Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule is finally getting a bit of love from the national media, and that’s before he coaches a game for the Huskers.
Matt Rhule has gotten a ton of love from Nebraska football fans and the media this spring. Since practices began in earnest, it feels as though he’s done every and said everything exactly right.
Of course, it’s hard not to do and say things correctly when there isn’t any need to back up statements on the field yet. For now, Rhule is just winning the offseason. In that regard, he continued to win the offseason, even with national media considering that he just made PFF‘s list of the Top 25 coaches in college football.
When I say that Rhule made the list, I mean he just made it. Of the 25 best coaches in the sport, according to PFF, the Nebraska football headman is 25th. That is, of course, better than not being on the list at all. And there are something like 78 programs that are stuck with someone not even getting this modest level of endorsement from the site.
Nebraska football head coach gets a nod as among the best
Quite a few of those 78 coaches are returning to teams they’ve led before, which certainly isn’t the case with Rhule. PFF explained how and why he made the list thusly:
"“Rhule has yet to coach a game at Nebraska, which hired him to replace Scott Frost this offseason. The Cornhuskers have not had a winning season since 2016, but Rhule’s experience rebuilding programs at Temple and Baylor give them confidence that will change soon. He spent the past three year in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers but is ready to return to the college ranks.”"
PFF’s list of the 25 best coaches flies in the face of another list of the best coaches in the college game put out by 247Sports last month. That list didn’t include the Nebraska football head coach. That’s why I choose to believe this list is better.
Rhule is in good company with this new group. Unsurprisingly, Nick Saban is at the top.
Other Big Ten coaches that were included in this list was Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh (#3), Ryan Day (#7) Luke Fickell (#9), and James Franklin (#10). Some interesting names left off this list are Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck, Illinois’ Bret Bielema or Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.
So what does all this mean? Absolutely nothing, really. However, it is nice to see that some national media figures believe Nebraska football got itself a good one when it hired its latest head coach. Soon enough, it will be time to prove it.