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Ed Foley


I think all of us can take a deep breath about STs. Coach Rhule is obviously planning to make major changes that include a reassignment or separation for EF. And what needed to be done prior to the bowl game (targeted ST recruiting for snapper, punter, and return talent) happened. So no hurry on the timeline before spring practices, but if I were a betting man I think we’ll know the new framework and staff within the next few weeks.
 
FFS just hire Bill Busch already! Hell I’m fairly certain a fence post would be an upgrade at this point.
I am a BB fan, but I wonder if he's such a great ST coach why he isn't already doing it somewhere. I want Rhule to bring in the best ST coach he can get, and if that happens to be BB so be it.
 
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I like BB as a person but partially because he is a local guy. He has had a few terms here as a ST coach. He was also a ST coach with Wisconsin and Utah. I really do not know much about his performance as a ST coach during those tenures. But I do know that during 2004 to 2007 our special teams were pretty bad under Callahan. We had gone from an aggressive attacking PR concept to a "just catch it" concept. Our FG game was fine though which would be a big upgrade. Fast forward to 2022 I am sure he picked up some things. That said, we had a more aggressive PR game but our KR and FG game was not very good. While I do like him, I still do believe that past performance is the best indicator of future success. I would think we could do better. That said, he is a huge upgrade from Foley who maybe one of the worst in the business despite what the "talker" says.

2004Nebraska (ST/OLB)
2005–2007Nebraska (ST/S)
2009–2010Utah State (DC)
2011–2012Utah State (ST/S)
2013–2014Wisconsin (ST/DB)
2015Ohio State (DQC)
2016Rutgers (DB)
2017Rutgers (co-DC/DB)
2018–2020LSU (S)
2021Nebraska (def. analyst)
2022Nebraska (ST)
2022Nebraska (interim DC/ST)
 
I am a BB fan, but I wonder if he's such a great ST coach why he isn't already doing it somewhere. I want Rhule to bring in the best ST coach he can get, and if that happens to be BB so be it.
I think he’s holding out for the right opportunity. He’s finally back in Nebraska and he clearly isn’t in a hurry to move. I mean dude has a NC ring from his time on staff at LSU. More than you can say for anyone currently on our coaching staff.
 


I'm just thinking about how Rhule handles things. There may be tasks that Foley can do well, but I want someone else in charge of organizing and field coaching all aspects of special teams. Yes, the long snapper was a disaster (which also belongs to Foley) but it was a lot more than that. Our coverage units were average, and our punt return game went from terrible to less terrible but still really bad. I'm not even talking about the blocks.

It may be that Foley is still on the staff after this, but he should not have those responsibilities any more.
he’s the special teams coach that had 10 kicks blocked in a single season.

i dont care if he’s really good at polishing cleats, he can do it at north texas or valdosta state
I'm going to go against the grain and suggest that this is just as much about the players as it is the coach. In fact, maybe more so. I believe it comes down to pride and accountability.
Once in a season is a player issue.

consistent problems ALL year, every game, no improvement…

that’s incompetent coaching
 
It is hard to blame the players when you get ten kicks blocked and miss a ton of extra points/fgs. While I agree the players have to play, how many times is it the players fault? Did all of those guys forget to block? Did all of our players forget to tackle on KO returns?

Special teams is broken down into a bunch of areas. For FGs and extra points, I would give Foley an F. We had a lot of issues last year and it did get better this year, toward the end of the season, but we still had far too many issues.

For punting I would give us a C. While we did a good job of pinning teams deep, our punt coverage was only ok and we had too many punts blocked to get anything better than a C.

Kickoff returns I would give us a C. We returned fairly well, had a couple of good returns but nothing ground breaking. We also had a few bone headed mistakes where players caught the ball running out of bounds for no reason. On the punt return side I would give us a C+. We did a better job of not costing us yards and even had a few okish returns but nothing great.

Our punt and kick coverage was a D+. While we normally did pretty well, we would just give up a play or two every game that put the other team immediately in scoring position.

With all that said, Foley has proven over two years that he is not that good of a coach. Rhule has a motto of chasing 3, and it is exactly what we lacked in several games that cost us a wins (Illinois, Iowa), and not to mention a bowl game last year. Overall, I find it impossible to keep Ed. Unless HCMR does not take his job seriously.
Sipple rattled off the ST’s rankings in the post-game youtube. Almost every stat was >100th in the country.

either we have the most inept players in the country on every ST’s unit or the most inept coach coaching all of the ST’s

It’s pretty easy to do the math
 
Busch isn’t working in CFB because he doesn’t need to work. Cripes he’s been doing that thankless job all over the country for decades. He’s back home in NE and IIRC some mention of health issues in the family perhaps?

He was always a helluva recruiter. But I wonder with the new rules if he could coordinate ST’s now and not have to be a full time coach/recruiter. This might be a new era of older coaches being hired to coach specific positions without having to kill themselves on the road Like they did in their 30’s and 40’s.
 

Good special teams has to be worth an extra win or two next year considering how many games we lost due to ST.
Special teams contributed heavily to two losses this year (Iowa, Illinois) and damn near cost us two of our wins (Rutgers, BC). And ST allowed a dreadful Purdue team to keep things close for 3+ quarters. So a heavily adverse impact in at least five out of thirteen games.
 

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