Faced with a fan base growing impatient following a third straight game his team led deep into the fourth quarter and lost, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule voiced support for his assistants and players Monday and urged everyone in and around the program to stay calm.
“We’re going to keep fighting until the day they tell me to leave,” Rhule said. “I’m not leaving, I’m not quitting.”
For the second straight week, Rhule gave a long and meandering statement at the start of his weekly news conference.
The Cornhuskers (5-3, 2/3 Big Ten) are coming off a 17-10 home loss to Washington and play at Illinois (5-3, 3-2) on Friday night.
The Huskers lost to Indiana and Oregon after blowing late leads, and they were up 7-3 against Washington with under 2 minutes to play Saturday. The Huskies converted a fourth-and-18 two plays before they scored the go-ahead touchdown, and then clinched it when Anthony Colandrea‘s third interception of the game was returned for a touchdown.
Fans threw trash onto the field after the interception, and Rhule said his 13-year-old daughter told him she was accosted at the stadium by a man who told her, “F-U and F your dad.”
“I’m not going to keep coaching if it means my kids grow up screwed up,” Rhule said.
Rhule said his wife, Julie, asked their children if the high-profile coaching life was too much to bear. He said his 10-year-old daughter texted him to say she loved the team, the players and living in Nebraska and that she’s tough enough to handle it.
“So I’m going to fight for the fans,” Rhule said. “Yeah, they get passionate, they boo, they throw a bottle. I get all that. The guy who attacked my 13-year-old daughter, I’m not coaching for him. I’m coaching for the people who are in the boat.”
The passengers on Rhule’s metaphorical boat, he said, are the players, coaches, staffers and fans.
“You get to these moments and the water is rocky, the ocean is rocky,” he said. “Just steady in the boat, man. Steady in the boat. Don’t take a rocking boat and a rocking sea and rock it even more, man. You can’t control what’s outside the boat. Your focus should be on being steady in the boat, going back to work this week and understanding this game against Illinois, if we play well, we’ll come down to the end and you have to make one more play than the other team.”
Rhule waved off calls for offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen’s job. Holgorsen was widely criticized for abandoning the running game and having Colandrea attempt 44 passes against Washington.
“Dana Holgorsen is one of the best offensive minds of our generation,” Rhule said.
Rhule praised the defense’s “dominance” for long stretches against the Huskies but lamented there were no takeaways.
“I’m going to fight for the people who give money to the program, for the fans who spend whatever money they make to come to our games. I’m going to fight for the people at the Elbow Room in Johnston, Nebraska, who welcomed me,” he said. “I’m not going to worry about the person who wants to throw something at Colandrea. I’m not going to worry about the person who wants to cuss out my daughter.”
