Tight ends coach Bob Wager resigns from Huskers staff

Nebraska football tight ends coach Bob Wager’s short-lived career on Matt Rhule’s staff is over.

The first-year assistant has resigned from his position with the Huskers, Wager and the athletics department announced on Friday. Wager says that he has stepped down after “a citation for a driving offense.”

Wager was hired in December to Rhule’s first coaching staff with the Huskers and officially joined the program in January. He had previously been a longtime head coach at several high school football programs in Texas over the course of 26 years.

“It is with great remorse that I resign from my position as assistant football coach at the University of Nebraska,” Wager said in a statement. “Earlier this week I received a citation for a driving offense that I regret immensely. I am grateful for the opportunity extended to me, and sincerely sorry for any negativity my poor decision has brought to my family, our team, our staff, and all those that I have disappointed.”

Josh Martin will replace Wager as the Huskers’ new tight ends coach. He will be immediately elevated to a full-time assistant role on the Nebraska staff.

Martin, who joined Rhule’s staff as a special teams analyst earlier this year, has seven years of coaching experience at the FBS level.

He came to the Huskers after spending the 2022 season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach – in addition to being a teacher – at Little Elm (Texas) High School.

Prior to Little Elm, Martin spent the previous 11 seasons coaching in the college ranks, including four years at SMU (2018-21) where he coached tight ends all four seasons and served as special teams coordinator for his first two seasons.

Before his role at SMU, Martin spent four seasons at Arizona State (2014-2017), first as an offensive graduate assistant working with the offensive line, then as a full-time assistant working with the running backs and tight ends in 2015 and finally a senior offensive analyst in his last two years.

Rhule will be available for a media session on Monday following the Huskers’ first practice of fall camp.

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