Nebraska nailed down one coordinator while losing another as college football’s carousels for both players and coaches spun at warp speed. Dana Holgorsen, hired as the Huskers’ offensive coordinator for the final three games of the season, will stay on the staff to call the offense. Tony White, whose two defenses ranked among the top 20 in the country in scoring defense, will leave, taking the defensive coordinator job at Florida State. The Nebraska athletic department announced Holgorsen’s extension Monday night. While neither FSU nor NU had confirmed White’s move, numerous reports confirmed White had been hired by the Seminoles.
White came to Nebraska after serving as defensive coordinator at Syracuse. His move to Florida State constitutes a return to the ACC, where he had success before Nebraska. ESPN reported that White received a three-year contract. His predecessor at FSU, Adam Fuller, made $1.8 million per season before being dismissed this season, $200,000 per year more than White. White’s defense is coming off arguably its best performance at Iowa. Despite suffering the loss, the Huskers allowed just 164 yards of offense to the Hawkeyes, 72 of that coming on one swing pass to Kaleb Johnson. Iowa earned just five first downs.
White’s replacement is likely already on the staff. Defensive backs coach John Butler, who just completed his first year on the staff, had previously served as Penn State’s defensive coordinator a decade ago. Butler had been the Buffalo Bills’ defensive backs coach, but when the Bills’ DC job came open after last season, Butler was passed over for the position and decided to leave coaching temporarily before the spot on the Husker staff opened following the dismissal of defensive backs coach Evan Cooper just before fall camp. Another candidate, Phil Snow, served as Rhule’s defensive coordinator at Temple, Baylor and the Carolina Panthers, before stepping away from coaching after Rhule was fired as the Panthers head coach in 2022. Snow was hired as a consultant for Nebraska for the final month of the season.
Meanwhile, Holgorsen brought a distinguished resume to Nebraska was he was hired first as a consultant, then as the offensive coordinator before the USC game. Both in his time as a head coach at West Virginia and Houston, and before that as an offensive coordinator at Texas Tech, Houston and Oklahoma State, Holgorsen had distinguished himself as one of the top offensive playcallers in the country. Heavily influenced by the “Air Raid” offense invented by his college coaches, Hal Mumme and Mike Leach, Holgorsen integrated that offense’s principles with more balance that allowed the offense to be successful, even in adverse weather at West Virginia. With the Nebraska offense struggling and three games to go, Rhule summoned Holgorsen first to examine the offense, then consider coordinating it. Holgorsen took over as playcaller for the USC game, and the offense was noticably more fluid and successful. That was especially true against Wisconsin, as the Huskers won 44-25. The 44 points were the most scored by Nebraska in a game since 2021. Holgorsen signed a two-year, $1.2 million dollar per year contract, according to a release from the Nebraska Athletic Department.
The changes might not be over to the Husker staff. Separate reports said both Terrance Knighton (defensive line coach) and Garret McGuire (wide receivers coach) were both leaving the NU staff, but neither had been confirmed as of 8:30 p.m. Monday.