Aztecs contact Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White in search for new head coach
Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White has Cornhuskers ranked among nation’s top 20 in scoring defense and total defense.
(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Cornhuskers’ strength has been defense guided by White, who was an SDSU assistant coach from 2009-17 before crisscrossing country moving up coaching ranks
BY
KIRK KENNEY
NOV. 21, 2023 8:35 AM PT
Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White has been contacted by San Diego State in its search for a new head football coach, sources told the Union-Tribune.
SDSU is among several schools that are expected be interested in White, who also serves as the Cornhuskers’ associate head coach.
Nebraska (5-6) is on the cusp of bowl eligibility as it closes out the regular season Friday against Iowa (9-2).
White, 44, is getting national attention after leading a defense that ranks 15th in the nation in total defense (307.7 ypg) and 19th in scoring defense (18.7). He has a strong connection to SDSU after coaching for the Aztecs from 2009-17. White spent all nine years as cornerbacks coach, adding recruiting coordinator to his responsibilities in 2011.
White’s time on the SDSU staff allowed him to learn the intricacies of the 3-3-5 defense alongside Rocky Long.
White played for Long before becoming a peer. When Long was defensive coordinator at UCLA during the 1996-97 seasons, he recruited White to play linebacker for the Bruins.
In 2008, White began his coaching career as Long’s linebackers coach at New Mexico. A year later, both men were hired at SDSU when Brady Hoke became head coach.
The experience at SDSU led to opportunities as defensive coordinator at Arizona State (2019) and Syracuse (2020-22) before White joined head coach Matt Rhule this year at Nebraska.
In Monday’s weekly press conference, Rhule said White was deserving of a head coaching job.
“A search firm called me and asked for Tony White’s number, and I said, ‘Yes. You should hire Tony White. Tony White should be a head coach. He’s excellent,’” Rhule said.
While Rhule said he supports his assistant coaches when better coaching opportunities present themselves, he told White to make sure he didn’t take the wrong job.
“Don’t take a job with no resources,” Rhule said. “Don’t take a job with no support. Don’t take a job without a great recruiting base.
“Don’t take a job — hear me now when I say this, this is deep — where the expectations outweigh the commitment.”
For example?
“You want to be a 10-win team,” said Rhule, holding his right hand high.
“And you’re spending at the middle of your conference,” said Rhule, holding his left hand low while shaking his head side to side.
SDSU athletic director John David Wicker spoke about the Aztecs’ opening Nov. 14, a day after it was announced that Brady Hoke would not be returning.
Wicker called it “a very desirable job within college football.”
“If you look at Group of Five level, we’re right there at the top,” he said. “You can certainly look at the lower half of certain Power Five conferences and say, ‘San Diego State’s going to be a better job than that one because I’ve got a chance to win. I can go there and I can win conference championships. I can access the college football playoff. They’ve got a fantastic new stadium. The facilities are good enough.’ ”
The current on-campus facilities include a football practice field that is shared with women’s lacrosse as well as other club teams and intramural sports.
“Obviously, we’d like to do more with our facilities on campus, but we’ll see how that plays out,” Wicker said.
White makes $1 million at Nebraska, according to USA Today’s coaching salary database. The Cornhuskers would be expected to give White a substantial raise if they are to keep him from being lured away.
The top salaries for Mountain West head coach are approximately $2.3 million being paid to Wyoming’s Craig Bohl and San Jose State’s Brent Brennan.
Wicker said “that’s probably where we’ll end up being” with the new Aztecs head coach.
SDSU’s $2.5 million salary pool for assistant coaches already ranks highest in the Mountain West.
With Aztecs fans clamoring for an exciting, productive offense, a candidate with a defensive background, like White, will have to present Wicker with a “dynamic” offensive vision.
“We’ve won championships with defense here,” Wicker said last week. “But we also need to be better offensively, and I’m going to be interested in, if it is a defensive-minded head coach, what’s your plan (offensively). Who are you going to hire? What type of offense do you want to run?
“Because we want to generate some excitement.”
Rhule is convinced White is ready for the challenge.
“Anybody that’s called me about Tony, I’ve said, ‘Yeah, give him a shot,’ ” Rhule said.
In the past decade, Rhule has been a head coach at Temple and Baylor as well as with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
Speaking of the qualities required in a good head coach, Rhule said: “You have to have this knowledge of football that allows you to always paint the picture for the guys of how we want to win. You have to have a philosophy that’s embedded, that doesn’t sway when the results aren’t there. You have to be a person who cares about people and has genuine relationships, not just relationships with people who can do something for you.”
And it’s essential to be unflappable.
“I see that from Tony,” Rhule said. “I see him being able to stay even-keeled. The same guy every day. ... I see all those things from Tony. I hope he gets an opportunity. We don’t have enough coaches of diverse backgrounds.
“As much as anything, he’s just really smart.”
Wicker said last week that an executive search firm is assisting SDSU in its search. He intends to make a hire by mid-December.
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