The University of Nebraska confirmed the final full-time assistant coach additions to Matt Rhule’s staff on Wednesday. All of them were previously reported.
Bob Wager is officially new tight ends coach, Rob Dvoracek is Nebraska’s new linebackers coach and Garrett McGuire was announced as new wide receivers coach.
Wager joins the program after a highly regarded stint as head coach of Arlington Martin High School in Texas. There he went 143-64-1 and coached the Warriors to the state playoffs in 17 seasons. The program only made the playoffs four times before Wager’s arrival. There he coached and developed a multitude of eventual college standouts, including No. 1 NFL Draft pick Myles Garrett.
Dvoracek has spent five of his seven coaching seasons working on Rhule’s staff. The last two of those years were as a defensive assistant coach for the Carolina Panthers. He was also in charge of defensive quality control at Baylor before a two-year stint as defensive line coach at Lehigh. Dvoracek played linebacker for Rhule at Temple. He was a two-year letterwinner with 31 tackles before suffering a career-ending injury.
McGuire is the son of former Rhule assistant and current Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire. He spent the last two seasons working on Rhule’s Carolina Panthers staff. He was a quarterback and special teams player at Baylor and joined the NFL coaching ranks upon graduation.
“I am proud to add three more outstanding football coaches to our Nebraska staff,” Rhule said in a statement. “Bob’s experience as a head coach will be invaluable for me, and Rob and Garret’s experience in the NFL will help our student-athletes as they chase their goals to play at the highest level. Each of the three coaches bring great energy to Nebraska and will fit our program very well. I am excited to have all our full-time assistants on board as we finish up the 2023 recruiting cycle and begin to work toward the start of spring practice.”
Those moves cement Rhule’s full-time coaching staff. They join offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Marcus Satterfield, running backs coach EJ Barthel and offensive line coach Donovan Raiola on that side of the ball. On the other side is defensive line coach Terrance Knighton, secondary coach Evan Cooper and defensive coordinator Tony White. Special teams coordinator Ed Foley completes Rhule’s staff. There’s also Corey Campbell, the head football strength and conditioning coach. James Heiss and Tyler Miles assist the strength and conditioning staff. Heiss was previously in that position at Baylor and Buffalo, while Miles spent the most recent years in that role at Miami and Duke.
Adam DiMichele joins longtime Husker staffer Ron Brown as offensive analysts. Kevin McGarry, who previously worked under White at Syracuse, is a defensive analyst. Phil Simpson, former head coach at Homestead High School in Florida, joined Rhule’s staff as defensive quality control coach.
Sean Padden is Nebraska’s new general manager and Jarrett Wishon is assistant to the head coach. Padden worked on Rhule’s staffs at Carolina and Baylor. Wishon coached at Western Carolina alongside Rhule and then again in Carolina after a 15-year stretch in law enforcement.
Omar Hales, one of Rhule’s initial hires, is now listed as director of player personnel for high schools. He coached at Rutgers apart from his experience with Rhule at Temple, Baylor and Carolina. Mike Wallace is Nebraska’s new director of scouting. He worked as a student assistant at Temple and director of player personnel at Baylor.
Rhule also retained Andrew Sims (director of football operations), Joni Duff (football administrative assistant), Vince Guinta (senior director of player personnel and recruiting), Keith Williams and Ryan Callaghan (associate directors of player personnel), Frank Verducci (recruiting and personnel analyst), Brittany Oligmueller (director of on-campus recruiting), Cole Gerke (video assistant for football) and Hunter Krehnke (director of graphic design for football).
