Making the Case: Looking at Matt Rhule for LSU coaching job
LSU athletic director Scott Woodward was brought to Baton Rouge for one reason -- make the right hires needed to lead the LSU program through the next decade.
Woodward's ability to make transformative hires has been his calling card for years. It has only grown during his brief return to the Pelican State with the hires of Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey to lead the women's basketball team and poached Pac-12 Coach of the Year Jay Johnson from the Arizona baseball program.
But it is this hire that he be most remembered for, at least around these parts, so the pressure is building in Baton Rouge.
In this series, TigerDetails will explore the options for LSU under a traditional Rivals headline "Making the Case." In the seventh part of the series, we take a dive into Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule's career.
-- LSU coaching search: 13 potential replacements for Ed Orgeron --
PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS OF MAKING THE CASE
-- Making the Case for Lane Kiffin to LSU
-- Making the Case for Mel Tucker to LSU
-- Making the Case for Lincoln Riley to LSU
-- Making the Case for Dave Aranda to LSU
THE RESUME
Rhule has quite literally coached nearly every position in football over his career, which got started in 1998 as a volunteer assistant at Penn State and a linebackers coach at Albright. He spent a few years coaching defensive line from 1999-2000 at Buffalo then 2001 at UCLA.
He spent 2002 through 2005 at Western Carolina coaching special teams, linebackers and was then promoted to associated head coach and running game coordinator. Rhule spent the next six seasons at Temple, again, coaching nearly every position group: defensive line in 2006, quarterbacks and recruiting coordinator in 2007, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks in 2008-2010 and offensive coordinator, tight ends and recruiting coordinator in 2011.
Rhule jumped to the NFL in 2012 as the assistant offensive line coach of the New York Giants, and received high praise from then head coach Tom Coughlin.
“The most impressive thing to me was the guy is a sponge,” Coughlin told ESPN at the time. “He’s very, very smart. He’s very perceptive.”
He returned to Temple after his one season with the Giants, but this time as the head coach. He spent 2013-2016 rebuilding the Owls program. He took the Owls from 2-10 in his first season to a 6-6 record in 2014 and two consecutive 10-win seasons in 2015 and 2016.
Following his successful run at Temple, Baylor came calling and Rhule quickly turned the Bears around too. Rhule helped rebuild the Baylor program, guiding the team from a 1-11 finish in his first season to a 7-6 record and a bowl berth in 2018 to an 11-3 record and appearance in the Big 12 Championship and the Sugar Bowl in 2019.
Baylor's appearance in the Sugar Bowl this season was just the second-ever in school history, and under Rhule's leadership the Bears became the first Power 5 program to go from 11 losses (2017) to 11 wins (2019) within two seasons.
Sixteen different Baylor players earned all-conference honors in 2019, and defensive tackle James Lynch was named the 2019 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Lineman of the Year.
Following the 2019 season, Rhule's name was one of the hottest on the market in both college football and NFL.
When the Carolina Panthers did their research on Rhule, they found out all about his ability to create a winning culture and stability within a program. Midway through his interview with Panthers owner David Tepper, it became clear that Rhule was the guy. The Panthers hired Rhule in January of 2020.
"He's impressive in player development and sports science – recovery techniques, intensity of training, integration with the strength program," Tepper said following the hiring of Rhule. "He started talking about how he develops players and how he's going to pick his staff and we all went from being in interview mode to recruiting mode. Everybody just knew. We switched without a word being said.
"Matt is a very good people manager. And I think a good people manager is a good people manager, college or pro," Tepper continued. "He's going to set standards for people. We're counting on people buying into those standards.
"And it's just the way he thinks. No BS. He's not afraid of constructive confrontation, not afraid to challenge coaches or players. He's a head coach."
However, Rhule has struggled in the NFL as the head coach of Carolina over the last two seasons. Currently, he has an overall record of 10–17, although, he has not had adequate quarterback play nor has his star player, running back Christian McCaffrey, been healthy. McCaffrey missed most of the 2020 season with an injury and has missed a significant number of games in 2021.
THE FIT
Rhule has been compared to being very Belichick-like in the sense that he has coached nearly every position group in football, which is extremely rare. It's one of the traits that many people give credit to his success.
He seemingly has the ability to identify talent considering how he turned around both Temple and Baylor so quickly with players that were not considered elite by recruiting standards. He basically resurrected those two programs from the gutter and earned recognition at each before departing to the big leagues of the NFL.
He was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year and AP Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2019 and Temple was the AAC Champion in 2016.
If Woodward is looking for a successful program-builder with years of accomplishments who has coached multiple positions in college, plus the NFL experience, Rhule could be the right fit in Baton Rouge.
THE CONCERNS
Rhule has minimal concerns when you look at his resume and experience, but some fans might be concerned about his lack of knowledge in the Louisiana region. A native of New York City, Rhule played linebacker at Penn State from 1994-97. He holds a master's degree from Buffalo. And his coaching career has never taken him into Louisiana or the SEC for that matter. Meaning, he has never recruited players at the level that is expected in Baton Rouge. He's not immediately going to move the needle with recruits like a Jimbo Fisher or Lincoln Riley, but has the people skills to eventually do so.
After-all, “He’s very, very smart. He’s very perceptive. He has a very unique talent, in my opinion, and that is sincerity. When he’s talking to you, it’s like he’s talking to you and only you. The players very much sense that. He’s really a people person, a relationship-builder,” Coughlin said in that same ESPN interview.
MAKING THE CASE
Rhule has spent 22 years as a coach in the college and NFL ranks, and many believe he has something special in him to rebuild a lasting program. It's not working for him in the NFL, and maybe he would love to return to college. We don't know that yet.
But what we do know is he has the ability to quickly right the ship, which is what LSU needs after the last two seasons. He has the ability to build relationships, manage staffs and develop players -- again, all of which is needed within Baton Rouge.
Some people would love this hire to happen, and others will strictly look at his unsuccessful NFL run in Carolina, paired with lack of recruiting experience at a major program.
Rhule is a no BS type of coach who will challenge the players on his roster and set standards, along with structure and discipline seen across some NFL teams. Rhule has the potential to be a home run hire for Woodward.