1. He rebuilds
He inherited a team at Temple that had awful talent left by Steve Addazio and inherited an absolute mess at Baylor with Art Briles and a slew of awful off-field issues. After a 2-10 season in his debut at Temple he won 10 games in his last two seasons there and led Temple to a win over Penn State for the first time since the 1940s. At Baylor after losing much of the roster he was 1-11 his first season. Two years later he was 11-1 and playing for the Big 12 title and a playoff berth and lost in OT to Oklahoma. The man can rebuild.
2. He evaluates
Rhule hasn’t recruited five and four stars at his stops but doesn’t need to. And the key to success at Nebraska isn’t luring 4 and 5s. It’s finding underrated talent who have a chip on their shoulder. Rhule finds them.
3. He develops players
Rhule has proven he can get 3 stars to play like 4s at Temple and Baylor and his player development skills are well known and revered in college football.
4. He can recruit anywhere
I love this about him. He’s a Northeast guy so recruiting at Temple wasn’t unexpected. But a New York dude with no experience down south landing in Waco, TX and killing it? That’s amazing. And Rhule did it all over with successful recruiting in Texas but also tapping into his east coast roots. He will recruit all over for Nebraska if he’s the guy.
5. He’s in the right division
The Big Ten West has no dominant team now or in the future. Purdue won the division this year amid a litany of mediocre teams. Illinois was a nice surprise, Minnesota seems to have peaked as a good-but-not great team, and Iowa won’t get anywhere until they figure out how to come up with some sort of offense. Winning this division can be done and done quickly. And you win the division you have a chance to New Years Six and the CFP.
