New Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule spoke at Big Ten media days on Thursday, and he was honest about the direction that he wants to take the program in for the future.

“There was a time when Nebraska football was feared,” Matt Rhule said, via Brett McMurphy of Action Network. “We need to take back the respect it is to play Nebraska. We want our fans, opponents and all of college football to respect us… taking back – and bringing back respect – to Nebraska football.”

The Nebraska football program has struggled in recent memory. They went 4-8 last season and 3-6 in conference. Matt Rhule is hoping to resurrect the program after the Scott Frost tenure did not work out.

The hiring of Scott Frost from UCF was hyped up at the time, and most people thought it would work out for him. It did not, as he was fired during the 2022 season.

Rhule did not have a good time as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers. He went 11-27 in his three seasons as the head coach of the team, getting fired in the middle of the 2022 season after a 1-4 start.

However, Rhule gets a ton of credit for his work as a college coach with the Temple football program and the Baylor football program. He helped turn the Temple football program around, winning 10 games in his final two years with the team. He did the same with the Baylor football program, going 1-11 in his first year before going 11-3 in his final year in 2019. The goal is for him to do the same with Nebraska.