The changing of the guard when it comes to the Nebraska football coaching staff continued on Tuesday night when it was reported that new head coach Matt Rhule wouldn’t retain Bill Busch. The news isn’t a total shock as the writing was on the wall, but this is one coach that quite a few fans were holding out hope would find a way to stick around.
Like the other changes, an official announcement hasn’t been made. It seems unlikely that the assistants will be officially announced until the staff is complete. However, there have been names getting leaked over the last few days. Some new Nebraska football coaches have confirmed reports by changing their Twitter profiles.
On Monday night, another hire seemed to be a sign that Bill Busch wouldn’t be kept when Ed Foley was reported to have joined the staff. While it’s unknown whether Foley will coach special teams for the Cornhuskers, Busch’s exit also seems to point to this.
Busch is the latest casualty on a staff Scott Frost put together in a last ditch effort to keep his job. Earlier in the day, it was announced that running backs coach Bryan Applewhite had also been told he wasn’t going to be retained. In his place, Rhule is said to have hired UCONN runningbacks coach EJ Barthel. Tight ends coach Sean Beckton is also said to be fired.
Confirmed elsewhere: Bill Busch will not be on Matt Rhule’s staff. https://t.co/6lIbmU2MOv
— Brady Oltmans 🤠 (@BradyOltmans) November 30, 2022
With Nebraska football’s staff being reshaped quickly, there aren’t many holdovers left. Mike Dawson and Travis Fischer have also already been shown the door. Marcus Satterfield is said to be coming over from South Carolina to push Mark Whipple out as well.
Not counting the analysts that were promoted to full-time coaches when people like Erik Chinander were fired, only three coaches have not been reported to be fired yet. It seems extremely unlikely that Barrett Ruud and Dominic Raiola will will be around Nebraska football this time next week.
That still leaves the big question in more than a few people’s minds. Will Mickey Joseph be the only holdover, or will Matt Rhule make a clean sweep of the Nebraska football staff?