Mickey Joseph pushed, strangled woman during argument, police say

Mickey Joseph, who served as Nebraska football’s interim head coach for the final nine games of the season, choked an adult woman amid an argument in his south Lincoln home Wednesday afternoon, police alleged in new court filings.

The woman told police that Joseph, 54, “pushed me on the couch and strangled me,” Lincoln Police Officer Stephen Redlin said in the affidavit for the coach’s arrest.

The woman pushed Joseph off of her before he followed her into the kitchen, “grabbed her hair from behind and pulled her backward, causing her to fall to the ground” and punched her in the head as she fell, Redlin wrote in the affidavit, filed in Lancaster County Court on Thursday.

When police responded to the home just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, they found the woman with visible swelling to her left eye and several strands of hair clinging to her pant leg, which she alleged had been pulled from her head by Joseph, according to the affidavit.

Another adult man at the residence — a relative of the victim — told police he saw the alleged assault play out, reporting that Joseph choked the woman before trying to grab her phone in an effort to flush it down the toilet, Redlin said.

The phone had been placed in a container of rice by the time police arrived Wednesday afternoon, and Joseph had left the residence near 34th Street and Tree Line Drive.

The woman did not suffer “major injuries” in the incident, according to the Lincoln Police incident report filed in the case, but the extent of her injuries is unclear. A Lincoln Fire and Rescue spokeswoman declined to say whether a medic unit was dispatched to the house or whether any patients were treated for injuries, citing privacy concerns.

The Journal Star does not generally identify victims of alleged instances of domestic violence.

Police found Joseph in the 7500 block of San Mateo Drive shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday. He denied striking the woman or pulling her hair, according to the affidavit.

The 54-year-old was arrested there and taken to the Lancaster County jail, where he remained overnight. Prosecutors on Thursday charged him with assault by strangulation or suffocation, a class 3 felony punishable by up to three years in prison.

Two members of Joseph’s family attended his initial court appearance at the Lancaster County courthouse Thursday afternoon but declined to comment after the hearing, which Joseph attended via Zoom from jail.

Judge Laurie Yardley set Joseph’s percentage bond at $20,000. He paid $2,000 and was released at about 4:20 p.m. Thursday.

As a part of his bond conditions, Yardley ordered Joseph to not have any contact with the woman he allegedly assaulted or the house police were called to Wednesday near 34th Street and Tree Line Drive.

Asked for comment following the hearing, his attorney, Sean Brennan told the Journal Star: “I’m busy right now.”

Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts, in a statement released Wednesday, said Joseph had been placed on administrative leave.

Joseph’s status with Nebraska has been up in the air since NU hired Matt Rhule earlier this week to be the Huskers’ head football coach.

While Alberts said Monday that any decision regarding Joseph’s status at NU would be up to Rhule, both Alberts and the new coach commended Joseph for how he had led the program for the past 11 weeks.

Alberts said Monday: “I had a lot of respect for Coach Joseph prior to him becoming our interim coach. I have more respect for him now. The way that he worked, continued working, doing the right things, fighting hard for these young men and investing in them, was really something.”

Rhule has made several decisions regarding the future of former assistants and the hiring of new ones, but a source told the Journal Star that a decision on Joseph’s future at Nebraska had not been sorted out prior to his arrest.

In an appearance on the nationally syndicated “Jim Rome Show” on Thursday afternoon, Rhule said he was “shocked and surprised” by news of Joseph’s arrest, and said he hopes “everything is resolved in a good way.”

The new head coach also said he was planning to meet with Joseph about his future with the Huskers, but added that meeting didn’t take place.

“We were scheduled to meet (Wednesday),” Rhule told Rome. “Obviously, things have changed since then.”

Joseph, who played at Nebraska, was hired by former head coach Scott Frost in December 2021 to be NU’s associate head coach, receivers coach and passing game coordinator. After Frost was fired on Sept. 11, Alberts promoted Joseph to be Nebraska’s interim coach for the remainder of the season.

After leading Nebraska to its first win over Iowa in eight years last week, Joseph wasn’t worried about his future in coaching.

“I’m good,” Joseph said on Black Friday. “I’ve been in this thing for over 25 years. And I’ve got a pretty good resume. So, somebody’s going to hire me.”

Joseph’s contract with Nebraska runs through Dec. 31, 2023, but he can be fired for cause if he is found to have been in “violation or breach of any applicable federal, state or municipal laws,” or “violation of any felony or misdemeanor criminal statute resulting in a conviction that relates to, impacts or impairs (his) ability to perform duties on behalf of the university,” according to his contract.

Journal Star reporters Amie Just and Chris Dunker contributed to this report.