Dana Holgorsen will take over as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator for the rest of the season with Marcus Satterfield remaining on the staff, coach Matt Rhule announced Monday.
Rhule brought in the former West Virginia and Houston coach last week to do an analysis of the Cornhuskers’ struggling offense, which has underperformed with five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola since Big Ten play began.
The Huskers are 14th in total offense and 15th in scoring in conference games in the 18-team Big Ten, and Satterfield had faced mounting criticism for his playcalling.
“I just think this is an area not at the level we wanted and I went and found someone I trust,” Rhule said at his weekly news conference.
Satterfield, previously the offensive coordinator at South Carolina, is part of the original staff hired by Rhule two years ago. In Satterfield’s 21 games as playcaller, the Huskers have averaged 20.4 points per game to rank 124th out of 134 Bowl Subdivision teams and 331 yards per game to rank 115th, according to Sportradar.
Rhule said Satterfield will continue to coach tight ends and that the rest of the offensive assistants will continue in their roles.
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“Marcus is about as good a man as I know,” Rhule said. “He could have said, ‘Hey, fire me, give me my money, I’m going home.’ But he didn’t. I get it’s a results business, but you’re still trying to teach some life lessons to our guys. He humbled himself and said, ‘What do I need to do?'”
The university did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for information about contract terms for Holgorsen.
The Huskers (5-4, 2-4) have averaged just 18.3 points and 320 yards per game against Big Ten opponents this season. They will take a three-game losing streak into Saturday’s game at Southern California.
The 53-year-old Holgorsen is from the Mike Leach coaching tree. He built a reputation for designing high-production offenses working for Leach at Texas Tech and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State.
Holgorsen was 31-28 as Houston’s coach from 2019-23 and 61-41 at West Virginia from 2011-18.
Holgorsen also has worked as an offensive consultant at TCU this season.
The Huskers are averaging just 4.69 yards per play in conference games, the worst mark in the Big Ten besides Northwestern’s 4.49.
Raiola, the Huskers’ highest-ranked recruit in program history, has thrown five touchdown passes and seven interceptions in six Big Ten games. His pass efficiency rating is the lowest in the conference since he completed less than half of his attempts against Rutgers on Oct. 5.
The ground game also has struggled, averaging 101 yards per game against conference opponents.
“He can’t come in and change the offense,” Rhule said of Holgorsen. “He can’t install the Air Raid. We’re in Week 11. He can come in and say, ‘What are the things we do well? Who are the guys who make plays and let’s figure out how to do it with those guys.'”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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