Potential Assistant coach change(s)

I think the easy answer is that Raiola goes due to o-line performance. Well, strength and conditioning; as well as the athletic ability of the players I think have had a bigger impact on the results.  So I’m good with Raiola staying.

McGuire — too early to tell.  Surprised by the hire.  His group has had minimal impact, but again, quality of players is a factor.

I’m good with keeping the staff intact.  Some consistency and continuity would be appreciated.  
Lastly, Rhule was given a blank check to assemble the best staff.  I wish he would have done that.  

 
Methinks the O-line is actually improved from the last 2.5 yrs. 
Watch the tape, there are times we get good push and totally collapse the DL into the second level. It’s not consistent yet, and there are gaps, but we are definitely moving the LOS scrimmage forward on a lot of our power runs. Pass blocking is still bad, but we can be coached up and improve still. 
 

also, the TE blocking (really happy w Fidone, especially) has been B minus, which is better than before. Further, some of the big runs have been sprung by physical point of attack blocking downfield by WR and TE. 
 

we aren’t trying to “outsmart” defenses much anymore, we have a hat on a hat, and we run plays consistently that work until they don’t. When is the last time we just ran s#!t until they stopped it?  Been a minute.
I like what we are trying to establish. Rhule has held  his word, he wants to run the ball. 
Rhule went from his portal guy at QB  to a 3rd yr in-state kid that had never played and that kid and the team has seen some success. 
That’s what I like to see in year 1. 
Rhule is doing what he said he wants to be: 

be tough, run the ball, tough defense, play smarter, be disciplined. Not all grade A but moving in that direction. 
Gosh dang, fellas…give it some time. We finally have a coach who has done it twice at two bad situations. And so far he has kept to his script:  identity, plug along, compete, stick to it, make hay w what we have. 
Defense seems good, tryin to run the ball (establish LOS),  playin some youth especially on defense, attitude seems good despite some losses…

We have winnable games and we have to do some s#!t to accomplish what we as fans would like to see.  Let it play out before “we” fire some coaches. We can this game against Illinoise, then on to the next 
 

 
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chamrocck said:
OL is the obvious choice. We need a Deion style reboot, like is there any downside to that?  I think recruits know Rhule has put guys in the league.  But has our OL coach?  We need a tie to the league and ensuring we are putting guys there.  Here is a guy I would look at seriously:

https://gohuskies.com/staff-directory/scott-huff/1488
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Might depend on the definition or execution of a "reboot." If we're talking a new o-line coach and majority new o-line through portal additions or young guys, the o-line probably isn't getting much better any time soon. IMO it's the hardest position group to develop on a football team because of the high demands on communication and technique. That's not to say you don't make a change necessarily, but I think you just have to be really confident that it's the right thing to do.

Raiola can claim partial credit for six O linemen ND sent to the NFL (he was an offensive grad assistant and o-line assistant coach) but none that he can really solely claim. He went to the NFL after ND and then he's only really been here one full season and I don't think any o-linemen were drafted in '23.

 
desertshox said:
No he wasn't. He had 7.5M for his staff.
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Euphemism.

randomly selected :

Oklahoma - $7.75 million

Ohio St. - $8.83 million

Georgia - $8.4

Alabama - $8.36

Clemson - $8 

Colorado - $4.5

Minnesota -$4

Oregon - $6.6 

The point is — Nebraska’s pool is up there with the big dogs.  
You tell me which of these schools would hire McGuire, etc. 

In the interest of continuity, I’m willing to give the current assistants some patience, but you’re kidding yourself if you believe that Rhule didn’t have a “blank check” to get who he wanted.  He could have hired a $2 million OC and DC and then would have nearly $450k each for  8 more assistants.  

 
secretasianman said:
Euphemism.

randomly selected :

Oklahoma - $7.75 million

Ohio St. - $8.83 million

Georgia - $8.4

Alabama - $8.36

Clemson - $8 

Colorado - $4.5

Minnesota -$4

Oregon - $6.6 

The point is — Nebraska’s pool is up there with the big dogs.  
You tell me which of these schools would hire McGuire, etc. 

In the interest of continuity, I’m willing to give the current assistants some patience, but you’re kidding yourself if you believe that Rhule didn’t have a “blank check” to get who he wanted.  He could have hired a $2 million OC and DC and then would have nearly $450k each for  8 more assistants.  
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Pretty sure you'd be surprised at how many places hire coaches with no experience.  Starting from the top of your list, both Oklahoma and Ohio State hired guys with no previous coaching experience as assistants.

 
Mavric said:
Pretty sure you'd be surprised at how many places hire coaches with no experience.  Starting from the top of your list, both Oklahoma and Ohio State hired guys with no previous coaching experience as assistants.
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Do fan bases honestly know who assistant coaching staffs are at other programs? Or do they just automatically assume their coaching staff is not as good as others. I understand that there can be “great coaching staffs” but they aren’t publicized at that time. Coaches can grow and get promoted at other schools, but nobody knows about them until they actually get those promotions. 

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Do fan bases honestly know who assistant coaching staffs are at other programs? Or do they just automatically assume their coaching staff is not as good as others. I understand that there can be “great coaching staffs” but they aren’t publicized at that time. Coaches can grow and get promoted at other schools, but nobody knows about them until they actually get those promotions. 
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They absolutely have no idea who 99% of the non-coordinators are at any other school.  And probably not much more than that for the coordinators - only the big-name ones who are either previous head coaches or have shown up in the playoffs for a couple of years so they get their picture on TV.

 
Mavric said:
They absolutely have no idea who 99% of the non-coordinators are at any other school.  And probably not much more than that for the coordinators - only the big-name ones who are either previous head coaches or have shown up in the playoffs for a couple of years so they get their picture on TV.
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And....some fans always think our staff sucks if assistants are hired they have never heard of before.

I honestly don't see changes being made unless a coach leaves on their own for a new job.

 
BigRedBuster said:
I honestly don't see changes being made unless a coach leaves on their own for a new job.
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Agree 100% on this.  If Rhule is going to preach that he’s looking at the overall process, unless there was something that went terribly wrong (like Wager), Rhule is going to retain his guys to work thru that process. Expecting drastic changes after 1 year (and we haven’t even reached the halfway point) isn’t even worth the discussion. 

 
It's nice to see other people pointing out that there's at least some improvement on the O line. I agree with the assessment, and Raiola absolutely gets the credit there for me.

I said before the season began that I felt like if he was a good coach, some improvement would be seen. I didn't feel like he should get to hide behind all that many excuses anybody could come up with for him.

But the point is, I think the group is improved. And that's really encouraging. If we can have several more games where we crack 200 yards rushing and get to a bowl I don't think there'd be much rationale whatsoever in saying the guy should be fired. There are 7 more games to play.

 
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Undone said:
It's nice to see other people pointing out that there's at least some improvement on the O line. I agree with the assessment, and Raiola absolutely gets the credit there for me.

I said before the season began that I felt like if he was a good coach, some improvement would be seen. I didn't feel like he should get to hide behind all that many excuses anybody could come up with for him.

But the point is, I think the group is improved. And that's really encouraging. If we can have several more games where we crack 200 yards rushing and get to a bowl I don't think there'd be much rationale in saying the guy should be fired. There are 7 more games to play.
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Benhart is definitely improved.  In fact, if you replace the other tackle with a guy that is playing like Behart is right now, I think we would be talking very different about the line.  Has Benhart been perfect?  No.  But, he's been way better than he was last year....in my opinion.

 
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