Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule is adding some NFL experience to his coaching staff ahead of the 2024 season, with The Athletic’s Mitch Sherman reporting Tuesday that Rhule’s hiring former Pittsburgh Steelers assistant Glenn Thomas as his next quarterbacks coach.
Thomas spent the 2023 season as an offensive assistant for the Steelers, previously coaching alongside Rhule during his time as the head coach at Baylor and Temple.
Thomas was also the offensive coordinator at Arizona State in 2022, but Marcus Satterfield will remain as Nebraska’s offensive play-caller and move to coach the tight ends as Thomas takes over the quarterbacks.
Thomas’ coaching journey started as a student assistant at Texas Tech in 1998, where he spent three seasons before working his way up from a graduate assistant to an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Midwestern State.
He spent seven seasons at Midwestern State before getting his first opportunity at the NFL level, hired as an offensive assistant for the Atlanta Falcons in 2005. After three seasons in that role and three seasons as Atalnta’s quarterbacks coach, Thomas returned to the college level as the quarterbacks coach of Temple under Rhule in 2015.
In 2016 offensive coordinator was added to his title at Temple, improving the team’s offensive production with the Owls averaging 413.6 yards and 32.4 points per game. In his two seasons with Temple, the program saw back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in school history. Resulting in Rhule being hired as Baylor’s head coach in 2017 and Thomas joining him in Waco.
Thomas was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baylor for all three seasons of Rhule’s tenure. The Bears offense steadily improved with the help of Thomas, averaging 24.3 points per game in 2017 and 33.6 points per game in 2019, a season where Baylor went 11-2 with a No. 7 ranking before their loss in the Sugar Bowl.
Rhule and Thomas would go their separate ways in 2020, with Rhule being named the Carolina Panthers head coach and Thomas becoming the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UNLV.
Thomas remained in the role for three seasons, coaching three straight Mountain West Freshman of the Year award winners in his three years with the Rebels before moving on to Arizona State. And now that he’s back reunited with Rhule, Nebraska fans are hoping that Thomas can potentially help freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola win the same honor for the Big Ten Conference next season.
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