Nebraska AD Troy Dannen: Opinions about Matt Rhule podcast & Pat McAfee Show, Bud Crawford, Tunnel Walk music and 'calculated risks'
Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen made his monthly appearance on Huskers Radio Network last night.
During the hour-long appearance, there were actually a few interesting tidbits to take away from it. Here are the three that stood out:
Bud Crawford and the Tunnel Walk music
The week before Nebraska lost its crucial showdown with Michigan – a game that very well could have swung the Huskers’ season if they had won and certainly could still swing it after the Huskers’ loss – both Matt Rhule and Dannen hopped on a flight to Las Vegas to watch the Bud Crawford title fight. They flew out to Vegas together shortly after the Huskers’ win over FCS opponent Houston Christian.
“It was surreal,” Dannen said. “I’ve been to a championship fight before, but it was years and years ago – a (Wladimir) Klitschko fight – and certainly didn’t have the access that we had (for the Crawford fight) to get up on the ring afterwards and go backstage and see him. It was surreal knowing that was somebody that – I don’t know him to the depth that Matt does – but having had the chance to meet him, knowing he’s from Nebraska, so we all feel ownership in him. To be there for that moment and to watch him, see the mouthpiece with the Huskers logo – we used it up on the video board right when Michigan kicked last week. We’ll probably use that more. To see his team walk out wearing Nebraska gear – obviously, it was his moment, but it felt like a big moment for the Huskers in Nebraska.”
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Crawford won his own massive showdown. Nebraska, to reiterate, did not win its own huge showdown.
Prior to the Huskers’ loss to Michigan, Crawford led the team out in the Tunnel Walk. Dannen quickly, though it did not go unnoticed, shared his stance about a Nebraska staple.
“In some ways, I think that walk-out music is sacred – I don’t know that it should be, but it is,” said Dannen, revealing ever so subtly his opion about the Huskers’ tradition of walking out to “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project (right after a weekend, mind you, when Nebraska honored the 1995 national championship team by having legends from that team walk out of the tunnel to that very same song).
“The only thing, in hindsight, Michigan came out of the tunnel the same time we did,” Dannen said. “And so there were boos from our student section. And I wish we had had all the attention and all the noise and loud focused (on Nebraska). But, boy, it was deafening.”
“Calculated risks”
Now, for the detractors of Rhule (and Dannen), there is at least a method to the madness when going back to the subject of things like the flight to see the Crawford fight. Or things like Rhule’s weekly appearances on the Pat McAfee Show. Or Rhule’s new podcast.
“Matt took a calculated, not a risk, but made a very calculated move this year in getting himself exposed in the media, whether it’s his own podcast or whether it’s on the McAfee Show,” Dannen said. “He did that for the right reason, and the reason is this: I met with the ‘95 team and talked to them about the biggest difference between the ‘95 team and (Nebraska now). And I wasn’t here (for 1995), but I was close enough to watch. And (the difference) was Nebraska, was ‘IT.’ If a recruit had a chance to go to Nebraska, they went to Nebraska. Fast forward to today, we are not it – yet. We’re trying to get back there. And so the idea of recruiting – Nebraska does not recruit itself anymore. We have to give some effort, energy and do a little bit extra to get us back. I think Matt doing that and selling the program – because whether our fans watch the podcast or whether our fans watch McAfee – recruits, coaches, the potential recruits a year or two down (the line), they’re watching those shows, and that’s where they’re gathering their impression of the program. So the more we can do (the better). And Matt happens to have a particular talent and skill. Put a microphone in front of him, he’s the best I’ve ever been around, coach or non-coach, just a great orator. And so I think it’s using his assets to help build and sell the program.”
Dannen continued: “The Big Ten does not have ESPN exposure now, and the fact that we get that exposure through what Matt’s doing is really, really important. We discussed at the beginning of the year, should I or should I not do this? You cannot underestimate that ESPN exposure. I think him doing a Dave Portnoy interview – and Dave Portnoy now is a part of Fox, and Fox is the cornerstone partner of the Big Ten. Those relationships are important. Whether it’s ESPN, where we’re not on, or Fox where we are on. Having the credibility with those folks in the media today. … Not everybody’s willing to do that. Not everybody can do that, and it’s hard to do it coming off a loss, but that is how the program gets that next level of exposure that we didn’t have to worry about in 95 because we were ‘IT.’ And now, as we try to get back there, it takes a lot of things.”
Dannen’s thoughts on Rhule and Nebraska’s star QB
Asked for his thoughts on the development of Nebraska’s program, Dannen pointed straight to the upward trajectory of a player who has, objectively, been playing like one of the elite, very best quarterbacks in the sport.
“College football starts with your quarterback, and I’d be hard pressed to say – maybe there’s some that have had (better) numbers – but I think what Dylan’s done in three games … having had the chance to be around him for a couple years now and see the leadership, see how everybody rallies around him, seeing how he handles the public attention, how gracious he is. Just a good kid, you want good things to happen.
“In the offseason, I think we did a good job of putting talent around him. But it goes without saying, we gotta get better up front on both sides of the ball. But we probably saw a team that’s as good as anybody we’ll face this year up front on both sides of the ball. I reminded Matt – we’re both depressed right after the game, but think back to what Michigan and Nebraska was two years ago when you first got here. And while everybody was tracking them 12 and 0, you see where we’ve come, how far we’ve come.”
Dannen continued: “And not to throw dispersions at anybody, but we had a big hole to dig out of – the roster, just making sure we had enough players to win at a Big Ten championship level. Matt’s made some changes in his staff. So there’s been a lot of growth that’s happened in two years and three games with football. I don’t know if everybody realizes how hard losses are – even for me. I went to the volleyball game and then went home. And being on the CFP committee, I watched recorded games until about four o’clock in the morning because I couldn’t sleep. Fell asleep for a little bit, woke up for a couple hours, watched more, and now I’m sick today, right? Adrenaline solves a lot of those things but … it was a loss that disappointed everybody. But get back 24 hours, 48 hours from it, and then you start to pick out, ‘OK, let’s be analytical about this. What was good, what was bad?’ I think everybody knows where we need to get better – I don’t worry about special teams right now – so you think about all the things where we’ve made that step, and there’s more steps to come.”