Two former Nebraska football coaches are going to be trying to figure out how to beat the program on a fairly regular basis, starting in 2020. Mel Tucker is starting to put his staff at Michigan State together and it turns out Husker fans are going to be able to recognize a couple of the faces being added to that staff. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the former Cornhuskers added to the group is that they span a couple of generations of NU coaching staffs.

From the age of Nebraska football before the fall

One of the confirmed hires, Ted Gilmore, comes from the period of time when Huskers fans thought the program would never see truly hard times.

Gilmore was brought over with former head coach Bill Callahan. He was the wide receivers coach and then the assistant head coach from 2005 to 2010 when Callahan immediately followed Frank Solich at the helm.

Gilmore was respected enough that when Callahan was fired after the 2007 season, new head coach Bo Pelini retained him and eventually promoted him to recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach. He left the school after the 2010 season to be the receivers coach at USC. In 2012, the Oakland Raiders hired Gilmore and he stuck with the NFL team for two seasons.

In 2015 he joined the Wisconsin Badgers staff and was with them up through last season. Mel Tucker appears to understand Gilmore knows the Big Ten like the back of his hand.

For a head coach who has very little experience in the conference, it makes sense he'd want to get a coach who understands what it takes to win in this conference. That he knows quite a bit about Nebraska football is just a bit of a bonus.

Another Pelini protege from Nebraska

While Gilmore has been officially announced, Ross Els has not.

247Sports reports he will be in the next few days. Most recently, Els coached with Tucker since he arrived at Colorado but he's been well-traveled before that. The coach was the defensive coordinator with Purdue before joining Colorado in the Pac 12. Before that, he spent three years on Bo Pelini's staff as the linebackers' coach and special teams coordinator.

It's not like Tucker has been hiring former Nebraska football coaches in particular. It just so happens the school has quite a few former assistants still in the college football world in part, because the program has undergone so many changes and hirings and firings in the last decade. The Huskers don't look anything like the team either Gilmore or Els coached with. It's also interesting neither ever coached with the other in Lincoln but now will both be working with each other against the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska and Michigan State will next face off against each other in East Lansing in 2021.
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