Matt Rhule Has Proven Himself to Be Average

Originally posted on Mike Farrell Sports
By Mark Pszonak | Last updated Oct 21, 2025 7:49 AM ET

I know that Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule hasn’t hired a marketing team to continuously keep his name in the spotlight, but sometimes it feels that way. It is almost assumed by many people that he is an elite head coach, or at the least very good, but numbers tend to prove otherwise. He is an average head coach who has managed to put himself in a fantastic position.

This is only Rhule’s 10^th season as a collegiate head coach, which is somewhat surprising as it seems like people have talked about him for an eternity. Over this time, he has compiled a 64-58 record, which is a .525 winning percentage. That is the definition of average.

He has gained most of his coaching attention from the impressive third season turnarounds he orchestrated first at Temple and then at Baylor. During those two seasons Rhule was a combined 21-7. That success at Temple led him to Baylor, which then eventually led him to Nebraska after an unsuccessful pitstop in the NFL (which is a story for another day).

That 21-7 record is impressive, but what about the other eight seasons? Over the other 80% of his collegiate head coaching career Rhule has a 43-51 record. While nobody should take away the 21-7, nobody should also forget the 43-51, which encompasses a much greater portion of his career.

But here we are, with Nebraska at 5-2, and chaos surrounding him. Half the people want him to return to his alma mater, Penn State, while the other half is praying that he doesn’t leave Nebraska. Either way, Rhule is very wanted. Very wanted despite a .525 career winning percentage.

I do believe that Rhule is a good head coach. I do believe that he is slightly better than average. But over the course of his 10-year head coaching career he hasn’t shown more than that.

Despite this, it is basically guaranteed that Rhule will begin the 2026 season as one of the top ten highest paid coaches in college football. Whether Nebraska extends his contract while giving him a raise or Penn State backs up the Brinks truck, Rhule is once again in the perfect position to take advantage of it.

And all of this for 64-58.

This article first appeared on Mike Farrell Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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