Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule Pre-Pinstripe Bowl Quotes

On hiring John Butler as defensive coordinator
“It was very methodical. I talked to John about his vision. I interviewed probably 5-6 people. There were a lot of parameters to me that mattered. The least was the optics. I didn’t care about making a splash or anything like that. Coach Kevin McGarry told one of the candidates, coming here is like a defensive coordinator's dream. We practice a certain way, we play a certain way. So I wanted to get the right person. I talked to a lot of candidates. There was a ton of interest from sitting defensive coordinators. I really like what we’ve done the last two years. I think we took a step back defensively a little bit in some areas. But I like what we’ve done. I like the overall general philosophy. This is something my mentor Phil Snow told to me. ‘You know Matt, to win moving forward, the things we are doing, the havoc we are creating, is great on first and second down. To be great moving forward on third down, some of the stuff we have done in the NFL. It’s third down packages, second and long packages versus the teams who can really throw it. We played good against Iowa but Iowa is a running team. To be able to stop the offenses that we are going to need to stop, that can drop back and spin the ball, we are going to need some advanced defense on third down, two minute, redzone. As I went through that, John had the top secondary in the NFL for five years. There was a lot of outpouring from our current players, guys I really respect. I’m not going to make that decision because of that. But I feel like some current guys in the secondary felt like after three or four years in college, John had brought a professionalism and a next-level mentality to them that they thought was going to prepare them for the next level. Some of them are leaving so they didn’t even have to say that to me. I think it was a combination of who could add to what we are already doing at a high level. Who could bring some things secondary wise to really help us. And after working with John for a year, I thought he was really professional, really good to work with, a great evaluator and I am excited for him.”

On what kind of a jump the offense can make with a consistent coordinator and quarterback
“I think when you look at the success in college that we’ve had as a staff, playing a freshman quarterback, them taking a step in the second year and then in the third year, becoming a championship level quarterback. To me, Dylan (Raiola) played winning football for us this year. He’s really assimilating into what Dana’s (Holgorsen) vision is. Having an offseason. Here’s my vision – obviously this month is highly important, but the receivers in January through August, getting on the same page, and Dylan leading that. When Dylan came in last year, he was earning his ability to speak, he was in a quarterback competition. I think now, obviously, Dylan is the quarterback and he can take that and run with it to a whole other level. I had Joe Brady with me in Carolina and he would talk about the jump that Joe Burrow made, getting in there with those guys and starting day one of the offseason, throwing and catching. I think that continuity will be really important and Dana’s vision for what will be will be really important. Having everyone on the same page. That’s critical. You’re only a good head coach when you have great quarterback play, just so we’re on the same page. There’s no one in the college football playoff that isn’t playing well at quarterback. You have to have a guy back there that you trust, and I trust Dylan.”

On the importance of practices leading up to a bowl game
“Last week was Tuesday and Thursday. Right now it’s Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with Monday and Wednesday lifting. Next week will be a game week, so we’ll do a full game week next week – Monday through Saturday. We’ll get to the bowl site on Monday the 23rd and we will do a bowl week game week. Obviously there’s certain things – we need to go here to do this and there to do that. We’ve been really developing guys. The veteran players have been doing Indy, some seven on seven, some one on ones. We’re taking a good, hard look at some of our younger players and getting them ready for next year.”