Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule announced that former West Virginia and Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen will now be calling plays as the new offensive coordinator for the rest of the season.
“Made the move with Dana last week, he will call the plays this week and serve as the offensive coordinator moving forward,” Rhule said at the media availability on Monday.
Holgorsen has had ties to Rhule and the ‘late-great’ Mike Leach. He was the offensive coordinator at Texas Tech from 2005-2007 when the Red Raiders were elite. Holgorsen also coached star quarterbacks Case Keenum and Brandon Weeden at Houston and Oklahoma State.
“He gives us a fresh perspective of what we’re doing,” Rhule said. “I think it gives us a great opportunity to have one of the great offensive minds. A guy that I’ve been friends with before (and) I trust, excited to see what he does,” Rhule added.
He led one of the most electric offenses of the 21st Century at West Virginia in 2012 when quarterback Geno Smith threw for 4,205 yards, 42 touchdowns and only six interceptions. They had two-star receivers in Stedman Bailey, who caught 114 passes for 1,622 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Along with Bailey, Tavon Austin caught 114 passes as well, for 1,289 receiving yards. He also racked up 643 yards on the ground. He had a combined 15 touchdowns on offense.
This may be more of an air-raid offense, but Holgorsen has had good backs rush for over 1,400 yards in years prior. The offense won’t entirely change, expect more simplification for the offensive unit this late in the season. This should gel well with freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, who has all the intangibles to be an elite passer.
“I want to score points,” Rhule said.
Former offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, who is making 1.4 million per year, will now strictly coach the tight ends. It will be interesting to see how Satterfield and the rest of the staff handle this unique midseason change. One thing is for sure: Rhule made the obvious change needed for Nebraska to improve on offense.
“Marcus is about as good of as I know,” Rhule said on Satterfield. “He could’ve just said ‘give me my money, I’m going to go home,’ but he didn’t.”
