The 3-2-1: Alberts will get right to work on Monday

We put a final bow on a busy week in Lincoln in this week’s 3-2-1 column.

1 – Alberts and Frost have a mutual respect for one another

How well do new Nebraska Athletic Director Trev Alberts and head football coach Scott Frost know each other?

The two never were on the same NU teams, but obviously share a lot of commonalities. Over the years Alberts and Frost have crossed paths a few times, but I wouldn’t necessarily call them close acquaintances.

As Alberts said on Wednesday, his job now is to get to know Frost and his staff better over the coming months and develop strong relationships and trust going forward.

“I’ve talked to him several times. I didn’t play with Scott obviously, so our paths didn’t cross there,” Alberts told HuskerOnline. “I’ve seen him at events like the Teammates Gala. I think we have a mutual respect for one another. Scott expressed to me privately his interest and desire and support of having me in this role and wants to go to work together and that’s my perspective as well. I think Scott is a tremendous football coach. I think he has a lot of great football coaching ahead of him.

“My job is to maybe help on some of the peripheries and allow him to do what he does best. Again, it’s really hard to say what those things are, I don’t know, but we’ll dive in. First and foremost, we’ve got to establish trust. When we have that kind of trust, and it goes both ways, coaches need to have the trust to tell me that what I’m doing is not helpful because if I’m doing something that’s not helpful, I want them to be successful. We got to earn that together and we’ll do that.

“That’ll be the first order of business. Then we’ll dive into some of the granular details of how we can better support all of our programs.”

2 – Timing is everything

In 2017 Alberts didn’t pursue the Nebraska job for several reasons. He still had multiple kids in school. Now he has just one daughter that will be a senior in high school this fall.

I think the other factor is relationships at the top of the NU Administration. In 2017, I never got the sense Alberts and former Nebraska System President Hank Bounds were all that close.

Things are much different now. Alberts is extremely close to President Ted Carter and UNMC Chancellor Dr. Jeffrey Gold. He also has a great relationship with NU Chancellor Ronnie Green.

I believe the leadership dynamics in 2021 are the biggest reason Alberts is now Nebraska’s Athletic Director. If Bounds was still President, I do not believe Alberts would have looked at this job in 2021.

3 – Nebraska baseball is going to be a hot ticket in 2022

Husker baseball coach Will Bolt and his program have hit a home run this off-season. Fresh off winning the Big Ten championship, Bolt’s team also created a new position to bring former Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress on staff.

On top of that, they were able to keep 2021 recruits Drew Christo, C.J. Hood and Chase Mason from the MLB.

Replacing Cade Povich and Spencer Schwellenbach will not be easy, but Bolt has put together one of the best-recruiting classes we’ve seen at Nebraska in years.

Nebraska baseball is here to stay, and my guess is season ticket packages will sell very fast this off-season.

“I loved the confidence that they displayed in terms of how they competed, and it was very clear that that was a team that was together,” Alberts said when watching NU baseball from afar. “I told Will (Bolt) this morning, I said, ‘This hire of Rob Childress, to me is indicative of a coach that’s very secure in himself. It’s about how do we find the best help we can, and go out and find a way to win?’

“I think that says a lot about his leadership and what his goals are.”

1 – What will be one of the bigger differences from Bill Moos to Alberts?

What will be the biggest difference between Alberts and Moos in terms of how they lead the department?

I think you have to start with presence. I fully expect Alberts to be present at as many different events as possible.

I always found it odd Moos didn’t attend basketball and volleyball games more regularly. I’m also not saying you have to be there to evaluate the coaches, but more so to have a presence around the fan base and boosters at the major sporting events.

Shaking hands and connecting with fans and key supporters is very important, and there’s no better place to do it than at games. Coming from UNO, I know Alberts was outstanding in being present at as many different events as possible.

2 – What’s the next position group you see the Huskers landing a commit from?

Nebraska added their first defensive lineman commit for the class of 2022 on Wednesday. Before that, the Big Red’s last commit happened on June 20.

With eight commits now in the class and the total number for 2022 projected around 13 to 14, what’s next?

Right now I would say offensive line is the next position where you are going to see Nebraska squeeze to get ta commit. The secondary is the other group. My best guess is two offensive linemen, two defensive backs and potentially one more defensive linemen in the class. I also think they will try to find a way to add linebacker Tyler Martin if they can make it work.

Bob Devaney was Nebraska’s Athletic Director for 25 years (1967-1992). After that, the longest-tenured AD was Bill Byrne, who went 10 years (1992-2002).

Since 2002, when you look at the big picture that’s been part of the issue. There has not been consistent leadership at Nebraska during that time.

I predict that will change with the hire of Alberts. At age 50, Alberts has a chance to be the Athletic Director at NU for the next 15 to 20 years. I predict he will easily be the longest-tenured Athletic Director Nebraska has had since Devaney.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET’s Big Red Wrap-Tuesday’s at 7 pm.