Phil Snow, associate head coach and longtime college of Matt Rhule spoke with the media today. It is the first time since he was hired that the media was able to ask him questions and his interview revealed a lot about why he came here and what the direction of the team is in the offseason.
To start with, Snow mentioned he was initially offered the job with Rhule when Rhule initially took over the Huskers. Snow at the time declined, citing his age was a factor in keeping up with the demands of recruiting and other facets. With the new rules for coaches in place, he can stay in a roll that doesn’t require him to get out and recruit and that was attractive to him. He noted he needs to adapt to the new world of college football, with NIL and the transfer portal and noted Rhule has already adapted his approach from what his initial vision was in order to fit with the new world of college football. Snow made a comment about how Rhule “spoke for 6 or 7 hours straight” at a staff meeting last week, laying out his vision and demands for the new coaching staff.
Snow praised the defense under Tony White while also laying out his vision on how to improve and change things. He stated he will be heavily involved in the game planning the defense with defensive coordinate John Butler, but ultimately noted that Butler would be the sole play caller on game days. He made it clear that it would be “Butlers’ defense.” A big point of emphasis would be the third down packages. He believed that needed to be improved on from what was being down with Tony White, while he made clear he was not knocking what White did. He highlighted both him and Butler have NFL experience and the third down package would mirror a lot of what you see in the league, pressing line backers and defensive backs versus a soft-shell coverage. He also stated they would heavily emphasis the red zone packages as well. Snow stated during the week, at practices, he would bounce around between various positions and help out where needed. He made it clear he’s a coach, and he plans on being active during practices to different position groups.
Snow has a lot of experience and helped former defenses under Rhule thrive. He made it clear he expected a year three “jump” in performance. Time will tell, but that would be great for most Husker fans fresh off the first bowl game and victory in almost a decade.
Go Big Red.