Nebraska football hires Carolina Panthers assistant as next LB coach, adds Garret McGuire as WR coach

Nebraska football has completed its on-field coaching staff by filling the final two full-time assistant coaching positions: Rob Dvoracek is joining the program as the Huskers’ linebackers coach, and Garret McGuire is being added as the receivers coach, per a report from The Athletic’s Joe Person.

They will both join the staff following the Panthers’ final game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Inside Nebraska first reported on Dec. 5 that Dvoracek was set to become Nebraska’s linebackers coach, pending ongoing contract negotiations with the Carolina Panthers, where he was a defensive assistant under Matt Rhule and then under Panthers interim coach Steve Wilks. The two sides have evidently worked out those negotiations.

Dvoracek and McGuire will now be the sixth and seventh coaches to have worked for Rhule on the Panthers staff who will also join him in Lincoln.

OC Marcus Satterfield, DL coach Terrance Knighton, secondary coach Evan Cooper, special teams coordinator Ed Foley and head strength & conditioning coach Corey Campbell all spent at least one season with Rhule in Carolina.

Dvoracek will lead the second level of DC Tony White’s defense as he becomes the latest coaching staff addition who has strong ties to Rhule.

The 28-year-old Dvoracek was a linebacker at Temple from 2012-14. After suffering complications from knee surgery following the 2013 season, Dvoracek became a student assistant for Rhule in 2014. Dvoracek has spent seven of the last nine seasons as a Rhule assistant:

– 3 seasons as a student assistant at Temple (2014-16)

– 2 seasons as a defensive quality control coach at Baylor (2017-18)

– 2 seasons as a defensive assistant with the Panthers (2021-present) following a two-year stint at Lehigh (2019-20) as a defensive ends/outside linebackers coach.

Dvoracek fits the profile of another aspect that Rhule has used to fill out his staff: He is a young, mostly unproven coach but is also well-regarded in coaching circles as a hungry, motivated coach with a bright future.

McGuire, who is a very young assistant set to turn 24 years old next month, will come to Nebraska after spending two seasons with the Panthers. He worked as a coaching assistant in 2021 and was an offensive assistant in 2022.

McGuire, who is the son of Texas Tech head coach and former Rhule assistant Joey McGuire, played three seasons at Baylor (2017-20) as a backup quarterback and as a key member of special teams units. McGuire played in eight games over his career and was a three-time All-Big 12 Academic First Teamer.

As Inside Nebraska reported in the same Dec. 5 report about Dvoracek, one of the main qualifications that Rhule was looking for in his receivers coach were ties to the Midwest and Texas for recruiting purposes. The Huskers now have that in McGuire, and they have now locked in their full on-field coaching staff.