Matt Rhule Reveals Major Change at Nebraska Learnt From Time at Carolina Panthers
Matt Rhule © Imagn. Before becoming the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2023, Matt Rhule was the Carolina Panthers’ head coach from 2020 to 2022. His experience there changed him as a head coach.
During his interview with Adam Breneman, Rhule spoke at length about his brief time with Carolina, where he posted an 11-27 overall record in over two seasons. He was fired after a 1-4 start in the 2022 season. Rhule started by explaining how difficult it was connecting with players in his first two years since there were COVID-19 regulations.
“It makes me a way, way better head coach because, you know, that first year was COVID. And so it was really hard to connect. And especially when you’re a college coach, come to the NFL, it’s really hard to connect,” Rhule said.
“And then that second year was kind of COVID. I remember the day at practice, they told us we could take our masks off. It felt like breathing for the first time, but it was going into that third year, you know, I was on the hot seat.
Chants had started, you know, even in my second year, ‘Hey, fire him, fire him. ’” It was in his third season that Rhule finally built valuable relationships with several well-known NFL players today, including Christian McCaffrey and Brian Burns. This made him realize that the connection with the player matters the most when you are in the business of coaching.