:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71678805/usa_today_19208086.0.jpg)
Matt Rhule is coming back to college football. And to get a guy that was a success at both Temple and Baylor and has NFL head coach experience as recently as this season, any college program was going to have to pony up plenty of dollars.
And Nebraska is going to be spending a large portion of that fancy-new Big Ten media rights deal on their head coach. They have signed him to an eight-year, $72 million contract that has to make Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper incredibly happy. The deal will offset the remaining money Carolina owed the coach they fired after he was a huge bust in the NFL.
When Nebraska hired Matt Rhule, they did more than just set up their future -- they also offset the vast majority of the $34M the #Panthers still owed him. This was the thought when CAR hired Rhule. If he didn't work out, they would be covered. He'll make $72M over 8 in Nebraska.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 27, 2022
If that’s correct, Rhule is now set to earn $9 million a year with the Cornhuskers! That’s less than a million per annum from Saban Dollars!
There will be a press conference for Rhule on Monday, and that’s when Nebraska is set to release the full terms of his deal. But they’ve got to be pretty happy in Charlotte to be off the hook, and Cornhuskers AD Trev Alberts is going all-in on a coach that’s had success rebuilding in two places where winning was truly a challenge.
For forlorn Nebraska fans, there’s at least some hope heading into 2023.