Matt Rhule considered year off from coaching after Carolina Panthers firing

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule thought he wasn’t going to be anywhere in 2023 and take a year off. Following his firing from the Carolina Panthers early in the 2022 season, Rhule was in limbo.

But it didn’t take long to get back into action. Rhule went 5-7 in his first year in Lincoln, nothing to scoff at as he tries to rebuild. But there were things left on the field.

Rested and rejuvenated, Rhule and Nebraska could take off in Year 2 after the coach once thought he’d be lounging around.

“Yeah, I was absolutely gonna take a year off,” Rhule said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I was tired, I was beaten up. And I was like, Hey, I’m gonna take my time and find the right job. And I think two things happened. I got fired so early that I had the rest of that year which was almost kind of like a year off.

“My wife and I traveled, we went to Ireland and the first bar we sit down and I’m like, I just want to be away. The gentleman walks up to the bar, you know (I’m gonna) order two Guinness and he’s like, are you Matt Rhule? Like, oh my gosh.” 

Rhule realized he was meant to coach all the time and taking a gap year wasn’t in the cards. Then the Huskers called.

“It was just like, you know what, I’m a coach man, let’s get back to work,” Rhule said. “But I wouldn’t have taken any job. I wasn’t gonna coach, I was gonna take a year. You know, my contract. I had to find a job so I knew I had to honor my contract and I wasn’t just gonna take any job though. And Nebraska came open.” 

Nebraska has a storied history. Rhule built up Temple and Baylor that didn’t have that kind of history and he left his own legacy at both schools.

But now, he wants to add to the history of Nebraska football and keep it there.

“As I said, Trev Alberts, and it’s one thing to go to a school that’s never done it before and try to be the first to win a championship,” Rhule said. “Every day I walked through this building, I walked by five national championship trophies, you know, it’s another thing to get a place back to where it was. I walked by three Heisman (trophies). 

“I brought the practice and Frank Solich and Tom Osborne at practice watching. I got Eric Crouch and Tommie Frazier. I mean, it’s a pretty cool place. So I wouldn’t have coached had it not been for this. But yeah, I really thought about taking a year. But you know, this is what I do. I’ll do this till I die.”