LAS VEGAS — Nebraska coach Matt Rhule on Tuesday stood up for his predecessor Scott Frost, who faced criticism in the wake of his assessment earlier this month that the Huskers job was wrong for him.
Speaking at Big Ten media days, Rhule said Nebraska displayed a large photo of Frost, taken during his time as a quarterback at the school, this offseason in the coaches’ area at the football facility.
“I have a ton of respect for Scott,” Rhule said. “And I’ve always been very empathetic for what he went through, because this was his home. If you guys fire me tomorrow, I’m just going to go back to Cape May and sit on the beach — go back to where I’m from. But this was his home.”
Frost, in the first year of his second stint as head coach at UCF, was fired by Nebraska in September 2022, finishing 16-31 in four-plus seasons. On July 8 at Big 12 media days, Frost said that he learned from his experience with the Huskers not to “take the wrong job.” In hindsight, Frost said, “it wasn’t a good move.”
Rhule said he understood. And he agreed with Frost.
“I know what it felt like to get run out of Carolina,” said Rhule, who was fired after two-plus seasons with the Panthers in the NFL. “And I would say to people, ‘I don’t think I took the right job for me. It wasn’t the right fit.’ That doesn’t mean it’s a bad job.”
Rhule said that when he accepted Nebraska’s offer in November 2022 from Trev Alberts, the athletic director who fired Frost, “this was not a good job.”
“We were behind on NIL,” he said. “The facilities, everything was behind.”
Alberts convinced Rhule they could transform the conditions in Lincoln. Rhule said he recognized a strong foundation.
Financial resources as a result of commitments from Lincoln’s Peed family — which founded the school’s collective, 1890 Nebraska — have improved dramatically, Rhule said. Nebraska has invested in nutrition and sports science over the past three years. It opened the $165 million Osborne Legacy Complex last year and replaced the grass and artificial turf surfaces that were outdated when Rhule took over.
The Huskers won their first bowl game since 2016 at the end of last season.
“We’ve made it a good job,” Rhule said. “And we’re about to make it a great job. This will be one of the best jobs in the country.”
After his news conference at Big Ten media days and a 45-minute side session with reporters, Rhule told The Athletic that he made a deliberate choice to embrace Frost, rather than to remain mired negativity.
“I just think the only way Nebraska can become a championship-caliber team again, in this world, is to live in positive, not toxic things,” Rhule said. “I need an investment from everyone. The only chance we have is to be united.”
He said he wants Frost to know that he’s appreciated in Lincoln.
“The things he did at this school, I want him to always feel like he could come back and has a home here,” Rhule said.
Even if Lincoln wasn’t the right spot for Frost as a coach.
“That being said,” Rhule said, “it’s the right job for me.”
(Photo: Lucas Peltier / Imagn Images)
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