Nebraska Football: Ryan Held named interim head coach of North Alabama
It appears that former Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost has his own little coaching tree these days. One of Frost’s former assistants, Ryan Held, has been named the interim head coach for North Alabama.
UNA announced it had fired longtime head coach Chris Willis on Sunday night after a 1-7 start to the season. The school made the jump to Division 1 FCS this year and it appears the performance in its first season at the higher level wasn’t acceptable to the school’s administrators.
Enter Held, who was the running backs coach under Frost at both UCF and the Nebraska football team before being fired in November of last year along with most of the rest of the offensive staff.
The firings of several offensive assistants were seen at the time as a last-ditch effort by Frost to keep his own job and get one more year to try and prove he was the man to lead the Huskers. In the end, he only got three more games in the 2022 season after opening with a loss to Northwestern, then an unconvincing win against North Dakota, and another loss to lowly Sun Belt squad Georgia Southern.
I’m very thankful to @UNACoachWillis for the opportunity he gave me at North Alabama. We will empty the battery over the next 3 games to finish this out with Discipline, Detail and Toughness. I’m very grateful for @JoshLooney for this opportunity. #RoarLions #DDT
— Ryan Held (@CoachRHeld) October 31, 2022
After being let go by the Nebraska football program, Held joined North Alabama about six weeks later as the associated head coach and offensive coordinator. Since taking that job, Held has built a pretty powerful offensive attack for the Lions, who can’t say the same about their defense.
North Alabama’s offense is led by Lincoln, Nebraska native Noah Walters who has thrown for 1,589 yards and 15 touchdowns. The real weapon for the Lions is running back ShunDerrick Powell, who has already rushed for over 1,000 yards and has 15 TDs this season. UNA’s offense is averaging 31.5 points per game. That makes the six-game losing streak all the more outrageous.
Before joining Frost at UCF and the Nebraska football team, Held did have some head coaching experience at smaller schools such as Oklahoma Panhandle State (2002-04), and Southwestern Oklahoma State (2005-08).