Matt Rhule’s Vision for Eliminating NCAA Coaching Staff Limits

The NCAA Division I Council has lifted all restrictions on teams using as many coaches as they want to provide on-field instruction during practices and games.

Previously, schools were assigned just 11 coaches – the head coach and his 10 key assistants – for on-field instruction, leaving analysts and quality control officers in a strange gray zone between watching practice and having to relay their thoughts to assistants, rather than from the players themselves.

Scott Frost was penalized by the NCAA for improperly using an analyst during practice in the 2020 season. Such a violation effectively ceases to exist after last week’s decision.

The change would give head coaches the freedom to hire more real assistants, essentially, regardless of what they’re called in the personnel guide. Coaches could have four coordinators, though that could hurt the school’s bottom line. Coaches could split special teams coaching duties between specialists and returners. Could a kicking consultant help out for an hour a day? Sure. It’s not like Bruce Read always remained a full-time coach during his two years under Mike Riley.

And it gives head coaches some freedom to use their top 10 recruiters, regardless of their position in the staff hierarchy. As long as a coach provides “regular” instruction to student-athletes, according to NCAA language, he can be one of 10 recruiters. Perhaps they trade a coordinator for a young star who can perform in a premium position.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule has had some time to explore those options, but he also revealed his vision for how to handle them in mid-June.

“I don’t want to hire a bunch of former coaches for $300,000,” Rhule said. “What I think is if I have one offensive line coach to coach 23 players, he’s not…”

Coach them all equally, that is. Donovan Raiola is responsible for all 23 and oversees their work. But there’s only so much he can pour into the 18- and 19-year-olds when he’s getting the old guys ready for a game. Ditto for Evan Cooper and his 30 defensive backs.

“So if I can give Coop an assistant, who can talk according to the rules, Coop can now focus on 15 and those other 15, who may be a little lower on the list, have someone who coaches them day in and day out, and pouring into them,” Rhule said. “I think it’s great to have such young coaches.”

And as Nebraska has more success on the field — Rhule sees that as an if, not a when — some assistants will leave NOW for coordinator and head coaching jobs elsewhere.

“The goal here is to promote from within,” Rhule said. “It’s to train our own coaches, it’s to recruit our own operations staff and personnel.”

Maybe, Rhule said, he’ll promote a few analysts, or hire a few young coaches, or promote a young assistant. But he likes the potential of more coaches making teams better.

“Has anyone here let their kids play Little League?” Rhule said. “A team of 10. You love it when the coach takes your kid aside and shows him how to hit the bat a little better.”

Or when Rhule’s daughters are coached by NU forward Alexis Markowski at a basketball camp.

“Our kids learn from one-on-one interactions,” Rhule said. “So I want as many people as possible to be invested in the players. We’re a development program. You develop by really coaching well.”

>>If you want to give away a scholarship, you will probably find someone who will.

So as big as Nebraska wants its 2025 recruiting class to be, it can. It grew by one Sunday when Honolulu St. Louis offensive lineman Houston Kaahaaina-Torres chose the Huskers over California, Arizona State and Michigan State. It will likely grow a few more times this week when defensive backs Bryson Webber and Jeremiah Jones choose the Huskers.

All three have potential — with development. That’s true of a lot of young Huskers in the program, and that’s the kind of program Rhule wants.

But Nebraska still needed to sign two transfer receivers and two transfer corners — the second, Ceyair Wright from USC, signed last week — to ease concerns at those positions, which still don’t address the 20 freshman defensive backs and six freshman receivers it has yet to solve.

And that’s where it matters who a team lands in their class, rather than how many. Nebraska didn’t pursue a traditional transfer quarterback because its freshman, Dylan Raiola, is so good.

A good rule of thumb, which I’ve mentioned before, is to count the number of Top 100 players in a class, since recruiting sites work hard to compile the best possible list of 100. Right now, Ohio State has about as many players in those Top 100 players as the rest of the Big Ten combined will have in 2025.

Then categorize into large groups of 101-500, 501-1000, and over 1000. Too broad? Fine. Split that first large group into 101-300 and 301-500, if you think the distinction between them is significant. But leave the rest alone.

According to On3’s industry service, NU’s class currently has zero Top 100 guys, three – TJ Lateef, Malcolm Simpson and Jamarion Parker – in the 100-500 group, nine in the 500-1000 group and one, Tanner Terch, above 1000. Webber would be in the 500-1000 group, while Jones is above 1,000 for now.

Last year’s class had three Top 100 guys – Raiola, Carter Nelson and Grant Brix – five in the second group, 11 in the third group and a total of 10, including summer signees Mekhi Nelson and David Hoffken, above 1,000.

In that category of more than 1,000 players, good scouting and development are the most important. Among those players, Malcolm Hartzog, Emmett Johnson, Justin Evans and Jaylen Lloyd have developed into starters.

>>Former Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts is on the hunt for a baseball coach at Texas A&M after the man who led the Aggies to the College World Series title game, Jim Schlossnagle, left for rival Texas. Schlossnagle’s old boss at TCU, Chris Del Conte, is now AD for the Longhorns, which was one of the main reasons for his decision.

Another appears to have been that Schlossnagle, angry over Alberts’ firing of the sport’s administrator and a slow $80 million renovation of A&M’s stadium, was allowed to leave.

“He said to me, ‘You know, Jim, if you never feel like this is the place for you, that’s OK, that it’s OK to move on,’” Schlossnagle told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I was a little taken aback by that.”

Now, Schlossnagle seems like a man who is easily surprised, as he called a CWS reporter “selfish” when asked after the CWS loss on Monday if he was considering leaving A&M for another job. Schlossnagle did indeed leave for Texas on Tuesday. He seems suited for Texas.

But coaches in general – especially winning ones – aren’t used to hearing such statements from an AD, and A&M fans and boosters are having a hard time adjusting to Alberts, a change agent who likes efficiency where he can find it – especially in a college baseball program – and challenges coaches out of their comfort zone. Remember, in Nebraska he cut the salaries of Scott Frost and Fred Hoiberg, more or less in exchange for keeping their jobs. He had the power – and he took it.

>>Some free time awaits, so no looking back for the coming weeks, barring unforeseen news.

Nebraska football returns at the end of this month for Big Ten Media Days. The Huskers will be a small story in Indianapolis. That’s no problem. Time to fly under the radar – and emerge with victories on the field.