{"id":445769,"date":"2025-10-14T13:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T13:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/445769\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T13:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T13:08:11","slug":"rhule-says-he-loves-psu-but-focus-is-on-huskers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/445769\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhule says he loves PSU but focus is on Huskers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule\u2019s<\/a> name has been immediately connected in media speculation to the job opening at Penn State.<\/p>\n

Rhule, 50, addressed reporters Monday for the first time since Saturday\u2019s 34-31 win at Maryland, and to no surprise, the PSU opening immediately came up. <\/p>\n

James Franklin<\/a> was fired Sunday as the Nittany Lions\u2019 head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Penn State,\u201d Rhule told reporters during his weekly media appearance in Lincoln. \u201cI met my wife there. It\u2019s my alma mater, been a fan since I was born. I think I probably had a Penn State shirt on when I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he loves Pat Kraft, the Penn State athletic director. <\/p>\n

Rhule says focus is on Nebraska<\/p>\n

However, Rhule said, his focus remains on Nebraska and his team in Lincoln.<\/p>\n

\u201cTroy (Dannen) and I are in an unbelievable relationship, too, and Troy and I are in constant communication about this program and where we are heading,\u201d the third-year Husker head coach said, referring to Nebraska\u2019s athletic director. <\/p>\n

\u201cI came here for two reasons,\u201d Rhule added. \u201cI love the community here and wanted to live here, and I love it here. And, I wanted to rebuild Nebraska football. Troy and I understand the steps you need to take to make us Big Ten champions and national champions. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is elite. I want to be a great father, and I want to be a great college football coach. I\u2019m not going to talk about job openings when they come. Maybe it\u2019s been awhile here, but this is what happens when you win. We\u2019ve won at Temple and I dealt with it there. Dealt with it at Baylor. I\u2019m not going to talk about those things ever. I\u2019m not going to talk about my contract here, I\u2019m going to talk about the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely love it here. I want us to continue to take the steps needed for us to turn this thing into a beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kraft said Monday that Penn State will conduct a national search for Franklin\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur next coach will be somebody who embodies everything Penn State stands for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nebraska pushes forward<\/p>\n

As speculation about Rhule and Penn State swirls, Nebraska (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) prepares to play Minnesota (4-2, 2-1) on Friday night in Minneapolis. <\/p>\n

Could this story be a distraction for Husker players?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m their coach, I love them, and we\u2019re rolling,\u201d Rhule said. \u201cWith them, I\u2019m going to be as honest as possible. With everything. I\u2019m their coach. Let\u2019s rock.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis stuff is good. It\u2019s way better than it was in Carolina when I was on the hot seat,\u201d he said of his firing in the fall of 2022 by the Carolina Panthers of the NFL. \u201cNothing has happened. A job is open. This is because our players are so good. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo you guys think when we were 5-3 my first year here that any schools called me then? When we were 5-1 last year, do you think anyone called me then? This is part of the deal. I\u2019m the Huskers\u2019 coach. This is a great job. I\u2019m not frustrated; I\u2019m worried about Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis (speculation) is a good thing; it\u2019s just maybe hasn\u2019t happened here in awhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never miss breaking news or another HuskerOnline article again. Click HERE to sign up for HuskerOnline\u2019s Daily and Breaking News Newsletters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule\u2019s name has been immediately connected in media speculation to the job opening at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,18605,34233],"class_list":{"0":"post-445769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-james-franklin-91-neshaminy","10":"tag-matt-rhule-94-state-college-area"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115372681014757027","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}