OtherNebraska’s leadership has positioned Huskers to handle college football’s changing landscape
Nebraska’s leadership has positioned Huskers to handle college football’s changing landscape
LINCOLN, Neb. — Another consequential day is here amid a dizzying offseason that will shape the future of college sports.
Wednesday could bring us closer than at any point yet to the end of negotiations in the proposed settlement of the House v. NCAA lawsuit. Filed in 2020, it has paved the way for former collegiate athletes to receive $2.8 billion in damages. If approved by a U.S. district judge in California, the settlement would allow schools to pay $20.5 million annually to current athletes.
The final sticking point that sent the NCAA and its lawyers back to the drawing board two weeks ago involved roster limits. The judge wants protections for already enrolled athletes who could lose their roster spots because of the settlement terms.
This is also, arguably, the biggest headache for Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule and athletic director Troy Dannen. But they have responded to the legal twists better than could have been expected from any of their predecessors at Nebraska, who bungled less complex predicaments in the past 25 years.
Multiple times since January, the pendulum has swung. First, in a direction that appeared set to impose a firm, 105-player cap in football in August 2025; then, toward a more relaxed implementation of the 105 that could give a program like Nebraska ample time to shrink its roster from a head count of 150 just four months ago.
The latest: An attorney who represents the NCAA and college sports leaders told the Associated Press this week that “several dozen” athletes nationally who lodged objections to the roster limits would be offered roster spots.
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Spots in what programs? Who are the objectors? And did anyone know they had to object to receive relief?
Undoubtedly, it’s a source of frustration for Rhule, who’s trying “desperately,” he said last month, to build a program that fosters the good health and happiness of his players.
So, a week into May, with final exams scheduled for next week in Lincoln, Rhule likely still can’t tell about 10 percent of Nebraska’s players if they’ll have spots in the locker room in four months.
Coincidentally, though not in the larger sense, Dannen promoted two administrators into associate AD positions on Tuesday. Both are lawyers.
Excited to announce promotions for two Husker Administration members:
Jonathan Bateman – Associate AD/Administration
Audrey Polt – Associate AD for Legal Affairs/Associate General Counsel#GBR | https://t.co/HM5zgcJHlN pic.twitter.com/hU3PjDI0Y7
— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) May 6, 2025
It takes a law degree to keep up with college sports today.
Nebraska is well-positioned for anything that might happen this week. It’s got money, thanks to the support of its fans and donors and the Big Ten’s lucrative TV deal. It’s got Dannen, who on Monday was named to serve a term on the College Football Playoff selection committee.
And it’s got Rhule, a cool customer at the center of the storm. The coach sat ringside Monday night in Omaha with quarterback Dylan Raiola and running back Emmett Johnson for WWE Raw, making it look easy to navigate Nebraska through a stressful offseason away from the field as he deals with the urgency to build a stable winner in Year 3 out of a program that’s 47-69 in the past decade.
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It’s work for Rhule this year largely because of his ability to delegate, to communicate and to wait.
Like no coach before him at Nebraska, Rhule changed his day-to-day in midstream. Consider that in the middle of last season, he had no choice but to get knee deep in the Nebraska offense. The special teams were sinking. And three days after the regular season ended, Rhule’s trusted defensive coordinator left for Florida State.
Rhule responded by signing Dana Holgorsen, his November solution for the offense, to a two-year deal. The head coach coaxed his former DC, Phil Snow, out of semi-retirement to help smooth the transition for John Butler, bumped up from secondary coach. And Rhule landed Mike Ekeler, one of the best in the country at what he does, to run the Huskers’ special teams.
Ekeler, Holgorsen and Butler, with Snow as an advisor, were handed autonomy from Rhule to run their departments. He also hired a full-service general manager in Pat Stewart, from the New England Patriots, to manage roster finance, acquisition and retention.
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In a 20-minute interview session, one Stewart answer after another seemed to eradicate the innocence of collegiate athletics.
Rhule oversees the operation like a CEO, with an eye on market conditions and the competition.
One day in the middle of spring practice last month, he ordered a group of defensive players out of the football complex before they reached a point of diminishing returns in prep work for a scrimmage. Another time, he shared with Elijah Pritchett, the Huskers’ addition at left tackle from Alabama, that uncomfortable times in the transition to a new school would ready him for a 12-year career in the NFL.
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Rhule’s focus on talking to his players makes a difference in uncertain times that have required hard decisions.
He’s found the right mix of patience and urgency. Rhule did not swing with the pendulum as the outlook shifted on the proposed settlement. Nebraska took action to reduce its roster size last year.
The number stood at 123 after spring practice. The Huskers added a third kicker last week, Charlotte transfer Kyle Cunanan. They’ll take another punter who can operate in Ekeler’s rugby-style system.
Rhule’s measured approach has influenced some Nebraska players to wait out the storm.
“I don’t care,” they told him, according to Rhule. “I’m a Husker. I’ll be here until you tell me I can’t be here.”
The day may still arrive when he has to tell them. It could come as a result of something resolved on Wednesday. But in a world of federal intervention and salary caps, it pays at Nebraska to have leaders with a plan.
