63_AthleticDirector Mini-Series: A New Hope for Nebraska

Ladies and gents, hello! I am currently doing a series where I go through and provide a fairly in-depth plan for some of the major CFB programs that *could* be on the coaching market this offseason. This is not to say your head coach *should* be fired, not that they will. But rather, I am exploring the possibility of what an offseason overhaul could potentially look like. So please keep that in mind as you read and comment.

# The Job

The football program at the University of Nebraska is one of the top jobs in college football. How high is certainly debatable, but the Huskers tend to be considered one of the *blue blood* programs, thanks to a lengthy history and tradition of excellence. While national relevancy has taken a little bit of a hit recently, the program still has a proud tradition with an engaged fan base, a commitment to high attendance at Memorial Stadium, and ample resources (ranked 19th in total athletic department revenue in 2020 USA Today article).

The Huskers enjoyed a decent degree of success under head coach Bo Pelini, but after consistently failing to breakthrough a string of good-not-great seasons in the Big Ten, and some behind the scenes personality clashes, the Huskers parted ways. The Mike Riley experiment went about as poorly as one could expect, but hope came in the shape of former star quarterback Scott Frost, fresh off a tremendous run at UCF, and eager to restore the glory he had been a part of as a player. Unfortunately, that has not materialized thus far, with Frost’s teams struggling to win close contests, fueled by continually erratic, unsteady play from the quarterback position.

While Frost has a very high buyout, here’s what *The Athletic’s* Bruce Feldman had to say about Frost’s job security:

>This year started horribly with a loss to Illinois, but there were some competitive efforts against better teams. Those still resulted in more close losses at Oklahoma, against Michigan State and then vs. Michigan, which was sandwiched around blowing out Northwestern, 56-7.
>
>But then came another loss, this one at Minnesota, which wasn’t far removed from losing to a dreadful Bowling Green team. Gophers coach P.J. Fleck called it “culture vs. skill,” with a reference that the Gophers’ culture was the difference. Ouch. Making a bowl game seems like a very long shot for Nebraska, sitting at 3-5 with Ohio State and Iowa remaining, in addition to at Wisconsin and this week’s game against Purdue.
>
>If Frost goes 1-3 over the stretch, which seems very possible, it might be a hard sell to get more time after going 4-8 in Year Four, especially with what would amount to a 2-6 record in Big Ten play and 11-24 in his tenure. He really, really, *really* could use a win over Purdue this weekend.

That, obviously, came *before* the Huskers dropped another one to Purdue. This post is not to debate whether or not Frost *should* be fired, or even if Nebraska can work the money to afford the buyout, but rather a potential roadmap for what a new regime and administration could look like. So, for the sake of things, let’s just assume the Huskers continue to underperform, and the Nebraska boosters decide to help foot the bill to replace him.

# The Coach

If I’m Nebraska’s Athletic Director, and I’m in charge of hiring a new head coach, there’s a couple of guys I’d certainly give a call to…

* **Cincinnati** head coach **Luke Fickell** has the Bearcats undefeated and in quite promising position to get a shot as the first Group of 5 team in the CFB Playoffs. The issue here is that UC is joining the Big 12 and Fickell has never really left the state of Ohio. I’d call, but I don’t think Nebraska is the job Fickell’d be leaving for.
* **Louisiana** head coach **Billy Napier** has done an excellent job with the Ragin’ Cajuns, currently 7-1, and a total of 35-12 during his tenure down there. Similar issue to Fickell however, as Napier seems to have his heart set on waiting around for a top-level Southern gig, turning down opportunities to interview at Auburn and South Carolina recently.
* **Iowa State** head coach **Matt Campbell** may not be having the dream season some expected, but he’s elevated an otherwise bottom-feeder program in Iowa State to a team with high expectation and the ability to genuinely compete with anyone in their conference.
* **SMU** head coach **Sonny Dykes** has a very exciting program down in Dallas, but I think the issue here is that he already failed outside of Texas in his last head coaching gig (Cal), and his style is even less suited to playing in the Big Ten than Frost’s has been.

I think I would certainly explore Matt Campbell, but the question simply remains if he’d really be interested. On one hand, the Big 12 is taking a *major* step down with OU and UT leaving the conference. The Huskers certainly have more prestige, more money, and more investment to make bigger things happen. On the other hand, Campbell may relish the opportunity to get a shot at the conference *without* its traditional powers, and Nebraska still has some of the same recruiting challenges that Iowa State has in terms of isolation from the top recruiting states.

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This brings us to my choice for the Huskers new head coach…**Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien**.

Let’s start with these couple of bullet points…

* O’Brien has solid Big Ten experience, as Penn State’s head coach in 2012-2013, in the wake of the Sandusky scandals that left the program in near shambles. He kept them together in a surprising fashion (15-9 record despite near crippling sanctions).
* O’Brien was a very solid NFL head coach, even if things ended poorly when he added GM responsibilities onto his plate. The Texans made the playoffs four of the seven seasons that O’Brien was around for. Pretty solid for a still relatively young franchise.
* O’Brien has a wide range of experience. He’s from New England, born and raised in Massachusetts. He spent a couple of seasons coaching further south, coaching at Maryland, Duke, and Georgia Tech. Then of course time down south in Houston and Alabama. He’s coached college and the NFL, and brings a lot of head coaching experience as well.

Bill O’Brien is a big time name, and while Alabama is certainly compensating him well ($1.1 million annual salary), the opportunity to get back out there and run his own program could certainly be tempting. He’s a realistic option for the Huskers, and brings some serious credibility to the table.

# The Assistants

Let’s look at what a potential Bill O’Brien staff can look like at Nebraska.

We’ll start on the offensive side of the ball. At coordinator, it’ll be important to find a balanced attack that can consistently thrive in Big Ten play.

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The name we’re going to float initially here is Falcons quarterback coach **Charles London**. London was hired by O’Brien as running backs coach at PSU, and then followed him to the Texans for a couple of seasons before resigning to seek a QB coaching gig. He’s currently in Atlanta, working as Matt Ryan’s QB coach in what is a fairly underrated season from Ryan thus far. London’s got the ties to O’Brien and has college and NFL experience. And what’s important to remember is that O’Brien would still likely be the de facto OC himself, with London as his right-hand man in calling the offense. So it’s a bit less consequential in that regards.

One name that’s fairly easy to connect here would be Alabama offensive analyst **Will Lawing** as a potential tight ends coach (or offensive line coach). Lawing’s been with O’Brien at almost every step recently, joining O’Brien’s Penn State staff as a graduate assistant. He followed O’Brien to the NFL, becoming a quality control coach before transitioning to the tight ends coaching role the last two seasons for O’Brien there, and now joining him in Tuscaloosa as well. They’ve been connected at the hip recently.

Can’t find any great connections for an offensive line coach, so hiring a potentially familiar face here in Fresno State offensive line coach **Roman Sapolu**. For those who recall, Sapolu played for former Huskers coach Mike Riley at Oregon State, then worked under Riley as a graduate assistant. He then did a coaching fellowship with the San Francisco 49ers, and has since been a stellar OL coach at Idaho State (coaching up an FCS All-American OT) and Fresno State. It’d be ideal to avoid ties to failed regimes, but I think Sapolu has proved his worth and would be an intriguing hire.

For wide receivers coach, O’Brien could go to a familiar face in **Stan Hixon**, who most recently was wide receivers coach for Temple. He worked with O’Brien at Penn State and Houston, and has assistant coaching experience at a handful of other CFB programs (LSU, Wake Forest, South Carolina).

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On the defensive side of the ball, a potential coordinator candidate would be Houston Cougars defensive coordinator **Doug Belk**. The Cougars defense currently ranks 13th in the nation in scoring defense, and had some major improvement in each season Belk’s been in Houston. He’s got ties to Georgia and Texas, which could certainly help recruiting efforts there (was fifth-ranked recruiter in 2021 class in AAC). He does not have ties to O’Brien, but this is where the Huskers throw some money around, as his salary at Houston is just a meager $400,000, something Nebraska can easily top.

With Belk likely to continue doing some hands-on work in the secondary, adding another coach to take the group when Belk needs to be attending elsewhere, or working with him is important. The idea here is Iowa State safeties coach **Deon Broomfield**. Broomfield would have to be pried from his alma mater at ISU, but O’Brien originally hired him as a defensive assistant for the Texans in 2020, though they only worked together for two seasons. Broomfield has experience as cornerbacks and safeties coach, so the versatility is very helpful there. Additionally, I don’t think keeping defensive backs coach **Travis Fisher** around would be a bad call either. Some good options there.

For the defensive line coaching position, the move here is to hire IMG Academy head coach **Pepper Johnson** as the Huskers new defensive line coach. Not only does this potentially help you at the nation’s most loaded one-stop-shop for recruiting, but Johnson and O’Brien go way back. Johnson served as an assistant in various roles for the New England Patriots from 2000-2013, overlapping with O’Brien from 2007-2011. He’s coached several NFL defensive lines, and would be a very nice add here. And given that this hire is to direct on-field role, Nebraska would not be penalized for hiring him.

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For the linebacker coaching gig, I’d actually advocate for keeping **Barrett Ruud** in the current role. I think keeping at least one person on staff as a holdover helps keeps some continuity and familiarity in place for the players, and Ruud’s a Nebraska alum who has done a solid job here. For a more experienced option, former Vanderbilt coordinator **Ted Roof** was the head coach at Duke when O’Brien was OC there back in ’05-’06. Another name to watch would be former Michigan State linebacker **Max Bullough**. Bullough was an All-Conference ILB for the Spartans, then spent two seasons playing for O’Brien in Houston. He’s spent the last two season as a graduate assistant for the Crimson Tide (currently there with O’Brien now). Whether he’s ready for a shot as a position coach himself or not is debatable, but could at least be in contention for an analyst position with potential promotion to an on-field role sooner than later.

Another member I’d love to see Nebraska add is one who was rumored to be joining earlier in special teams coordinator **Sean Snyder**. Son of former K-State head coach Bill Snyder, Sean was a former All-American punter himself, before becoming one of CFB’s most decorated special teams minds. With the USC staff in turmoil, plucking him away from there should be plausible.

**2022 Nebraska Potential Coaching Staff**

|Offensive Coordinator/QB coach|Charles London (Falcons)|Defensive Coordinator/S coach|Doug Belk (Houston)|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Running Backs coach|Mike Jinks (USC)|Defensive Line coach|Pepper Johnson (IMG)|
|Tight Ends coach|Will Lawing (Bama)|Linebackers coach|Barrett Ruud (Nebraska)|
|Offensive Line coach|Roman Sapolu (Fresno State)|Defensive Backs coach|Deon Broomfield (ISU)|
|Wide Receivers coach|Stan Hixon (Temple)|Special Teams Coordinator|Sean Snyder (USC)|

# The Transfers

With major changes coming to college football recently via the transfer portal, the Huskers need to be wise and diligent in monitoring names that make their way into the portal. Big Ten foe Michigan State has certainly shown how advantageous this can be, building an undefeated, top-10 squad thanks in large part to some major additions like RB Kenneth Walker III. The Huskers should be certain to go grab some players out of the portal.

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One name in particular to look at would be Tennessee QB transfer **Harrison Bailey**. A former top-100 recruit, Bailey was the third-ranked pro-style QB in the 2020 QB class, ultimately signing with the Vols over programs like Michigan, Alabama, and Florida. Bailey got a small opportunity as a true freshman, throwing 48-68 (70.6% completion) for 578 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He fell down the depth chart after the Vols replaced Jeremy Pruitt with Josh Heupel as head coach, leading to a major scheme change that fit a couple of other transfer QB’s brought in better.

While there’s no extensive list of players in the portal at this point, Bailey could certainly be an intriguing player for O’Brien to potentially target whether or not Adrian Martinez is returning as the Huskers QB in 2022 with the additional COVID year.

Otherwise, the Huskers will want to monitor the portal. They have a couple of solid pieces coming back in 2022, but the roster can certainly be improved in this fashion, as Michigan State showed.

# The Recruiting

Arguably Nebraska’s biggest weakness as a coaching gig is its recruiting base. The state of Nebraska does not have as many division 1 caliber recruits as some other blue bloods enjoy. Florida, California, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, even Michigan all produce more NFL players than Nebraska (which is well outside the top ten). Thus, Nebraska needs a strong recruiting department that is able to identify players in more distant areas, and build a convincing pitch to get them to journey to the Midwest.

To his credit, Frost has at least seemed to acknowledge and do this, with a lot of players coming in from Florida, and a recruiting department that spent the eleventh most on recruiting in all of college football (according to a 2020 study done by Yahoo Sports). So continuing to search far and wide and committing resources to those efforts will be vital for this hypothetical machine. After getting a season to witness Saban’s uber-detailed, well-structured set-up at Alabama, hopefully O’Brien would be able to put together a similar structure to the Huskers recruiting efforts.

Another idea for the Huskers is to focus on becoming a more forceful presence in the nearby states, specifically those *without* a dominant in-state power, such as Kansas and Colorado. While these states aren’t necessarily powerhouse recruiting grounds in their own right, a more concentrated presence from the Huskers there (along with challenging in places like IA, IL, MO, MN) can really help them maintain a local presence that can be a solid backbone to their recruiting efforts, while still augmenting that with under the radar finds in places like Florida, California, and Texas.

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