How Matt Rhule's terrible NFL experience is helping him advise Dylan Raiola

Sometimes your worst moment can actually be one of your best when you look back on it. Sometimes, what you think is your downfall could end up being the very beginning of your comeback.

That's how Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule sees it, anyway. He has lived this truth, too. Rhule got a big chance as a head coach in the NFL and was fired early in his third season by the Carolina Panthers after going 11-27. 

That moment ultimately led him to Nebraska, though, where he feels he's found a home. That moment also makes him qualified to advise his star quarterback, Dylan Raiola, who started nine games this season but will miss the rest of the campaign due to a broken fibula he suffered against the USC Trojans in early November.

Matt Rhule gives great advice to injured Nebraska Cornhuskers QB Dylan Raiola

Rhule's advice to the 20-year-old is, frankly, something everyone could use.

“I just keep encouraging him. I’m like, ‘Hey, journal, bro.’ Just write down everything right down,” Rhule said earlier this week in a news conference. “I think it’s one of the best things men can do, is to just write down every day how they’re feeling. What they’re going through, what they’ve learned in the good times and in the bad."

Rhule, 50, knows football can be a journey with ups and downs. He was hailed as an up-and-coming program builder at Temple from 2013 to 2016, and that earned him a shot at Baylor.

What he did at Baylor earned him a shot in the NFL. He failed there, but what he learned after being fired by the Panthers was a valuable lesson. You just keep going, no matter what, and perhaps that slammed door can lead to another opening.

That's certainly what Rhule found in Lincoln. Heck, he's been so good at this level that his name was thrown into the mix for the job opening at Penn State. Nebraska wanted him to stick around so badly that it gave him a two-year contract extension.

“When I told the team I was staying, I read off like the journal from the day I got fired in Carolina, what I thought was my darkest moment. (It was) just the way I felt. So you can’t be the competitor that he is and not have some tough days. At the same time, it’s an unbelievable opportunity for him to see football from another standpoint.”

The Huskers will certainly be hoping that the only standpoint Raiola will be looking at the game of football is from the standpoint of making a huge comeback with Nebraska in 2026.

With the way the transfer portal is nowadays, there will be other programs trying to pry him away. Raiola has got a great head coach in Rhule, though, and he's getting great advice.