Matt Rhule has been a familiar name in coaching circles for a long time, but the résumé still comes with a number that jumps out: he’s only four games over .500 in his career.
That’s the backdrop as Nebraska heads into another season with Rhule trying to push the Huskers forward. He’s built his way through the ranks over 15 years as an assistant at places ranging from D3 Albright to Buffalo, UCLA and Western Carolina before landing his first head job at Temple in 2013.
That wasn’t exactly a cushy opening. Temple had spent years bouncing through the Big East’s rough stretch, and while Al Golden helped bring the program back, Rhule was the next coach to keep it moving.
At Temple, Rhule went 28-23 in four seasons, with two 10-win years and first-place finishes in the American Athletic Conference East. That run earned him the Baylor job, where he arrived after the sexual assault scandal that brought down Art Briles. Baylor had been winning before Rhule got there, but his three seasons in Waco produced a 19-20 record and sent him on to the Panthers.
His NFL stop didn’t go the way anyone wanted. Rhule went 11-27 in a little more than two seasons in Carolina, and like Greg Schiano, the leap to the pros looked like the right idea at the time. It just didn’t stick.
Still, the job history kept Rhule in the mix, and Nebraska moved quickly. On November 26, 2022, only weeks after his firing from the Panthers, he signed an eight-year, $74-million deal to become the 31st head coach in Huskers history. His seat in Carolina hadn’t even cooled off.
Nebraska hired him to bring back the standard that disappeared under Scott Frost. Frost never had a winning record in four-plus seasons, while Rhule has at least stabilized things in Lincoln.
In his first three seasons, he’s 19-19, with the last two years finishing 7-6 - a clear step up from Frost’s 16-31. Overall, Rhule is 66-62 in 10 years as a head coach, a total that was a little more modest than expected.
For Rutgers, Rhule is already part of the conversation. He coached at Temple from 2006-11 as an assistant, though RU and Temple never met while he was there.
As a head coach against Rutgers, he’s 1-1. Temple lost to Rutgers 23-20 in 2013 against Kyle Flood, and Nebraska beat Rutgers 14-7 in 2024.
This will be his second game against Schiano.
Some people have already labeled the Nebraska matchup a winnable one for Rutgers. Maybe.
It’s at home this time, unlike the narrow loss in Lincoln two years ago. But Rhule’s track record is the reason this one deserves respect.
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Rutgers Field Hockey Revisits One Of The Programs Biggest Title Moments
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That 2021 group still holds a special place in Rutgers history, not just because it delivered the first Big Ten Tournament title in any Rutgers program, but because it also set multiple records along the way. Revisiting that team in front of the current roster adds a familiar reminder of what the program has already achieved, and of the standard it is still trying to chase. [Read more 🡒]