Jeremy Pernell: Assistants Done Right

Three hires on Matt Rhule’s staff stand out for different reasons

Bob Wager, Tony White and Evan Cooper; Nebraska Athletics images

On Wednesday, I discussed a couple of the hiring moves Matt Rhule made that gave me some initial reservations. Let's reverse course here a bit and talk about the things I really like in terms of how this Nebraska football staff was put together.

Several assistant coaches have a background as a recruiting coordinator or have filled roles such as director of recruiting or director of player personnel at previous stops. I like that the importance of recruiting is built into the DNA of the staff. On top of that, Rhule has always emphasized hiring quality people to be in the recruiting department, and we've already seen a few outstanding additions in that regard.

You're seeing several support staff positions being filled by guys who were with Nebraska's coordinators at their previous schools. This is a smart move. Grand Island native Christian Ellsworth is joining the Husker staff as an offensive analyst after spending last season working as a grad assistant under Marcus Satterfield at South Carolina. Yesterday I mentioned Kevin McGarry, but the Huskers are also brining in Jack Potenza and Josh Bringuel from Syracuse to be defensive quality control coaches under Tony White.

I want to single out the hiring of Phil Simpson as a defensive quality control coach, where it's expected he'll assist Terrance Knighton with the D-line. Simpson was coached by Rhule at Temple and is coming from the Florida high school ranks. Last year he was named the 2021 Miami Herald Coach of the Year, and this season he led Homestead High School to the Class 3M state final - the first in its 43-year history. He's a well respected coach who has worked in south Florida for nearly a decade. He'll open some recruiting doors in Miami-Dade County.

These are exactly the sort of coaches who should be filling roles like this on an expanded support staff. If it were me, I would find respected high school coaches like Simpson in other strategic recruiting areas and bring them on staff in various roles. Use their recruiting connections while you help them work their way up the ladder professionally.

I have a really high opinion of new running backs coach E.J. Barthel, but when I was considering who to highlight in this piece, I decided to focus on a trio of coaches that stood out to me for different reasons.

The first is Bob Wager, whom Rhule is bringing from the Texas high school ranks to coach Nebraska's tight ends. I really liked this hire. Wager is as well-respected and highly regarded as any high school coach in Texas. In addition to stints at Tolar and Kaufman, Wager, 52, has been the head coach at Martin High School in Arlington since 2006. He has won over 200 games and has made 17-straight playoff appearances, including winning a district championship each of the last four years. In total, the Warriors won 11 bi-district titles under Wager and made a trip to the regional final in 2011.

Wager, one of the Dallas area’s longest-tenured coaches, was also a board member for the Texas High School Coaches Association from 2016-21. He served as the senior director for his region and was a THSCA president elect nominee in 2022. Wager was the head coach of the 2022 Under Armor All-American Game and has been involved in coaching the prestigious all-star game in some capacity 10 times. He also served on the game’s board of directors.

This hire reminds me a lot of what Rhule did at Baylor. For those who don't remember, when Rhule came over from Temple, he grabbed prominent Texas high school coaches Joey McGuire and Shawn Bell and put them on his staff with the Bears. McGuire is now the head coach at Texas Tech and Bell's star continues to rise as a member of Dave Aranda's Baylor staff. Not to get the cart too far ahead of the horse here, but I can see a similar trajectory for Wager. In the meantime, he'll certainly open doors for Nebraska in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

When the Rhule-to-Nebraska rumors started to get heated, I was asked by members of the HuskerMax BBS to speculate who could be part of his staff. The one guy I knew for certain Rhule would bring with him was defensive backs coach Evan Cooper. Rhule touched a bit on their relationship during his signing day presser. It's clear how much he respects Cooper's eye for talent and leans on his evaluations.

The two share the same philosophy with their analytical approach to scouting and recruiting. Cooper is Rhule's right hand man in matters of player acquisition. Speed, upside and athleticism will always be a major part of Nebraska’s equation when managing the roster through traditional recruiting methods, as well as utilizing the transfer portal.

By now, it's no secret how much Rhule and Cooper value prospects who also participate in other sports, in particular, track events. It's been noted that nearly 70 percent of players who have been drafted in recent years also participated in track in high school. As a huge metrics guy, Rhule knows this. At one point, Baylor had six starters on their football team who were also running track for the Bears.

For future reference, there are unofficial thresholds that this staff takes particular notice of when evaluating players: 11.00 seconds for the 100-meter dash; 22.00 seconds for the 200-meter dash; 45-plus feet for the triple jump; 22-plus feet for the long jump; 50-plus feet in the shot put; and 150-plus feet in the discus. This staff knows these numbers help provide valuable athletic context and multi-sport data that is pervasive in NFL Draft results year after year and are highly valued in the scouting process.

With that in mind, I'd be remiss if I didn't piggyback on that a bit and say how encouraged I am by the new strength and conditioning coach, Corey Campbell. It goes back to the mantra of everyone being on the same page. Campbell knows what Rhule wants his team to look like. He knows the athletic profile and style of play Rhule wants. Campbell has been part of the player development process with Rhule for five years already.

Campbell, who played fullback at Georgia from 2010-13, comes to Nebraska having already spent time in the NFL, Big Ten and Big 12. He was part of Tommy Tuberville's strength staff at Cincinnati in 2016 and was with Jeff Brohm at Purdue for part of 2017, before leaving to join Rhule at Baylor. He stayed on Dave Aranda's staff for a season before reuniting with Rhule with the Carolina Panthers in 2021.

After suffering through five years of Zach Duval, it'll be a breath of fresh air to have players trained through a 21st century approach and not the archaic methods endorsed by the previous regime.

I'm also intrigued by Campbell's two lieutenants for different reasons. James Heiss has spent the last four years at Buffalo, after working with Campbell on Matt Rhule’s Baylor staff in 2017 and 2018. Like I mentioned with the assistant coaches yesterday, Heiss knows what Rhule and Campbell want to do philosophically, and he'll come with a few new ideas learned from a stint elsewhere.

I particularly like the addition of Tyler Miles. He recently had stops at Duke (2022) and Miami (2021) after getting his start on strength staffs at South Carolina, Tennessee and with the New York Jets. Prior to his recent stops in the ACC, he was a prominent trainer with Boost Performance, based in Nashville, where he helped train athletes for their school pro days and the NFL combine. Miles also worked with NFL players during the offseason. While he worked for Boost Performance, Miles simultaneously served as the head strength coach at Tennessee State, working primarily with football, volleyball and the track and field throwers.

Knowing what Rhule looks for and prioritizes on the recruiting trail, it's easy to see the correlation between that and what Miles brings to the table as an outside hire. Every single drill and workout conducted at pro days and the combine are designed to showcase a player's explosiveness, power and athleticism. Miles will fit right in and probably have some fresh ideas of his own to incorporate.

My favorite addition to the staff was defensive coordinator Tony White. I like Matt Rhule's overarching philosophy of hiring experienced coordinators and then surrounding them with energetic up-and-coming position coaches. I can definitely get behind that.

I just would have preferred he went about hiring his offensive coordinator the same way he did with White: Identify an elite coach who runs a system you believe in and that you think can be successful in the Big Ten - and grab him. When Rhule was hired, I advocated him to hire both coordinators like this.

Yeah, Rhule has a background with White, but it's tantamount to a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon situation compared to basically everyone else on his staff. Rhule was the D-line coach at UCLA in 2001, when White was finishing up his academics after exhausting his eligibility in 2000. Always a film junkie, White would help the Bruin staff with film study of opponents and analysis of recruits in his spare time.

The two stayed connected over the years, but mostly peripherally. Unlike Satterfield, their history together didn't play a part in him getting hired at Nebraska. But I digress. I already had my rant about Satterfield. This is about Tony White and the brilliant decision by Matt Rhule to hire him.

White, a 2022 Broyles Award nominee, has been on my radar for several years. He spent nearly a decade under Rocky Long - one of the top defensive minds in the game and the architect of the 3-3-5 defensive scheme. After spending 2008 as his linebackers coach at New Mexico, White followed Long to San Diego State and, during a nine-year stint (2009-17) coaching cornerbacks, established himself as one of the nation’s top rising assistant coaches.

Along with helping the Aztec secondary consistently rank among the nation's best, White earned a reputation for being a relentless recruiter. He was twice named the Scout.com Mountain West Recruiter of the Year (2011, 2013) and was also recognized as the top recruiter among non-Power Five schools in 2014 by Rivals. He's highly regarded throughout southern California and has experience recruiting the Northeast, Southeast and Texas.

In 2018, White decided to follow Aztec defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales to Arizona State to be part of Herm Edwards' staff. Gonzales was leaving to take over the Sun Devil defense and convinced White to join him as secondary coach and defensive passing game coordinator.

White spent two years in that capacity before being promoted to defensive coordinator in mid-December 2019, after Gonzales left to take the head coaching job at New Mexico. Despite the promotion and helping lead Arizona State to a 20-14 win over Florida State in the Sun Bowl, White chose to leave Tempe in February 2020 to join Dino Babers' staff at Syracuse. He was tasked with fixing a defense that had given up 30.7 ppg and 464.1 ypg.

Once he arrived, White implemented his iteration of the 3-3-5 defense and over the next few seasons transformed the Orange into one of the best units in the ACC. In doing so, he became one of the more sought-after coordinators in the country. He reportedly turned down multiple offers just this offseason to join Rhule's Husker staff.

Despite it being his first full-time coordinator gig, White displayed strong leadership qualities and did a remarkable job of flipping the culture. His colleagues took notice of how effective he was at developing his players and scheming creative game plans.

He affectionately referred to his defense as “The Mob” because of the mentality he wanted it to emulate. His defense quickly gained a reputation for being a fast, hard-hitting squad.

I've heard all the concerns some fans have with running a 3-3-5 in the Big Ten, but the versatility of the scheme allows White to tailor it to specific offenses. I think it's an advantage having a system that isn't prevalent in the conference. Having something unique that teams have trouble preparing for in a week will be an added bonus.

The 3-3-5 is designed to create havoc. It generates pressure on the quarterback from different angles with generally a Cover 3 to try and take away big chunk plays.

If you watch film of White's defense at Syracuse, you'll see him play three, four and five-man fronts. He was good at confusing the offense by changing up the box count. He disguised his coverages well and had some pretty complex blitz packages.

Give the Huskers a few years to recruit to the system and this defense could really flourish. When it's clicking, players are used in multiple ways and the defensive versatility really causes problems for an offense.

You're going to need fast linebackers who can cover ground and defend large areas of the field. They'll also need to be comfortable playing in space. You'll want cornerbacks who can play man-to-man and safeties who are versatile enough to cover backs and tight ends, but also comfortable playing in the box.

Ideally, you want to get to the point where you can keep five defenders on the field on the back end of your defense. At the same time, you still have the ability to rush four or five or bring pressure and run your coverages behind it.

I think White is going to use the opportunity in Lincoln to springboard himself to a head coaching job in a few years. His star is on the rise and if he can resurrect an awful Nebraska defense, he'll have his pick of jobs. With a proven track record in the Big Ten to go along with his success at Syracuse, he'd be a no-brainer. Coaches that thrive in multiple conferences at jobs coast-to-coast can write their ticket. First things first, though. Bring back the Blackshirts.

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