Dylan Raiola's status at Nebraska played a part in Dana Holgorsen hire, says analyst

Since Nebraska Football brought in Dana Holgorsen as the new offensive coordinator, many people have shared their opinions on the move. That includes NU athletic director Troy Dannen, who sung his praises as well as gave head coach Matt Rhule lots of praise for making the move.

There’s also been plenty of college football analysts who think the move was both needed and quite smart. Most of those specifically talked about the effect Holgorsen could have on Raiola. Meanwhile, as he should, Raiola has stayed silent publicly.

That hasn’t kept others from believing that one of the reasons Rhule demoted Marcus Satterfield and hired Holgorsen is because Rhule knew he needed to do something to make sure that his former 5-star quarterback stays in town after the season. Mark On3’s Robin Washut among those who thinks part of Holgorsen’s hire was due to worry over Raiola leaving the Nebraska football team and it’s subpar offense behind.

Nebraska football had to hire Holgorsen to keep Dylan Raiola

“My two cents on it is if that Matt Rule didn't make a move, the odds of Dylan Rayola not being here next season go up dramatically,” Washut said during an appearance on Sirius XM radio.  “Bringing in a coach of Dana Holgorsen’s pedigree and his offensive background and the number of quarterbacks that he's developed, taken to the next level, that's all of a sudden a much more appealing sales pitch for Dylan to stick it out here.”

Washut added that he’s certain Raiola has his family have gotten phone calls from other programs already lobbying the quarterback to transfer because of the state of the offense. 

The analyst was careful to say he didn’t think that was entirely the reason for hiring Holgorsen, but it played a part. He also made it clear that Raiola is happy in Lincoln and it’s not that he’s looking to leave, but it might have been a business decision if things didn’t change.

“He's very well compensated.  Obviously, he's a legacy player, so his family wants him here.  So I think they just needed some reason for optimism that this offense was going in the right direction and that Nebraska and Matt Rule were going to do things or willing to do things that are going to help Dylan be as successful as possible.”