Drybar coming to Lincoln’s SouthPointe Pavilions in June

Julie Rhule has worn plenty of hats — wife and mother most proudly. Sports nutritionist. Head hunter. She even once studied to become a chef. 

Now add business owner to the list.

The wife of University of Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule will open Drybar, the nationally known blowout hair salon, at SouthPointe Pavilions in June.

It’s a service she discovered as a client in Philadelphia a decade ago. Bringing it to Lincoln, she says, is an investment in the community.

More telling, it’s an indicator that Julie Rhule may have at last found her place in the world. 

“The timing was right,” she said. “This was the chance to kind of do something for myself for the first time, and really kind of capture this moment — really sort of lay down roots in a community that I want to call home for a very long time.”

There are no guarantees. Football is a here-today-gone-tomorrow line of work. And being the wife of a football coach comes with its share of challenges and tenuousness.

She’s learned to roll with the ebbs and flows of each season: the excitement; the speculation; the uncertainty; the stress; and, yes, the relocations.

There have been more than a few moves in nearly 25 years of marriage. New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia. Waco, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Lincoln among them.

“I’ve always looked at that as an adventure,” she says.

They’ve been everywhere (man). And with each new location — each new coaching opportunity for Matt — came another career that abruptly screeched to a halt for Julie.

What was left standing is a football coach who is handsomely compensated for what he does, but someone who knows that while the spotlight shines brightly on him, there’s a woman — the love of his life — who deserves far more of the limelight than she’s afforded.

“Julie is way more impressive than me,” Matt Rhule says. “She has sacrificed to allow me to climb the coaching ladder. … She’s done all these different things to put my career and our family first.”

Julie Rhule has never complained about the moves or her sacrifices. Instead, the mother of three found balance.

She long ago discovered the way to help her children — Bryant, 18, Vivienne, 11, and Leona, 8, — come to terms with what has become the inevitable, that next move, and the leaving behind of friends, classmates and a way of life to which they’d become accustomed.

“I tell them that we’re getting to go and experience another part of the country with different cultures, different customs, different people,” she said. “And this is going to benefit you unbelievably later on in your life, that you can see both sides of the coin and empathize and have compassion with people no matter where you live.”

With each new place has come a new life lesson usually fortified by hard work and stick-to-itiveness.

Julie Rhule has first-hand knowledge of that. She grew up on a 300-acre farm — and orchard — in north-central Pennsylvania. She started working at an early age, selling fruit. 

“Hard work is in her DNA,” Matt Rhule said.

She and her future husband met on the job at Chili’s. He was a fry cook — “These were the days before NIL,” he says — and she was a waitress one summer while they were attending Penn State University.

She earned her degree in nutrition science and became a registered dietitian who zigged as her husband’s career zagged.

She eventually became a headhunter who recruited scientists to the right jobs in various industries — a position that moved with her from Los Angeles to Atlanta.

With each move — and each coaching job — came a family discussion. And that’s probably why it always worked, Matt Rhule said.

“We made the decisions together,” he said. “I think we’ve always done that. We just really kind of did whatever we thought we were called to do in that moment.

“And I just learned that Julie would be successful at whatever she does.”

Now the Rhules are betting that the move to Lincoln will be lengthy. This is where they want to be, and they’re showing it by investing in a business here.

“We wouldn’t have spent the money to do this if we didn’t want to be here,” he said. “When we made our decision to come here, it was for our family. We’ve taken all these other jobs to get to a destination job like the University of Nebraska. We’re here and we want to do a great job so we get to stay.”

The same can be said for Drybar. Julie Rhule, who says she’ll be at the salon each day, has plans for her business to thrive.

Drybar helps women get ready for anything from a wedding to a job interview to even the game day experience, she said.

“It’s about helping people look, and more importantly, feel their best,” Julie Rhule said. “That’s the simplicity of it. You know, you can walk out of there feeling like a million bucks.”

There’s a good message to be gleaned from all of this, she says. A little self-esteem goes a long way. And as her daughters are approaching their teen years, that’s a powerful lesson.

“They’re so excited to be part of this journey, as well,” Julie Rhule said. “And I’m excited to be a role model to them, (teaching them) that if you put your mind to something, we can do anything. The thought of teaching them that empowering women is so important. And building that confidence is awesome.”

Good parenting comes with setting good examples, Matt Rhule said. He and Julie try to provide daily reminders of that.

“As I’m trying to build a football program, she wants to build a great business,” he said. “We want our kids to see that life’s not about what you have. It’s the job — the work you do whether it’s in the home or anywhere else.”