Matt Rhule

Matthew Kenneth Rhule (born January 31, 1975) is an American college football coach and former linebacker. He is currently the head football coach for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a position he has held since 2023. He was also the head football coach for Temple University from 2013 to 2016, Baylor University from 2017 to 2019, and the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Rhule played linebacker at Penn State from 1994 to 1997. Rhule was born and raised in New York City before moving to State College, Pennsylvania for high school, where he later joined Penn State's football team as a walk-on under Joe Paterno. After a four-year playing career for the Nittany Lions, Rhule began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater. Over the following decade he served as an assistant at several schools, and in 2008 Rhule became the offensive coordinator at Temple. After a brief stint as an assistant for the NFL's New York Giants, Rhule returned to Temple as the program's head coach in 2013. During his four-year tenure, he led the Owls to their only two ten-win seasons since 1979. Rhule was hired as Baylor's head coach following Temple's victory in the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championship Game. After finishing 8–17 across Rhule's first two seasons, the Bears improved to 11–3 in 2019. Rhule returned to the NFL in 2020 as head coach of the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers missed the playoffs in each of Rhule's first two seasons and he was fired after a 1–4 start to 2022, departing Carolina with a combined record of 11–27. The following month, Rhule agreed to an eight-year contract to become Nebraska's head coach.