It's a truism in coaching that love is spelled t-i-m-e, but in Matt Rhule's program it's spelled with capital letters, bold font and five exclamation points afterward.
When he was at Temple, I recall calling his office phone for an interview and hearing the buzz of multiple players in his office. At Baylor, watching Monday Night Football as a team was part of the weekly in-season schedule. Clearly, Rhule believes the path to scoring more points than his opponents begins with simply spending more time with his players than his opponents.
In a recent coaching clinic, Rhule outlined exactly how much time he expects his assistant coaches to spend with their position groups. As he explains, he wants his coaches getting multiple touch points with their players, all of them off the practice field -- in their office, at the training table, and out in the community.
"Wide receivers and DBs, go play laser tag," Rhule said. "I'll pay for it. But get out and get to know your guys at a different level."
Rhule also has specific expectations for how involved coaches should be in their players academics. "I don't want you saying, 'Hey Johnny, how you doing in school?' 'I'm fine.' No, no, no," Rhule said. "'I know that you have an English 15 test tomorrow. Are you prepared for it?' Or, 'Hey Steve, I saw that you got an 82 on your history exam. How can we get you to a 90?'"
Not mentioned in the clip: Rhule expects each position coach to compile a manual for that position, to be submitted to the coordinator and head coach by spring break; a matrix and progression for position drills; and a tape of all position drills, to be compiled after spring ball.
Rhule's first Temple team went 2-10 in his 2013 debut, 6-6 in 2014, and then 10-4 with a division title in 2015 and 10-3 with a conference title in 2016. At Baylor, he went 1-11 in 2017, 7-6 the year after, and 11-3 with a Big 12 title game appearance in 2019. (The Bears won the Big 12 in 2021.)
Rhule said during spring ball that Nebraska was further ahead than he expected by that point. At a program that has won between three and five games for six seasons running, that could mean the Huskers skip the Year 1 bottom-out and return to a bowl game for the first time since 2016. But it starts with position coaches following the Rhules.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.