Matt Rhule explains plans for changing landscape in college football through NIL, transfer portal

In the three years since Matt Rhule left college football to coach the Carolina Panthers, a lot changed. NIL and the transfer portal now dominate the space, and that could make for a big adjustment as he settles back in to the college game at Nebraska.

He’s ready to embrace it all.

“I think it’s important for all of us to understand that football has changed,” Rhule said during his introductory press conference. “College football has changed even in the last two years since I left. NIL, portal, transfer — all these different things. I think for all of us, we can look at what we’ve done, we can celebrate the past, we can learn from the past, but we have to have an eye to the future.”

In the months since the Panthers fired Rhule, he did his homework — thanks in large part to the amount of interest he got from the college football world after it happened. That prepared him to dive head-first into the new-look landscape, and he thinks his decision to return to coaching is a key part of the recruiting pitch.

“I literally got home that first day after no longer being the coach at Carolina and had a school call me,” Rhule said. “I’ve been working on this for a while. Again, there was a lot of thought in our family that we would take the year off and just spend some time together. I think that’s really important — I think it’s important for recruits to hear.

“I’ve told every recruit I’ve talked to, I’m not making more money to work today than I would’ve been if I was playing golf back in Charlotte. I could be on the golf course making the same money today. This wasn’t a financial decision. This was, ‘Oh my goodness. I think I can fit there and I think the people are right.’ I say that to say that I had all that time to really dive into this, study some things NIL-wise, study some things [such as] the transfer portal. I think this week’s important. We’ve gotten going right away.”

Matt Rhule: ‘The game is changing around us and we have to change with it’

Although NIL and the portal will be key parts in recruiting, Rhule said that won’t change the type of player he and his staff will look for as he tries to revamp Nebraska’s roster. He also is looking for more than just talented football players. He wants good people who will also leave their mark on the Lincoln community.

“The game is changing around us and we have to change with it,” Rhule said. “We have to recruit people that want to be Nebraska men. We have to recruit people who want to wear the ‘N,’ we have to recruit people who want to pay the price for this team. While I know that there’s some salary stuff now, this guy can get this, this guy can get that, and we’ll be involved in all of that because we want to bring the best players here.

“But at the end of the day, I want players who want to come here who want to not just graduate. They want to be educated. They want to take advantage of this opportunity to change their lives in the classroom, to change their lives through education. I want to bring players here and I want to have a program that impacts the community, that when you see a Nebraska football player, you know that wherever you are is better for them having been there. That they will always leave a place better than they found it. I want to bring players here who make the campus community better.”

With that in mind, Rhule acknowledged the importance of having a strong NIL foundation. Nebraska is one of many universities across the country with an NIL Collective, and that type of buy-in is something Rhule said he wants to use to the program’s advantage.

That’s all part of his message to the Cornhuskers community. He wants to do everything in his power to bring Nebraska back to national prominence.

“When I talk about ‘all in,’ that’s making sure we have the money to go do the NIL at the level that the teams are competing against do it at,” Rhule said. “We will look at everything. We just won’t sacrifice the ideals and the integrity of the program. The guys that come here, there’s nothing wrong with a young man … wanting to make some money off of his ability.

“Every one of us, we want to be valued and we want to be compensated financially. There’s nothing wrong with it. They have to also want to be here for Nebraska. They have to want to be here for their teammates and they have to want to win.”