Nebraska hires Gus Felder as executive director of player development

Nebraska is set to hire Gus Felder as its executive director of player development, the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association said Thursday. Felder played at Penn State and most recently worked with Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule with the Carolina Panthers.

Rhule hired Felder in 2020 as the Panthers’ assistant strength coach and promoted him to director of player engagement in 2021. He held that role through the 2022 season, and is now reuniting with Rhule in Lincoln.

Prior to his time with the Panthers, Felder worked as the athletics director at Bethlehem Christian Academy from 2019-20 and as the director of player development at Georgia Tech in 2019. He also spent three years as the director of strength and conditioning at Miami from 2016-19 and was an assistant strength and conditioning specialist at Georgia from 2014-16.

Felder played at Penn State from 1998-2002 and was a First Team All-Big Ten selection in 2001 and 2002. He briefly played in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns before getting into coaching.

Salaries revealed for new Nebraska football staff members

New Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has finalized his coaching staff, and it’s now becoming clear how much they’re getting paid. All but three assistant coaches’ salaries were revealed earlier this month by the university.

Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield is the highest-paid assistant on Rhule’s staff, making $1.4 million this season. Defensive coordinator Tony White is right behind him with a $1 million annual salary. Defensive passing game coordinator Evan Cooper and special teams coordinator Ed Foley are the other two coaches making more than $500,000. Their salaries are $670,000 and $550,000, respectively.

Rhule had a $7 million assistant salary pool as he filled the staff, and the eight salaries revealed Friday make up $4.63 million of that total. Rhule finalized the staff earlier this week.

Satterfield is one of the highest-profile additions to Rhule’s staff, coming over from South Carolina. It’s a reunion with Rhule after the two worked together at Baylor and with the Carolina Panthers. The 2022 season was Satterfield’s first with South Carolina under Shane Beamer.

White is taking over at defensive coordinator after three years with Syracuse, where he turned the Orange defense around. That unit averaged 32.7 points per game during his first year in the role in 2020, but that number dropped to 22.7 points per contest in 2022.

Rhule is gearing up for his first season with the Cornhuskers following his firing from the Carolina Panthers in October. His contract is for eight years and $74 million, athletic director Trev Alberts announced.