After Nebraska moved on from Dana Holgorsen, the early list of offensive coordinator possibilities has already started to take shape, and one name stands out for how big it is and how unlikely it feels: Kliff Kingsbury.
A Yahoo Sports list put Kingsbury near the top of the conversation, and it’s easy to see why his name gets attention. He’s on Sean McVay’s staff with the Los Angeles Rams, he was the last coach to get the Arizona Cardinals to the playoffs in 2021 with Kyler Murray at quarterback, and he later helped guide Jayden Daniels through a breakout rookie season with the Washington Commanders in 2024.
His quarterback track record also includes Patrick Mahomes, who was Kingsbury’s most prized pupil during their Texas Tech years from 2014 to 2016. Add in the fact that Kingsbury has absorbed McVay’s pre-snap, motion-heavy approach while bringing his own Air Raid background, and it’s the kind of profile that could tempt a coach like Matt Rhule to take a swing.
Still, the fit looks shaky on paper. Kingsbury has long been viewed as a strong offensive coordinator but a poor head coach, and his name alone doesn’t make him the kind of clean answer Nebraska needs.
The biggest obstacle is simple: Kingsbury doesn’t seem eager to jump back into the college game. That’s part of why he’s essentially serving as an analyst for the Rams this year. If he wanted another college OC job this past offseason, the feeling is that he would have had options.
And even if Nebraska liked the idea of his offense, the Huskers may not want to return to that style anyway. The Air Raid has not worked well in the Big Ten over the last two seasons, and Nebraska’s next move could point in a different direction.
If Rhule decides Glenn Thomas’s time as offensive coordinator should be temporary - which the source suggests is the right call, even if the offense improves a bit after Holgorsen - then Nebraska would likely shift back toward a more run-oriented approach.
That doesn’t mean the triple option is coming back, but the recent numbers tell a clear story. Over Nebraska’s last three games, the Cornhuskers have thrown at least 40 passes in each one and still scored fewer than 20 points each time. That has come with three solid, if not spectacular, running backs and a quarterback who ran for nearly 700 yards last season.
Anthony Colandrea has had some rushing success, including 66 yards against Michigan State and 108 against Maryland. But he hasn’t topped 50 rushing yards in a game since Nebraska’s win over the Terps, and he has had only one run longer than 20 yards since then. That play was a 39-yard touchdown run that briefly made it look like the Huskers might upset the defending national champion.
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