After Matt Rhule said Monday that outside consultants would be brought in during the idle week to help Nebraska get back on the winning track, reports revealed the identities of two of those consultants. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that former Houston and West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen would be joining the NU staff as an “offensive consultant” for the remainder of the season. Thamel says Holgorsen’s role “will evolve as the season goes on.” Also on Tuesday, Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald reported, in addition to Holgorsen, longtime Rhule aide Phil Snow would be joining the staff as a defensive consultant.
Holgorsen is known as an offensive guru, helping develop quarterbacks like Case Keenum at Houston, Geno Smith at West Virginia and Brandon Weedum as an assistant at Oklahoma State. Holgorsen had a record of 61-41 in seven years as head coach of the Mountaineers, guiding WVU to seven bowl games before leaving to take the head coaching job at Houston, where he’d previously been an assistant. In five years, Holgorsen had a 31-28 record while guiding UH to three bowl games. But after a 4-8 season in Houston’s first year as a Big 12 school, Holgorsen was fired after last season. He had been working as a consultant helping TCU’s defensive staff this season. Holgorsen is an offshoot of the Air Raid coaching tree, playing for Hal Mumme at Iowa Wesleyan before coaching under him at Valdosta State. Holgorsen joined Mike Leach at Texas Tech in 2000 and coached under him until 2007, before spending two year’s as Houston’s offensive coordinator and a year running Oklahoma State’s offense before becoming a head coach.
Meanwhile, Snow is very familiar to Rhule, serving as Rhule’s defensive coordinator for the first 10 years and three stops of his coaching career. Snow had been a longtime assistant when he met Rhule when both were members of UCLA’s staff in the early 2000s, then reunited when Rhule hired Snow as his defensive coordinator upon being elevated to Temple’s head coach in 2013. Snow followed Rhule to Baylor in 2017, then joined him as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers in 2020. Snow had been working more recently as a defensive analyst for the Chicago Bears. He’s also the uncle of former Red Sox All-Star second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
The Huskers are looking for answers after losing three straight. After starting the season 5-1, Nebraska has been stuck at five wins (just one from bowl eligibility) for a month.