Matt Rhule Makes First Six Staff Hires

Defensive coordinator, O-line coach among slots still to be filled

Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

A half-dozen hires on the staff of new Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule are now official, pending the completion of university background checks.

There were no surprises in any of the names announced Thursday, and most had already updated their Twitter profiles to reflect their new jobs:

• E.J. Barthel, Running Backs
• Corey Campbell, Head Football Strength and Conditioning
• Evan Cooper, Defensive Secondary
• Ed Foley, Special Teams Coordinator
• Terrance Knighton, Defensive Line
• Marcus Satterfield, Offensive Coordinator

Satterfield's Twitter profile says he's also the coach of the tight ends, though that was not mentioned in the announcement. A quarterbacks coach has yet to be announced, but former Husker Jake Peetz has been said to be near a deal. A defensive coordinator and coaches of the linebackers, offensive line and wide receivers also have yet to be named.

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska Athletics

“These are high-energy men with great passion for coaching and teaching, who have a history of developing outstanding college players and preparing them for the next level,” Rhule said in an Athletic Department release. “This is a group that will relate well to prospective student-athletes from all parts of the country and sell Nebraska Football.”

Bio info from the announcement:

E.J. Barthel, Running Backs

Barthel has a background in coaching running backs, most recently on Jim Mora Jr.’s Connecticut staff in 2022. Barthel helped one of the nation’s most improved teams in his one season at UConn as the Huskies averaged nearly 200 rushing yards per game. An accomplished recruiter with strong East Coast connections, Barthel has previous experience on Rhule’s staffs with the Carolina Panthers and at Temple. Barthel assisted with the running backs in Carolina, while also working in the player personnel department. At Temple in 2016, Barthel worked as the director of player personnel on Rhule’s staff. Barthel also helped attract a top-six recruiting class during his one season in a recruiting role at Penn State in 2017.

Corey Campbell, Strength and Conditioning

Campbell will lead Nebraska’s football strength and conditioning program. Campbell comes to Lincoln after serving for two seasons as an assistant strength coach with the Carolina Panthers. Campbell first worked with Rhule at Baylor where he served as an assistant strength coach beginning in 2017. Campbell was elevated to the role of director of athletic performance at Baylor before he moved on to the Panthers. Campbell also held full-time positions at Purdue and Cincinnati. A Georgia graduate, Campbell was a two-year letterwinner and special teams standout for the Bulldogs from 2010 to 2013.

Evan Cooper, Defensive Secondary

Cooper played at Temple when Matt Rhule was an assistant coach, and Cooper has served on Rhule’s coaching staffs for the past decade. In addition to his role as an assistant coach, Cooper served as the Carolina Panthers’ director of player evaluation for three seasons, and he was previously the director of player personnel at Baylor and Temple and an assistant director of player personnel at Miami. Cooper served as Baylor’s recruiting coordinator in 2019 and in his three seasons in Waco, Cooper played a large role in the Bears securing three consecutive top-35 recruiting classes. Baylor’s 2018 signing class was re-ranked as the No. 14 class in the nation by The Athletic in 2022, when it did a re-ranking of the 2018 signing class based on how the recruits performed in their collegiate careers. In 2019, Cooper’s defensive backfield at Baylor helped the Bears rank fifth nationally in interceptions and 18th in pass efficiency defense.

Ed Foley,  Special Teams Coordinator

Foley has more than three decades of coaching experience and brings a diverse and robust résumé to Nebraska. Foley has served on Matt Rhule’s staffs for eight of Rhule’s 10 seasons as a head coach, including each of the last four seasons. Foley is an accomplished special teams coach and has strong recruiting ties to the Northeast including New Jersey. In Foley’s time at Temple, more than 20 Owls who played high school football in New Jersey went on to NFL careers. Foley spent the past three seasons as an assistant special teams coach with the Carolina Panthers and previously worked with special teams at the collegiate level for seven consecutive seasons from 2013 to 2019. His special teams ranked in the top 25 nationally four times in his last five seasons at the collegiate level.

Terrance Knighton, Defensive Line

Knighton will be in his third season on Rhule’s staff in 2023, after serving as an assistant defensive line coach with the Carolina Panthers in 2021 and 2022. A standout player in the NFL, Knighton has four total years of coaching experience, including two years at Wagner in 2019 and 2020. Knighton was a standout defensive lineman at Temple and was a third-round NFL draft pick, playing in more than 100 games during his seven-year professional career and tallying 231 tackles from 2009 to 2015. His recent playing experience provides Knighton the expertise to teach and develop at one of the sport’s most demanding positions.

Marcus Satterfield, Offensive Coordinator

Satterfield served for the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator at South Carolina. He brings 24 years of experience to the Nebraska staff, including six seasons working for Rhule at Temple, Baylor and the Carolina Panthers. Satterfield has 11 years of experience as an offensive coordinator in addition to two seasons as the head coach at Tennessee Tech. At South Carolina, Satterfield served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and helped the Gamecocks to a pair of bowl games. He closed his tenure in Columbia by helping South Carolina to back-to-back wins over top-10 opponents Tennessee and Clemson. The Gamecocks combined for 94 points and 1,008 yards of total offense in the two wins.

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