Dana Holgorsen replaces Satt as Nebraska OC, play caller for rest of season
DanaHolgorsen was just hired last week by Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule to join the Huskers’ staff as an offensive consultant.
After officially being on staff for less than a full week, the newly hired Husker assistant now has a new unofficial “OC” as his job description: Offensive coordinator.
At his Monday press conference ahead of the Huskers’ upcoming game at USC on Saturday, Rhule revealed a major piece of breaking news as he announced that Holgorsen is replacing offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield as Nebraska’s OC and play caller for the remainder of the Huskers’ 2024 season.
“Obviously, we made the move with Dana last week. He will call the plays this week and serve as the offensive coordinator moving forward … for the rest of the season,” Rhule said. “So with that, I’ll see what questions you got.”
There were certainly questions on Monday, as there have been all season, centered around an offensive unit that has struggled and has looked lackluster – and borderline lifeless – during its current three-game losing skid and, really, throughout Satterfield’s entire 21-game tenure as OC and play caller.
Rhule, the Huskers’ program and its entire fan base is hopeful that Holgorsen will inject more life, consistency and direction into the offense. He will get at least three regular-season games at USC (3 p.m. CT on Saturday), home against Wisconsin (Nov. 23) and on the road at Iowa (6:30 p.m. on Nov. 29) to try and unlock quarterback Dylan Raiola and the offense.
“I called (Holgorsen) last week, had him come in, had him kind of look at everything,” Rhule said. “He’s got a long history of success offensively, both as a head coach and certainly as a coordinator before that. I think he just kind of gives us a fresh perspective on looking at what we’re doing and who we’re doing it with. (He) was able to say, ‘Hey, let’s go in these directions over here.’
“I just think it gives us a great opportunity to have one of the great, great offensive minds, a guy that I’ve been friends with before and who I trust. I’m excited to see what he does.”
The offensive staff won’t change structurally in terms of the full-time position coaching roles.
“Anything that Dana needs, they’re helping him,” Rhule said. “You can’t come in and change the offense. He can’t come in and install the Air Raid. We’re in Week 11. But you can come in and say, ‘Hey, what are the things that we do well? Who are the guys that make plays? Let’s figure out how to do it with those guys.’ That’s the big picture that he’s doing right now.”
Rhule, who said he doesn’t know what the future holds for Holgorsen as he might stick around the program after the season is over or perhaps he will get a head coaching opportunity, dove deeper into the background between him and Holgorsen and where the relationship and familiarity began.
“I think it goes all the way back to me going to the (coaches) convention as a young assistant, sitting and listening to him talk,” Rhule said. “And then coached against him when he was at West Virginia, saw the evolution of what he did there in terms of going to a cold-weather place, running the football but still being really explosive and winning. We’re represented by the same people (agents), so we see each other at a lot of different places. He’s friends with my wife and I, we come to Charlotte quite a bit.
“Just someone I respect as a coach. It’s not a friend thing, it’s more of I just respect him, I respect what he’s done. He got done last year, probably needed some time. I called him last week and said, ‘Hey, can you come in and help?'”
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Holgorsen was one of two new additions to the Huskers’ operations last week. Long-time Rhule assistant and defensive coordinator Phil Snow was brought in by the Husker head coach as a defensive consultant during the same time period.
“He and Phil (Snow) came in and kind of looked through everything, and I think (Holgorsen) felt confident,” Rhule said. “As he said to me, he likes our coaches, he likes our players and felt like he could help.”
“… It’s probably unique, but it’s what’s needed. It’s the right thing. The genesis of this, what I think you’re gonna see now as coaches get fired, you’ll start to see coaches leaving maybe even before bowl games and coaching bowl games so that players can have some familiarity with them. That was kind of in my head of, hey, you’ve seen coaches take jobs now and go there and coach the bowl game. When I went to Baylor, I sat out and didn’t do that. So I didn’t really have a chance to know the players until mid-spring.”
Satterfield will remain on the Huskers’ staff and continue to serve in his other role as the team’s tight ends coach.
“I appreciate all the work our staff has done, I’ve love how hard they’ve grinded, cared about the kids, done their best and produced some good moments,” Rhule said. “But I felt like we needed some help. I thought this was the right thing to do at the end of the day. It might be bold, it might be unique. I didn’t bring him in at first with that (intention to take over as OC and play caller). I said, hey, come and see. As he got here, I think he felt comfortable.
“… Marcus walked in there right away and was like, ‘Tell me everything you need. Glenn (Thomas) did the same thing, and Garret (McGuire) said, ‘I can translate this into your language.’ And Dana’s obviously a really smart guy offensively, he can figure out what we’re doing offensively and what we do well.”
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