Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My Bears played tonight, So eggs in that basket, excited
for that. Taking on the Washington Commanders or the Durors
that I knew, how I call them.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
The doors open for the Bears. I mean they got
a chance. The Commanders haven't.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Had great You gotta win today, gotta win. If we
win today, we'll start being excited. There you go, until
that happens. Then we're just watching the game and enjoying
what comes with it. Kind of like Nebraska fans, right,
like Nebraska fans for the most part, just trying to,
you know, just enjoy their lives. Found a way to
win against Maryland wasn't pretty.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Bad.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Pick six.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I feel like, okay, a little bit tougher than many
many people anticipated. It's never easy, as much as we
want it to be easy, you know, we picked scores
that would make it feel pretty easy. Maryland was in
the hunt, they were in the battle, they were in
the fight. But Nebraska went right down the field and
scored towards the end of the game. Found a way
(00:59):
to win that game, and it was great. Five and one.
Back in the conversation of the rankings, that's great, right, yeah,
great news?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Are you are you excited, like like this is great news.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Like, if you're a Nebraska football fan, you haven't felt
this good about your team halfway through the season since
win I mean the early Callahan years, and I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You're you weren't even born yet.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
No, So I mean you got Minnesota a short week
Friday night game, nationally televised, a winnable road game Northwestern
after that. You know, Northwestern, they're four and two, but
they don't seem like they're that great of a team.
Usc is you know, in the in the mix of
the rankings, So that could be a fun home game
(01:47):
Penn State later in the schedule. They just fired their coach.
Would they just fired their coach? Pence sty Fence State
just fired the coach. Actually, I'm getting words deferred their coach.
Oh wow, Well that's no big deal, nothing to see here,
nothing to worry about. I'm sure anybody could take that job.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Maybe John Gruden gets it.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
John Grudeny coaching college kids, could you imagine? Yeah, so
you know, your first inclination. This is a first big,
high profile job that has come open outside of I
guess UCLA Virginia Tech. But those two programs are pretty
irrelevant in State three weeks ago was a national championship contender.
This is how life comes at you fast and how
maybe sometimes you just are thinking to yourself, okay, like certainly, okay,
(02:37):
and hear me out on this, right, Certainly, you wouldn't
lose three games coming from a place where you were
the number.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Two team in the country.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You were in great shape to make the playoff the
college to well playoff and potentially play for a national championship.
You lose in overtime to an Oregon team, which we
all think also as a championship contender, and then you
lose to UCLA on the road, and everybody's like, what
(03:11):
the heck just happened? That's got to be the like
that can kind of be the end of being a contender.
That's two big ten losses in one to a team
that was winless before, and then you loose to Northwestern
at home, which was the final straw. Within a fifteen
day period. James Franklin, the head coach of Penn State,
goes from one of the toasts of the town, his
(03:32):
team perennially in contention, always dancing around the top five,
to all of a sudden he's out of a job,
life comes at you fast. Also, he'd been there for
a long time. He had a very bad record against
top ten teams. You could kind of see that them
letting this season slip makes sense, just to cut it
(03:53):
off and let it go. So why would Matt Rules's
name be thrown around so quickly for this? He's coaching
the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Well, if you're not familiar, he is
a guy who was born in New York City, but
before high school he moved to a place called State
(04:13):
College Pennsylvania. State College, Pennsylvania happens to be the city
in which Penn State is located. He then was a
walk on at Penn State's football program, and then the
first team that he started to coach for as a
(04:34):
volunteer assistant was Penn State. Now that's not to say
that his tie is going deeper than that, but that's
pretty deep. Spent some time as a kid over there.
After he spent some time as a kid, went played there.
After he played there, he coached there when he first
got that was his first He's got a great attachment
(04:56):
to that university. And how often does team, how often
does that head coaching job open up? Well, Joe Paterno
had it for over forty years, and even in the
circumstances which he lost a job which we don't need
to get into Bill O'Brien took over, they were still
a relevant team. He didn't last super long, ended up
(05:17):
wanting to take an NFL job. James Franklin gets hired.
If they've had three coaches over the over more than
a half century. If you if your dream job was
to coach Penn State, and I'm not sure it is
for Matt Ruhle, but it might be. It's one of
those situations where, look, I hate to say this, but
(05:41):
you got one shot. Do not miss your chance to
blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime. So if
you're Matt Ruhle, what are you thinking today? If there
was anything in my mind we could potentially learn about
as five and one starts to the season and maybe
celebrate that the fact that the Huskers are in talks
(06:03):
to be ranked. They're the second team out of the
rankings in the coaches poll, but certainly are a win
on the road against Minnesota away from certainly being in
the top twenty five of the Coach's poll. And I'm
looking at the rest of the schedule and thinking you
couldn't tell me not all of these games are winnable.
They all seem to be winnable, especially that Penn State game,
(06:25):
which was the big thing lurking down the line on
the road, that all of a sudden seems pretty tame.
Considering the circumstances. They're starting quarterback out for the season.
They just fired their head coach. You feel pretty good,
And instead we have to talk about rumors halfway through
the season that Matt Rule our head coach in his
third year, in the midst of yet another year three boom,
(06:49):
he may be the perfect guy to take over a
Penn State program which has been nationally relevant but unable
to beat the big dogs when they play. Now, for
whatever it's where Matt Rule doesn't have a sparkling record
against top ten teams in his coaching career either. But
you could make the argument that he hasn't had his
guys at Nebraska, he wasn't in a great position to
(07:11):
do so at Baylor, and he certainly didn't have the
players to do it at Temple when't playing that many
top ten teams there anyway, So if top ten resume
is what you're looking for, you're not going to find
it with Matt Rule. But if you're looking for somebody
who cares about Penn State deeply, who wants to be
the head coach, probably for the rest of his life,
this is the kind of guy that it might be because
(07:33):
he's spent time in state college growing up. He played
high school football there. He played college football at Penn
State as a walk on, and then he went and
his first dabble into coaching was as a volunteer assistant
at Penn State. Look where he is now. Well, during
media availability today, and he knew it was coming. Everybody
knew it was coming, he was going to be asked
about this. So here is Matt Rule at his media
(07:55):
availability today talking about the vacancy now at the university.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
He calls his alma mater, Penn State.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Obviously, your alma mater fired as coach Sunday, and so
your name logically becomes a candidate for that whole What
would you like to say about not only coach Franklin,
but the opening there and your relationship to the ad there.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Yeah, well, I love Penn State, met my wife there.
It's my alma mater fan since I was born. I
was born I think probably at a Penn State shirt
where I was born. I love pat Craft and really sad,
really sad to see coach Franklin go. You know when
(08:39):
you think about what he did for Mi Alma Mater,
you know, you know the program was in peril, right,
I mean the players. If people remember like the historic sanctions,
you could transfer out, you could do whatever you want.
Bill O'Brien comes and stabilizes it for two years. James
takes over a program in just array and gives stability, excellence,
(09:04):
and to see you know, see videos of people like
yelling at his kids, and I just don't understand why
in our country like what now, like coaches are villains,
like you know how hard I worked in Carolina and
the things that were said to me are you know
how hard I work here? Some of the things that
are set you know, our coaches work here. Howard sat
worked last year. So I'm just really sad about that
part of it. And people say, well, you make a
lot of money, make a lot of Mike doesn't make
a kids feel good when they're when they're hearing that,
(09:26):
you know, make a lot of money. It's nice to
make a lot of mind, don't get me wrong, but
still people. So I really respect James Franklin. Troy and
I are are an unbelievable relationship too. And Troy and
I are in constant, constant, constant communication about this program
and where we're headed. You know, I came here for
two reasons. I love the community here and wanted to
(09:46):
live here. And I love it here, and I wanted
to rebuild Nebraska football. And you know, Troy and I
understand the steps that you need to take to make
us Big Ten champions and national champions. This this place
is elite. And I want to be a great father
and I want to be a great college football coach.
And so you know, I'm not gonna you know, I'm
(10:07):
not gonna talk a lot about job openings when they come.
This is maybe it's been a while here, but this
is what happens when you win. I've dealt with it,
you know, We've won at Temple and I dealt with
it all the time, dealt with Baylor. I'm not going
to talk about those things ever. I'm gonna talk about
my contract here, I'm gonna talk about the team. But yeah,
I absolutely love it here and I just want to.
I want us to continue to take the steps needed
(10:29):
for us to turn this thing into a beast, and
players all across the country want to come here. We
have the best facilities, we have elite fans, and you know,
I'm just looking at the future. So but again, I
love that place. I love I love Pat, I love James.
Franklin said that that came to an end. I wish
him the absolute best, but I'm really happy here and
decided to get going this week on Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
There it is Matt Rule. He name drops Troy. That's
Troy Dan and that is the athletic director at Nebraska.
He's talking about the leadership in Pitt State too. Who
I'm sure he has a good relationship with.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Your gut tells you that.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I mean, he's he's never gonna just like close the
book and it's bad business to you know, outright rule
anything out part of the pun. But he's uh, he's
a guy that many consider an elite college football coach.
It isn't going to come down to money. Does pen
(11:32):
Sate have a lot of money?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Does Nebraska have a lot of money? Oh yeah, you bet.
It may be a bit of a different type of money. Right,
Penn State the Nebraska are not that different of institutions
that are located in areas that are considered college towns
or not in major metropolitan markets like most successful colleges,
(11:56):
and Nebraska has an incredible blue blood of football history,
but they have not been super relevant on a national
level for the most part outside of a couple of
spotty years since Tom Osborn left. While Penn State, even
after Joe Paterno left, James Franklin had them in conversations.
Are one of the best teams in the country many years.
(12:17):
Even if they couldn't beat any of the good teams,
everybody thought they were really good. Matt Campbell is making
or Matt Campbell Matt Rule. I was about to say
Matt Campbell's name in a second, Matt Ruhle is making
nine point twenty five million dollars a year as the
head coach of Nebraska. Who what else would be in
the mix? Because that is going to be your like,
(12:42):
if you are hoping he doesn't get the job or
doesn't want the job, it would have something to do
with who else could get the job? Now, the first
name that a lot of people are saying is Kurt Signetti.
Kurt Signetti is the coach in Indiana who just went
to Oregon off maybe the biggest win in the history
(13:02):
of Indiana football, which is crazy to say because that
is a big school, a big time school and a
big time conference. He's in his second year there. They
made the College Football Playoff in his first year. You know,
this is the kind of stuff. But it's like, oh,
it takes time. You know, you want to be patient.
It takes time to build up your roster. Kurt Signetti
took over Indiana, a nationally irrelevant program for the better
(13:23):
part of ever, and they were in the College Football
Playoff last year. And yeah, you can point to the
fact that they had a really you can point to
the fact that they had a really easy schedule, but
they played Nebraska and they put like fifty six points
up on the Huskers, fifty six to fifty nine whatever.
It was just absolutely boat raced Matt Ruhle in the Huskers.
That was his first year. He was playing with guys
(13:44):
that weren't his or guys that were his from James
Madison University where he was the coach before he took
the Indiana job. This is a guy who is I
think as hot a name in coaching that there is.
He's making eight million dollars a year as the head
coach of Indiana, So it's not quite the nine in
a quarter that Matt Rule's making, but he's making a
(14:05):
lot of money. And Indiana usually has a lot of
resource for their basketball program because they're typically a basketball school. Well,
now he's kind of turning them into a football school,
and all of a sudden, you're starting to see people
wanting to put more energy and effort into that. So
you want to know what I think. I think there's
something there too. Now, if you're wondering, guy's a Pittsburgh,
(14:28):
Pennsylvania native. Now that's not Pittsburgh, all right, we're talking
about Penn State, but it's not far away. He's a
Pennsylvania guy. He went to West Virginia, was a quarterback
of West Virginia in the late seventies and early eighties.
And yes, he hasn't coached at Penn State, but he
has been in the periphery of major colleges in the
East and now here he is at Indiana, and he's
(14:50):
turned Indiana all of a sudden into one of the
five best teams in the country by any measure, with
a chance to potentially win a national title for them
this year. Could you imagine Indiana national champions in football again?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
By the way, Signetti is the only college football coach
to have started ten and zero with two different teams
and consecutive seasons. James Madison in twenty twenty three, it
was the fifth year he was there. That is, it
was a ten and oh start for them, and he
went ten and o to start with Indiana last year,
the only guy ever to do that. And then the
other guy that you're going to be hearing a lot
(15:25):
is Matt Campbell. He is the Iowa State head coach
with my cyclones. I hate to do this again, but
Matt Campbell's name basically since he took the Iowa State
job maybe twenty seventeen or so, when they started to win,
everybody's just like, when's he going to leave? Because Iowa
State is in a power conference. But they are not
an ideal job. That is not a program that has
been able to sustain success. Well, they have sustained success
(15:46):
back to back five and oh starts for them. They
have a lot of injuries, ended up losing a couple
of games in a row here, but they're five and
two right now. His salary is only four million dollars
in Iowa State is as far as money is concerned,
as far as we know, much more strapped for cash
than these big ten programs that we're talking about with Nebraska,
(16:06):
Indiana and now Penn State. So those are three names
that I think are absolutely to watch for. By the way,
Matt Campbell, if you're wondering, he's an Ohio guy every
time a big job came up, including the Ohio State job,
not that they really made that an open job when
urban Meyer left, but he's been talked about with many jobs.
He's always stayed true and stayed at Iowa State. You
(16:28):
wonder if maybe he feels like he's hitting a ceiling
and this Penn State thing not only is for more money,
but potentially it could be for more opportunities, better opportunities
to win. This is not to knock what he's built
at Iowa State, but it would be normal for somebody
to think, have I hit my ceiling as to what
(16:50):
we can achieve at Iowa State. It's plausible you got
a big ten job open up right here Penn State
with a ton of resources. This is the kind of
thing that you might think about. So those are the
three guys. Now where are they going to go? How
do you feel about this? Do you think Matt Rule's gone?
Do you think he's gonna stay? Do you think one
of these other guys like Signetti or Matt. I have
(17:10):
no idea why Signetty would leave. I mean, they're about
to build him a stadium named after him in Indiana
if he keeps this up. Matt Campbell's same, but the
money is obviously a big difference. Matt Rule is the
logical choice. If he wanted to leave Nebraska, this would
be the job he'd leave for. How do you feel
about phone linestrope in four H two five five eight
eleven ten four ROH two five five eight eleven ten. Well,
(17:32):
Nebraska will be able, We'll we be able to like
put the blinders on for the rest of this season.
We're five to one, and we're talking about our coach
potentially bolton in the offseason to join another college. I
have an entire laundry list here of possible candidates that
could realistically be talked about for this job. And there's
(17:53):
going to be a lot of chatter about this. I
want to get your thoughts on it, because this is
the first time in a long time that a coach
at Nebraska, like we've been talking about, you know, over
the better part of you know, twelve fifteen years. You
get you sour on a coach, like get him out
of here. We're not winning enough games. I don't like
his attitude, I don't like our recruiting, We're losing to
(18:15):
Georgia Southern, all sorts of stuff like this, and you're
trying to chase him out. This is the first time
I can remember ever for a Nebraska coach for things
to be looking good five and one, dancing around the rankings,
pretty solid schedule to maybe all of a sudden start
talking nine to ten win season here, get back into
(18:37):
national relevance, and all the talk now has become will
he leave to go coach somewhere else? Penn State is
one of the very few jobs in America, especially for
this guy, that would kind of heat that conversation up,
and it might be true. Phone lines are open if
you want to be a part of the show. For two, five, five, eight, eleven, ten,
(18:58):
We've got Larry on the phone line. Larry things in today?
What's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (19:03):
I say that, you know, we almost lost coach Osmone
years ago by catting about how bad that he was
doing and everything. He almost went to Colorado. Now we
got Matt Role here. He's restoring the program. He's doing
a great job. My hat off to him. I'm telling you,
(19:23):
if he goes back to Penn State, it's going to
be like Scott Boss coming back to Nebraska. What happens
if he goes off there and loses respect him? No?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
And where do you go from there?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Larry?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Right, So it's just like, you know, like that was
the dream job. That was like I want to stay
there till I retire. If it doesn't end up working
out like Scott Frost did not work out in Nebraska,
they I mean they're gonna be calling for his head too.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Yes, absolutely, So, well, thank you for letting me call it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
And you have a good day you too, Larry really
appreciate it. That's really a it's a good point. And
he just outlined the the exact reason why Curse Signetti
at Indiana and Matt Campbell at Iowa State would not
take this job, Like why would you take this job?
And know that additional scrutiny is going to be poured
upon you. I mean, the leash is going to be short.
(20:18):
And you see what Signetti did in Indiana and you're one.
They made the playoff in year two. They are a
top five team in the country. This was one of
the worst power conference programs in America. He didn't need
time to rebuild the team. He had their best season
ever last year in his first season, and they look
like they're better.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Now. How did he do it? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Why would he go to Penn State when he's competing
in the same conference with pretty much the same level
of resources. The difference is Penn State has all this
history as a football program. Indiana does not. But he's
the one that's building that program. And guess the age,
Kurse Signetti? How old?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Isn't he a pretty young guy?
Speaker 1 (21:00):
No, that's the crazy part. That rule is fifty. That
rule's fifty, which I mean, you would think that Matt
Rule has got a solid twenty years left in the
game if he wants. Kurt Signetti sixty four years old.
It just took him a long time to get his opportunity,
to get his chance to be a legitimate big time
head coach wasn't until the Indiana job that he coached
(21:23):
at a Power Conference school. His most high profile assistant
job was the wide receivers coach and the run game
coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban. So yeah, there you go, right.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
He was.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
His first head coaching job was at a place called
iu PTE Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and then he went
to Elon. That's an FCS school, James Madison. They have
just recently popped up the FBS. And then he took
the Indiana job last year. But think about that, the
guy it was in his sixties until he got this opportunity.
(21:59):
Is that the kind of guy if you're penn State,
I'm going to invest in a sixty a guy who's
going to be sixty five before he coaches a game.
For me, this isn't to be a just or anything,
but is there going to be a lot of excitement
of your program? And you also are going to have
to hope that when he's the miracles he's working in
adema translate. I just don't see him being the kind
of person that's just going to yep. I'm going to
(22:20):
go what essentially is a lateral job in reality, with
way more expectations and the same money. There's no way.
I'm just I'm ruling him out. I just cannot imagine
he's taking that job. As for Matt Campbell, the money
is the biggest part of this right. Iowa State is
struggling as far as trying to stay on par with
(22:41):
some of the other big money power conference schools and
how they're going to maintain this and still be competitive,
be able to recruit the type of kids that Matt
Campbell wants. And he's been there for a decade now.
Matt Campbell only forty five years old, so he's been
and I would say for basically a decade and he's
still only forty five. This is maybe an opportunity for
(23:01):
him to shoot his shot, take some more money. I
could see him being in the mix. Three other names
that I'm hearing about Matt Ruhl, Kurtz Signetti, Matt Campbell
seemed to be the leaders. Brent Key, he is the
forty seven year old head coach at Georgia Tech. The
trick would be, you know, he's making just over four
million dollars there there all of a sudden, turning into
(23:22):
a solid program.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
They're currently in.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
The coach is put at number twelve and they are undefeated,
so he's got them playing well in a power conference.
They could be a playoff team this year. Oh yeah,
And you want to know where he played college football,
Georgia Tech. He's at his alma mater right now. So
that's a guy that certainly would have a heart to
want to be where he's at as it stands right now,
(23:45):
and this is only his third year at the program.
Another name Kenny Dillingham. Kenny Dillingham, only thirty five years old.
He's the Arizona State coach. He at Arizona State. They
won the Big Twelve last year, and that was only
his second year at Arizona State. This is his first
head coaching gig by the way, so he's only been
a head coach anywhere for two years. His third year
(24:06):
Arizona State nationally relevant. Lost a couple of games this year,
but you know they're hanging around and uh won the
w went to the College Wable Playoff last year. Developing
players that could be in the NFL thirty five, they'd
be exciting, right where is his alma mater? Because he
(24:28):
didn't he didn't play college football. But where did he
go to college?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I'm going to say in the state of Arizona, somewhere
Arizona State University, yep. And he's from Phoenix. He doesn't
want to leave either.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
This is his school, this is his team, and he's
got them, he's their coach. It's already this is the
Jerry Neuheisel thing. He's the flavor of the month play
caller for the last couple of weeks for UCLA, and
they've won the last couple of weeks with him calling
the plays. That kid has been He's only thirty three
years old, but he's been there his whole life. His
dad was a head coach of UCLA. He's only been there.
(25:01):
He played there. He's been like an assistant since he
stopped playing. He's been there for a while. He wants
to be there. And then Lane Kiffin is the last
name to maybe pay attention to. Lane of course, has
bounced around. He's been in the NFL. He went to
Tennessee USC for a few years, was an assistant in
Alabama under Sabin, went to Florida Atlantic to rebuild his image,
(25:23):
and then has been the head coach at Ole Miss
for the last you know, four or five years, Ole
Miss is in the top five, number five. They are undefeated,
certainly a playoff contender, certainly a contender to win the SEC.
But he's kind of been vocal about the lack of
support from the fans. It's not the kind of rabid
(25:45):
fan base that you'd get on like a wide out
at Penn State. Would he be tantalized in any way?
He's at eight point seventy five million dollars. Yes, Matt
Ruhle is making more money than Lane Kiff in the
coach college football right now. He would maybe be in
line to make a little bit more from Penn State
in that, but he's a fifty. He's also only fifty,
(26:05):
so he's still a young guy despite being around for
so long. But it does come with a bit of
risk with him. Some of the baggers that he has
never staying in one place for too long. Can he
win the big games? Matt Rule has the same thing
against him. It's just that Matt Rules a Penn State guy.
There's absolutely zero connection that Lane Kiffin has to Penn State.
(26:26):
It would just be like, does he want to go
from dating this one girl in school to dating another
girl that is maybe a little bit more attractive, but
doesn't have as good of a personality. You know, you're
kind of trading in like one thing for another thing,
but you're really not gaining much, maybe except a million
dollars a year, which to these guys it's so a
(26:47):
lot of money.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
But that's not why you make these decisions.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
A lot of emails coming in about the Matt Rules
situation as to whether or not he is really gonna
leave and what you think is going to happen. I mean,
we have no crystal ball. Only he and his family know,
and they may not even know right now. I mean
they've only had a couple of days to even think
about this, and I'm sure he thinks in his head,
is there a place that I would leave this job for.
(27:14):
When you take a job, you're not always thinking that way,
but when you're in the coaching profession, where it's always
so fickle. Look at James Franklin just got fired from
Penn State. You know, just took three games a fifteen
day span, went from talk toast to the town top
five team to he's fired. I mean, that's a stark
of a steep fall I've ever seen in college sports
(27:38):
for anyone, But he knows even if they decide that
that's a job that they want and it'd be his
to turn down, Penn State would certainly have him at
the top of their board considering his history.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
He would have.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
A six games to coach for Nebraska to try to
get them into maybe the Big Ten championship game. You'd
have to win all the rest of them and hope
any tie breakers kind of get ironed out in your favor.
Maybe the College Football Playoff, which again you're probably gonna
need to win all the rest of your games to
get yourself really locked into that situation. But at the
(28:17):
end of the day, he's got to do what's best
for him and his family. And he didn't exactly say
a whole lot to make us feel like he wasn't
interested in the job, and he shouldn't. That's just bad business.
You should keep your options open at all times. Brian
sent in, We remember this history all too well, and
he shows it's like a Pinocchio, but it's Trev Alberts,
(28:40):
an old athletic director, and Trev, you know, always professed
his love for Nebraska, and then all of a sudden
poof he was gone to Texa and him a couple
of years ago. Remember that, Greg says, I feel very
sorry for the Penn State coach. He leaves with a
forty nine million dollar buyout. They say he gets to
keep twenty million dollars after taps, So you could make
(29:01):
two million dollars a year without touching the principal. I'll
take it and watch football. Yeah, that's the thing. If
you can get work being a big time head football coach,
you are going to and then if you get fired,
you're gonna be in good shape financially. I mean these
giant institutions. Jimbo Fisher, what it was his like almost
seventy million dollars when he got fired from Texas A
(29:23):
and m.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, he had a huge, really long, multi year year deal,
so he had a huge buyout.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And this is the thing.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
If Matt Campbell keeps saying Matt Campbell, because I've been
talking about this with Iowa State for years before he
even moved to Nebraska, if Matt rule wants to leave,
I think the number is like five million that he
has to pay back to Nebraska to leave. But that's
something that could absolutely just be taken care of by
the school he's going to. Yeah, you know, so it's
(29:51):
kind of negligible the other way. And this is why,
you know, everybody's like, oh, I don't like that the
kids can be in the transfer portal. This is why
they can be. And then the fear would be how
how many of the guys that are on the Nebraska
team would get in the portal and follow him to
Penn State if he decided to leave, and that it
could include a Dylan Riola and any of the current
recruits that are about to join the team. And Sean
first and foremost, thanks so much for being on with
(30:13):
us an hour early today.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Yeah, no worries. It's been quite a weekend with traveling
and obviously the new in States have plenty to talk
about here with the Huskers also back in the top
twenty five at five and one.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, yeah, so I was anticipating us getting a chance
to talk about a gritty win against a Maryland team
that I think is solid. They definitely played a bit
better across the board than I was anticipating coming off
of their collapse against Washington. But instead of having that
and the five and one and the great moment in
the locker room, of awarding a guy a scholarship and
(30:48):
everybody talking about all these positivity things. On Sunday, we
wake up in James Franklin fifteen days earlier, having one
of the three best teams in college football, it seemed like,
and having a shot at winning a national champion and
ship three football games later, all of a sudden, he's
out of a job, and the rumor mill immediately picks
Matt Rule up and says, it's his job to lose.
(31:09):
What can you tell me about the energy? I suppose
in his press availability today when he was asked about this, well, I.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Think when you look at what's going on, I mean,
it all makes sense. Like he's from Penn State. He
lived there, he went to school there, He met his
wife there, the athletic director of Penn State, Pat Kraft.
They work together at Temple, and then he played a role,
you know, helping Craft get the ad job at Penn State.
(31:39):
So there are a lot of dots that connect there.
So we'd be fools not to even think there's a
chance of this happening. But you're right. I mean, the
people I know in this industry and I know we
know him at a pretty high level. At husk Gar online.
I mean, everybody seems to think Matt rule is going
to be one of the first, if not the first
phone calls made in this thing. But a lot can
(32:01):
still happen. I mean, there's still seven weeks of football
left to play in the regular season, but you just
got to think that he'll probably talk to there's no question,
I think obviously it's kind of created a little bit
of a panic amongst the fan base.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yeah, and it's just really terrible timing because this is
probably as good as Nebraska fan base has felt in
a while for their football team. Five and one, a
gritty road win which against a team that maybe on
paper wasn't super exciting, but it was a good game.
You had to fight through it to get to victory.
Their only loss is a three point loss to Michigan,
(32:39):
which you can take that for whatever it's worth. I suppose,
you know, you look at the rest of season. Nine
to ten wins is not out of the realm of
possibility all of a sudden, and all we're talking about
now is is this coach going to stick with us?
And how many players if he were to leave, would
leave with him? Here, So you've been around the game
a long time. You've been around coaches that you know
the fan base is really calling for their heads. This
(32:59):
is kind of the opposite. This is all of a sudden, Hey,
we feel good about this guy that we have, but
we think he may be poached by a program that
means something to him. You know, is there anything beyond
the uh the like the part of him that is
connected to State College Pennsylvania and to this institution. Is
(33:21):
there anything that Penn State can offer that Nebraska cannot?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Well, I mean they might. It's hard to say on money,
but you know that they're going to pay him more
money obviously, But I think it's more than just that.
It's how much more money could they have in their
nil ward chests besides the revenue share? And you know
this is a team that was in the semi finals
a year ago, and you know he's got a close
(33:49):
personal connection to that team and the athletic director in charge,
so that yeah, there's a lot there. And you know,
it's happened very quickly because I think we all always say, hey,
that rule over left Penn State would be the job
that he would probably leave for. Well, here we are
on this day where it opened, and I don't think
anybody could have predicted that this job would have opened
(34:11):
like it has. I mean, this is a Penn State
team a couple of weeks ago we thought could win
the national championship, and now they fired their coach and
it just all happened so quickly, And I think that's
that's the part that's probably hardest to process right now.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So Sean Callahan joining us here for an hour early
of Husker buzz, it's too early in the process to know,
and he still has at least six full games left
as the coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. What does this
kind of speculation hovering over a program? And he didn't
exactly say I'm not interested and nor should he in
(34:47):
his press availability, but what kind of uncertainty kind of
exists here? And what does that do to a program?
Because this is very different than saying I'm sick and
tired of this guy coaching my team. Get him out
of here, fire him. We're losing game, we're losing the
teams we shouldn't. This is the exact opposite. I don't
know if Nebraska is a fan base has ever felt
quite this way, feeling like everything's good, and all of
(35:09):
a sudden, a quote unquote bigger program or a program
that can attract their coach away are afraid that they're
going to have their coach poach because of a sentimental, uh,
you know, debacle. He's got to figure out within himself
what can this do. Could this really put a cloud
over Nebraska season at this point or would this kind
(35:29):
of service fuel to try to you know, sprint to
the finish line over the next six games.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yeah, it's really hard to say, you know, the impact
that could have because, like you said, there's never been
a situation like this with a head coach at Nebraska. Now,
both Polini, you know, did have more job overtures than
people realize. Like Penn State actually did talk to him
way back when about their job opening. When he was here.
(35:54):
Arkansas was on both Polin's radar Miami. I mean, both
Poline did have more job but you know, he ended
up always sticking with Nebraska and never was really never
a real scare. I do think Arkansas was actually closer
than people realize, mainly because of his relationship with Sean
I course, and then Arkansas ended up hiring at Bielima
instead of Polini at that point, and so he stayed
(36:18):
and then you know, didn't last another year or two
and then he was gone. But this is one is
a little bit different because the relationship, you know, that's involved.
But at the same time, Nebraska's having a good year.
They were five and one last year. Mettroal still has
never won a ranked game at Nebraska. So there, you know,
if you're trying to be a little bit critical, like,
all right, yeah, he's five and one, but the odds
(36:40):
say he should be five and one, and there still
isn't a ranked win in there. And what's crazy is
there may only be a chance or maybe one ranked
win on this whole schedule now, and that's that's usc
if they stay ranked. Other than that, I don't expect
Northwestern going to be ranked, or use CLA or Penn
State or Iowa. So it's a bizarre schedule where you know,
(37:01):
they don't really have any top twenty five teams that
are going to be on there, it appears.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
And just real quick Matt rule.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Even at Baylor and at Temple, like you mentioned, there
wasn't a ton of opportunities for this, but he has
an actually you know, had a great record against like
top ten, top fifteen teams. In fact, I think he's
got a worst winning percentage in those games than James
Franklin did at Penn State, and that was like the
number one knock on him, wasn't it? We have?
Speaker 3 (37:27):
But I will say this, I mean, it's not like
Matt Rules coach like teams with great talent. I mean
Baylor and Temple, I mean aren't teams that you know
were loaded, like in Ohio State. So oftentimes when you
play a ranked team and you're Baylor in Temple, you're
probably the underdog. So it's not easy to beat win
rank games. And at Nebraska he's had a couple of chances.
(37:48):
I mean, the Ohio State game last year would have
been one of the biggest upsets in modern day program history,
and they were a player too short from that happening
in Columbus. So it is notable though, no doubt, is
recording in the top twenty five. But I also think
it's notable that, yeah, he was at places that you
really weren't supposed to be ranked, and and he had
his team playing and winning a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Still, yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I guess my only last question real quick here for you, Sean,
as it relates to the game. We actually saw it
was an important win just because you don't want to
lose that game. Like you said, you kind of have
to have it if you're trying to achieve what you
want to achieve this year. And like you mentioned, the
schedule doesn't nearly look as daunting as it may have
looked when you looked at all these teams preseason and
(38:34):
how backloaded things look to be. Usc certainly had a
great showing last weekend against Michigan. But what does the
Maryland game teach this program on the field about how
to grind out a win where a lot of things
were not going your way but you were able to
gut it out at the end.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Yeah. I mean they had a good game plan and
they figured it out. I mean, when your minus three
and turnovers, you generally don't win that rule set. You
have a seven percent chance to win at minus three today,
and they were able to figure it out. I mean
they were very aggressive and trying to stop the pass.
They actually only blitzed Maryland seven times on forty one
pass drop backs, so the lack of pass rush had
(39:14):
to do kind up with a lack of blitz. I mean,
they played at primarily a three four man type rush,
hoping to probably force a turnover on the back end,
and they just weren't able to do it. But Emma Johnson,
the balance, I mean, when you can get two hundred
yards rushing from your tailbacks, that's gonna win you a
lot of games. And I think the balance of the
offense was probably the biggest story, especially with what Immit
(39:36):
Johnson did with one hundred and seventy six yards rushing.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah, Emma Johnson, that was the Emmit Johnson game from
start to finish. Just you want to talk about bell Cow.
You'd love to have that for the next six games too.
Sean Callahan Husker buzz. We'll be talking throughout the week.
Thanks for hopping on an hour early. Give us a
little bit more time to chat about this, and I'm
sure we'll be waiting with baited breath for any developments,
even though I can't anticipate we'll know much the end
(40:00):
of the season.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Yeah, it's gonna be wild. But thanks, Emery, and I'm
sure this will be the first conversation or the last
that we have about about this storyline.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Yeah, no doubt no doubt for sure. And again there
are other names that have already popped up, and we
talked about them earlier in the show. Matt Campbell of
Iowa State, Krt Signetti of Indiana, somebody like Lane Kiffin
or Kenny Dillingham from Arizona State. Those are all names
that also are going to be in the mix. But
the Matt Rule connection to Penn State certainly makes things
(40:31):
feel like he's the guy. If he wanted it, it
would be his job.
My Bears played tonight, So eggs in that basket, excited
for that. Taking on the Washington Commanders or the Durors
that I knew, how I call them.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
The doors open for the Bears. I mean they got
a chance. The Commanders haven't.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Had great You gotta win today, gotta win. If we
win today, we'll start being excited. There you go, until
that happens. Then we're just watching the game and enjoying
what comes with it. Kind of like Nebraska fans, right,
like Nebraska fans for the most part, just trying to,
you know, just enjoy their lives. Found a way to
win against Maryland wasn't pretty.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Bad.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Pick six.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I feel like, okay, a little bit tougher than many
many people anticipated. It's never easy, as much as we
want it to be easy, you know, we picked scores
that would make it feel pretty easy. Maryland was in
the hunt, they were in the battle, they were in
the fight. But Nebraska went right down the field and
scored towards the end of the game. Found a way
(00:59):
to win that game, and it was great. Five and one.
Back in the conversation of the rankings, that's great, right, yeah,
great news?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Are you are you excited, like like this is great news.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Like, if you're a Nebraska football fan, you haven't felt
this good about your team halfway through the season since
win I mean the early Callahan years, and I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
You're you weren't even born yet.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
No, So I mean you got Minnesota a short week
Friday night game, nationally televised, a winnable road game Northwestern
after that. You know, Northwestern, they're four and two, but
they don't seem like they're that great of a team.
Usc is you know, in the in the mix of
the rankings, So that could be a fun home game
(01:47):
Penn State later in the schedule. They just fired their coach.
Would they just fired their coach? Pence sty Fence State
just fired the coach. Actually, I'm getting words deferred their coach.
Oh wow, Well that's no big deal, nothing to see here,
nothing to worry about. I'm sure anybody could take that job.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Maybe John Gruden gets it.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
John Grudeny coaching college kids, could you imagine? Yeah, so
you know, your first inclination. This is a first big,
high profile job that has come open outside of I
guess UCLA Virginia Tech. But those two programs are pretty
irrelevant in State three weeks ago was a national championship contender.
This is how life comes at you fast and how
maybe sometimes you just are thinking to yourself, okay, like certainly, okay,
(02:37):
and hear me out on this, right, Certainly, you wouldn't
lose three games coming from a place where you were
the number.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Two team in the country.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You were in great shape to make the playoff the
college to well playoff and potentially play for a national championship.
You lose in overtime to an Oregon team, which we
all think also as a championship contender, and then you
lose to UCLA on the road, and everybody's like, what
(03:11):
the heck just happened? That's got to be the like
that can kind of be the end of being a contender.
That's two big ten losses in one to a team
that was winless before, and then you loose to Northwestern
at home, which was the final straw. Within a fifteen
day period. James Franklin, the head coach of Penn State,
goes from one of the toasts of the town, his
(03:32):
team perennially in contention, always dancing around the top five,
to all of a sudden he's out of a job,
life comes at you fast. Also, he'd been there for
a long time. He had a very bad record against
top ten teams. You could kind of see that them
letting this season slip makes sense, just to cut it
(03:53):
off and let it go. So why would Matt Rules's
name be thrown around so quickly for this? He's coaching
the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Well, if you're not familiar, he is
a guy who was born in New York City, but
before high school he moved to a place called State
(04:13):
College Pennsylvania. State College, Pennsylvania happens to be the city
in which Penn State is located. He then was a
walk on at Penn State's football program, and then the
first team that he started to coach for as a
(04:34):
volunteer assistant was Penn State. Now that's not to say
that his tie is going deeper than that, but that's
pretty deep. Spent some time as a kid over there.
After he spent some time as a kid, went played there.
After he played there, he coached there when he first
got that was his first He's got a great attachment
(04:56):
to that university. And how often does team, how often
does that head coaching job open up? Well, Joe Paterno
had it for over forty years, and even in the
circumstances which he lost a job which we don't need
to get into Bill O'Brien took over, they were still
a relevant team. He didn't last super long, ended up
(05:17):
wanting to take an NFL job. James Franklin gets hired.
If they've had three coaches over the over more than
a half century. If you if your dream job was
to coach Penn State, and I'm not sure it is
for Matt Ruhle, but it might be. It's one of
those situations where, look, I hate to say this, but
(05:41):
you got one shot. Do not miss your chance to
blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime. So if
you're Matt Ruhle, what are you thinking today? If there
was anything in my mind we could potentially learn about
as five and one starts to the season and maybe
celebrate that the fact that the Huskers are in talks
(06:03):
to be ranked. They're the second team out of the
rankings in the coaches poll, but certainly are a win
on the road against Minnesota away from certainly being in
the top twenty five of the Coach's poll. And I'm
looking at the rest of the schedule and thinking you
couldn't tell me not all of these games are winnable.
They all seem to be winnable, especially that Penn State game,
(06:25):
which was the big thing lurking down the line on
the road, that all of a sudden seems pretty tame.
Considering the circumstances. They're starting quarterback out for the season.
They just fired their head coach. You feel pretty good,
And instead we have to talk about rumors halfway through
the season that Matt Rule our head coach in his
third year, in the midst of yet another year three boom,
(06:49):
he may be the perfect guy to take over a
Penn State program which has been nationally relevant but unable
to beat the big dogs when they play. Now, for
whatever it's where Matt Rule doesn't have a sparkling record
against top ten teams in his coaching career either. But
you could make the argument that he hasn't had his
guys at Nebraska, he wasn't in a great position to
(07:11):
do so at Baylor, and he certainly didn't have the
players to do it at Temple when't playing that many
top ten teams there anyway, So if top ten resume
is what you're looking for, you're not going to find
it with Matt Rule. But if you're looking for somebody
who cares about Penn State deeply, who wants to be
the head coach, probably for the rest of his life,
this is the kind of guy that it might be because
(07:33):
he's spent time in state college growing up. He played
high school football there. He played college football at Penn
State as a walk on, and then he went and
his first dabble into coaching was as a volunteer assistant
at Penn State. Look where he is now. Well, during
media availability today, and he knew it was coming. Everybody
knew it was coming, he was going to be asked
about this. So here is Matt Rule at his media
(07:55):
availability today talking about the vacancy now at the university.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
He calls his alma mater, Penn State.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Obviously, your alma mater fired as coach Sunday, and so
your name logically becomes a candidate for that whole What
would you like to say about not only coach Franklin,
but the opening there and your relationship to the ad there.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Yeah, well, I love Penn State, met my wife there.
It's my alma mater fan since I was born. I
was born I think probably at a Penn State shirt
where I was born. I love pat Craft and really sad,
really sad to see coach Franklin go. You know when
(08:39):
you think about what he did for Mi Alma Mater,
you know, you know the program was in peril, right,
I mean the players. If people remember like the historic sanctions,
you could transfer out, you could do whatever you want.
Bill O'Brien comes and stabilizes it for two years. James
takes over a program in just array and gives stability, excellence,
(09:04):
and to see you know, see videos of people like
yelling at his kids, and I just don't understand why
in our country like what now, like coaches are villains,
like you know how hard I worked in Carolina and
the things that were said to me are you know
how hard I work here? Some of the things that
are set you know, our coaches work here. Howard sat
worked last year. So I'm just really sad about that
part of it. And people say, well, you make a
lot of money, make a lot of Mike doesn't make
a kids feel good when they're when they're hearing that,
(09:26):
you know, make a lot of money. It's nice to
make a lot of mind, don't get me wrong, but
still people. So I really respect James Franklin. Troy and
I are are an unbelievable relationship too. And Troy and
I are in constant, constant, constant communication about this program
and where we're headed. You know, I came here for
two reasons. I love the community here and wanted to
(09:46):
live here. And I love it here, and I wanted
to rebuild Nebraska football. And you know, Troy and I
understand the steps that you need to take to make
us Big Ten champions and national champions. This this place
is elite. And I want to be a great father
and I want to be a great college football coach.
And so you know, I'm not gonna you know, I'm
(10:07):
not gonna talk a lot about job openings when they come.
This is maybe it's been a while here, but this
is what happens when you win. I've dealt with it,
you know, We've won at Temple and I dealt with
it all the time, dealt with Baylor. I'm not going
to talk about those things ever. I'm gonna talk about
my contract here, I'm gonna talk about the team. But yeah,
I absolutely love it here and I just want to.
I want us to continue to take the steps needed
(10:29):
for us to turn this thing into a beast, and
players all across the country want to come here. We
have the best facilities, we have elite fans, and you know,
I'm just looking at the future. So but again, I
love that place. I love I love Pat, I love James.
Franklin said that that came to an end. I wish
him the absolute best, but I'm really happy here and
decided to get going this week on Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
There it is Matt Rule. He name drops Troy. That's
Troy Dan and that is the athletic director at Nebraska.
He's talking about the leadership in Pitt State too. Who
I'm sure he has a good relationship with.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
I.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Your gut tells you that.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I mean, he's he's never gonna just like close the
book and it's bad business to you know, outright rule
anything out part of the pun. But he's uh, he's
a guy that many consider an elite college football coach.
It isn't going to come down to money. Does pen
(11:32):
Sate have a lot of money?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Does Nebraska have a lot of money? Oh yeah, you bet.
It may be a bit of a different type of money. Right,
Penn State the Nebraska are not that different of institutions
that are located in areas that are considered college towns
or not in major metropolitan markets like most successful colleges,
(11:56):
and Nebraska has an incredible blue blood of football history,
but they have not been super relevant on a national
level for the most part outside of a couple of
spotty years since Tom Osborn left. While Penn State, even
after Joe Paterno left, James Franklin had them in conversations.
Are one of the best teams in the country many years.
(12:17):
Even if they couldn't beat any of the good teams,
everybody thought they were really good. Matt Campbell is making
or Matt Campbell Matt Rule. I was about to say
Matt Campbell's name in a second, Matt Ruhle is making
nine point twenty five million dollars a year as the
head coach of Nebraska. Who what else would be in
the mix? Because that is going to be your like,
(12:42):
if you are hoping he doesn't get the job or
doesn't want the job, it would have something to do
with who else could get the job? Now, the first
name that a lot of people are saying is Kurt Signetti.
Kurt Signetti is the coach in Indiana who just went
to Oregon off maybe the biggest win in the history
(13:02):
of Indiana football, which is crazy to say because that
is a big school, a big time school and a
big time conference. He's in his second year there. They
made the College Football Playoff in his first year. You know,
this is the kind of stuff. But it's like, oh,
it takes time. You know, you want to be patient.
It takes time to build up your roster. Kurt Signetti
took over Indiana, a nationally irrelevant program for the better
(13:23):
part of ever, and they were in the College Football
Playoff last year. And yeah, you can point to the
fact that they had a really you can point to
the fact that they had a really easy schedule, but
they played Nebraska and they put like fifty six points
up on the Huskers, fifty six to fifty nine whatever.
It was just absolutely boat raced Matt Ruhle in the Huskers.
That was his first year. He was playing with guys
(13:44):
that weren't his or guys that were his from James
Madison University where he was the coach before he took
the Indiana job. This is a guy who is I
think as hot a name in coaching that there is.
He's making eight million dollars a year as the head
coach of Indiana, So it's not quite the nine in
a quarter that Matt Rule's making, but he's making a
(14:05):
lot of money. And Indiana usually has a lot of
resource for their basketball program because they're typically a basketball school. Well,
now he's kind of turning them into a football school,
and all of a sudden, you're starting to see people
wanting to put more energy and effort into that. So
you want to know what I think. I think there's
something there too. Now, if you're wondering, guy's a Pittsburgh,
(14:28):
Pennsylvania native. Now that's not Pittsburgh, all right, we're talking
about Penn State, but it's not far away. He's a
Pennsylvania guy. He went to West Virginia, was a quarterback
of West Virginia in the late seventies and early eighties.
And yes, he hasn't coached at Penn State, but he
has been in the periphery of major colleges in the
East and now here he is at Indiana, and he's
(14:50):
turned Indiana all of a sudden into one of the
five best teams in the country by any measure, with
a chance to potentially win a national title for them
this year. Could you imagine Indiana national champions in football again?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
By the way, Signetti is the only college football coach
to have started ten and zero with two different teams
and consecutive seasons. James Madison in twenty twenty three, it
was the fifth year he was there. That is, it
was a ten and oh start for them, and he
went ten and o to start with Indiana last year,
the only guy ever to do that. And then the
other guy that you're going to be hearing a lot
(15:25):
is Matt Campbell. He is the Iowa State head coach
with my cyclones. I hate to do this again, but
Matt Campbell's name basically since he took the Iowa State
job maybe twenty seventeen or so, when they started to win,
everybody's just like, when's he going to leave? Because Iowa
State is in a power conference. But they are not
an ideal job. That is not a program that has
been able to sustain success. Well, they have sustained success
(15:46):
back to back five and oh starts for them. They
have a lot of injuries, ended up losing a couple
of games in a row here, but they're five and
two right now. His salary is only four million dollars
in Iowa State is as far as money is concerned,
as far as we know, much more strapped for cash
than these big ten programs that we're talking about with Nebraska,
(16:06):
Indiana and now Penn State. So those are three names
that I think are absolutely to watch for. By the way,
Matt Campbell, if you're wondering, he's an Ohio guy every
time a big job came up, including the Ohio State job,
not that they really made that an open job when
urban Meyer left, but he's been talked about with many jobs.
He's always stayed true and stayed at Iowa State. You
(16:28):
wonder if maybe he feels like he's hitting a ceiling
and this Penn State thing not only is for more money,
but potentially it could be for more opportunities, better opportunities
to win. This is not to knock what he's built
at Iowa State, but it would be normal for somebody
to think, have I hit my ceiling as to what
(16:50):
we can achieve at Iowa State. It's plausible you got
a big ten job open up right here Penn State
with a ton of resources. This is the kind of
thing that you might think about. So those are the
three guys. Now where are they going to go? How
do you feel about this? Do you think Matt Rule's gone?
Do you think he's gonna stay? Do you think one
of these other guys like Signetti or Matt. I have
(17:10):
no idea why Signetty would leave. I mean, they're about
to build him a stadium named after him in Indiana
if he keeps this up. Matt Campbell's same, but the
money is obviously a big difference. Matt Rule is the
logical choice. If he wanted to leave Nebraska, this would
be the job he'd leave for. How do you feel
about phone linestrope in four H two five five eight
eleven ten four ROH two five five eight eleven ten. Well,
(17:32):
Nebraska will be able, We'll we be able to like
put the blinders on for the rest of this season.
We're five to one, and we're talking about our coach
potentially bolton in the offseason to join another college. I
have an entire laundry list here of possible candidates that
could realistically be talked about for this job. And there's
(17:53):
going to be a lot of chatter about this. I
want to get your thoughts on it, because this is
the first time in a long time that a coach
at Nebraska, like we've been talking about, you know, over
the better part of you know, twelve fifteen years. You
get you sour on a coach, like get him out
of here. We're not winning enough games. I don't like
his attitude, I don't like our recruiting, We're losing to
(18:15):
Georgia Southern, all sorts of stuff like this, and you're
trying to chase him out. This is the first time
I can remember ever for a Nebraska coach for things
to be looking good five and one, dancing around the rankings,
pretty solid schedule to maybe all of a sudden start
talking nine to ten win season here, get back into
(18:37):
national relevance, and all the talk now has become will
he leave to go coach somewhere else? Penn State is
one of the very few jobs in America, especially for
this guy, that would kind of heat that conversation up,
and it might be true. Phone lines are open if
you want to be a part of the show. For two, five, five, eight, eleven, ten,
(18:58):
We've got Larry on the phone line. Larry things in today?
What's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (19:03):
I say that, you know, we almost lost coach Osmone
years ago by catting about how bad that he was
doing and everything. He almost went to Colorado. Now we
got Matt Role here. He's restoring the program. He's doing
a great job. My hat off to him. I'm telling you,
(19:23):
if he goes back to Penn State, it's going to
be like Scott Boss coming back to Nebraska. What happens
if he goes off there and loses respect him? No?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
And where do you go from there?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Larry?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Right, So it's just like, you know, like that was
the dream job. That was like I want to stay
there till I retire. If it doesn't end up working
out like Scott Frost did not work out in Nebraska,
they I mean they're gonna be calling for his head too.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Yes, absolutely, So, well, thank you for letting me call it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
And you have a good day you too, Larry really
appreciate it. That's really a it's a good point. And
he just outlined the the exact reason why Curse Signetti
at Indiana and Matt Campbell at Iowa State would not
take this job, Like why would you take this job?
And know that additional scrutiny is going to be poured
upon you. I mean, the leash is going to be short.
(20:18):
And you see what Signetti did in Indiana and you're one.
They made the playoff in year two. They are a
top five team in the country. This was one of
the worst power conference programs in America. He didn't need
time to rebuild the team. He had their best season
ever last year in his first season, and they look
like they're better.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Now. How did he do it? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Why would he go to Penn State when he's competing
in the same conference with pretty much the same level
of resources. The difference is Penn State has all this
history as a football program. Indiana does not. But he's
the one that's building that program. And guess the age,
Kurse Signetti? How old?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Isn't he a pretty young guy?
Speaker 1 (21:00):
No, that's the crazy part. That rule is fifty. That
rule's fifty, which I mean, you would think that Matt
Rule has got a solid twenty years left in the
game if he wants. Kurt Signetti sixty four years old.
It just took him a long time to get his opportunity,
to get his chance to be a legitimate big time
head coach wasn't until the Indiana job that he coached
(21:23):
at a Power Conference school. His most high profile assistant
job was the wide receivers coach and the run game
coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban. So yeah, there you go, right.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
He was.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
His first head coaching job was at a place called
iu PTE Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and then he went
to Elon. That's an FCS school, James Madison. They have
just recently popped up the FBS. And then he took
the Indiana job last year. But think about that, the
guy it was in his sixties until he got this opportunity.
(21:59):
Is that the kind of guy if you're penn State,
I'm going to invest in a sixty a guy who's
going to be sixty five before he coaches a game.
For me, this isn't to be a just or anything,
but is there going to be a lot of excitement
of your program? And you also are going to have
to hope that when he's the miracles he's working in
adema translate. I just don't see him being the kind
of person that's just going to yep. I'm going to
(22:20):
go what essentially is a lateral job in reality, with
way more expectations and the same money. There's no way.
I'm just I'm ruling him out. I just cannot imagine
he's taking that job. As for Matt Campbell, the money
is the biggest part of this right. Iowa State is
struggling as far as trying to stay on par with
(22:41):
some of the other big money power conference schools and
how they're going to maintain this and still be competitive,
be able to recruit the type of kids that Matt
Campbell wants. And he's been there for a decade now.
Matt Campbell only forty five years old, so he's been
and I would say for basically a decade and he's
still only forty five. This is maybe an opportunity for
(23:01):
him to shoot his shot, take some more money. I
could see him being in the mix. Three other names
that I'm hearing about Matt Ruhl, Kurtz Signetti, Matt Campbell
seemed to be the leaders. Brent Key, he is the
forty seven year old head coach at Georgia Tech. The
trick would be, you know, he's making just over four
million dollars there there all of a sudden, turning into
(23:22):
a solid program.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
They're currently in.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
The coach is put at number twelve and they are undefeated,
so he's got them playing well in a power conference.
They could be a playoff team this year. Oh yeah,
And you want to know where he played college football,
Georgia Tech. He's at his alma mater right now. So
that's a guy that certainly would have a heart to
want to be where he's at as it stands right now,
(23:45):
and this is only his third year at the program.
Another name Kenny Dillingham. Kenny Dillingham, only thirty five years old.
He's the Arizona State coach. He at Arizona State. They
won the Big Twelve last year, and that was only
his second year at Arizona State. This is his first
head coaching gig by the way, so he's only been
a head coach anywhere for two years. His third year
(24:06):
Arizona State nationally relevant. Lost a couple of games this year,
but you know they're hanging around and uh won the
w went to the College Wable Playoff last year. Developing
players that could be in the NFL thirty five, they'd
be exciting, right where is his alma mater? Because he
(24:28):
didn't he didn't play college football. But where did he
go to college?
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I'm going to say in the state of Arizona, somewhere
Arizona State University, yep. And he's from Phoenix. He doesn't
want to leave either.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
This is his school, this is his team, and he's
got them, he's their coach. It's already this is the
Jerry Neuheisel thing. He's the flavor of the month play
caller for the last couple of weeks for UCLA, and
they've won the last couple of weeks with him calling
the plays. That kid has been He's only thirty three
years old, but he's been there his whole life. His
dad was a head coach of UCLA. He's only been there.
(25:01):
He played there. He's been like an assistant since he
stopped playing. He's been there for a while. He wants
to be there. And then Lane Kiffin is the last
name to maybe pay attention to. Lane of course, has
bounced around. He's been in the NFL. He went to
Tennessee USC for a few years, was an assistant in
Alabama under Sabin, went to Florida Atlantic to rebuild his image,
(25:23):
and then has been the head coach at Ole Miss
for the last you know, four or five years, Ole
Miss is in the top five, number five. They are undefeated,
certainly a playoff contender, certainly a contender to win the SEC.
But he's kind of been vocal about the lack of
support from the fans. It's not the kind of rabid
(25:45):
fan base that you'd get on like a wide out
at Penn State. Would he be tantalized in any way?
He's at eight point seventy five million dollars. Yes, Matt
Ruhle is making more money than Lane Kiff in the
coach college football right now. He would maybe be in
line to make a little bit more from Penn State
in that, but he's a fifty. He's also only fifty,
(26:05):
so he's still a young guy despite being around for
so long. But it does come with a bit of
risk with him. Some of the baggers that he has
never staying in one place for too long. Can he
win the big games? Matt Rule has the same thing
against him. It's just that Matt Rules a Penn State guy.
There's absolutely zero connection that Lane Kiffin has to Penn State.
(26:26):
It would just be like, does he want to go
from dating this one girl in school to dating another
girl that is maybe a little bit more attractive, but
doesn't have as good of a personality. You know, you're
kind of trading in like one thing for another thing,
but you're really not gaining much, maybe except a million
dollars a year, which to these guys it's so a
(26:47):
lot of money.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
But that's not why you make these decisions.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
A lot of emails coming in about the Matt Rules
situation as to whether or not he is really gonna
leave and what you think is going to happen. I mean,
we have no crystal ball. Only he and his family know,
and they may not even know right now. I mean
they've only had a couple of days to even think
about this, and I'm sure he thinks in his head,
is there a place that I would leave this job for.
(27:14):
When you take a job, you're not always thinking that way,
but when you're in the coaching profession, where it's always
so fickle. Look at James Franklin just got fired from
Penn State. You know, just took three games a fifteen
day span, went from talk toast to the town top
five team to he's fired. I mean, that's a stark
of a steep fall I've ever seen in college sports
(27:38):
for anyone, But he knows even if they decide that
that's a job that they want and it'd be his
to turn down, Penn State would certainly have him at
the top of their board considering his history.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
He would have.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
A six games to coach for Nebraska to try to
get them into maybe the Big Ten championship game. You'd
have to win all the rest of them and hope
any tie breakers kind of get ironed out in your favor.
Maybe the College Football Playoff, which again you're probably gonna
need to win all the rest of your games to
get yourself really locked into that situation. But at the
(28:17):
end of the day, he's got to do what's best
for him and his family. And he didn't exactly say
a whole lot to make us feel like he wasn't
interested in the job, and he shouldn't. That's just bad business.
You should keep your options open at all times. Brian
sent in, We remember this history all too well, and
he shows it's like a Pinocchio, but it's Trev Alberts,
(28:40):
an old athletic director, and Trev, you know, always professed
his love for Nebraska, and then all of a sudden
poof he was gone to Texa and him a couple
of years ago. Remember that, Greg says, I feel very
sorry for the Penn State coach. He leaves with a
forty nine million dollar buyout. They say he gets to
keep twenty million dollars after taps, So you could make
(29:01):
two million dollars a year without touching the principal. I'll
take it and watch football. Yeah, that's the thing. If
you can get work being a big time head football coach,
you are going to and then if you get fired,
you're gonna be in good shape financially. I mean these
giant institutions. Jimbo Fisher, what it was his like almost
seventy million dollars when he got fired from Texas A
(29:23):
and m.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, he had a huge, really long, multi year year deal,
so he had a huge buyout.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And this is the thing.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
If Matt Campbell keeps saying Matt Campbell, because I've been
talking about this with Iowa State for years before he
even moved to Nebraska, if Matt rule wants to leave,
I think the number is like five million that he
has to pay back to Nebraska to leave. But that's
something that could absolutely just be taken care of by
the school he's going to. Yeah, you know, so it's
(29:51):
kind of negligible the other way. And this is why,
you know, everybody's like, oh, I don't like that the
kids can be in the transfer portal. This is why
they can be. And then the fear would be how
how many of the guys that are on the Nebraska
team would get in the portal and follow him to
Penn State if he decided to leave, and that it
could include a Dylan Riola and any of the current
recruits that are about to join the team. And Sean
first and foremost, thanks so much for being on with
(30:13):
us an hour early today.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Yeah, no worries. It's been quite a weekend with traveling
and obviously the new in States have plenty to talk
about here with the Huskers also back in the top
twenty five at five and one.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, yeah, so I was anticipating us getting a chance
to talk about a gritty win against a Maryland team
that I think is solid. They definitely played a bit
better across the board than I was anticipating coming off
of their collapse against Washington. But instead of having that
and the five and one and the great moment in
the locker room, of awarding a guy a scholarship and
(30:48):
everybody talking about all these positivity things. On Sunday, we
wake up in James Franklin fifteen days earlier, having one
of the three best teams in college football, it seemed like,
and having a shot at winning a national champion and
ship three football games later, all of a sudden, he's
out of a job, and the rumor mill immediately picks
Matt Rule up and says, it's his job to lose.
(31:09):
What can you tell me about the energy? I suppose
in his press availability today when he was asked about this, well, I.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Think when you look at what's going on, I mean,
it all makes sense. Like he's from Penn State. He
lived there, he went to school there, He met his
wife there, the athletic director of Penn State, Pat Kraft.
They work together at Temple, and then he played a role,
you know, helping Craft get the ad job at Penn State.
(31:39):
So there are a lot of dots that connect there.
So we'd be fools not to even think there's a
chance of this happening. But you're right. I mean, the
people I know in this industry and I know we
know him at a pretty high level. At husk Gar online.
I mean, everybody seems to think Matt rule is going
to be one of the first, if not the first
phone calls made in this thing. But a lot can
(32:01):
still happen. I mean, there's still seven weeks of football
left to play in the regular season, but you just
got to think that he'll probably talk to there's no question,
I think obviously it's kind of created a little bit
of a panic amongst the fan base.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yeah, and it's just really terrible timing because this is
probably as good as Nebraska fan base has felt in
a while for their football team. Five and one, a
gritty road win which against a team that maybe on
paper wasn't super exciting, but it was a good game.
You had to fight through it to get to victory.
Their only loss is a three point loss to Michigan,
(32:39):
which you can take that for whatever it's worth. I suppose,
you know, you look at the rest of season. Nine
to ten wins is not out of the realm of
possibility all of a sudden, and all we're talking about
now is is this coach going to stick with us?
And how many players if he were to leave, would
leave with him? Here, So you've been around the game
a long time. You've been around coaches that you know
the fan base is really calling for their heads. This
(32:59):
is kind of the opposite. This is all of a sudden, Hey,
we feel good about this guy that we have, but
we think he may be poached by a program that
means something to him. You know, is there anything beyond
the uh the like the part of him that is
connected to State College Pennsylvania and to this institution. Is
(33:21):
there anything that Penn State can offer that Nebraska cannot?
Speaker 3 (33:27):
Well, I mean they might. It's hard to say on money,
but you know that they're going to pay him more
money obviously, But I think it's more than just that.
It's how much more money could they have in their
nil ward chests besides the revenue share? And you know
this is a team that was in the semi finals
a year ago, and you know he's got a close
(33:49):
personal connection to that team and the athletic director in charge,
so that yeah, there's a lot there. And you know,
it's happened very quickly because I think we all always say, hey,
that rule over left Penn State would be the job
that he would probably leave for. Well, here we are
on this day where it opened, and I don't think
anybody could have predicted that this job would have opened
(34:11):
like it has. I mean, this is a Penn State
team a couple of weeks ago we thought could win
the national championship, and now they fired their coach and
it just all happened so quickly, And I think that's
that's the part that's probably hardest to process right now.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So Sean Callahan joining us here for an hour early
of Husker buzz, it's too early in the process to know,
and he still has at least six full games left
as the coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. What does this
kind of speculation hovering over a program? And he didn't
exactly say I'm not interested and nor should he in
(34:47):
his press availability, but what kind of uncertainty kind of
exists here? And what does that do to a program?
Because this is very different than saying I'm sick and
tired of this guy coaching my team. Get him out
of here, fire him. We're losing game, we're losing the
teams we shouldn't. This is the exact opposite. I don't
know if Nebraska is a fan base has ever felt
quite this way, feeling like everything's good, and all of
(35:09):
a sudden, a quote unquote bigger program or a program
that can attract their coach away are afraid that they're
going to have their coach poach because of a sentimental, uh,
you know, debacle. He's got to figure out within himself
what can this do. Could this really put a cloud
over Nebraska season at this point or would this kind
(35:29):
of service fuel to try to you know, sprint to
the finish line over the next six games.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yeah, it's really hard to say, you know, the impact
that could have because, like you said, there's never been
a situation like this with a head coach at Nebraska. Now,
both Polini, you know, did have more job overtures than
people realize. Like Penn State actually did talk to him
way back when about their job opening. When he was here.
(35:54):
Arkansas was on both Polin's radar Miami. I mean, both
Poline did have more job but you know, he ended
up always sticking with Nebraska and never was really never
a real scare. I do think Arkansas was actually closer
than people realize, mainly because of his relationship with Sean
I course, and then Arkansas ended up hiring at Bielima
instead of Polini at that point, and so he stayed
(36:18):
and then you know, didn't last another year or two
and then he was gone. But this is one is
a little bit different because the relationship, you know, that's involved.
But at the same time, Nebraska's having a good year.
They were five and one last year. Mettroal still has
never won a ranked game at Nebraska. So there, you know,
if you're trying to be a little bit critical, like,
all right, yeah, he's five and one, but the odds
(36:40):
say he should be five and one, and there still
isn't a ranked win in there. And what's crazy is
there may only be a chance or maybe one ranked
win on this whole schedule now, and that's that's usc
if they stay ranked. Other than that, I don't expect
Northwestern going to be ranked, or use CLA or Penn
State or Iowa. So it's a bizarre schedule where you know,
(37:01):
they don't really have any top twenty five teams that
are going to be on there, it appears.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
And just real quick Matt rule.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Even at Baylor and at Temple, like you mentioned, there
wasn't a ton of opportunities for this, but he has
an actually you know, had a great record against like
top ten, top fifteen teams. In fact, I think he's
got a worst winning percentage in those games than James
Franklin did at Penn State, and that was like the
number one knock on him, wasn't it? We have?
Speaker 3 (37:27):
But I will say this, I mean, it's not like
Matt Rules coach like teams with great talent. I mean
Baylor and Temple, I mean aren't teams that you know
were loaded, like in Ohio State. So oftentimes when you
play a ranked team and you're Baylor in Temple, you're
probably the underdog. So it's not easy to beat win
rank games. And at Nebraska he's had a couple of chances.
(37:48):
I mean, the Ohio State game last year would have
been one of the biggest upsets in modern day program history,
and they were a player too short from that happening
in Columbus. So it is notable though, no doubt, is
recording in the top twenty five. But I also think
it's notable that, yeah, he was at places that you
really weren't supposed to be ranked, and and he had
his team playing and winning a lot of games.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Still, yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I guess my only last question real quick here for you, Sean,
as it relates to the game. We actually saw it
was an important win just because you don't want to
lose that game. Like you said, you kind of have
to have it if you're trying to achieve what you
want to achieve this year. And like you mentioned, the
schedule doesn't nearly look as daunting as it may have
looked when you looked at all these teams preseason and
(38:34):
how backloaded things look to be. Usc certainly had a
great showing last weekend against Michigan. But what does the
Maryland game teach this program on the field about how
to grind out a win where a lot of things
were not going your way but you were able to
gut it out at the end.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Yeah. I mean they had a good game plan and
they figured it out. I mean, when your minus three
and turnovers, you generally don't win that rule set. You
have a seven percent chance to win at minus three today,
and they were able to figure it out. I mean
they were very aggressive and trying to stop the pass.
They actually only blitzed Maryland seven times on forty one
pass drop backs, so the lack of pass rush had
(39:14):
to do kind up with a lack of blitz. I mean,
they played at primarily a three four man type rush,
hoping to probably force a turnover on the back end,
and they just weren't able to do it. But Emma Johnson,
the balance, I mean, when you can get two hundred
yards rushing from your tailbacks, that's gonna win you a
lot of games. And I think the balance of the
offense was probably the biggest story, especially with what Immit
(39:36):
Johnson did with one hundred and seventy six yards rushing.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah, Emma Johnson, that was the Emmit Johnson game from
start to finish. Just you want to talk about bell Cow.
You'd love to have that for the next six games too.
Sean Callahan Husker buzz. We'll be talking throughout the week.
Thanks for hopping on an hour early. Give us a
little bit more time to chat about this, and I'm
sure we'll be waiting with baited breath for any developments,
even though I can't anticipate we'll know much the end
(40:00):
of the season.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Yeah, it's gonna be wild. But thanks, Emery, and I'm
sure this will be the first conversation or the last
that we have about about this storyline.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Yeah, no doubt no doubt for sure. And again there
are other names that have already popped up, and we
talked about them earlier in the show. Matt Campbell of
Iowa State, Krt Signetti of Indiana, somebody like Lane Kiffin
or Kenny Dillingham from Arizona State. Those are all names
that also are going to be in the mix. But
the Matt Rule connection to Penn State certainly makes things
(40:31):
feel like he's the guy. If he wanted it, it
would be his job.
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My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
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Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com