Trying to Make Sense of a Wild Week for Nebraska Football

T.J. Birkel

Husker football fans awoke from their slumber on Monday morning, perhaps still a little salty about the loss to Iowa, but comforted by the knowledge that the Big Red will be playing in their first bowl game since 2016. 

At this point, Monday feels like a year ago. We will try to unpack everything that happened, and all that it means, over a wild and historic week for Nebraska football. 

The Departed. The madness started with reports Monday morning that defensive coordinator (and possibly, defensive line coach Terrance Knighton) would be leaving Nebraska for the same roles at Florida State. This can’t be right, I thought. I could see White leaving for a head coaching job, but why would he take the same job at a program that just finished the season 2-10 and is going through major turmoil? But sure enough, both White and Knighton are heading to Tallahassee. 

Wide receivers coach Garret McGuire will also be leaving the program, as it appears he will be heading to Texas Tech, where his Dad serves as the head coach. This wasn’t entirely McGuire’s choice, as the coaching staff will be bringing in a new WR coach (more on that in a moment), but Coach Rhule made it clear during his press conference this week that there was still a place for McGuire on staff if he wanted it. 

What to Make of It: It stinks to lose White and Knighton. White flipped the defense immediately upon his arrival, turning a unit that had been a liability during the Frost era into a top 20 performer. And to the Seminoles, no less! I still wake up with nightmares about Charlie Ward, phantom clipping calls and the 1994 Orange Bowl (not really…but kind of). 

But this is the reality in modern day college football. Every Power 4 conference program has money to spend and they are all trying to win. The coaching carousel is only going to get more intense every offseason. And, it’s a sign of Nebraska’s success on defense that big name programs want to poach our top coaches. The other side of the coin is that Nebraska can play that game too. Coach Rhule said this week he’s had a ton of interest in the job, including from sitting defensive coordinators at major college programs. He will be interviewing multiple candidates, and I have no doubt Nebraska will hire an excellent defensive coordinator.

Coming Home. Well, they’re not exactly coming home, but it’s their home now. The Huskers locked up offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen–who didn’t even join the staff until there were three games left in the season–with a two year contract. They quickly followed that up by hiring Daikiel Shorts Jr. as wide receivers coach. Shorts played for Holgorsen at West Virginia, and coached with him at Houston. He spent the 2024 season in the same role at Kentucky. 

What to Make of It: The Holgorsen news became public the same day as the Tony White departure, and certainly helped ease the blow for Husker fans. Holgorsen is considered…

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