1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Does Matt Rhule's Contract Extension Mean that Nebraska will Contribute More to the Roster?: October 30th, 11:25pm

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Does Matt Rhule's Contract Extension Mean that Nebraska will Contribute More to the Roster?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We are back here on one-on-one on 93-7, the ticket. And the big news has officially happened here, not officially from the university, but officially from Pete Bammle. And I don't know if that rule's talked about it right now. He's on the Pat McGee show doing his weekly appearance. So I don't know if I've been able to watch. I mean, what are we doing? This is never mind.

I'm not. I'm going to stay out of this. He's on, he's on Pat McAfee right now talking about it. And there's like all the media just waiting in the press conference room to hear from him at 1130 and he's on that. You got to do the national media first. Think of that recruiting like you said earlier. Nebraska coach is from Pete Damunarst, Coach Matt Rule,

signed two-year contract extension this morning, which will take him through the 2032 season. It's a $15 million buyout this year that effectively eliminates him from any jobs in the coaching cycle. Now it has officially been announced by the university. Nebraska announces contract extension with Coach Matt Rule. The University of Nebraska and head coach Matt Rule have agreed to a two-year extension that extends rules agreement through the 20-year extension.

that extends rules agreement through the 2032 season. The restructured deal does not change rules-based salary, but does include salary escalators for CFP appearances. Troy Danon says this quote, Coach Rule has shown he is the right leader at the right time for Nebraska football. We look forward to him and his family being in Lincoln for a long time. Our program has seen significant progress under Matt's leadership, and at this stage in the evolution of the program,

continuity and stability are critical. There you go. Don't want to blow it up. He says this. I welcome the opportunity to continue to partner with Matt and his staff to build a program that would make everyone associated with Nebraska football proud Go Big Red. Matt Ruhl has been building something special at Nebraska, says the University of Nebraska president Jeff Gold.

I'm grateful that his leadership will continue. I'm confident the momentum he's generating will carry our program and the pride of Husker nation to even greater heights. Talks about Nebril academically. Rule said this, quote, The University of Nebraska, the city of Lincoln and the state of Nebraska, are special. It is a place our family is proud to call home. You have outstanding leadership from Dr. Gold and Troy Dannen, and I appreciate the support and confidence they have shown in our staff.

Our focus remains on building Nebraska football into a perennial national championship contender. That's it. There you have it. So it's official. It's again, it's official. Matt Rule is Stan and Lincoln signed a two-year contract extension here this morning. So big news, of course, ahead of the USC game. can maybe get to put all that stuff to rest with with Penn State. Interesting. You mentioned earlier, a bunch of recruits in town. So maybe good timing on that part.

We talked about, you know, maybe if Nebraska did beat USC, you might have to pay a dollar or two more here and there. But, you know, so altogether, there's still going to be people that are going to be questioning this. But again, I do think if you take a step back and give me frustrated about the Minnesota lost a couple weeks ago, you can say the Northwestern game was closer than you wanted it to be. but there's no denying taking a step back and saying the program has progressed under Matt rules. Is it fast enough? You know, are we getting the year three jump? We'll see in the next four games. If they win four games, then yes, they win three games and yes, they win two. That's a step on a jump.

So, I mean, all that stuff's going to factor in. But the bigger deal is that you have continuity. Because we talked about it, well, I don't think anybody's really dove into it too much because it wasn't facing us at the time. But Nebraska would not be one of the, the best open jobs in the market this off season, if it did happen that way. And there's no obvious choice that who would be the next guy up. So when you talk about continuity and progress and all that, I mean, that's what you want. Ultimately, you want to be playing for the national championship, right? But along those lines, you've got to take those steps.

And Nebraska's been taking those steps enough for the athletic department to go ahead and solidify that rule. And I do know, I mean, I do know that there have been coaches, a couple of them that have reached out to Troy Dan said, hey, you know, if this job opens, up. I'm interested in it. But I can say this, that the names didn't jump off the page, the ones that did reach out. And so I think that, you know, ultimately it's, you know, it is what it is. Greg Smith of Rivals, a National Recruiting Analyst for rivals, tweets this out. He goes, I'm told Nebraska is going to look to be consistent big players

in recruiting and portal with additional financial backing. This move has a lot to do with calming fears of donors who are on the fence due to uncertainty, with Penn State's job being open. That's another thing that you have to talk about is with all of this happening in January, the transfer portal and stuff, only that being the only window nowadays, you have to, you have to, have to, have to have your ducks in a row, have to have to have stability. You have to have your donors all lined up ready to go in January.

So you can make these offers to these guys in the portal during recruiting season as well so that they know what they're getting. And Matt Ruhl and his staff know what they have to work with now. Like this is where general managers are a massive part of this as well. Pat Stewart now has to know this is the amount I have to work with. Those are going to be some big conversations that are had over the next couple of weeks. Donors with an extension with security are much more willing to give more money to the program now. If they know that, hey, Matt Rule is going to be here for the foreseeable future.

There's a lot here. And Nebraska, I would imagine that there'll be massive players in the portal. They will be, we're talking about almost open checkbooks for Matt Rule and his staff, which sure, part of me gets it that you have to play the game. The other part of me goes, you know what? There's a lot of coaches out there that go take Division 2 guys and make them into formidable power for players. Coaching matters a lot too.

You can't just buy a roster. You can, you can have ultimate success, just buying a roster, in my opinion. You have to have the right people in place, which goes back to Matt Rule. as he had to identify and is he able to identify the right coordinators, the right position coaches, so on and so forth to be able to take this thing to the top. Yeah, and it's all, again, all of it factors in. I think there's some arguments on behalf of Matt Rule for having developed some guys already. You know, and sure.

Yeah, as they're moving along here, you know, picking, picking right guys. I mean, Kent Williams, obviously, you know, a great story of somebody that he identified that could come in here and help this team and already has helped Nebraska. So, you know, it is, I think that is the next part of it is to see how competitive Nebraska is. There's been some surprising players in the transfer portal era, if you will, Texas Tech, of course, being among those. But Nebraska was competitive last season. And so I do expect, again, we thought that for years was the case, was Nebraska was going to be a beneficiary of the modern era.

And hopefully that continues to happen. But I'll tell you this, though, there's never going to be enough. Matt Rule, I think as long as you extend him is going to still have to go to the podium and say, we need more because you're always going to need more until you're at the top. And even when you're on the top, you're going to need more, right? So I don't expect that conversation to die down. But I do. I believe part of this on Matt Rule's end without being substantial financially for him,

like that being the giant incentive, again, helpful but not substantial. that for him to agree to this is, you know, he probably wanted more of a commitment to the program. I don't think that's something we talk about enough, particularly maybe when we get to other sports. Maybe you can stick up for Coach Hoyberg here. Not to say the Nebraska's didn't do bad basketball-wise or in the portal, but do they have the same,

do they have the same NIL that some of the other teams do in the Big Ten. And then you go out there and you try to compare them team for team in the standings. And it's not necessarily fair. And that's the same thing going on in football. again with the top teams. How many weeks, every week that Oregon plays somebody, the opposing coaches, whether it be coordinators or head coaches, say something about it.

And so, I mean, that's just the new world of college football. And hopefully Nebraska, as part of this, and believe italy so, reportedly so, is going to be buying into that. How much does that mean? Does that mean that Brasca can pick who they want to in the portal? Again, everybody else is going to be competing too. We'll see.

There was a few positions. I think we were all left a little bit disappointed in not landing in the last portal go-round. And it's kind of reared its ugly head this season. So we'll see if Nebraska does a little bit better by the time we get there. All right. We got to go to another quick break here on one-on-one. We'll be back with more. Talk more about this Matt will extension,

Oscar football game against USC and more on 93-7 the ticket. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 9. 37 the ticket and the ticket FM.com.