Rhule to Penn State?
- Thread starter Toe
- Start date
gorp512
Starter
Crusader Husker
All-Conference
sad but true
krc1995
Heisman Trophy Winner
That was going to be my response. And the real burn is that they're leaving Uncle Donnie here
Cornfed
Special Teams Player
Wistrom Disciple
Starter
I do find it funny how some pundits are suggesting Dylan would leave if Rhule takes the PSU job. Inarguably, Rhule's most important recruit is more committed to his family and Nebraska than he is to any OC or head coach. Rhule would need to find a signal caller that can win and win fast. Our Jeff Sims experience indicates that QB recruiting is no sure fire thing. He could definitely find a suitable player, but getting all the right pieces to click with an impatient fanbase is not a position to be envied given that they just fired a coach who reached the final four in last year's playoffs.
Sticking with Nebraska, Rhule can envision what the next few years could look like. He'll know his future pro QB is staying and recruiting around him has been relatively easy. Clear upward trajectory as a program with a supportive fanbase that isn't far removed from the lowest of lows with our Frost experiment.
Going to Happy Valley, Rhule has to re-create that vision and must find a QB or two that could push them to be a top 5-10 team within two years. How many fans will be happy waiting for Year 3 to crack at the title if the first two years are mediocre? Taking the Penn State job is incredibly risky and will require near immediate success or Year 3 will be the hot seat.
Sticking with Nebraska, Rhule can envision what the next few years could look like. He'll know his future pro QB is staying and recruiting around him has been relatively easy. Clear upward trajectory as a program with a supportive fanbase that isn't far removed from the lowest of lows with our Frost experiment.
Going to Happy Valley, Rhule has to re-create that vision and must find a QB or two that could push them to be a top 5-10 team within two years. How many fans will be happy waiting for Year 3 to crack at the title if the first two years are mediocre? Taking the Penn State job is incredibly risky and will require near immediate success or Year 3 will be the hot seat.
I mean ... I don't what to derail all this fun hypothetical conversation. But I think a better case that if Carson Beck hadn't decided to return to Georgia, a lot of people would be clamoring about how poor our recruiting has been. Last I looked we were dead fricking last in the conference in recruiting for 2026.
IMO this is why it really comes down to how much PSU's head coaching position means to him. He'll be willing to deal with those headaches if he's that passionate about the role there.
Like with most things, it'll probably come down to a battle of heart vs. brain and just how much that role means to him (if he's offered).
Guy Chamberlin
Heisman Trophy Winner
Not sure why you'd want Dan Campbell or Dan Mullen at this point.
Husker_In_WI
Guest
This is the biggest takeaway from the presser IMO - Penn State has shown the willingness to be a top spender, we have not. If we show willingness to match that I think he'll have a hard time leaving. But we aren't currently matching that level, and if that appears set to continue and Penn State offers I'd say he's gone.
That being said, even if he's their AD's first call because of their relationship and mutual respect there's no way he's the #1 overall on their board. They just poached the highest paid DC in the sport from a conference rival, they will absolutely try and pull a coach with a track record of winning big games and not just rebuilding teams into relevance.
I think the most likely scenario is Rhule leverages this to squeeze more NIL dollars into the program and sticks around, and PSU hires someone with a longer track record of winning teams. I'm sure the AD would love to hire his buddy, but replacing the guy who couldn't win big games with an alumnus who hasn't won big games would be very unpopular with the fanbase. It's not like he's a Scott Frost figure who led them to a championship and gave an impassioned national speech supporting his legendary coach as a player, he's a walk-on LB that I'm sure the fanbase is moderately proud of but someone who their average fan wouldn't have even known he was a player on their team.
I'm not sure this is really the case. Are we in the Top 5? Doubtful. Not sure if Penn State is either. Are we in the top 20-25? And have the ability to move up if we can get the product on the field to match? I think that's entirely possible.
As Sean Callahan likes to point out, how many other teams who have been to one bowl game in the last eight years are even in the conversation for some of the top talent that we're getting and getting to visit? Basically none. That doesn't happen without being pretty completive in the NIL space.
SuperBigFan69
Head Coach
Dan Campbell from the lions? That guy would KILL it in college in my very humble opinion.
Mullen won at Miss St, that place is a Texasing dump and I think he had them ranked #1 or #2 one year, I could be wrong.
I can see the argument that Mullen didn't do so great at UF, but Mullen seems like a solid hire, I just don't know if he is a PSU hire. Mullen seems more like the "underdog" kind of coach, like, put him at a school that doesn't have as much.
SuperBigFan69
Head Coach
Sadly that is because all those other schools made bowl games! Haha