2025-26 #PortalSZN Thread

[HerbRedman]

The other part of this is that Dana has repeatedly said that he was “kicked out of the air raid club” for turning more to the run. So I don’t know why people think his offense is ever going to be Okie State or WVU again.

For some reason it’s much easier for fans to believe that there is a conspiracy to make Dana look bad rather than that he looks bad because in 2026 he kinda sucks.

We could ask Houston fans and I'm sure they'd tell us

 

[Irv]

I am not going to say I’m out on Rhule and I’m not going to puff my chest and say I got something right because I’ve been wrong a lot before.

But…

Rhule’s first staff was a giant disappointment. Head coach matters. But who he brings as his assistant coaches matters just as much. Satterfield was never going to cut it. It was easy to see. Jeff Sims was a terrible take as your QB (I know he balled out at ASU). Your TE coach was a bad hire. Your WR coach was a worse one. Your special teams coach was also not good enough.

Yes he’s made adjustments. But he also made a lot unforced errors which has led us to where we are now.

I’ve got no idea where we end up in February. But it’s fair to say that our approach has been quite different than last year. I hope different means better.

Another decision I’m not sure on currently was walking Vince Guinta off of campus and redoing everything about player acquisition. Guinta has been one of the best in the business.

I hope Stewart is up to this task. The fact is we need a lot. We do have money. But I agree that money has to be spent well.

This is either going to go very well or very bad.

It’s also the compounding of errors.

He didn’t pull the trigger on Satterfield after year one. Instead he let it linger and then decided mid season he had to do something. I realize I’m more down on DH than most fans, but whatever you think of him, looking for a new OC to come in and help mid season severely limits your pool - and what you’re looking at is guys who are out of work.

Then you lose your DC, who most people thought was your best initial hire. Instead of looking for someone with a similar profile - a guy with a couple of strong current seasons as a DC - you take someone with near zero coordinating experience and no recent history at the position.

Then you are forced to fire that guy and start over again.

And I would put the odds of Dana still being at Nebraska next year at about 25% given the track record here and the difficult schedule and God knows what happens (or doesn’t) at QB and RB, which means if Rhule is too expensive to fire, you have to start over there again.

Whatever happens in the future, it’s been a poorly run organization, and those kinds of high level administrative things should have been a Rhule strong suit.

 

[Irv]

We could ask Houston fans and I'm sure they'd tell us

They might be concerned he’s too sober.

 

[Alcaus]

Not to mention Stewart wasn’t good at his job in the NFL either. He’s a Rhule buddy. And is likely in over his head

I don't know how to evaluate how good he was at his different stops in the NFL but he's definitely in the MR tree.

 

[realbp]

Not to mention Stewart wasn’t good at his job in the NFL either. He’s a Rhule buddy. And is likely in over his head

I think it's much harder in CFB than it is in the NFL. At least in the NFL there are rules for player acquisition.

 

[V-Doub]

I would pay Jim $1M to coach the team and take the other $11.5M and put it to NIL tomorrow if we could

State of Nebraska fan lottery… New fan wins a one year contract to coach the team for a year. $1 million after taxes and the rest of the money we’d would’ve spent on a real coach goes to NIL. Winners of the lottery must show up and at least attempt to coach the team in some capacity to receive you 1 million dollar salary/check. Salary is not contingent on W/L results, you just have to show up to work.

Option #2 - Hire some schmuck at discount salary. Total no name hire for like $1.5-2 million a year. Say… “We want to win.” gaslight the fans, media and most importantly, the boosters. Keep selling out Memorial stadium, merchandise and continue push every possible revenue stream. Always selling the future and insisting we’re “close”. Then…

Behind the scenes (be more like an open secret) we’ll just spend like 2 million total on our entire football roster and funnel all funds towards having the most dominant basketball program ever known to man. Now, if Fred will just keep his fucking mouth shut and just take the damn money… It might just work.

Disclaimer: option 2 will include many humiliating 3-9 seasons for the football team.

 

[V-Doub]

We've been talking about it all season. This is what Pat Stewart was hired for and he has to perform. There can be no "learning on the job" and while College NIL is still young and ever-changing there's really no excuses.

My concern is player negotiation, acquisition and roster organization is a different animal in college than the NFL.

You hire a GM and then you give him enough money to do the job. And if he has enough money and can’t get it done he’s useless. And if you’re not giving him the resources, well then what was point of having a GM?

As of right now, IDK exactly what is going on. Did Rhule hire the wrong guy, again? Or is he really getting the money he needs to compete? I’m sure this will all be thoroughly hashed out and known by the time we fire Rhule next December.

 

[ChocaEgg]

 

[realbp]

An Cockeye DB in the portal...

I don't even need to know if they have ever played. They're a take.

 

[rsmacke]

One of the DL that was an alleged target just committed to Kansas so either Nebraska isn’t very serious in the DL market, we broke AF or ideally going after some bigger fish

 

[Herbie]

One of the DL that was an alleged target just committed to Kansas so either Nebraska isn’t very serious in the DL market, we broke AF or ideally going after some bigger fish

Think we are finally going to the all db defense

 

[HuskerGarrett]

I put it in the portal nugs thread but Anthony Colandrea is currently in Lincoln

 

[Herbie]

I put it in the portal nugs thread but Anthony Colandrea is currently in Lincoln

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

I put it in the portal nugs thread but Anthony Colandrea is currently in Lincoln

If we locked him down, I'd be very happy with that result.

 

[Steveweiser316]

Who’s your QB of choice?

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

Who’s your QB of choice?

Herbie's a massive homo, so assuming the "gayyy" is his stamp of approval.

 

[Tonkasker]

Huge loss. He was easily the best returning player on defense and will be an NFL draft pick next year. Probably R3-4. He was planning on returning as recently as last week

Wouldn't shock me if it was a godfather Texas Tech offer or a blue chip program

 

[Carm]

I put it in the portal nugs thread but Anthony Colandrea is currently in Lincoln

he asked FSU for $2.5M so we should be able to get him before he leaves Lincoln if we match that.

Chiles is likely already moved on to finalizing a deal with Chip Kelly

 

[Dell Husker]

Another familiar guy

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Huge loss. He was easily the best returning player on defense and will be an NFL draft pick next year. Probably R3-4. He was planning on returning as recently as last week

Wouldn't shock me if it was a godfather Texas Tech offer or a blue chip program

time to nut up Matt