What’s More Nebraska Than Nebraskans Talkin’ Husker Football, Runzas, and Candy? | Ep. 13

Summary

House Rhules – Episode 13 Summary

Episode Overview

Title: What’s More Nebraska Than Nebraskans Talkin’ Husker Football, Runzas, and Candy?
Date: November 13, 2025

Nebraska Head Football Coach Matt Rhule and co-host Anthony “the Cuz” Gargano are joined by special guests (the “Jazbury Twins,” B & C) for a characteristically lively and Nebraskan-centric conversation. The group delves into Nebraska football, the unique Husker culture, iconic local food (especially Runzas), an enthusiastic deep dive into candy preferences, leadership, and life lessons from football and music.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Candy Preferences as a Window into Nebraska Life

• Nostalgic Candy Talk: The episode kicks off with a spirited exchange about favorite candies—from banana Runts, Chuckles, Necco Wafers, hot tamales, to Reese’s Pieces and Haribo gummies, reflecting each guest’s quirks and family traditions.
  • Quote: “For some reason, the banana runts have always just been, like, heaven to me.” — Matt Rhule [01:14]
• Candy Texture Debates: B expresses a strong preference for gummy candies with a good “bite,” disliking chalky candies or overly chewy ones. The group examines the appeal of various textures, comparing Haribo, Swedish Fish, and custom “Sweet Stash” varieties.
  • Quote: “We like gummies that bite back.” — C [05:06]
• Addictive Personalities:
  • Rhule: “If I’m gonna be addicted, I want something that brings me happiness in the bag.” [10:32]
  • Open discussion about high-pressure careers (coaching, music) leading to addictive tendencies, but also an all-or-nothing approach to passions.

2. Food, Family, and Nebraska Culture

• Lincoln & Omaha Food Scene: An effusive discussion of local staples—Runza, Smashburgers, Stella's, Drover, and more. The group jokes about the trouble explaining Runza to outsiders (“is it a Hot Pocket?”), local burger tiers, and the cultural shift in Nebraska cuisine.
  • Quote: “The smell of Runza is probably the smell of Nebraska.” — B [34:08]
• Homegrown Food Renaissance: Nebraska’s “cultural renaissance” is discussed, with pride in how local restaurants (and sushi!) are earning national recognition.
  • Quote: “If you’re a loser, you’re flying over our state. If you know what’s up, you’re spending time here.” — B [40:15]

3. Husker Football, Leadership, and Adversity

• Adrenaline & Pressure: Connecting the intensity of football and music performance, both Rhule and the guests reflect on channeling pressure into creativity and growth, and the value of embracing “bad notes” or mistakes as part of excellence.
  • Quote: “The most beautiful shit happens when you’re going for it. ... Life has bad notes. Life has good notes.” — B [13:43]
• Handling Adversity:
  • Rhule recounts stories illustrating leadership under stress, including a key message from NFL exec Troy Vincent:
    • Quote: “How do you stop a great athlete? You make them think.” — Rhule related via Troy Vincent [14:31]
  • Parallel between football’s adversity and life’s challenges: learning from setbacks, the value of “going for it,” and the beauty in being present and unafraid of mistakes.
• Creating Lasting Legacy: The idea that “the tape shall set you free” underlines Rhule’s philosophy: focus on the film (effort, execution, attitude), not just the scoreboard.
  • Quote: “I don’t care about the score. ... I care about what the tape looks like.” — Matt Rhule [21:44]

4. Nebraska Community & Support

• Statewide Unity: The panel describes Nebraska’s uniquely supportive and unified fanbase, with football serving as cultural glue.
  • Quote: “People here want our own to win.” — B [23:36]
• Life Balance: Rhule values raising his children in Nebraska, appreciating small-town unity and the rare ability to live as both a coach and a present father.
  • Quote: “I’m able to be a father here ... people in Nebraska will not bother me during the match.” — M. Rhule [24:03]
• Husker Identity Abroad: Guests reminisce about Husker pride turning up worldwide, and the importance of football as a community anchor.
  • Quote: “No matter where we are in the world ... we reserve whenever a Husker game is for our time to just feel connected to Nebraska and feel connected to home.” — C [31:05]

5. Football, Music, and the Art of Team-Building

• Risk-Taking & Trust:
  • Musical Parallels: B & C share how performing live requires trust, adaptability, and sometimes “flying without a net”—directly mirroring Rhule’s approach to football strategy.
    • Quote: “You trust your training ... you have fun.” — B [21:06]
  • Zero Blitz Story: Rhule shares a turning point with his defensive coordinator, advocating for boldness over caution.
• Mentorship & Recruitment: Lively exchange on discovering and developing talent, whether young coaches or rising musicians; the importance of balancing innate gifts with teachability and integrity.
  • Quote: “I think it’s a balance ... hire five and find the two that I don’t want to let leave the building.” — M. Rhule [54:59]
• Cultural Fit & Synergy: Both fields require staff/team who are not just skilled, but also good people:
  • Quote: “I’d much rather have a drummer that we love hanging out with that isn’t the best than somebody who’s the best and not a good person to be around.” — C [58:36]

6. Life Lessons: Journey vs. Destination

• Process Over Product: Guests and Rhule reflect on society’s focus on quick wins versus valuing the journey—whether in coaching, music, or personal growth.
  • Quote: “People are there for the accomplishment, not really the journey ... the only way you get to the accomplishment is if you’re there committed for the journey.” — B [59:35]
• Embracing Adversity & Growth: Using Kobe Bryant’s Achilles injury as a parable, Rhule reinforces that adversity is not only unavoidable but essential to building greatness. [56:57, 59:53]

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Memorable Quotes & Segments (with Timestamps)

• 01:14 – Banana Runts love and candy texture battles
  • “For some reason, the banana runts have always just been, like, heaven to me.” — Rhule
• 10:32 – Candy as an acceptable addiction
  • “If I’m gonna be addicted, I want something that brings me happiness in the bag.” — Rhule
• 13:43 – Going for it in music and life
  • “The most beautiful shit happens when you’re going for it.” — B
• 21:44 – Why effort and “the tape” matter more than outcomes
  • “I don’t care about the score. ... I care about what the tape looks like.” — Rhule
• 23:36 – Nebraska’s culture of support
  • “People here want our own to win.” — B
• 34:08 – The essence of Runza
  • “The smell of Runza is probably the smell of Nebraska.” — B
• 40:15 – Defending Nebraska’s cultural status
  • “If you’re a loser, you’re flying over our state. If you know what’s up, you’re spending time here.” — B
• 54:59 – Talent vs. teachability in team building
  • “I think it’s a balance ... hire five and find the two that I don’t want to let leave the building.” — M. Rhule
• 58:36 – Choosing team fit over pure skill
  • “I’d much rather have a drummer that we love hanging out with that isn’t the best than somebody who’s the best and not a good person to be around.” — C

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Notable Moments & Callbacks

• Haribo vs. Swedish Fish debate [06:02–06:16]
• Jokes about identifying colors and reviewing “tape” on the podcast [08:31–09:05]
• Zero Blitz Playcall Story (“f these guys” moment) [19:34–21:03]
• Cultural observations on Nebraska airport vs. LA travel headaches [42:31–44:05]
• Runza: explaining the dish to outsiders, branding mishaps [33:28–34:08]
• Coach Rhule’s “desert island artist” recruiting question [45:11–48:50]
  • C picks Stevie Wonder, B picks Miles Davis, Rhule goes through Michael Jackson, Dave Matthews, Bob Marley
• Inside story on music school in NYC, “Whiplash” as real life [49:07–51:16]
• Culver’s, Stella’s, and Nebraska burger hierarchy [37:55–38:45]
• Discussion of assembling and maintaining the right “culture” in teams – football and music [56:49–59:53]

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Conclusion

This episode vividly celebrates the intersections of football, music, food, and Nebraska pride. Rich in anecdotes and colored by authentic, humorous banter, it spotlights the value of community, leadership under adversity, and the drive to build something lasting and distinctly Nebraskan—on the field, on the stage, and at the dinner table.

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For listeners: Expect laughter, wit, and a spirited immersion into what makes Nebraska—and Husker football—uniquely special.

Transcript

[A]

And someone will give each of us one, and I'll eat mine, and then I'll look in the cabinet, like, two months later, and she's got half eaten. She eats, like, a little square. I'm like, are you a serial killer? Like, what's wrong with you?

[B]

Yeah. If we go and get candy and we bring it home, they're gone the next day. There's no way that they're staying.

[A]

What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of House Rules. Coming off a huge win on the road against ucla, Live from Husker Content Studios, where podcasts, radio, tv, all's done one of the best centers in the entire country. I'm proud that this week we can kick off our bye week with a special episode from the Potash Wins. This is House Rule. I had. I had a friend from. I had a girl, I grew up with New York City, and she sent, like, I got them tickets to a game or something, and she had sent us this thing. Like, you know, she. She knows I have three kids and was like, pick your favorite three games, like, a thing. And then all of a sudden, like, this. All this stuff came. And so my kids were disgusting because I picked, like, I picked runts, and I picked all the banana runts. It was all these old school candies. Yeah, that was harder. Yeah.

[C]

Jesus.

[B]

So they were like, banana's my favorite in the runts on sauce.

[C]

Yeah. But I still won't. Unless it's the only candy around. I won't eat that.

[A]

So I won't do, like, a skittle. I won't do, like. Like I like. I like. For some reason, the banana runts have always just been, like, heaven to me.

[B]

They're a little too close to Pez for me. Like, I very. I have a strong reaction to what we refer to as chalk candy. I don't like it. I don't like the texture of it. For me, like, texture is super important in candy. Like, it's part of.

[C]

That's why you're eating candy.

[B]

So I don't love, like, hard candy for that reason.

[C]

Like, if you were to have said Necco wafers, we would probably have left.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Our manager likes neca wafers, and we barely talk to him. Oh, you do. So.

[A]

So. But here I have to explain why. Okay, so when I was growing up, my dad. My grandfather, like, my grandfather was like an old, you know, World War II, and my dad, like, we would go to the store, and they would get. My dad would get Chuckles.

[B]

Wait, their chuckles are from Illinois? Galena, Illinois.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Like, not too far from interesting.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Three hours away, but it just drove me nuts. You got, you got six, five, whatever it was at the time.

[B]

One of each color, too.

[A]

Yeah. You know, I don't eat the green one. I don't deal. I just want the black and the red.

[C]

You want the black one? Do you like juju fruit?

[A]

I, I don't like juju. Too gummy for me.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

But it does have the black anise.

[A]

Seed, licorice, a little bit of anis. I'm with you. I, I, I. But I like the Necco wafers because when I bought them, you know, because again, like, we were buying, like, you know, we were buying fancy candies, but when I bought them, that's like 100 pieces compared to the. Right to the chuckle. So it was like. But I. For years, my wife's mom, before she passed away, like, for like, Christmas, she would just get me black and red jelly beans. Like, really, like, the really good ones. Like, she was like, this is all he wants. He doesn't want anything else.

[C]

Do you like cinnamon candy, too?

[B]

Like hard candy hots or hot tamales?

[A]

Hot tamales are my favorites. Okay.

[B]

We are diametrically opposite.

[C]

Agreed.

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

But I respect it. I just don't personally, like, when I'm getting candy, I'm like, stay away from the hot tamales and stay away from.

[A]

Yeah. And here's like, I'm the guy, when you go to, like, a Mexican restaurant, they say, oh, that's not that hot. It's always that hot for me. But I love hot tamales. I like the old. I mean the old ones. The old Mike and ice. Yeah. Good and plenty.

[B]

Oh, good and plenty.

[A]

But not good and fruity. Good and plenty.

[C]

Oh, good. Yeah.

[B]

Also in the black licorice flavor profile.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I love the texture of a good.

[A]

And plantain. Yes. Because you get to bite off the outside and you still have a little bit of a liquor.

[B]

Something is technically referred to as a droget. Anything that's, like, coated in that candy. Like, like a skittle.

[C]

Like a skittle.

[B]

Well, no, more like an M M. An M M is also a droget. Like anything that's like a candy but then dipped into kind of like a sugar coating or that's a bruise.

[A]

So downstairs in our house. Have we started the podcast by now?

[B]

You guys already got it.

[A]

You might as well just add this in. If you go downstairs in our house, like, we have, like, out in Waverly, we have a pool. A pool house. And then downstairs we Kind of made it like concrete floors, like a bar tv, you know, so like, like when players come over or people come over, it's kind of a fun area, right? But in the back, Julie has like all these things of candy and whole family's gluten free. Said to be gluten free candy. And it's kind of like for us, for their friends or for when kids come over. And it is so controversial that I love Reese's Pieces and people think I'm. Well, people.

[B]

It's controversial.

[A]

They want kitty cats. They Reese's peanut butter, like the mini peanut butter cups. They want all those things. But I think Reese's pieces are by far like, Reese's pieces are the kind of thing. We stayed at a friend's house, a donor's house. And my wife was like, we were skiing there. They were gone.

[B]

You're on your best behavior.

[A]

She was like, don't touch anything. And she came downstairs and they had this whole thing of Reese's pieces. And she said, who ate the Reese's pieces? We're go to the store. I don't even know where the store is. We're in the mountains. It was me. I did it. I was like, I can't help myself. Once I have one, I'm like, ET Like, I just have to.

[B]

They're impossible to stop eating Reese's Pieces.

[C]

Our addiction to candy is so bad that I would say we don't even like Reese's Pieces. And we've had two boxes this week.

[B]

I don't even like chocolate that much. Like, I'm a gummy person. But like if there's Reese's pieces around, they shouldn't be around.

[A]

So. So your favorite is what?

[C]

Gummy candy?

[B]

Any Haribo gummy worms? Like gummy bears? That's. That's. That's our.

[C]

We like gummies that bite back.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What is your feeling on now? If this is controversial, forgive me the nerds that are on the cluster.

[B]

Nerds Gummy cloth.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So nerds by themselves are not my favorite.

[C]

Texture.

[B]

I like. Texture is really important to me. And they don't really have any, but the nerds gummy cluster is good because it's basically the way I think about it is a nerd's gummy cluster is just a cut up nerds rope. And I think the gummy inside the nerd's rope, if you get past the nerds on the outside, the gummy within the nerds rope is top tier chef's kiss gummy.

[A]

So I like. You don't like nerds necessarily. I did back in the day. But like, I used to get, like, just chug to one side, like, but my kids kept getting them. I was like, this is stupid. I'm not buying this. He went to the movies and I was like, oh, my goodness. Like, the texture is amazing. You get a burst of flavor. So. Okay, so I. At least I'm there with you on that. Yeah, the Haribo, I struggle.

[C]

We found common ground.

[B]

Is Haribo too chewy for you?

[A]

Yeah, just like, not like I could eat a thousand Swedish fish. I don't know if that counts. That might be a little bit more.

[B]

Chemical versus gelatin based, but they. They're both gummies somewhat.

[A]

So maybe I just. I just. Well, I'm going to try the sweet stash and I just find the right things. And you also.

[B]

Our texture at our candy company, sweet stash is we. It's somewhere in between Haribo and Albanese, but not chewy like Haribo.

[C]

It's soft on initial bite, but then it's chewy like you're. You get maybe two or three bites chews before you're done with a gummy. Whereas Haribo, I'd say you get like 10 or 15.

[A]

Gotcha.

[B]

Yeah, I like them as chew. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I did give.

[C]

Was it Haley? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it Haley?

[A]

Halle.

[B]

Sorry. So they are gluten free. So. Yeah. You know. Yeah.

[A]

That's the first thing I read when I read it. I was like, gluten free because, like, everything on our house is like. My wife is like. My wife is like. Like, for years we didn't know, and then my son was not growing and all sudden he's 14 years old and we took him all these different hospitals. We go to Cook's Children's Hospital in Dallas and they say celiac. And my wife's. My wife. My wife went to culinary school. She's a registered dietitian too. She was like. And so we. That whole house just flipped. And so my middle daughter also, she sprouted up and then Julie felt better. I'm an at home, gluten free person. Like, if I'm somewhere, there's a great. They say there's a great slice of pizza. I'm going to get it.

[B]

Yeah, you're gonna get it.

[A]

Have you ever been to. Have you ever been to Yoshitomo?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, many times.

[A]

So, David, we went to Wanamaka.

[B]

We've done Oda. We did. Oh, we. Okay. Whenever we have, like, people that we bring to Omaha, we're Like, we're gonna go and see David, and we're gonna go to Oda, and we've brought in people from all over the world who are, like, the biggest fans of sushi. They think that's the best sushi on planet Earth.

[A]

I love it.

[C]

Oh, Makase.

[A]

Yeah. So I told Julie. I said, listen. I went. I said, julie, because we had been before the restaurant. She had taken me for my birthday. And then we. But we went and did that, and he was amazing. And she said to me, I said, listen, there's no gluten. There's no substitutions. You're gonna eat the. You're gonna eat the soy. And she was, like, done. And we went there, and she was like, this is. You know, it's just amazing. So I treat. He'd never been to a game. I was like, I'm trading you tickets. But I get. I get. I'll give you tickets to a game. I get first line, first call. The next time I need. Like, I need to go to the counter.

[B]

It's so good, though. We're big sushi fans.

[C]

What color did you just eat? Do you know?

[A]

Red.

[C]

Red.

[B]

I think it was pink, maybe. Are you sure it was.

[A]

You don't know.

[C]

He doesn't know the color red. This is the head coach of Nebraska football.

[B]

Good point.

[A]

I thought I went red because it was Nebraska. I thought that was. But you know what? The camera. Let's look back. Can we look back?

[C]

Let's roll the tape. I don't know what that means in coaching terms.

[B]

Can I make a public apology to.

[A]

There is pink there, and, you know, there's a chance. I probably shouldn't look at it.

[C]

What are you doing? Correcting the man.

[A]

He's pretty sure it was pink. He's just trying to be nice to you.

[B]

Oh, I saw pink in your hand. I do need to make a public apology to coach. I know he can tell his colors apart. He's very, very proficient at his job. I'm sorry, this is your podcast.

[A]

There's no. There's no public apologies. If it's red, it's red. If it's pink, it's pink. The tape. It's like football. The tape shall set you free.

[B]

So, see, I'm not used to having, like, a playback button and letting it. Letting it speak for itself.

[A]

I love this. First of all, happiness. It's in the bag.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

This is fantastic.

[C]

That's a controversial.

[B]

We've just always been, like, really nerdy about candy. And when you're like a touring Musician. You get to experience different candy from all over the world. And we've had a gripe with candy in America for kind of a while. Like, there's no reason that we should have cancerous dyes and candy. I don't think it's really respectful to the, you know, part of the world that actually, you know, cares about what's in their food. We say 0% corn syrup, 100% corn husker. Because go Big Red. Because go Big Red.

[C]

Even our gelatin is from Nebraska.

[B]

Yeah, Every. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

So. So how is this only 90 calories?

[B]

Oh, one serving is 90 calories.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

How many servings does it say?

[C]

Three.

[B]

Three. So.

[A]

But still, that's. I mean.

[C]

I mean, that's not. Candy bar is the same, maybe even 500.

[A]

I'm not sitting here counting calories. I'm sitting here, like, looking at, like, this is a lot of taste. And. And you know what? This is? Like. Like, this is gonna. This is. It wasn't like. Like, I'm just gonna eat it all at once. It's gonna take me a little time. Relax.

[B]

I don't have that.

[A]

I'm. Eat the whole bag.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

No, but I'm not gonna. Like, if you handed me a candy bar, I would eat it within 3 seconds.

[B]

100. I don't really have the best self.

[C]

Just inhale candy.

[B]

You can.

[C]

You can chew this.

[B]

You could. You could do a countdown clock to the play, and it would be gone by the time the play started for sure.

[A]

Well, I've been having this conversation with some of our coaches. Some of our guys, they like. They do, like, zins, you know, you see? And I'm like, I don't do them. They're like, oh, they give you energy. I'm like, guys, listen. I have an addictive personality. Like, I like football, so I do football all the time. Like, I've cut out some things in my life. Like, okay, this. I should stop this. Like, I'm addict. Like, I can't start something like that, or I will be addicted. Like, if I'm gonna be addicted, I want something that brings me happiness in the bag. Like, this is. Like, this is good.

[B]

I think people that are used to very high pressure situations tend to have addictive personalities. Cause I think I can see this for myself as a musician. If you practice eight hours a day like I used to do, you're kind of used to extremes, and you're just like, unleash me. And you're used to a different level of adrenaline than I think most people are used to. So, like, performing on stage, high level of adrenaline, playing on the field, high level adrenaline, being in front of cameras, same thing. So, like, your kind of baseline is different. I think a lot of people that don't experience that, they're able to kind of maintain a more natural baseline. But I think if what you do is very public or you're doing things in high pressure situations, you tend to be like, just more adapted to that. Cool. I understand.

[A]

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[C]

What do I do?

[A]

I'm going to go coach high school football. I need to coach ninth grade. Like driving down the street. Like, are there kids that want to be coach? Right? Like, because it's just like, you like that feeling Of. I like the feeling of wow. If I. If I. If I mess up right now, like, everyone in the world would know it. Like, they'd have a lot to say. But I can't even imagine, like, going on stage. You hit. You play a thousand beautiful notes, and you hit one note that's just a little bit off, and then everyone's gonna notice.

[C]

And that's all you think about, too, when you walk off the stage. It's like, that one note.

[B]

I embrace the bad notes. Like, I think kind of this is coming from, like, a jazz musician's perspective. But, like, the most beautiful shit happens when you're going for it. And when you go for it, you're gonna play a bad note. But you don't play the most amazing thing you've ever played if you don't go for it. And it's just kind of a risk of doing that. And I think another thing is, like, you're so locked in, you're not even thinking about technique. You're just at one with the music itself. You're just. You're so in the. In the zone, like, in the vibe. Like, all you care about is just being in that moment and kind of, like, expressing yourself. And sometimes, you know, bad notes are just a part of life. Like, life has bad notes. Life has good notes.

[C]

But if you remember that one good throw, that was 45. Everyone cut.

[B]

Look, getting sacked is a part of football. You know, messing up a note is a part of being a musician. It's just kind of like we had.

[A]

Troy Vincent in, you know, 15, 16 years in the NFL, and, you know, he's up for the hall of Fame, College Football hall of Fame now, now executive of the NFL, and his son's on our staff, works with us. And the one thing he said was, he was talking about the game. And he said, I've told my kids their whole lives, how do you stop a great athlete? And his son in the back said. He said, son, how do you stop a great athlete, Troy Jr? And he goes, you make them think. And it's kind of like you said, like, getting into the zone. And I always look at it like, you know, we have all these dots in our head. We have all this noise and all this music, all these distractions, like fear, doubt this, that I need to do this. And it's like those moments where all those things dissipate and you just have one or two dots or, like, the beautiful moments with you guys and really with us, if. If it's depending on the context that it's in. It can be recorded and live forever, right? Like, the greatest great. Like, I love listening to, like, live albums. Oh, you know, I love. I love live shows. Like, we went, my wife and I, she was kind enough to me after we beat Cincinnati. I was like, I want to go see the Turnipike Troubadours on Friday night. And she was like, she's not a venue person. She likes to be kind of quiet. I get this. And she was like. She was like, I'll go with you. And it's just like. Just like watching people get up on stage and do what you guys do. And, like, you can take it any direction you want to take. You said go for it. Like, can you think back about your career? Do you remember, like, hey, this one song, this one show, this one performance. Are there iconic moments, personally, in every one?

[B]

Like, I think. I'm not saying that in, like, everything I do is, like, amazing.

[C]

I will say, as your twin brother, like, you have a huge confidence, and I think that helps you going into performances because you do just take really big risks. I would say. I've really never seen you fall flat on them, which is kind of an amazing thing because I'm not. I'm really not that way. I'm not much of a risk taker like that. But as an artist, it is really cool to see somebody who's like, yeah, well, whatever happens, it'll either be great or be horrible, but I'm going for it.

[B]

Let me translate it into football and thank you for that. When you work so hard at something like discipline, technique, learning the fundamentals, you go into a situation trusting yourself. Like, when I go on stage, I know I can play trombone and I'm excited for the. For anything to happen. Like, I'm excited for the adversity in a way, because that's something I couldn't have put onto myself. Adversity just happens on stage and it gives you something to work with. I think in football, adversity is sort of similar. Something might happen out of your control, but it's how the team decides to handle, how the players decide to handle it.

[A]

Just go talk to the team. That's what I. That's what I say. And they're like, oh, my gosh, he said it again. You'd say they'd be like, oh, my gosh, that's brilliant. Like, I tell. But I say to him, I say, adversity, really, on your opponent, but adversity is actually your friend. It's. I show them all the time. Kobe Bryant tearing his Achilles. He's the best player in basketball at the time. Tears Achilles, goes to foul and makes the foul shots. Goes off and they make him talk to the meat. He's crying. Like, you can tell he's been crying. His face is red. He's got his Lakers jersey still on. They just confirmed he tore his Achilles. He's talking to them. Behind him is the Stonecutter credo, which, as you know, something to the effect of, like, when all seems to fail, I go and watch the Stonecutter and who at the hundredth strike, you know, cuts, breaks open the stone. And it was. I know it was not that one strike, but the 100 that came before it, right? And it's like just to keep. Keep pounding the rock, keep hitting the stone. And not that many people would know that, but I just happen to know that I see it and I'm like, wow, what an iconic message. And it's like he. They're asking him, are you done? You'll never. You're 30 hour old. You'll never come back from this. And it's like he has this adversity that he then comes back from to become the greatest player again. And it's like he confirms and reconfirms his status only because he had adversity. Or to your point, you know, we go out there in a game and it's like we're down by 17 points. It's the worst adversity. And then we come back and all sudden they make a movie about this game, or you guys go out there and like, something goes wrong, and then all sudden you, you, you, you take. You take what might. I don't know your world, but you take what might be bad or what might be whatever, and you make it great.

[C]

You know, some of the best performances we've ever had is when something goes wrong because it, it puts that fight or flight risk on everybody. So we're all just now listening to each other. Like, none of us really know what to do, but that's when we're listening the best. And we're like, oh, yeah, he's struggling or he needs this kind of help, or let's bring the bass up or let's bring the drummer. Just gonna signify this note or whatever. And that's where the best stuff happens, because none of us really know what's going on, but we're all listening, fighting for our life.

[B]

You're also sort of past the point of caring, and I think that that's really important too. Like, when you're on stage and something goes wrong. And I don't know if I can curse on this, but you're kind of just like it. Like, I'm just gonna do. I'm gonna do me at this point. And I think as a musician, that's when the biggest beauty happens, is when you've kind of, like, let that part of your brain that is trying to calculate a way out when that go. When that quiets in your mind, that's the best. Like, if I could have that happen in the studio, I'd be the happiest person on earth. I don't know if you can do it in the studio. I think that's why live albums are better than recorded albums.

[A]

It's funny you say that, and I don't want to always make a segue to football, but it's kind of went. By the way, the blue.

[B]

Oh, blue.

[A]

Really? Vibe. The blue. Oh, yes, I really like the vibe.

[C]

The Jazbury Twins right there.

[A]

Yeah, I like that. So last game, we're beating Akron. It's 33 nothing. But they're driving before the half, and they hit a run, and we're like, what in the world? And John Butler's my new D coordinator. We're just getting to know each other. And he's like a Philly guy, a tough guy. And I say to him, I say, hey, you know, hey, just defend the goal line. You know, basically like, hey, give up. They're in field. Go range. Give up the field goal. And. But just don't let him score a touchdown. Probably the proper call. And, like, he's very respectful guy. And he goes. He goes, f these guys. And he calls zero blitz, double linebacker in the A. Got free safety down the middle. And I was like, okay, okay, okay. And he went through, and we, you know, ran the guy out of bounds, and then they end up missing the field goal. And I said to him yesterday, I said, you know, one of the places where we're at as a program is, like, we spend so much time, like, you know, trying to learn, trying to figure out what else. At some point, you kind of have to be like, you know, f these guys. Like, I'm tired of hearing about everybody else. Like, it's about time we work. And when you stop worrying what other people think. And that's the hardest thing in football. I tell our guys all the time, if you would play this game the way you practice. Cause when you practice, if you make a mistake, you just play the next play. When you make a mistake in front of 90,000 people and people you love, and you feel like you're letting them down. You're like, oh, it's in your head for the next hour. When you get past that and you kind of get over yourself. To me, that's where. That's where true beauty happens, you know?

[B]

And what was the reward of that? 68 to 0.

[A]

That's right. That's right.

[B]

That's exactly what happens. You trust your training, you trust your mindset. You trust your players, you trust your band, you trust your team, and you have fun. And sometimes, I mean, we don't calculate our world in scores and points, but, like, in years, you do. That clearly was incredibly effective. And, I mean, this week has been amazing for Nebraska fans. Like, we're all so proud of what you guys are working on right now. It's unbelievable. Like, the excitement around this season is. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like this. I mean, we were not, like, sentient human beings in the era where Nebraska was the best. I feel like, that feeling, I think now.

[A]

I appreciate you saying that. It's funny. Like, what I do think we have similar, though, is, like, Will Compton released a video. We were gonna put it out the next day. He put a video of, like, me yelling and screaming like a madman in the locker room. But, you know, I think the point was, what I was saying was I said, I don't care about the score. I don't care what the outcome. I don't care what people say. I care about what the tape looks like. And like, for you guys, like, you, like, you create a piece of music, like you've created something, right? Like, for us, we create a score, but really, like, the film. Like, I tell our guys all the time, like, you know, someday you're gonna show your kids your film. Like, ah, dad, could you play? Let me show you. Let me show you, son, that what I look like? I said, do you want them to watch you jogging around? Oh, I was tired on this place. Son, you're not gonna want to say you retired. You want, like, this. This film, these recordings, like, they live forever. And so, like, I want. I want to produce something beautiful. Like. And that's kind of why we did this. Like. Like, here you guys are in the genre. You guys are, you know, multi platinum, like, artists on television. Like, now you're moving into new genres. Like, you're just. You're like, you're merging all these different parts of our culture, and here we are, we're in football, but, like, we want to do the same thing. Like, we want to be relevant to all the people in Nebraska nationally. But at the same time, I just don't, I don't ever want to not create something good.

[B]

Well, you have this special opportunity now, like in this job to make a huge difference. And I think everybody's seeing the result of that. Like the fruits of that. The one thing I feel like would be so hard is the day you enter the program. Like, how quickly do results come? Like, do they come when you want them to come or do they come when it happens? Like, how does that work as a coach?

[C]

I will say being like Nebraskans and we're in Nebraska a lot of the time, but most of the time people, the only thing they know about Nebraska.

[B]

Is the football team.

[C]

So we are kind of also tied to how well you're doing, get known how and we've had a lot of great things to say. The last couple of years have been amazing. We're very excited for the rest of it too.

[B]

And I think something that's so special about Nebraska, in Nebraska football, is just how supportive Nebraskans are. I think that that's something that I wish I could communicate to the outer world a bit more. It's like our superpower here in Nebraska. Like people want people here to succeed. I think a lot of places you go, like they kind of enjoy tearing people from their place down. That doesn't happen here. No, people here want our own to win.

[C]

Unless the coach isn't winning.

[A]

Well, but even then. But you know, it's funny, like you can see like we're in like my office. I have like three dog things over there. My wife, like, you know, we live out like on some farmland. But like we downtown. My wife walks to the games with my daughters. She walks in here, she puts the dogs up, she goes to the game, halftime, she comes over, walks the dogs and then she walks home. Win or lose. And the first, you know, we didn't always win the first year. And you know, you take social media out of it. Like that stuff's fake, right? Like, but how people treat you here is amazing. And one of the main reasons why when I was looking at this job, you know, I have a 20 year old son who's a sophomore here at school. He goes to school here. I said, bro, don't go to school. You're on the coach, dude. Like, it could be good, it could be bad. But you know, I have, I have 12 and 10 year old daughters and they're the most important thing for me because they're not more than him. But I'm saying, like, my kids and my daughters are growing, and so, like, they're growing up through all this. And, you know, I'm able to be a father here. Like, I can go watch my daughters at a volleyball game. And the thing about people in Nebraska, they will not bother me during the match. Now, when the match is over, I get up, I might take 200 pictures. And I'm glad to do that. I think that's part of this job. Because the unique thing here is it's not like when I was at Baylor, it was. My neighbor was a Texas Tech person, had a UT guy across the street. So when we won. But some people were like, I was hoping they were gonna lose.

[B]

It must be nice to be in a state where it's like, all unified around one football. Like, I could imagine being in another state where it's like, there's 40 different football teams and they're all fighting each other. Like, the feeling of coming here must be so different because, you know, the whole state's behind you.

[C]

I mean, even Iowa has, like, four other teams.

[B]

Right, right. Like, is that a unique thing to know?

[A]

It's unique. It reminds me of when I was in Texas, and, like, some. Some, like, small towns in Texas, like, they only have one school in the school district. Right. And, like, everyone in the town goes to the games. Like, I mean, yeah, Friday Night Lights. Right. I meet so many people here who, you know, while they. While they are from Nebraska or they live here now. They went. Maybe they went to school somewhere else, or maybe they live somewhere else, came here. But everyone in the state is kind of. They want the University of Nebraska football to be successful. It brings tremendous pride, and it unites all these people. And so it puts a lot of pressure. Not in a bad way. Like, we want to put together a good product. We want people to feel good. But it's. There's really nothing I try to define it to, like, my friends from Philly. It's like, if you're a Giants fan, you're not walking in Eagles Stadium. You're just like, you know what? I'm not going. It's kind of like that here. Like, we're just happen to be really nice to the visiting teams. Like, we cheer for them and then hope we beat them 68 nothing. Then cheer for them on the way out.

[B]

Yeah, we're hospitable here in Nebraska to our opposing teams, I think.

[C]

And we've got Runza.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

You're gonna have to come here for the Runza anyway. May as well watch the team win a game.

[A]

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[C]

All over the world we've gotten that. I remember we were in China and we were like at a bar. We had just performed and somebody came up to us and they're like, I'm from Kearney or something. We're like, what? Literally, you could be the furthest place in the world away and there's a Husker fan right there or somebody from Nebraska. It's amazing.

[B]

We're almost always wearing a Husker item, like a hat or a sweatshirt or something.

[C]

One of our favorite things is collecting.

[B]

Vintage Husker stuff, which I have a new theory on. We need to. I know how vintage clothes works this way where older stuff is cool and. But like at a certain point, like, we need to make the new stuff cool because the new stuff's happening now. Like we're winning now kind of thing. Like it shouldn't be. They shouldn't all say 1993 on it.

[A]

That's right. This is future vintage gear. That's right.

[C]

We're just early collectors. When you're buying new, you're collecting early vintage.

[A]

I love that. You know, it's funny that you said I said that a week ago. I was like, you know, it was one thing to play in Kansas City, which is amazing. And a lot of people went down to the game But I'm like, we need to play well at home in front of the students, because they're the ones who like going to meet their wife at a game or go on a date or, like, I want. I want 20 years from now, 30 years from now, when I'm no longer coaching, I want all those people in the stadium to have been like, oh, Remember back in 2025? Do you remember when they did this? Do you remember 2020? Like, last year, for me, like, beating Colorado was one of the great, great moments I've ever been a part of.

[B]

That was so good, by the way. So good. Thank you for providing that to us.

[A]

Oh, I enjoyed it. I. It's funny, like, you know, I'm kind of raised in a world of football where there's no rival. There's no such thing as rivalries. And, like, they started it with us, I feel like, after the first year arrival. But I was like, well, there's. There was. I was like, well, I definitely want to win next year. And now, after two years in Iowa, and I have a lot of respect for. I'm like, okay, I can see it. Like, we went to Iowa. Most beautiful moment. Like, one of the most beautiful moments I've seen in sports. Like, waving at the kids in the hospital. And as I'm doing that, I never look in the crowd, but you have to. And I get done, and I look down and people just said some horrific things to me, and I was like, well played. Well played.

[B]

Really. We just had this beautiful moment where we were waving to a children's hospital. Thank you for spoiling that so quickly. Thank you.

[A]

It's over now, and we hate you, Coach Rule. And I was like, join the club.

[B]

At least we had what we had then.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

Our theory on school rivalries is just to get two border states to support each other's games.

[A]

That's right. That's well said. So if everyone drives to each other's games. Yeah.

[C]

Then they should.

[B]

I think it's an economic thing necessarily. Like, I don't even know if that's true. It seems kind of logical.

[A]

Well, you think about the date, like, the old days here when. When they were in the, you know, I guess what, big eight, then big 12, you know, like driving to Kansas, driving to Kansas State, driving to Missouri, them coming here. And then, you know, now, like, we play. Like, we're going to Maryland in a couple weeks.

[B]

Yeah. You know, we're going to usc. Exactly.

[A]

Yeah. We're going to usc. Is going to come. How many people from USC are going to come here, then we're going to go to ucla. I feel pretty good that we'll have a lot of people at the Rose Bowl. Like, I was afraid that was going to be a Friday night game, because that's hard for people. But the minute they did make it a Friday night game, I was like, oh, yeah.

[B]

Like, they can make it between Friday night and Saturday.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

I want to tell you something, too, because we didn't grow up watching football. Like, we just weren't a sports family. And when we moved to New York City for music school, we kind of were, like. I wouldn't say we were homesick, but we were kind of missing that connection to home. And that's when we started watching Husker.

[C]

Football until we got kicked out of.

[B]

The Nebraska bar, which is a whole other story. But we haven't missed a game.

[A]

That sounds like a story we need to hear in America. Okay, yeah, yeah.

[C]

But we'll circle back on that.

[B]

But we haven't missed a game since then. No matter where we are in the world, like, we reserve whenever a Husker game is for, like, our time to just feel connected to Nebraska and feel connected to home. And, like, seriously, the fall is the best time of year because, I don't know, it's just grounding. It's like, this is where we're from. These are our people. This is a community we support. This is a community that supported us. Like, this is our home.

[C]

People are like, we like pumpkin spice. Or we like the apple cider. We're like, well, it's Husker season. None of that fall crap.

[B]

Although I do like pumpkin spice. I'm basic like that.

[A]

You know, there's no better smell in the world than, like. So where we are.

[B]

You're going to say something about black licorice. I know.

[A]

No, no, no, no, no, no. We've covered that. It tastes amazing, by the way. I want to make sure everyone knows. Crushed. Absolutely crushed.

[B]

I didn't even notice that. Wow.

[A]

That was fantastic.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

That's not like, a podcast. One thing about me, you can ask Kristen. She's our head of performance nutrition, and we have an amazing culinary apartment downstairs. It's amazing. Like, I can't lie about food. Like, they asked me to judge. The Heartland Food bank asked me to judge. Like, they had a food contest.

[B]

Colechio. Yeah, he was at that.

[A]

Right? Yes, exactly. Right. Yeah. And so they had, like, two amazing food writers who crushed it. Then they had me, and I'm like, they're saying words. I'm like, chatgpting what they're even saying.

[B]

You're like, this is well seasoned, chef.

[A]

This is great. They got to me. They got to me. They went to the gentleman, they went to the woman, and they came to me, and I was like, what am I doing here? Like, why do you care? But, like, I can't lie about food. Like, I'll tell her downstairs. I'm like. I'm like, hey, things are great today. I'm like, hey, I thought the chana masala was a little, like. I just, like, I don't even know what I'm talking about, but, like, so I can't lie about food. This was fantastic.

[B]

Thank you. Thank you. That means so much. It really does.

[A]

You brought some more? Oh, yeah.

[B]

You're not going home empty handed, even though this is. We're in your home.

[A]

So one of the best things in the world is outside of the tunnel walk, the new tunnel walk from our new thing. There's one of the original concession stands on the bottom level. And the smell of arunza might. And the way it smells there might even outdo what it tastes like. I mean, it is. The smell is intoxicating. It's like you literally. I'm walking out to the field to get ready to play Wisconsin, and all I'm thinking about is like, do you think they'll hold a runza for me for after the game? Like, that's how good it is.

[C]

We love runza. And every. We, like, have the worst time explaining it to people. Nobody really knows.

[B]

It's a hard dish to explain because they're like, is it a sandwich? And I'm like, it's more like a hot pocket.

[C]

Like, it's hard.

[A]

Yeah, Hot pocket with cabbage. That's how I drink.

[B]

We were just explaining it. There may be things coming out about the runza soon that I'm hoping. We were kind of pitching a story about the runza to a big publication and trying to explain it to somebody that's, like, from New York City. So hard. They're like, what is it? And I'm like, well, it's a sandwich. It's kind of a hot pocket, but.

[C]

It'S also the name of the chain.

[B]

And they're like, oh, is it the name of a dish? We're like, kind of. It's the name of the chain, but it's also the name of the dish. And they're like, okay, you're just gonna have to.

[C]

We're like, it's if the in n out the dish was the in N out.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Right.

[B]

I don't know how else to say no. If in and out was called Animal style, then it would make sense. But it's not. But yeah, I mean, the smell of Runza is probably the smell of Nebraska.

[C]

Especially that mushroom and Swiss one. Yeah.

[A]

Well, low key. I. I have to say this. And you guys are in la. There's great burger places in la. I mean, when Julie and I live there, we go to pinks. We go to all agent places. Like, have you tried Love Hour yet?

[B]

It's a smash burger place, really.

[C]

Blues Craft also is an amazing.

[B]

We're big Smashburgers.

[A]

It's been a long. So I went out there this summer. I actually filmed. There's another Nebraska person was many people, I've learned. But they asked me to come out. So I filmed a small part in a show that's coming out this spring as myself, as the Nebraska head coach. And so he said, now you cannot get fired next year because it's coming out this spring and you need to be the Nebraska coach. I said, I'll do my best not to get fired. So I flew out. But I hadn't been out there since then. And we went to eat like one or two places. But like. Like, it brought back so many memories for Julia. Like, we went out there, we had no money and we were like, a burger was like a night out.

[B]

Like.

[A]

Like, I'll never forget. We saved up. We not saved up, but like, we like, didn't go out for a week or two. And then we went out to eat and we went to the. What's the place that has the. What's the Chinese food place? Like the Chain, but like.

[C]

Oh, Mr. Chow.

[A]

No, no, no.

[B]

Panda Express.

[A]

No, like, nicer.

[B]

Like, oh, oh, oh, yeah.

[A]

The P. F Chang's is like down in Hollywood, right? So, you know, we went down, you know, and went down there.

[B]

They have good green beans, very good Szechuan green.

[C]

And the lettuce wraps.

[A]

The lettuce wraps are phenomenal. Fire.

[C]

How do you not bring up the lettuce wrap?

[A]

Sorry, sorry. So we sit down. It's her and I and like, you know, we order. Like, we order. We can afford to order. Right. And I'm making it sound like we were really poor, but we were really. But we were pretty dang poor at the time. She worked hard. And so we're eating and these two men walk up and they're both like 6, 5, 335 pounds, you know, and they have the same thing And Julie will tell you, like, I can't go to a girl. I'm at a girls volleyball game for my daughter. She'll like, stop it, stop it. You're watching that girl because she runs well. She's got. She's high hip, she's athletic. Like, I'm always in recruiting mode, right?

[C]

You like scouting people at the PF Chang.

[A]

So I'm watching these two guys. I'm like football players. Who are they? And I'm talking to her and like, literally we're at this table and there's a wall and at the next table over is Beyonce, Kelly Rowland and all of Destiny's Child. Like, and I told her, I said, I promised you the finest things in life. We're at the dinner, but testy style. But. So, so, so the, the. But the burgers, like, the, the burgers at Runza, I think low key are pretty dang elite. In N Out is. To me, In N Out is no good. The minute you leave California. Like, I love In N Out. Love it.

[B]

You're not offending me, by the way. I agree with you.

[A]

The minute you get to. We came to Texas. And to me, if I'm in Texas, I have to eat water burger. Like, I mean, it's like, I think.

[C]

I might disagree with you. I think Whataburger Out, I mean, this is going to be horrible. Everyone's going to hate me now. But Whataburger outside of Texas I think isn't great In N Out if you do it by price. Like, if you're like In N Out versus Whataburger versus Shake Shack. Like, there's no doubt that In N Out is the best for the price.

[A]

Here's what I'm saying.

[B]

But their fries are inedible.

[A]

If I'm in Philly or if I'm in New York and I see a Shake Shack, I'm going into Shake Shack. Of course, if I'm in la, I'm going in and out. If I'm in Texas, I'm going to Whataburger. I said that with a little bit of a twang.

[B]

You really let it rip there. I also, I like the thickness of Whataburger patties. Like for a fast food chain, I feel like they do. Like, they give you a burger when you order a burger. They can be. And I don't know if maybe I've been going to the wrong Whataburgers. They don't season it that well.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

But I also.

[C]

It's hit or miss. But you know what isn't Hit or miss Runza. So I think I've never actually had their burgers there. Oh, why would you get anything but the Runza?

[A]

Like, here's why. Here's why. So we would get them for our scout team when we win, and we bring in a ton of Runzas, and we bring in a ton of burgers, and we just put them all out. So naturally, like, you have a Runza, then a couple minutes later, you have another Runza, the other kind. And then whatever they kind they get. And the next time you're like, you know what? Might as well have a burger. And I was like, these burgers. And when you start saying that to people, they're like, it's a kind of a.

[C]

So we're gonna start noticing that.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I think the best fast food burger other than In N Out and Shake Shack is probably Culver's. I really think Culver's is solid. But this is obviously.

[C]

Have you had Stella's in Bellevue?

[B]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[A]

It's fantastic.

[C]

We try to take everybody there.

[B]

When anyone comes in from la, we're like, we're gonna go to the Drover.

[C]

Everyone's always like, this isn't a smash burger. We're like, no, it's the exact opposite of one. It's like an obese burger.

[A]

The Drover is like, there's something about going to a salad bar, getting up. That's right. That's right.

[C]

With those, like, tin plates that's.

[A]

They're cold.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

They're.

[B]

They're definitely in the free.

[A]

That they're cold is amazing. Like, because it's not like, you're not overwhelmed by the fixings. It's like, do I want carrots or some cheese? It's very basic, but the cold plate just makes you happy.

[C]

There are no restaurants in Omaha that become a staple unless they've burned down twice.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Like, most of these places have burned down a couple.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah. My favorite part about the Drover is that you have to have really good eyesight to either because it's so dark.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I'm like, always, like, I got to go to the. Is it optometrist? Well, I don't know what the. I don't know what the. My doctors call them anymore, but, yeah, whenever I'm in there, I'm like, I can't see in a good way.

[A]

But you're. I'm at the point now where I have my iPhone out, and I'm, like, shining the light everywhere I go. But they're like, I had never had, like, you go to. Was it Gorat's Gratz? You go there. I had never had like a whiskey rubbed whiskey ribeye.

[B]

Yeah, they just marinated in whiskey.

[A]

But it's fantastic.

[B]

Oh, it's so good. I think it's. I'm so. As a Nebraskan, I'm proud that we have claimed that, like, it's just a great idea.

[A]

But I think, like, you look at the Omaha food scene now, you say yourself, in my opinion, the Drover. You have these iconic places, but you have Drover. I'm gonna say Yoshitomo, obviously, I'm gonna say Au Courant of Virginia Spirit Awards, the Boiler Room. Like, there's. And many more. Like, the food scene there is elite. You come over here to Lincoln and like, it's starting to grow. Like, like the Pede family who did our collective, they put Casa Bovina out off of 80. And so, you know, they have the largest herd of Piedmontese beef in the United States. So they put a steakhouse in. Right. Well, now their wines and Wine Spectator, they're wine list I'll send to my friends in Manhattan. They'll be like, are you in town? I'm like, no, no, I'm in Lincoln, baby. Come on.

[C]

See me.

[B]

I think Nebraska is going through like, a cultural renaissance right now. I think the thing that I hate the most is when people call it a flyover. Yeah. If you're a loser, you're flying over our state. If you know what's up, you're spending time here.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

People just don't know that. I don't know why they don't know that we're trying to make change that way.

[C]

So why is it that our, like, sushi is so good to the point that even, like Sushi Blue is in Chicago now.

[B]

Right, Right.

[A]

And the original one is here in Omaha. Right. Like, it's like, no doubt. Well, I think, I think, I think part of it is like, too, like, even when you drive through the state, it's like you're on 80. Well, in recruiting, what I've learned is you get off 80 and you start driving through the towns and like, it is beautiful. Like, you know, I'm not a very good golfer, but I like to go play golf. Going out to like the Sandhills, going out to Grable, going out to Caprock, going up. Like, you go through this state and what's happening is as those things are starting to get out, I go out to play golf at these places and I see more People I know from Manhattan, I see more people I know from Philly that know what's here, and they don't want people to know. They're trying to keep it quiet.

[B]

We get texts all the time, hey, we're going to be in Nebraska. We're playing the Arnold Palmer course. Or we're playing kids of the Sand Hill course. That's, like, impossible to get it. There's one that on the west side that's, like, impossible to get it.

[A]

Yeah. So Sandhills is really hard to get onto. Cat Brock's really dismal river is hard to get onto. And then. And then Landman, which is just over. The Wall Street Journal just called Landman the hardest reservation to get. It's just over the border, I think, into. Into South Dakota, but it's still right here. Like, they're impossible to get onto. But you know what? Like. Like, people are dying. They come out here. They're dying to come out here for those things. College World Series might be the most fun I've ever had.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, I like parties. I like people and, like, it's an amazing time.

[B]

You like the energy and the atmosphere.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Right? That's the best thing I think about sports is, like, everybody comes together and basically parties while a thing happens. Like, that is what it is.

[A]

Like, I love my sister. Like, she lived in Brooklyn forever, then she moved out to, like, North Jersey. And I love, like, sending her, like, my tax bill. And, like, I'm like, you know, you. You. You could have, like, 50 acres here for what you're paying for your house.

[B]

There, like, or 500 acres.

[A]

That's right. And guess what? And guess what? You can.

[B]

You.

[A]

I can get on a plane in Omaha and be in. And be in LAX in two hours, two and a half hours. I can be at LaGuardia or Ken, like, you can go. And that's what I've learned about a lot of people in Omaha, in Nebraska. Like, they live here, and then they go all different places, they travel everywhere, and it's all easy.

[B]

Flight, that was our thing, is, like, we travel basically for a living, as do you. And I want to be somewhere that's, like, wholesome when we're.

[C]

And easy to live.

[B]

And I don't want to be stuck. Okay. We just, like, are so done with lax, like, that worst airport on Earth. Like, if you travel, I don't know why we fly out of there. But going to Epley, where, like, it takes you 10 minutes to go through security, I mean, to get to your gate from Getting out of your gate.

[C]

And for some reason, TSA PreCheck at Eppley is, like, clear everywhere else. Like, no one has it here. You have pre check and you're in and out.

[A]

I used to use LAX when I lived there. I used LAX all the time. And then recruiting, I used it this year. Well, this year I went in and.

[B]

Out of Van Nuys. Now.

[A]

Well, I went out of lax. Like, the. The drive around LAX was worse than getting through TSA Loop.

[B]

For, like, when we bought our house.

[C]

In Palm Springs was because of the. You can't get picked up at the. When you land. We were, like, not doing that ever.

[A]

Right. Wow.

[C]

We're like, that. That's. I mean, just getting to LAX can take you two hours. We're like, this day, guys, this is.

[B]

Probably the most interesting conversation that the people here, they want to hear us bitching about LAX drive.

[A]

Well, but I think the people in Nebraska will be like, yeah, you know, we do have it pretty good. Like, we. Like. Like, I leave here when my family was still in Charlotte. I would leave here, like, like an hour and 45 minutes before my flight get there. In 45 minutes to an hour, go through security, wait 20 minutes till boarding, get on my flight, fly to Charlotte, get out in Charlotte and drive 20 minutes to the house. And it was like, that's. That's like being in traffic other places, it's a lot. It was. It was a pretty easy trip.

[B]

I think it's an equation, like, best place to live that's easy and has great food and has great atmosphere and is affordable and has low taxes. And it's like, where does it fit in your list of priorities? For some people, it's like, our friends, like, they're never gonna leave LA or they're never gonna leave New York. Cause they wanna go to a concert or a Broadway show or eat at that restaurant or go see this thing. And it's like, yeah, if you care about that, I get why you live there. Yeah.

[C]

But what's great is they're talking about our restaurant now. That's never happened before.

[B]

No. Like I said, I think we're going through a cultural renaissance. I think things are changing here. I think people's perspective on what's happening here is changing in the best way possible. And it can't happen fast enough. And it is happening. It's great.

[A]

I love it. All right, to my recruiting questions. All right. Nervous, because you guys hated some of my can. It's usually like, just a thought. One or two thought. We'll do. We'll do one. And this is what I always ask you. So, like, I would never ask you guys a music question, but it's actually what I ask for. Recruits. All right. You're stuck on a deserted island. It's just you. You guys only get to see each other. Like, you're on your own island. You're how old?

[B]

31.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. 31. So you're gonna live. You're gonna live another, you know.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Let's calculate it to the day.

[A]

Yes. I'm saying you're live past 100, right? So by then, like, everyone's gonna pass.

[B]

Okay, you're rounding up.

[A]

Okay, so. So, okay, so you're on a deserted island. You can only listen to one artist for the rest of your life.

[C]

Stevie Wonder. Oh, easy for me.

[A]

I would say that Good days, bad days.

[B]

He's got some sad songs too.

[A]

Yeah, I'm with you. Christmas holidays. And I want to make one caveat. Like, I talked about Destiny's Child. If you pick Beyonce, you also get Destiny's Child.

[B]

So if they were in a group.

[A]

Yes. Like, you. You pick. You pick.

[B]

Do I also get Michael McDonald?

[A]

You do.

[B]

Okay, this is. This is good. That's my favorite. One of my favorite songs.

[A]

I mean, you guys are so much fun. You actually got me to sing on camera. Like, that's gonna be such a bad.

[B]

Should we try to do the harmony for you?

[C]

No one wants.

[B]

That song is so vocally. I just did that song at.

[C]

We did that once for karaoke and embarrassed ourselves.

[B]

No.

[A]

Really?

[C]

Such a high. So high to sing.

[B]

We did it. Paul Rudd is a good friend of ours. We just ate at his house and did karaoke, and I picked what a fool believes. And the second it started, I was like, oh, I'm a idiot. Like, this is the hardest song to do karaoke. All of it is like, Michael McDonald doing, like, the top of his range.

[A]

I love this. I love this.

[B]

That's also me. I'm like, I'm gonna go for it.

[C]

He also played the penny whistle to cover you up.

[B]

He did.

[A]

You did say you have to just go for it sometimes. Just not care what anybody thinks.

[B]

But also, like, I hate karaoke.

[C]

That's the mentality. That's the mentality that causes embarrassing situation.

[A]

What did you go with?

[C]

I think I still pick Stevie Wonder because his.

[A]

No, I mean karaoke. What did you pick?

[C]

Oh, oh, I picked a bunch of stuff. I did. What did I do?

[B]

You did. Oh. We each did quite a few things. You did this is a good sign.

[C]

Of a good night, I think.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, now you're putting me under the spot.

[C]

Do I do Stevie Wonder?

[B]

I know I did. Yeah. Which is also the worst.

[C]

Amarillo by Morning, George Strait.

[A]

Oh, all right. All right.

[C]

Candyman. Sammy Davis Jr. Obviously kind of become.

[B]

Our theme song now.

[A]

I love that. That's. That's. That makes total sense.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. So before we did Candy, that was also my favorite Sammy Davis Jones Jr. Song.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

It's got good energy, that song.

[A]

I like it.

[B]

Okay, Wait, did we. I didn't answer your question.

[A]

He's going with Steven Lender.

[C]

I'm not backing off.

[A]

That I respect.

[B]

I think I'd go with Miles Davis because there's a lot there. There's a huge discography. Like, I would be covered for a while. Like, I got probably 40 albums I could be sitting with, but it is also instrumental, so maybe I'd.

[C]

That would have been my second pick, so I agree with you.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. That's my final answer. Miles Davis.

[A]

I love it.

[B]

What about you?

[A]

So as I've. It's changed over the years. For many years, it was. It was Michael Jackson. I feel like I got the Jackson 5. I got all. I got all the Jacksons. I got obviously, all his work. Then it became Dave Matthews. Because I could just put on, like, you know, live at Central park and just chill for a couple hours. And. And now I would say it's probably. It's probably Bob Marling. Because then I get. I get the Wailers. I get, you know, Bunny Wailer. I get. I get his kids. I get. I get Ziggy.

[C]

You get his kids?

[A]

Yeah, I get Zigg.

[C]

When are the kids? Come into this.

[B]

If you're stuck on a deserted island, picking Bob Marley would be the chillest way to be stuck.

[A]

I'm just saying, like, just go with. Just go with it. Right?

[C]

Dude, he's been recruiting people for years. He's had these answers before, right?

[A]

That's right. Yeah. I didn't think about it.

[B]

These are battle tests.

[C]

It's actually really unfair for everybody else.

[A]

That's right. I mean, but, like, it's funny. You really get to know somebody really quickly. Like, you know, I think the most popular answer in the last five years is Drake. That's probably the most popular answer I get. But I get some, like. I get some. I get some George straight. Every once in a while I get some, like. I get some way different answers. So it's. It's a. It's a good way to see like, who people are.

[B]

What, did mine make me come off too intellectual, probably?

[A]

No, I think. I think. I think Miles Davis said, that's a great answer. And it's. It's fit to who you are. I'm afraid to ask you this other one.

[B]

Other questions. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, okay. I'm afraid to ask you.

[B]

You know what I'm afraid is the.

[A]

Movie Whiplash to you, A movie that you're, like. You hate it. Like. Like. Like I would watch a football movie. Like, that's so fake.

[C]

That thing was basically a documentary.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, we.

[C]

That was exactly how it was.

[B]

We hated. We hated our music universe.

[C]

Like, very vocal about how much we hated music school.

[B]

We. We think we had the best public school music education anyone could have here in Nebraska. But the second we went to New York City, it was like whiplash. And I. And I, we were. It's so accurate. It's terrible.

[C]

I mean, we had to get teachers into restaurants for dinner just to, like.

[B]

Pass midterms because, like, that's how aggressive they were. It was.

[C]

It was crazy. And we were also working at the time, so we had a lot of, like, other jealous. The teachers were jealous, and some of the kids were. So they hated us the most. I'd say.

[B]

We. Yeah. I mean, we got all of their anger at, like, not making it as a professional musician and then turning into a professor was directed right on us.

[C]

Right at us.

[B]

For some reason, because, like, generational trauma directed at us.

[C]

It was.

[B]

It was exactly like Whiplash.

[C]

I mean, we didn't get physically abused. I'm not saying that it just happens in the movie allegedly. But. But, yeah, I would like. We don't recommend it to people, the.

[A]

Movie, the Music School, because it's one of my favorite movies, so I'm like.

[B]

It's a great movie.

[A]

I mean, it's. It's.

[B]

It makes you feel like you were there for sure.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I just. It's too real for me.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It's. It's very much like, you need to be the best. Nothing but the best is acceptable. And they're willing to break you down to your core, to turn you into that they want you to turn out into a diamond at the end.

[C]

And that's kind of what they're teaching. And then they don't teach you how to use a microphone or how to record yourself or how to perform on a stage or how to make a set list or anything that actually practically helps you.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

In my experience with higher education, music education, they teach you how to become a professor. Not an artist, not a musician, really. And I don't know if that's the way.

[C]

Like, by the way, everyone that we've talked to that has done that for music school and has made it all agree with us.

[A]

Really?

[C]

Yeah, you can ask all of them.

[A]

So as you guys left there, like, was there anybody, like, were there pivotal people in your lives who, like, helped you figure out, like, how to turn the microphone on but how to be a performer? Not.

[B]

You know, our first day when we moved to New York City, we bumped into this guy, John Batiste, on the subway who's, like, now a huge artist. At the time, we knew who he was as, like, a piano player. Like, he wasn't. He was. Wasn't like, a superstar at the time. He was a superstar as a musician, but, like, nobody knew he was. We bumped into him, and we were like, hey, like, we have a bunch of mutual friends. Like, we should probably jam sometime. And he's like, what are you guys doing tonight? And we were like, yeah, like, just shoot us the address. It was Lincoln Center.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

That was our first day in New York City. And now he's gone on to be an incredible.

[C]

Back to the music. Like, the music school part. We had teachers. Who was that? Nobody knew who John Batiste was.

[B]

We're like, just wait.

[C]

We were, like, touring with the guy at the time, and all the teachers were like, why are you touring with this guy? Who is this guy? Now? He's the biggest musician on planet Earth, and we're the ones that look like idiots in class because we're the ones playing with them.

[B]

I mean, it's like, now that add five or 10 more artists that we were playing with in college that that kind of happened to, like, we would just be like, we love this person. We would see them out and about in New York. We'd say, let's jam. And then, like, it led to, like, us performing with them, recording with them, going on tour with them. And it's the other thing. Good thing about being horn players is, like, we kind of fit everywhere. Like, if you're doing. If it's like, hip hop, like, we fit on hip hop. If it's classical music, which we don't do a lot of.

[C]

What a great example. Do you really do that?

[B]

But, like, jazz obviously fits very well. Rock, it fits very well. So we've played with. With so many different artists in every kind of genre because we're versatile and we find our place amongst their sound. And it's a gift as a horn player because we don't. Like, we're not singers. Like, we don't do lyrics. Like, we just kind of get to hide in our little thing and do it.

[C]

But also, we don't ever get bored because we never do the same thing twice.

[A]

Interesting. I love that. Do you still, like, do you still. As you're out playing or. Or you're just listening to somebody, do you still come across people like that? You can tell they're gonna be great, but that. But people just don't know who they are yet?

[C]

I'd say we probably could. We're not as much in tune with.

[B]

Well, I think social media has changed that a bit. Like before social media, it was like, oh, like, it's gonna just take one agent to see this guy.

[C]

Now it's like, oh, they have a million followers.

[B]

Right? It's not even, like, really about talent anymore. It's like, how many people are, like, engaging with whatever you're doing, which doesn't necessarily equate to, like, skill.

[C]

In New York at that time, it was like. Like, that's raw talent. That's going to be something. It's obvious to everybody here.

[A]

One of the things that's hard, like, for me now, like, this is my 13th year as a head coach, is like, finding, like, the next young, great assistant. Like, I can get the established guys, like Coach Holgerson. But, you know, because it used to be as I was coming up, I was working camps, I'd work with somebody like, that guy's really good. I was on the road recruiting all the time. I'd say, oh, that guy. I hired a high school coach in Texas. Joey McGuire is now the head coach of Texas Tech. The first day I met him, like, he's gonna be a head coach. Head coach of Syracuse was. I gave him his first job. He's amazing coach. I was like, he's gonna be head coach now. Like, I'm just kind of doing all these other things now, and it's hard to, like, stay connected to those people. But it's interesting what you say about social media. Like, who my kids listen to. So different than, like, who I listen to. Because they're listening to people based upon.

[B]

The Spotify algorithm or what?

[A]

That's right.

[C]

As a coach, do you prefer somebody who's, like, naturally born gifted or somebody that could learn how to do it? Because I think that's another good parallel between music and athletics is somebody who's naturally gifted that you can't teach maybe necessarily how to do what they're doing. Is that instinct Better, or is it somebody that I can maybe train into something?

[A]

I think it depends on what the job is. I think there's certain play callers who. They just see the game and they see what's happening. And I believe a lot of it's over time in reps, maybe you can develop some of that, but some people just have a gift, and so I want to take those guys for those jobs. There's other jobs where it's just like, this guy's just an app. Like, I want an offensive line coach who works, you know, 100 hours a week, and he's been working 100 hours a week forever. But I've always felt like for a long time in my career, because we do things a little differently, I didn't want people who were, like, mercenaries. Like, I wanted people that wanted to come in entry level, work their way up through our program, learn how we did things, and then almost become like. Almost like, become like a zealot. Like, hey, I believe in this way. My evolution has been to. Then, like, I hired Dana Holgerson, you know, who's been a head coach. And what it's allowed me to do is take some pressure off me where I have someone else in the building who's done my job and has been like, you know, Matt, what about this? And so I'm kind of having this rebirth, hiring some guys. Mike Eckler had been here, was at Tennessee, and he came back hiring some guys who didn't come up through me, but. But they have great perspective because they've been other places. And so I end up getting all the knowledge that Mike Eckler got from Bob Stoops, all the knowledge he got from Bill Snyder. So it's. I think it's a balance, but I think I try to hire a bunch of young kids, and I always say to myself, hire five and find the two that I don't want to let leave the building and don't let them leave the building. Like, I have. I have a young lady that works in recruiting. Like, I won't let her leave the building. I have a strength coach downstairs who, like, is an absolute game changer. Kristen, who runs nutrition. So, like, I won't let them leave the building. They have to stay because they just are so gifted and they believe in what we're doing. But I've learned now, like, hey, you know what? Go find someone. Go find the best in the world and bring them in, and they'll make. They'll make my job easier, right? And they'll make our team better, which is the most important thing, you know.

[B]

And then on top of that, you also have to find people that like, work well with the team you already have established. Right. Which is kind of a whole other curveball.

[A]

Well, I think a lot of that is just, you know, it's integrity. Like, if you think about being a coach, like, you have to have the knowledge, right? Like, just like, you know, like, you have to know how to play the instrument. You have to know how to play. So they have to have the knowledge. But then after that they have to be able to teach it. Like, they have to be able to apply either translated to others. And so some people know a lot. They just can't communicate. But then I'm looking for like an integrity, like, where they care about the players because, like, you know, they're not.

[B]

Here for the money.

[A]

That's right. I mean, like, and I want, I want them to get paid well. But like, like, if the players know that they don't care about them, it's just, it's so hard for them to trust them. And there's so many things that we're going to ask them to do. We're taking, we're taking somebody in at 17 and 18 and we're going to, we're seeing what they're going to be at 22 and they're going through their two weeks in, they're like, oh, I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to do this. They have to have someone there that like, they trust and believe in. I don't want, I don't want that experience. I don't want guys leaving saying what you. How you guys felt like, oh, they just wanted to use me or they. And a lot of kids feel. That's why there's a thousand kids in the transfer portal every year, because they all feel that way as opposed to, like, hey, I believe in you, but I believe in you so much. If, you know, if you're not a study hall, I'm gonna. You're gonna be up at 5am tomorrow. Like, you have to have discipline, accountability. But I need to find coaches who have the integrity. They care about their player, the players, and they care about the coaches they work with. You can't come in and have it be all about you. There's nothing worse than working with, you know, working with a narcissist. Man, I read a great book years ago. It's called the no asshole Rule.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Just like, just. You put one of those in the Building and it just changes everything.

[B]

Yeah, it's a toxic energy.

[A]

Exactly right. And you guys are creating, and we want to create. And so when you're creating, like, whether we're trying to create better lives for our players, we're trying to create a great culture. It's like, you know, one bad person ruins 15ft worth of people.

[C]

You know, I'd much rather have a drummer that we love hanging out with that isn't the best than somebody who's the best and not a good person to be around.

[A]

That's exactly.

[C]

Any day of the week.

[A]

That's right. There's. Well, there's a synergy to that. Right. Like, there's like a. And like you said. I think you said something earlier, like, hey, you know, something goes out, and all of a sudden the drummer had to pick up. Like, you have to have people there who are willing to. Willing to, like to lay it on the line. Like, I always look at teams. It's in football now, I've said this. You'll think about this when the other team hits a big play. And on bad teams, you'll see the defensive backs running after the big play. When the guy's going to score, they'll stop running and they'll pull off because they don't want to be in the frame when the guy scores the touchdown because people might think it was their fault. And I always tell our guys, like, I just want to coach guys who sprint to the goal line and dive.

[B]

And you don't care about the optics.

[A]

That's right. They don't care. They care about their teammates, and they care about trying to win. And so that's hard to do, like, especially in a culture where, like, you know, like, there. Someone might make a meme of you, and they might make fun of you, but, like, just trying to get guys to. And so I think we've done it. And once you do it, I think you have to protect it.

[B]

Well, I think something that's kind of problematic with the culture, the way things are now is people are there for the accomplishment, not really the journey. And like, the journey people, it's backwards. People don't realize the only way you get to the accomplishment is if you're there committed for the journey.

[A]

That's it.

[B]

And people just want the end result. They don't want what gets you to the actual end result.

[A]

That's exactly right. That's why, like, I go back to Kobe, like, I always go back, you know, his first year or first, second to playoff, whatever it was, he Missed three air balls at the end in overtime. And he goes that night and he starts, he starts shooting all night. And you can say, well, you learn from his adversity. But like his story isn't just all the things that he did. His story is, you tell these stories about him waking up at 4 in the morning. Like it's all this stuff that is greatness. And so like now, and fortunately he's gone, you know, but like we can, I can show my kids, I can show my play. Like this is what greatness looks like. And it's, it's not a one day thing. It's all these things over time. And I think that's what, you know, that's our job as coaches. That's our job as anybody, like mentors. We're trying to just kind of like these old school things that no one thinks are still real. They're more, probably more now more real than ever. So find a way to get that done.

[B]

It's amazing and it's been amazing to witness and coach. Thank you so much for having us today.

[A]

Oh, we love it. Thank you guys.

[B]

It's an honor to be in here and in this building and see kind of behind the curtain what, what happens at the University of Nebraska. It's just amazing.

[A]

Well, I'm looking forward to having you guys on the sidelines again. And for you to take your time to do this with me is a tremendous honor. So thank you so much.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Well, that's it. Another episode in the can. Please remember to like, share or subscribe on YouTube or wherever, get your podcasts and please follow at House Rules on socials till next time.