will be tough but I think we will. Their game against Washington at home this weekend will tell us a lot. For some reason Minnesota does not worry me. I guess it should but it doesn’t.

Rhule can get it done. He is our guy. If we win 8 or 9 this year, win our bowl, and then hit the transfer portal for help on the defensive line I see us taking baby steps forward.
 

orclover11

Senior
Dec 1, 2014
1,226
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Other than Cig I don’t think I would take anyone that list over Rhule. However had we hired Cig our fan base would have lost its mind … until he started winning. Anxious to see how he looks v the ducks
We hired Reilly and Cally, fanbase still showed up and filled the stadium, even to the bitter end. The fanbase excuse is ********, we have the most supportive fanbase in the sport, and probably one of the dumbest. We would probably support Stalin if he was hired. Husker football is terrible because of pure incompetence, not because our fans are big meanie heads. Trev is an impulsive meathead who was conned by a preacher to a tune of nearly a decade and 80 million. A professional organization has a search committee...who else was competing against Rhule? Its ok to like a guy, but you still do your due diligence and have a true search...great leaders change their minds when given new information. Trev picked a guy and offered him 2-3x what anybody else would offer just to get it done. Rhule had no idea what he as doing when he came to Nebraska, he was coaching like it was 2017, and it took him two years to figure out the game is completely difference...he is adjusting now but we have a roster that is really poorly developed and talent lacking...he might just figure it out in 2 or 3 more years, but I think he will be making like 8 million a year by that time. He will almost surely be a .500 coach by year 6...do we keep him even if he is adapting?
 
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RBigredMax1

All-Conference
Jul 16, 2025
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We hired Reilly and Cally, fanbase still showed up and filled the stadium, even to the bitter end. The fanbase excuse is ********, we have the most supportive fanbase in the sport, and probably one of the dumbest. We would probably support Stalin if he was hired. Husker football is terrible because of pure incompetence, not because our fans are big meanie heads. Trev is an impulsive meathead who was conned by a preacher to a tune of nearly a decade and 80 million. A professional organization has a search committee...who else was competing against Rhule? It’s ok to like a guy, but you still do your due diligence and have a true search...great leaders change their minds when given new information. Trev picked a guy and offered him 2-3x what anybody else would offer just to get it done. Rhule had no idea what he as doing when he came to Nebraska, he was coaching like it was 2017, and it took him two years to figure out the game is completely difference...he is adjusting now but we have a roster that is really poorly developed and talent lacking...he might just figure it out in 2 or 3 more years, but I think he will be making like 8 million a year by that time. He will almost surely be a .500 coach by year 6...do we keep him even if he is adapting?
I was saying the initial reaction of our fan base had we hired Cignetti would have largely been WTF???

we offered Rhule 3x what he could have made??? lol - sure.
 

orclover11

Senior
Dec 1, 2014
1,226
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I was saying the initial reaction of our fan base had we hired Cignetti would have largely been WTF???

we offered Rhule 3x what he could have made??? lol - sure.
Our fan base would have agreed with whatever the media told them. The media liked Rhule, who had done nothing in his career, hadn't won a trophy of any kind, and was just kicked out of the facilities of his previous team mid-season and told never to return. Cignetti meanwhile had 13 straight winning seasons, had won a championship, and was 11-1 the previous season.
 

Huskers+123

Sophomore
Dec 6, 2024
166
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We hired Reilly and Cally, fanbase still showed up and filled the stadium, even to the bitter end. The fanbase excuse is ********, we have the most supportive fanbase in the sport, and probably one of the dumbest. We would probably support Stalin if he was hired. Husker football is terrible because of pure incompetence, not because our fans are big meanie heads. Trev is an impulsive meathead who was conned by a preacher to a tune of nearly a decade and 80 million. A professional organization has a search committee...who else was competing against Rhule? Its ok to like a guy, but you still do your due diligence and have a true search...great leaders change their minds when given new information. Trev picked a guy and offered him 2-3x what anybody else would offer just to get it done. Rhule had no idea what he as doing when he came to Nebraska, he was coaching like it was 2017, and it took him two years to figure out the game is completely difference...he is adjusting now but we have a roster that is really poorly developed and talent lacking...he might just figure it out in 2 or 3 more years, but I think he will be making like 8 million a year by that time. He will almost surely be a .500 coach by year 6...do we keep him even if he is adapting?
Your post is ridiculous on many levels.
Who (be honest) were you wanting them to hire at the time?
 

orclover11

Senior
Dec 1, 2014
1,226
892
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Your post is ridiculous on many levels.
Who (be honest) were you wanting them to hire at the time?
Why the **** would I or you know who to hire? That is why you get a committee to decide. The AD is literally paid his entire salary to find a good football coach, nothing else matters. His job is to use all of the leverage available to find the most talented coach available. Trev cost NU 4 million by firing Scott a month early, when Trev himself made the new contract and he screwed NU by promoting Mickey, who had a history of domestic violence incidents, which meant he couldn't extend an interim to wait for the perfect fit. So even if there were **** options, he had to basically give a bloated contract to whatever scammer was willing to come here. Trev made stupid decision after stupid decision, and it looks like the Rhule decision was one of those.
 
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RBigredMax1

All-Conference
Jul 16, 2025
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Why the **** would I or you know who to hire? That is why you get a committee to decide. The AD is literally paid his entire salary to find a good football coach, nothing else matters. His job is to use all of the leverage available to find the most talented coach available. Trev cost NU 4 million by firing Scott a month early, when Trev himself made the new contract and he screwed NU by promoting Mickey, who had a history of domestic violence incidents, which meant he couldn't extend an interim to wait for the perfect fit. So even if there were **** options, he had to basically give a bloated contract to whatever scammer was willing to come here. Trev made stupid decision after stupid decision, and it looks like the Rhule decision was one of those.
Spit Take Lol GIF by Justin
 

BugsAreQualityProtein

All-Conference
Sep 14, 2021
2,625
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Why the **** would I or you know who to hire? That is why you get a committee to decide. The AD is literally paid his entire salary to find a good football coach, nothing else matters. His job is to use all of the leverage available to find the most talented coach available. Trev cost NU 4 million by firing Scott a month early, when Trev himself made the new contract and he screwed NU by promoting Mickey, who had a history of domestic violence incidents, which meant he couldn't extend an interim to wait for the perfect fit. So even if there were **** options, he had to basically give a bloated contract to whatever scammer was willing to come here. Trev made stupid decision after stupid decision, and it looks like the Rhule decision was one of those.
First off, Trev wouldn’t have been able to fire Frost until prior approval from UNL’s various sugar daddies. Secondly, by the time Mickey had been arrested Rhule had already been hired. Now If you want to argue that we grossly overpaid for Rhule given his buyout at Carolina I whole heartedly agree.
 
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redwine65

All-Conference
Jun 23, 2010
10,858
2,176
113
I realize the vast majority of fans are in support of Rhule and the job he is doing. I thought it would be good to line up the other coaches who started with their teams when he was hired.

Cignetti - 5-0
Mike Elko - 4-0
Brohm - 4-0
Rhule - 3-1
Jonathan Smith - 3-1 (will find out Saturday with the early tiebreaker)
Freeze - 3-2
Fickell - 2-2 (about to be waaaaay worse)
Sanders - 2-3

Will be interesting to see how things play out this season. Rhule is rebuilding and our trajectory is absolutely moving in the right direction. Cignetti is an outlier and deserves all the props he receives.
if I remember right trev was deciding between ku, ksu, fickle, bc coach and rhule..did'nt hear sanders or freeze name come up....ku coach and rhule are the only ones having a ok year...thus far...if I remember right after ku coach gave trev a no, he hired rhule the day after...I think ksu coach and their ad were tied at the hip...

houston or tt coach (now) might have been a good choice, not sure if they were avalible...but they both seem to have well coached teams
 
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Huskers+123

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Dec 6, 2024
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Why the **** would I or you know who to hire? That is why you get a committee to decide. The AD is literally paid his entire salary to find a good football coach, nothing else matters. His job is to use all of the leverage available to find the most talented coach available. Trev cost NU 4 million by firing Scott a month early, when Trev himself made the new contract and he screwed NU by promoting Mickey, who had a history of domestic violence incidents, which meant he couldn't extend an interim to wait for the perfect fit. So even if there were **** options, he had to basically give a bloated contract to whatever scammer was willing to come here. Trev made stupid decision after stupid decision, and it looks like the Rhule decision was one of those.
Right. Why the **** would you know who to hire? You are just an expert on who not to hire.
Yet another ridiculous and ignorant post.
 
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UltimateGarageHusker

All-Conference
Jul 29, 2023
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Why the **** would I or you know who to hire? That is why you get a committee to decide. The AD is literally paid his entire salary to find a good football coach, nothing else matters. His job is to use all of the leverage available to find the most talented coach available. Trev cost NU 4 million by firing Scott a month early, when Trev himself made the new contract and he screwed NU by promoting Mickey, who had a history of domestic violence incidents, which meant he couldn't extend an interim to wait for the perfect fit. So even if there were **** options, he had to basically give a bloated contract to whatever scammer was willing to come here. Trev made stupid decision after stupid decision, and it looks like the Rhule decision was one of those.
Wrong. Trev didn’t cost the University a penny firing SF a month earlier. That was paid by the PEEDs. Secondly there was no history of abuse by Micky prior to his promotion. Your whole premise of arguing is riddled with Lies.
 

TrueBigRedFan

All-American
Jun 29, 2004
12,562
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I realize the vast majority of fans are in support of Rhule and the job he is doing. I thought it would be good to line up the other coaches who started with their teams when he was hired.

Cignetti - 5-0
Mike Elko - 4-0
Brohm - 4-0
Rhule - 3-1
Jonathan Smith - 3-1 (will find out Saturday with the early tiebreaker)
Freeze - 3-2
Fickell - 2-2 (about to be waaaaay worse)
Sanders - 2-3

Will be interesting to see how things play out this season. Rhule is rebuilding and our trajectory is absolutely moving in the right direction. Cignetti is an outlier and deserves all the props he receives.
Cignetti is earning his accolades. But I’m comfortable with Rhule at this point. 7 wins this season, I can live with, won’t be happy but I can live with it. 8 and I will feel better, but not real happy. 9 wins+ and I see significant growth and advancement of the program. I’m very happy with Rhule based on that.
 
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Zeke Husker

All-Conference
Aug 23, 2025
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I just read article from The Spun that lists Rhule on very short list of who might replace James Franklin at PSU. The list was Nick Saban (he will be #1 on every fantasy list) Lane Kiffin and Rhule. Would Kiffin ever leave the south?
 

Man Woman & Child

All-Conference
Dec 31, 2003
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First off, Trev wouldn’t have been able to fire Frost until prior approval from UNL’s various sugar daddies. Secondly, by the time Mickey had been arrested Rhule had already been hired. Now If you want to argue that we grossly overpaid for Rhule given his buyout at Carolina I whole heartedly agree.

NM
 

Man Woman & Child

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Dec 31, 2003
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if I remember right trev was deciding between ku, ksu, fickle, bc coach and rhule..did'nt hear sanders or freeze name come up....ku coach and rhule are the only ones having a ok year...thus far...if I remember right after ku coach gave trev a no, he hired rhule the day after...I think ksu coach and their ad were tied at the hip...

houston or tt coach (now) might have been a good choice, not sure if they were avalible...but they both seem to have well coached teams

Not how I remember it.
 

orclover11

Senior
Dec 1, 2014
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First off, Trev wouldn’t have been able to fire Frost until prior approval from UNL’s various sugar daddies. Secondly, by the time Mickey had been arrested Rhule had already been hired. Now If you want to argue that we grossly overpaid for Rhule given his buyout at Carolina I whole heartedly agree.
Mickey had a domestic violence incident as a player in college, his brother is the only person he listens to and who happens to also have a domestic violence incident, and Mickey supported a WR who tortured and tormented a girl at lsu to the point where she attempted suicide. The kid was eventually kicked out of LSU, and that tells you how bad it was. I don't know what needing approval had to do with Trev impulsively firing Scott after a tough game. The plan was to fire him in October so they could save the money. And yes we grossly overpaid Rhule, which is a trend and related to all of the other stuff...impulsive decision that had to made because the coaching pool was weak and we had no interim option because Trev had brought in a violent criminal.(I like Mickey by the way, but he should have never been allowed to be head coach), especially with Bill Busch literally the best coach and living in Lincoln.
 
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orclover11

Senior
Dec 1, 2014
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Wrong. Trev didn’t cost the University a penny firing SF a month earlier. That was paid by the PEEDs. Secondly there was no history of abuse by Micky prior to his promotion. Your whole premise of arguing is riddled with Lies.
Mickey had a domestic violence incident as a player, his brother, who is the only person he listens to had a domestic violence incident, and he supported an LSU WR who hurt a girl so bad that she tried to commit suicide. The university had to step in a kick the kid out of school. Even the comment about his brother is so tone deaf that it should have stopped him from being interim.
 

USNHusker

Junior
Jan 12, 2018
239
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I just read article from The Spun that lists Rhule on very short list of who might replace James Franklin at PSU. The list was Nick Saban (he will be #1 on every fantasy list) Lane Kiffin and Rhule. Would Kiffin ever leave the south?
I could see Cig making his way onto that list here shortly, especially if he manages to sneak into the playoffs again.
 
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TruHusker

All-Conference
Sep 21, 2001
12,119
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Other than Cig I don’t think I would take anyone that list over Rhule. However had we hired Cig our fan base would have lost its mind … until he started winning. Anxious to see how he looks v the ducks
That phrase, “let’s see how he looks against ?” is often repeated and for the most part he has more than held his own.
 

TruHusker

All-Conference
Sep 21, 2001
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if I remember right trev was deciding between ku, ksu, fickle, bc coach and rhule..did'nt hear sanders or freeze name come up....ku coach and rhule are the only ones having a ok year...thus far...if I remember right after ku coach gave trev a no, he hired rhule the day after...I think ksu coach and their ad were tied at the hip...

houston or tt coach (now) might have been a good choice, not sure if they were avalible...but they both seem to have well coached teams
These are always based on tenet rumors and suppositions. The facts of who was actually contacted to even see if they were interested or who contacted the University is completely unknown. Anyone can throw out names like they have any meaning.
 
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redwine65

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Jun 23, 2010
10,858
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These are always based on tenet rumors and suppositions. The facts of who was actually contacted to even see if they were interested or who contacted the University is completely unknown. Anyone can throw out names like they have any meaning.
I just posted what I heard thru media and social media during the time..I wonder if the buisness they hired to look for a coach would tell the media who they contacted
 

RBigredMax1

All-Conference
Jul 16, 2025
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That phrase, “let’s see how he looks against ?” is often repeated and for the most part he has more than held his own.
I don’t disagree, I’m indeed anxious to see how he/they play against Oregon? Should be a good game to watch.
 

orclover11

Senior
Dec 1, 2014
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I’d put Cig at the top of the list today
Cig might say F you...and stick with Indiana, he seems a little odd in a good way...I like that there is a guy who doesn't seem to just be a sleezy car salesman, doesn't care if the kids are mad at him, is blunt and honest, not fake humble but also not obviously self-serving.
 

itseasyas1-2-3

All-Conference
Sep 6, 2021
9,805
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Cig might say F you...and stick with Indiana, he seems a little odd in a good way...I like that there is a guy who doesn't seem to just be a sleezy car salesman, doesn't care if the kids are mad at him, is blunt and honest, not fake humble but also not obviously self-serving.
Doesn't everyone wants to see a bowl matchup with Cig and Lane Kiffin?
That press conference would be classic.
 

Huskers+123

Sophomore
Dec 6, 2024
166
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Cig might say F you...and stick with Indiana, he seems a little odd in a good way...I like that there is a guy who doesn't seem to just be a sleezy car salesman, doesn't care if the kids are mad at him, is blunt and honest, not fake humble but also not obviously self-serving.
Sure, you'd put him at the top of the list today.
But, remember, you wanted a committee to decide. No committee would have put Cignetti at the top of the list 3 yr's ago. (thus the reason he ended up at Indiana which, at the time, was not considered a great job.)

Rhule was the one good decision Trev made.
-
Yeah, committees always know what they're doing:
 

Tjlskers526

Sophomore
Aug 23, 2021
899
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Our fan base would have agreed with whatever the media told them. The media liked Rhule, who had done nothing in his career, hadn't won a trophy of any kind, and was just kicked out of the facilities of his previous team mid-season and told never to return. Cignetti meanwhile had 13 straight winning seasons, had won a championship, and was 11-1 the previous season.
Cignetti never won a championship.. They also had the 113th hardest schedule last year, followed up with 100th hardest schedule this year.. He coached 2 years in FBS prior to Indiana so the 13 straight winning seasons includes 6 years at D2 and 5 at FCS.. Saturday will be big for him..
 
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orclover11

Senior
Dec 1, 2014
1,226
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Cignetti never won a championship.. They also had the 113th hardest schedule last year, followed up with 100th hardest schedule this year.. He coached 2 years in FBS prior to Indiana so the 13 straight winning seasons includes 6 years at D2 and 5 at FCS.. Saturday will be big for him..
My bad. He has 16 straight winning seasons at four different schools. He has never had a losing season. I can't fathom why it took him so long to get a job, and why it was at Indiana. They sucked to the top I guess.