LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska and Matt Rhule finalized a two-year contract extension Thursday after more than two weeks of speculation that the Cornhuskers coach was a target for Penn State’s open position.
The new deal effectively ends Rhule’s candidacy at Penn State and keeps him under contract at Nebraska for the next seven seasons, through 2032. It will pay him $79.5 million in base salary, with a 90 percent buyout if Rhule is fired without cause.
“This is about the program,” Rhule said. “And it’s about stability.”
The announcement comes at a time to capture momentum for the Huskers, who are 6-2 and 3-2 in the Big Ten entering a Saturday night home game against No. 23 USC. Nebraska is hosting several dozen top recruits this weekend, with a chance to secure consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2013 and 2014 and snap a 28-game losing streak against ranked teams.
“We love it here,” Rhule said Thursday on “The Pat McAfee Show” as the news became public. “I love these players. I love this place.”
Rhule, 50, is a graduate of Penn State, a former walk-on linebacker for the Nittany Lions and a longtime friend of PSU athletic director Pat Kraft. Kraft served as Rhule’s AD at Temple from 2013 to 2017. The connections made Rhule a potential candidate for a job search that had already lost another possible target when Indiana signed coach Curt Cignetti to an extension on Oct. 16.
Rhule said he grew emotional in telling the Huskers of his decision after he signed the contract Thursday morning.
“I could not leave these guys,” he said. “I could not leave this team.”
The contract buyout owed to Nebraska by Rhule — or a school that hires him — increases with this contract from $5 million to $15 million in 2025 and decreases over the term of the deal, as is standard, according to athletic director Troy Dannen.
Rhule signed an eight-year, $74.5 million contract with Nebraska in 2022. It pays him $7.5 million this year. The new contract keeps intact his salary for 2026 at $8.5 million, 2027 at $10 million, 2028 at $11.5 million, 2029 at $12 million and 2030 at $12.5 million, with annual base salary escalators of $1 million for each College Football Playoff appearance in a bracket of 16 teams or fewer.
His base for 2032 and 2033 remains at $12.5 million.
Dannen said he approached Rhule and his representation in September to work on an extension.
“Compensate someone for what you believe they’re worth before you have to,” Dannen said.
Home. pic.twitter.com/dqZLFvgzIK
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) October 30, 2025
Rhule is 18-15 at Nebraska. He received a $1 million retention bonus in March. On Oct. 13, one day after Kraft fired James Franklin, Rhule acknowledged his love for Penn State and that he had been named in media reports as a target of the Nittany Lions. He said he loved his job at Nebraska, adding that he wanted the school and its donor base to take a more “unabashed” approach to investing in name, image and likeness efforts.
“In a world of $30 and $40 million rosters, which isn’t going away, I’d like us to do the same thing,” Rhule said. “There’s sort of like a ‘Hey, that’s not really the Nebraska way.’ And I’d like it to be. I’d like it to be at the front of everything.”
Nebraska is regarded as competitive among Power 4 programs in NIL spending, but it likely falls short of the top 10. He told McAfee two weeks ago that Nebraska rates as a “destination job.”
“I want to give this team everything I have and not be distracted with anything else,” Rhule said Thursday.
The Huskers snapped a seven-year bowl drought last season. This year, they aim to end a trend of close losses under Rhule in November. Ahead of Saturday night against USC, Nebraska, in the past two seasons, has lost seven of eight games played in November by a margin of one score.
The school has called for its first official Blackout game on Saturday, with fans urged to turn Nebraska’s traditional sea of red into a black sea. The Huskers will wear alternate black uniforms at Memorial Stadium, which is sold out for the 410th consecutive game.
First Appeared on
Source link
