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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Honestly_ on 2025-07-23 00:43:26+00:00.
by Bobak Ha’Eri
During the break-out podium interviews here at Big Ten Media Day, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule was asked about the much-publicized comments by his predecessor and now-UCF head coach Scott Frost, that he had taken the “the wrong job” when he returned to take over his alma mater.
It was a long, interesting answer about the state of Nebraska football, sympathy to the situation Frost was in, that also wove in the sort of boosterism we see from almost all coaches at pre-season media days (which are about selling the program to the press before the season).
Below is the full answer with some slight edits for flow and clarity:
First of all, I have a ton of respect for Scott, and I’ve always been very empathetic for what he went through. Because this was his home, you know.
If you guys fired me tomorrow, like, I’m just gonna go back to Cape May and sit on the beach and go back to where I’m from. But this was his home, right? And so, this off season, we put up a huge picture of Scott as a player in the coach’s area, because I took a picture and I sent it to Ryan Callaghan [UCF Senior Director of Football Operations and Recruiting] down there, because I can’t imagine what that feels like for him, right?
I know what it felt like to get run out of Carolina. And I would say to people: “I don’t think I took the right job for me. It wasn’t the right fit.” That doesn’t mean it’s bad, no.
I will say this: [Nebraska] was not a good job when I got it. Like, we were behind on NIL. The facilities weren’t what they were—everything was behind.
Trev [Alberts, then AD] convinced me: “Hey, Matt, this is gonna by the time we get to the point where we’re gonna be able to pay players like this is the only Big Ten school with no debt.” We’re talking about 2025—[the cap]'s gonna go up percentages every year. And we’re at a place where we have the best facility in football. We have everything that we could want. We make more of an investment in nutrition than any other team in the country. I mean, look at all of our sports. Look at how they’re all blossoming right now because of the investments we’re making in nutrition Sports Science.
There wasn’t a sauna in the facility when we first got there, and now you got to pick between a steam room, a sauna and infrared sauna and personal sauna — But that those were investments. Scott came at a time he had [to deal with] COVID, he had all these different things. I can’t talk about his time, but what I can say was, this wasn’t a good job.
It was not a good job, and, but we’ve made it a good job, and we’re about to make it a great job. This will be one of the best jobs in the country. And, that’s why sometimes recruits will say, “Coach, if you win, what are you gonna do?” I’m like, “I’m gonna, I’m gonna stay right here.” The only thing I ever think about is getting a lake house in one of these lakes in Nebraska I keep hearing about, no one ever invites me.
The thing is, is, like, you walk in and everyone’s like, “Well, that was Scott’s fault”, you know? And Carolina said “that was Matt’s fault.” But, good programs, it’s everybody.
So why are we gonna win now? We’re gonna win because of Troy [Dannen, athletic directory]. We’re gonna win because of [megadonor] Tom Peed. We’re gonna win because of [megadonor] Shawn Peed. Like, if the Peeds don’t do what they did with 1890 [Official NIL Collective of Nebraska Athletics] and the investment they made, the investment they made this spring… we’re dead, like, we’re dead — because these other schools they have all of this.
And so the investment the Peeds made, the investments we’re about to make in this stadium — and I don’t know what the stadium [plans are], so don’t ask me. [. . .]
Trev articulated [the plan], and what Troy’s done is Troy’s come in and he’s not been afraid to take heat. He’s made decisions that he feels like are right, and that’s what makes it a good job. When your leaders are going to make decisions that they think are right, no matter what the public outcry is, then you have a chance to be really, really successful.
So think about the job I took: Trev’s gone, Admiral Carter’s [former school President Ted Carter] gone, but now I got [current President] Jeff Gold. I got Troy Dannon and I got [other staff], I’ve got all the things that you could need.
So, I think Scott was just talking about for him wasn’t the right fit. And I respect that, and I feel for him, and I want him to always know, like, man, the things he did at this school: I want him always to feel like he could come back and has a home there.
That being said, it’s the right job for me. And Julie [wife] knew it — she told me the day we interviewed. She’s like, “that’s the right job for you.” Because I like to go into a place that needs fixing, and try to start. I like starting with the nutrition program. And I like starting with the sports science. Like, even if there is, there was no Sports Science [here], really — but I like starting with all that stuff. And there were 24 ACL [injuries] in the four years before I got there, there were 49 major knee injuries. There was an old, beat up turf field outside. There was a bad grass field outside, and that cost money to fix. You should see our grass right now. It looks like Augusta out there, the grass practice fields. And so I just want to make sure I always say, everyone can point and say, “What went wrong? What went wrong?” It takes everybody saying, “Hey, what’s my area?” Hey, even just making sure we have everything we need. And so I think it’s a great job now.
Catch-up with the regular updates from both Big Ten and ACC media days in this week’s post here.