LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) — Mickey Joseph said Tuesday he wants to be Nebraska’s next head football coach.
Joseph met with the media for the first time since athletic director Treb Alberts asked him to lead the program for the rest of the season after Scott Frost was sacked on Sunday.
“When I accept the interim head coach job, I think it’s an opportunity to become a head coach,” Joseph said. “But we understand what this profession entails. You will depend.”
Joseph, 54, will begin his term as interim head coach in Saturday’s home game against former conference rivals No. 6 Oklahoma (2-0). Huskers (1-2) has his 18th straight loss against top 25 ranked opponents.
Joseph played quarterback for Nebraska from 1988 to 1991 under Tom Osborne, worked at all levels of college football, and served as receivers coach and assistant head coach at LSU before joining the Cornhuskers staff this year. I was serving He is best known for his ability to recruit and develop NFL talent.
Alberts said he told Joseph he was going to do a thorough search for a coach. Money isn’t expected to be an issue as the cash coming to the Big Ten schools will increase significantly when the $1 billion annual conference TV deal kicks off in 2023.
“We’ll see how the season unfolds, but I think there’s an opportunity to hire a good coach to lead the program,” Alberts said. “We’d love to see Mickey grow up there. We’ll see where it goes. If we do a national survey and Mickey is an obvious candidate at that point, he’s going to have that conversation, too.” will be part of the
Joseph is Nebraska’s first black head coach, interim or permanent, in any sport.
“I was a football coach and I was a black football coach, so I didn’t really think about it. I’m more worried about you. It’s bigger than me.”
Richard Lapchik, director of the Institute for Sports Diversity and Ethics in Central Florida, told The Associated Press that he hopes Nebraska will take Joseph’s candidacy seriously.
“Nebraska should take a hard look at him, knowing that it’s going to be a difficult situation to turn the program around quickly,” Rupchik said. “His success is measured not only by his wins and losses, but by his relationship with his players, how hard they play and how the team holds together under his leadership. .”
Turner Gill, a black former Nebraska assistant and quarterback under Osborne, was a finalist for the Cornhuskers’ job when he moved to Beau Perini in 2007. Gill then headed Buffalo, Kansas and Liberty, where he coached.
Lapchick says Nebraska athletic departments have been training in diversity and inclusion since the 1990s. Most other schools, he said, did not offer such training until George Floyd’s death in 2019.
“I know the fact that[Joseph]is the first player doesn’t mean they haven’t tried to do it before,” he said. “I’m personally very happy. Not only do I wish the best for Nebraska football, but in light of the racial reckoning of the past few years and the history of American sports, I think it’s going to happen in America in general.” I want to change that.”
Lapchick, who helped found the pioneering Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University in 1984, publishes an annual report on race and gender employment practices and is a leading voice on diversity and inclusion in sport. is a person.
Excluding Joseph, there are eight black head football coaches this season among 65 Power Five schools, including Notre Dame. There are three of him in the Big Ten.
The fact that Joseph isn’t head coach or coordinator at the Football Bowl subdivision level doesn’t work in his favor, Rupchik said.
“If it disqualifies him, it will tell me that his candidacy wasn’t genuine to begin with.
This week’s NCAA schedule strength report shows Nebraska has the 20th-toughest remaining schedule, based on their opponent’s combined record of 15-4.
“You have nine games left, right?” said Joseph. “As coaches, I have to say we’re trying to win nine games. But we’re not worried about nine games now. We’re worried about this game this week.”
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