News is breaking that current Nebraska Athletic Director, Trev Alberts, is set to leave his alma mater for the same job at Texas A&M. Naturally, Cornhuskers across the nation are blindsided by this move.
According to Bret Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle, Alberts is expected to take over for Ross Bjork who left Texas A&M to lead the Ohio State athletic department in January. Of course, this isn't the first Nebraska A.D. to be poached by A&M following Bill Byrne back in 2003.
This one just feels different for the Nebraska family, though. A Cornhusker legend, Alberts was expected to be the long-term head of the Cornhuskers' athletic programs. In fact, in 2023 he signed a lucrative contract extension through 2031, one that paid him $1.7 million per year making him the third-highest paid Nebraska employee behind football coach Matt Rhule and basketball coach Fred Hoiberg.
Now, not even two years later, he's headed to College Station. Apparently, the lure of Texas A&M's huge athletic budget is too much for Alberts to pass up.
For the 2023 fiscal year, Texas A&M athletics reported an operating budget of $279,188,334. Meanwhile, in 2022, the Nebraska operating budget was reported to be $143,423,944, outside the top 25 of universities in the nation in terms of spending on sports.
An Iowa native, Alberts played linebacker at Nebraska from 1990-93 winning the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker his senior season. He would then go on to an NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts from 1994-96.
After a career in broadcasting, Alberts was named the A.D. at Nebraska-Omaha in 2009. He would then come home to Lincoln to run his alma mater's athletic department in 2012.
Now, it appears that he's headed south. However, not everyone is confirming this move.
In fact, Chris Dunker of the Lincoln Star-Journal has posted on X that interim NU president Chris Kabourek has not confirmed the move yet.
Regarding the reports Trev Alberts is leaving NU for Texas A&M, Interim NU President Chris Kabourek (who is Alberts' boss right now) tells me:
— Chris Dunker (@ChrisDunkerLJS) March 13, 2024
"Trev has not told me he has accepted the A&M position."
Should Alberts leave, as is being widely reported, there will be a huge void in the Nebraska leadership. In August, Ted Carter left his post as NU president to take the same job at Ohio State. Now, Alberts is likely following suit and heading to Texas A&M.
That means that Nebraska's next athletic director could be hired by an interim president. That's not the greatest way to do business.
This is a developing story and Husker Corner will continue to provide updates as more news breaks or if there is any official confirmation from Texas A&M or NU. However, where there's smoke, there's usually fire so it appears that the Cornhuskers will soon be in the market for a new A.D. after being shunned by an alum who was supposed to end his career at a place he used to call home.