Inside Matt Rhule’s plan to restore Nebraska, one infant shower

• Pete Thamel, ESPNJun 30, 2023, 07:00 AM ET

LINCOLN, Neb.– With an elk’s head installed on the wall and the Farm Service Credit of America luncheon on the calendar, Elks Lodge # 1790 in Ainsworth, Nebraska, appears like an unusual location for a blueprint for the revival of Nebraska football to expose itself.Forget restoring the championship glory of Tom Osborne, winning the Big Ten West or, heck, even determining a method to surpass Minnesota in the opener. To resuscitate the Nebraska football program from a generational low point, new coach Matt Rhule initially had to win the offseason one handshake and selfie at a time.A few months earlier, Rhule flew into Ainsworth, which is the home of the state’s leading high school player, blue chip tight end Carter Nelson. Consuming choices are restricted in the town of 2,000, so Rhule and a couple of staffers knocked on the door of the Elks and were greeted with the news that a personal child shower was unfolding inside.Midwestern hospitality quickly collided with the awareness the brand-new

Cornhuskers coach stood at the door, and Rhule and his assistants lunched with the family, took photos and learnt more about the folks who had actually driven in from Iowa and the Dakotas.”Everywhere we go we attempt to go, we take a seat someplace and we have lunch and have supper and satisfy all individuals in the towns, “Rhule told ESPN in his office recently. “Because when you cross Nebraska, it actually hits you, these people are relying on us, counting on us to win and bring the program back to the level that’s been.”Nebraska’s$ 74 million bet on Rhule is that the master college rebuilder can lead the double return of both his own profession and Nebraska’s going to pieces football program. In the wake of Rhule’s firing from the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in the middle of the 2022 season after amassing an 11-27 record, he’s charged with both restoring his own track record as one of college football’s most promising coaches and Nebraska’s relevance on the national landscape.