Matt Rhule

Matt Rhule has one of the best repuations in the country for turning around college football programs. Rhule is a former linebacker at Pennsylvania State University where he played football from 1994-97. While at Penn State. Rhule was a three-time Penn State Scholar-Athlete and he earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.

After his college career, Rhule began his coaching career at Penn State as a volunteer assistant. He then served as the linebackers’ coach at Albright College. From 1999-2000, Rhule served as an assistant coach at the University of Buffalo. In 2001, Rhule went on to coach at UCLA as an assistant defensive lines coach. Rhule also coached at Western Carolina University, Temple and for the New York Giants before getting his shot as a head coach.

It was announced on December 17, 2012, that Rhule would become the 26th head football coach at Temple. He totally rebuilt the program, guiding the team to back-to-back ten-win campaigns in his last two seasons. In 2016, the Owls won the American Athletic Conference. With a sterling reputation, Rhule was tapped after the season to take over a reeling Baylor program. Due to transfers and sanctions, the Bears went 1-11 in his first season, but he righted the ship to post a 7-6 record in year two. Rhule was even better in his second year, leading the Bears to an 11-3 record and winning Big 12 Coach of the Year honors. That caught the eye of the NFL and he was named head coach of the Carolina Panthers ahead of the 2020 season. After leaving the Panthers two years later, he was named the head coach at Nebraska.