Nebraska HC Matt Rhule shares riveting story about his wife while explaining his recruiting philosophy

Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule will enter his second season with the team in 2024. The coach has made some changes to his roster this offseason after leading the Cornhuskers to a rather underwhelming 5-7 record last year, failing to qualify for a bowl game.

As Rhule prepares for the upcoming season with Nebraska, he offered some insights on his recruiting policy during an appearance on the Pat McAfee show. Rhule insisted that not everyone who joins his team needs to be a superstar, but fitting into his system is more important for the recruits:

"To me, recruiting is finding the guys that are going to be right for you and who is gonna fit for you. Some teams are first or second in recruiting rankers every year, but to me, it's just about who is gonna come there and who is gonna thrive at your culture."

Rhule also shared a riveting story about his wife, Julie, and how he finds it difficult to recruit prospects after observing them during a short window:

"It took me a long time to ask Julie to marry me, and she's the best thing that's ever happened to me. So, asking a guy to come play for me after a week of knowing him is really hard."

As per reports, Matt and Julie married in 2002. The couple has three children together: Bryant, Vivienne and Leona.

Matt Rhule addresses Nebraska's quarterback woes from last season

Nebraska Football HC Matt Rhule (Source: Imagn)

Matt Rhule's Nebraska led the Big Ten in interceptions (16) last season. At the program's Big Ten media day on Wednesday, the coach was asked about what he might do differently this year. Rhule pointed out that the team has made changes in the backroom staff to address the issue:

"I thought last year, we played three quarterbacks, I think when you go back and look at a lot of things that happened, a lot of guys did do a lot of good things. It's obviously overshadowed with numbers like you said.

"Marcus is a coach that I trust and believe in. We brought in Glenn Thomas to be the quarterbacks coach. We have a lot of history, the three of us, together, and we have a lot of skill."

Nebraska split time with Jeff Sims, Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Haarberg as their starting quarterbacks last season. Sims and Purdy left the program by entering the transfer portal.

It appears that Haarberg will compete with freshman Dylan Raiola for the starting role at Nebraska in 2024. Coach Matt Rhule will have some time before the season begins to decide on his QB1.