The Nebraska Football team has long had an opening for a defensive assistant coach on its staff. If the talk in Lincoln can be believed today, it appears that the opening has been filled by a veteran presence that may not have ties to the Huskers but does already have a buddy on the staff. It should be said that the University has not officially announced that anyone has been hired, so it's possible these rumors are similar to what we saw on signing day. On the other hand, the hire makes too much sense in some regard to completely disregard the rumors.
The new Notre Dame connection
247Sports and other media outlets are now reporting that the Nebraska football coaching staff will be joined by Bob Elliott. Elliott has been serving as a special assistant to Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly for the last two years and was an assistant coach when current Husker defensive coordinator Bob Diaco held the same position at Notre Dame. Elliott has been around quite a while, having served on the coaching staffs of Iowa, Kansas State, and San Diego State, among others. He even coached the man he will reportedly be working under, when Diaco was a player for the Hawkeyes.
A veteran presence
One of the most interesting things about this hire is how it goes in a different direction than what the Nebraska football team has been doing for the most part with its hires.
While Mike Riley isn't a youngster, most of his staff, especially new hires in the last 18 months, have been experienced but relatively young. Bob Elliott trends the other way and it's possible that this will be his last stop as a coach. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's simply an interesting change of pace from what Riley has been putting in place.
The real question now is whether or not it was the plan to bring Elliott to Lincoln all along. The spot that Diaco has taken (and that his former assistant is reportedly taking) opened around the same time. Was Riley looking for someone else and landed on this hire, or was he simply delaying the inevitable?
