At this point it appears to be a done deal between USC and Mike Ekeler. The report I heard last was that CBS Sports was reporting that USC is “likely hiring” Nebraska special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler. It would likely take a lot for this train to divert and until we hear otherwise I assume Nebraska will have somebody else coordinating the special teams unit.
This is not his first stint as a coach at Nebraska. He was here from 2008-2010 where he coached linebackers on that all-time great defense in 2009.
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Besides Nebraska, Ekeler has coached at LSU, Oklahoma, Indiana, USC, Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas, North Texas and then finally at Tennessee for four years. It wasn’t until Kansas that he started coaching Special Teams.
Nebraska fans, including Will Compton, were pumped when Matt Rhule hired him prior to last season. It is clear that Mike Ekeler can flat out coach. The improvement on his special team’s unit was so obvious that it makes one wonder why Nebraska has been so bad at it for nearly a decade.
Nebraska fans also liked the fact that it was safe to assume (and you know what they say about assuming) that Ekeler would be here for the long haul. I thought that could be true even if Rhule were to leave. I’m not sure why a head coach would not want a coach like Ekeler on his staff. Why wouldn’t you want to have one of the best special teams units in the country? Which is what you would get with Ekeler.
Plus, he grew up in Nebraska. Just a bit northwest of Lincoln in David City. Though he did not play for Nebraska. He played for Kansas State so his loyalties would not run as deep. But loyalties are probably a thing of the past right?
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Also, last season he made $625,000 which already made him one of the highest paid special teams coordinators in the country. Then Matt Rhule mentioned that he offered Ekeler an extension during the season. Sean Callahan of HuskerOnline said that the extension gave him a $200,000 raise.
So why leave?
Could it be the money? USC is starting to throw money around in that program. Their boosters are stepping up and they are pushing the boundaries on the rev share and NIL programs. Did head coach Lincoln Riley offer him a $1 million salary? I think that could absolutely be possible.
Maybe he wants to move away from being a special team’s coordinator? He coached linebackers at Tennessee, Nebraska and other stops. Maybe he wants to get back into coaching defense. This past bowl season Matt Rhule had Ekeler helping with the edges. Maybe it lit something in him that he has been missing. With that said, USC is full on defensive assistant coaches apparently. Maybe there is a plan in place to get him helping with the defensive units.
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Maybe he didn’t gel with Matt Rhule? One of my favorite scenes was when Ekeler was going nuts on the sideline after a big special teams play and he went to bump Matt Rhule and Rhule wasn’t having any of it. Truthfully, I think it is just Rhule saying “Ok ok Mike. I need to focus.” But this past week on The Zach Gelb Show on 365 Sports when asked about Mike Ekeler I thought his answer was…something. Normally I would figure that Rhule would say something like “I have had conversations with Mike and I have let him know that I want him here. But if he makes the decision to move on then I wish him nothing but the best. We have a system in place in case he does in fact leave.”
But that is not what what happened. When asked about Ekeler, Rhule said that the first he had heard about it was on social media. Then followed it up with saying that they offered him an extension during the season but Ekeler did not sign it and that they learned a progression system from Ekeler and that there are people who were his right hand men last season who will still be able to implement it this coming season.
Now I know that there are probably unwritten rules between coaches when it comes to contract negotiations. It is still baffling to me that a head coach hears that his special teams coordinator might be leaving and apparently hasn’t talked to him about it. Rhule not only appeared like he was in the dark on the subject but that he wasn’t even really interested in figuring out what Ekeler is thinking.
Or at least in a rare instance, Rhule is not being transparent on the subject which I absolutely understand. It is my guess that Rhule already knew that Ekeler is gone and didn’t want to touch the subject because Ekeler and USC had not finalized a deal.
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This is one of those instances I wish I was a fly on the wall in Rhule’s office.
So it could be a combination of his relationship with Rhule, money and/or an expansion of his coaching duties which has lead him to this point.
If a month ago, you were to ask me who would still be around between Dana Holgorsen or Mike Ekeler then I would unequivocally have said Mike Ekeler.
SPORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS! SPORTS!
No. 24 Nebraska comes up short, losing to No. 15 Michigan State 73-71
No. 15 Michigan State (17-1, 6-1) and No. 24 Nebraska Women’s Basketball (14-4, 3-4) were tied with 38 seconds remaining. Juliann Woodard was fouled and made both free throws to take a 73-71 lead with five seconds left. The Huskers didn’t have enough time to score.
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The Spartans are now 17-1, which is the best 18-game start in MSU history. The Scarlet and Cream drop to 0-4 against ranked teams.
Fastbreak: Hoiberg previews Nebraska’s next road test at Northwestern
Following its most lopsided Big Ten victory ever, Nebraska hits the road again for a trip to Northwestern on Saturday afternoon.
Head coach Fred Hoiberg gave the latest on the Huskers following Thursday’s practice and discussed the challenge ahead vs. the Wildcats…
Rhule says incoming Husker D-line coach Corey Brown ‘a huge, huge hire’
With the hire expected to soon be officially announced, Matt Rhule spoke for the first time on Wednesday on a podcast about the incoming Husker defensive line coach Corey Brown.
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Matt Rhule offered thoughts on The Zach Gelp Show about what was so appealing about Brown, who defensive coordinator Rob Aurich worked with at South Dakota. Brown is coming off a successful stint coaching the defensive line at Miami (Ohio).
17-0 Nebraska is more than a feel-good story — it’s a Big Ten contender
LINCOLN, Neb. — Dana Altman spent two decades as the head coach at Kansas State and Creighton before he landed at Oregon 15 years ago. He’s patrolled the sideline 30 times in his career against the Nebraska basketball team.
Inside Mike Tomlin’s decision to walk away from Steelers
With only the most dedicated, or perhaps the most discontent, fans remaining in the bright yellow seats of Acrisure Stadium on a deflating, frigid night, Mike Tomlin walked off the turf for the last time as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach just after 11 p.m. Monday.
Many college players among dozens charged in point-shaving plot
A college basketball point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on 17 NCAA Division I teams resulted in dozens of games in the previous two seasons being fixed by a gambling ring that included a former NBA player, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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Here’s how big the Dodgers’ payroll is about to get after landing Kyle Tucker
The Los Angeles Dodgers were the two-time defending World Series champions and the most expensive team in MLB history. And then they landed Kyle Tucker.
More specifically, they reportedly got the former Chicago Cubs star to agree to a four-year, $240 million contract, which is effectively the most expensive deal in MLB history on a per-year basis, when taking into account the deferrals in Shohei Ohtani’s $70 million-per-year deal.
Dodgers’ splurge on Tucker will increase calls for a salary cap, but MLB needs other fixes
Shortly after the Kyle Tucker news broke, a major-league coach called me, unaware of what had just transpired. When I informed him of Tucker’s four-year, $240 million agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the coach blurted out, “We’re going to have a lockout!”
