There’s not a defined timetable on making a defensive coordinator hire, though having it before the portal doors open would admittedly be helpful.
It’s not about scheme with the new guy either as much as play style.
John Butler had “unmatched” character and work ethic, but it just wasn’t the right fit for Matt Rhule.
Secondary coach Addison Williams is definitely someone the Nebraska head coach wants aboard no matter who the new hire may be.
Those are a few of the key takeouts on Wednesday when the Husker head coach discussed his decision to part ways two days earlier with Butler as Nebraska’s defensive coordinator.
“I love John Butler. John’s an amazing coach, an amazing person. He did a lot of great things for us. It just wasn’t exactly the right fit for me and the way I am so it’s probably more me than anything else. He’ll go on and have a ton of success and his character, his work ethic were unmatched. It just wasn’t the right fit for us moving forward. We’re not going to change everything, though,” Rhule said. “I think that was the main message to the recruits.”
What is needed in the next defensive coordinator?
“I want someone who – it’s not scheme – it’s our play style and how hard we play,” Rhule said. “The reality is the last two weeks we haven’t played hard enough. We were not the more physical team. And we had done that a lot of times. I want player development. I want physicality. I want effort way more than scheme. So someone who can bring all that out in us.”
The play style they want he thought was on display more earlier in this staff’s tenure here at Nebraska but hasn’t been as much so lately.
“In this league, in this stadium, you better stop the run and run the football,” Rhule said. “It’s easy just to throw it on the players. I don’t throw things on the players. There’s only one rule working for me and that’s, ‘Don’t tell me the players aren’t good enough. Don’t ever say that to me.’ You can evaluate and say, ‘Hey, this guy’s got to get stronger, this guy’s got to get bigger. Hey, we have a hole here, we’ve got to go get this guy.’ I have no problem with that.’
“But I want a coordinator who gets 11 guys to play as one.”
Rhule was encouraged about progress being made until the last two games. Like holding USC to 21 points and a much lower yardage total than its average. Then the team battling at UCLA to win and get to 7-3 at the bye. Those last two games and giving up 77 points disappointed him in a way where he’d “completely understand and agree” with anyone’s frustrations.
“We just have to do more,” Rhule said. “There are a lot of things that just have to continue to be developed … We have to attack this recruiting class, we have to attack the portal when it comes, we have to keep as many of our guys as we can but we also have to go out and supplement our needs.”
It’s also about guys getting bigger and stronger over another year. He’s told strength coach Corey Campbell, who he thinks is one of the best, to “go study everything” from when they workout, to when they want to conduct spring ball, to how they want to handle the summer.
Rhule said he’s tasked Phil Snow with focusing on the bowl game plan for the defense. Snow has asked Mike Ekeler to help coach on defense too for the bowl “so I think we have kind of all hands on deck.”
The head coach will do most of the preliminary stuff in his D-coordinator hire.
It would be helpful to have a coordinator in place by Jan. 2 when the portal opens, Rhule added, but “not necessarily necessary.” He wants to get the right guy most of all but acknowledged how a D-coordinator could plant a vision for visitors in January.
Could there be other staffing changes?
Rhule said he’d take this time to evaluate everything.
He thought Butler’s situation was unique because he’ll have some opportunities as a valued coach, especially in the NFL, and he wanted him to have a chance to get started on what’s next.
“But I don’t have anything in my mind right now, ‘Hey, this is going to happen,’” Rhule said. He will, however, “continue to really look at everything.”
He also wanted to make a move with the coordinator now to be fair to recruits – although NU had just two defenders in this class in five-star defensive back Danny Odem and in-state prospect Jase Reynolds.
“I talked with Danny and his grandfather. And I really appreciated their honesty,” Rhule said of the conversation had after the Butler news was made public. “I think a big key for them was Addison going to be here. We’ve been top 25 defense let’s say the last three years (Nebraska is 22 in total defense even with the run game struggles). We’re not going to scrap everything. This isn’t like this major overhaul, get everyone out here … And Addison is a huge part of this staff, and Addison is here. I think that was really important for Danny. Also I said to Danny, ‘Hey, you’re coming to play for me and I’m here.’”
Odem and his grandfather appreciated the integrity of the Husker program that Rhule made the D-coordinator change known Monday and didn’t wait until after signing day which programs sometimes do.
“If we weren’t sure we would’ve waited but we knew the direction we were going and it was best for everyone,” Rhule said.
The new defensive coordinator will have “a lot” of say in staff too.
Williams is clearly someone who will be here, Rhule said, and he likes the defensive staff.
“I think he’s a premier coach and a premier recruiter,” Rhule said when asked about Williams in particular. “The key now is consistency of Addison being here one, two, three, four years. I think he will be a stable of guys in that room that are all ready to compete and ready to play.”
As for what may come next, coordinators do sometimes like to bring a core group of guys.
Although a lot of times if you want to get a working premier coordinator, the head coach added, you have to buy him out of a place and maybe it’s harder to buyout his whole staff.
“But we’ll do the best thing we can moving forward for the staff and players.”
As Rhule reiterated in different ways a few times, “We’re going to look at every single part of what we’re doing.”
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