I Have No Idea Why Trev Alberts Left – But Here Are Four Reasons He Left According to Everybody Else Nebraska Football

Wednesday was a whirlwind of a day.

I was at work a little early than normal and as usual I leave my phone in the car for the morning. In walks a co-worker and he proceeds to tell me that Trev Alberts is leaving to become the Athletic Director at Texas A&M.

Crap, I better go get my phone. Boom. Texts and texts.

Then the rumor mill turned the other direction. Trev apparently has not made his final decision yet. There were talks going on at the University.

Then late afternoon it was finally official-official.

So now for the autopsy. The question that everybody was asking was why he would leave.

I have heard various reasons why THIS is the reason that Trev Alberts left for Texas A&M. And by THIS reason, I am going to list the reasons that I heard from people that were sure that they knew exactly why he left.

Texas A&M is a Better Job

Well I was told that it is clearly because Texas A&M is a much better job than Nebraska. Look at the amount of revenue that Texas A&M brings in compared to Nebraska. It does make it easier when the Aggies can apparently print oil money to pay for whatever they desire.

Nebraska finally broke $200 million in revenue while Texas A&M reported over $279 million in 20023.

It is a whole other article to talk about whether Nebraska and Texas A&M are comparable jobs or not. Some rightfully would argue it is a much better job. I would argue that it depends what you are looking for as an Athletic Director.

The politics surrounding Nebraska appear from the outside to look like an episode of the Bachelor. The politics surrounding Texas A&M look like an episode of the Jersey Shore.

It’s All About the Money (He is a Traitor)

They must have been backing up the money truck with all that revenue money. He was making Top 10 money at Nebraska and it sounds like he would continue to be making Top 10 money at Texas A&M.

However, it was reported that the term of the contract would be five years at Texas A&M instead of seven years at Nebraska. Maybe it isn’t about the money.

It is the State Leadership and/or their Budget Cuts

Here Coach Pettit (who apparently always knows why people do things) says that it is because of the cut in the University funding which apparently has the direct result of “undermining the team’s purpose” all because of “political dogma.”

Man this guy IS informed.

The Governor of the State apparently is on the side that it is the Regents fault.

In this scenario, Alberts is leaving because he didn’t want to be the sacrificial lamb.

This wasn’t up to Trev Alberts. If it wasn’t for the budgets cuts. Or the Regents. Or the state legislature. Or the lack of a permanent University President. Or…

Even Trev Alberts in his own statement said that Nebraska needs a “unity of vision and high execution” which implies that the state of the University and its leaders is currently lacking in that regard.

So the best way to create that unity of vision and high execution is to leave?

Ok.

We could say that this statement is what we should rely upon because it is straight from the horses mouth. However, I think we all know that “statements” rarely are fully forthcoming.

Then Alberts talked to Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald and points back to the fact that leadership is the issue.

“These are hard jobs — they’re even harder now than they’ve ever been — and leadership is just really critical,” Alberts said. “Maybe not to everyone, but it really is to me. So Gen. Welsh sold me on a really compelling vision. It’s compelling, and he’s a compelling person.

“That was the reason. Everybody’s looking for some crazy (reason) but you don’t have to run to do that. It’s a unique opportunity at a great school with defined leadership.”

Ok.

So was it the budget cuts? Or the lack of a President at the University for 7 months?

Maybe Alberts knew of a candidate for the President that he wanted and some of the Regents were not going along with it so Alberts decided to leave.

Nebraska Was Always a Stepping Stone

Last, but definitely not least is that Trev Alberts has always been an opportunist.

He looked at the Nebraska Athletic Director position as an opportunity to take steps up in the world of college athletics.

Maybe he realized if he wanted to be one of the big dogs that he would not be given that opportunity while serving as the Athletic Director at Nebraska.

Maybe he learned that after pursuing the Big Ten Commissioner job and/or the position he wanted at the College Football Playoff that he would not be considered. Was he rebuffed when he tried to do so because he was merely the Athletic Director at Nebraska?

What I noticed on Wednesday (and still two days later) was that even as the facts were changing it still didn’t stop people from thinking THEY knew why Trev Alberts was leaving.

I think was likely a combination of the political leadership hang-ups AND the fact that Trev might never planned on this being a long term deal to be the Athletic Director. He then was contacted by Texas A&M for the same position and thought that this was opportunity that might not come back around again.

If he does a good job then maybe, maybe, finally he gets that conference commissioner job he might have always wanted in the first place.

Not great timing on his part but maybe it never would have been.

It is just a guess. I truly have no idea.

Update.

Trev has moved on to his new gig. Remember his heart was here but his brain said no.