Nebraska Football: Matt Rhule deal in the final stretch

It appears that Nebraska football is going to have a new head coach officially in the next few days, if not by the end of the day on Friday. That’s because all the smoke around Matt Rhule is coming ot a head, with the national media picking up on the reports just ahead of the Huskers’ game against Iowa.

Should this deal clear the final hurdle, it will be the culmination of what has been a rather wild back and forth. There was a time when it was thought that Matt Rhule had basically told Nebraska football he wasn’t interested. Then, just over 10 days ago, it was thought he would be announced any minute. So with all that back and forth, why is it thought that this is finally a done deal? Mainly because national media is jumping all over it.

ESPN’s Chris Low was the first of the national talking heads to announce that Matt Rhule to Nebraska football was almost done, with Pete Thamel soon chiming in. Thamel added some details as to why he wasn’t reporting a deal done yet.

Mainly, Thamel said that there are some legal issues with the Carolina Panthers, who just fired the head coach earlier this year. While Thamel was careful to say that not everything was done and finished, he expected a deal to get done in the coming days.

He was also careful to make it clear that it wouldn’t be happening during Nebraska’s game against Iowa. That of course, leaves the door open for an announcement either later today, or tomorrow morning. That tracks with our earlier report that a deal with Matt Rhule could be finalized by today.

It’s worth pointing out that this kind of thing being leaked to the national media isn’t a mistake. It’s a way to pave the road towards everything being official as it seems extremely improbable Nebraska football would let this out unless Matt Rhule wasn’t getting announced before the end of the weekend.