The newsletter is back for a second time around (with double the subscribers as the first time!!) and we are going to take a crack at a few different topics — a spin around the state if you will. We did promise to give some Husker content so, with camp started, let’s roll right into it. Stay to the end, though, too. We think you’ll like the whole thing.

Beyond The Game

We have hints of many different ingredients that will be in Matt Rhule’s cupboard and kitchen as he tries to right the Nebraska football ship over the next few years. The newsletter found his sit down with Damon Benning from Hurrdat Sports telling.

If you know Damon like we do, it speaks even more to who Coach Rhule is as a person than he is as a coach. We had the chance to write about Damon and his now (gulp) soon-to-be senior son Caleb before the 2021 Class A state championship about the lessons of Damon’s father, Dr. Donald Benning. A special Coach and Me: Caleb’s Lessons.

Damon’s love for his father may give you special insight into part one of the video series that posted late last week but you definitely should watch them all. They are a great look into the current leadership of Nebraska football.

Football and Family. “I have never heard my dad say a cross word. But at the same time, he coached me, and he was a tough man.”

Opportunity and Competitiveness. “My job is to make sure that everyone who coaches for me or plays for me has everything they need to be successful.”

Attributes of a Coach. “We say we want to be tough; we better be tough. We say we want to work hard; we better work hard.”

Day by Day. “When you come out here on this field, it should be a celebration of culture, a celebration of brotherhood. A celebration of I am going to compete at the highest level.”

Living in the Moment. “We are not trying to get to someplace we have NEVER been, we are trying to get to someplace we have been.”

Transfers, Offense and Defense. Oh My! “You can’t find many places, to me, that sling it around the yard — all the time — and play in tempo and do all those things that play great defense. I don’t know how you can win a national championship without playing great defense.”

Building a Program. “Everything that happens to us, puts us in these moments. I come here completely humbled.”

For Nebraska, Staff is Family. “I am only doing this job because I love coaching.”

If you got this far and didn’t click on any of the links, that’s fine. But save some time to do it. And, if you have a young athlete this is definitely something they should be watching as well.

“The comfort zone is the casket where you bury your dreams.”

A Touch of Class

The Nebraska School Activities Association released fall sports enrollments and classifications last Thursday with schools having the chance to opt up a class by this Thursday, August 3. Final classifications will then be released next week.

A few things below that we will be keeping our eyes on with total in each class (by sport) numbers below.

Go East: Gretna East is opening in year two of the Class A cycle so they will be competing in Class B this year. That said, they will be in the Metro Conference. You’ll note this fate is slightly different than that of new Omaha schools Westview and Buena Vista which opened last year and opted up to Class A, except for football, which uses the NSAA, and not conference, for scheduling. You may see some Griffins (or their teams) making some noise in their first year as a school.

The Warrior Way: One of the biggest googly eyes we see in the volleyball classifications is Lincoln Lutheran. The Warriors rolled to a 40-0 record last season and swept their way to the Class C-2 championship while most volleyball experts in the state would have considered them an all class, top-10 team. Expectations remain much the same for 2023, but Lutheran’s enrollment number of 38 puts them in Class D-1. (The cutoff number was 39 with seven schools at that number. Four went to the bottom of Class C-2; three to the top of D-1) If Lutheran opts up it makes 57 Class C-2 schools and 55 Class D-1 schools.

Cross Country Plea

Class B cross country dad here. A simple plea: it’s super important to monitor your class and your sport to make it the best you can. So, here is a note. In all of the sports that have four classes the A/B cutoff (total schools in those two classes) is as follows:

• Girls Golf (64 teams, 77 in Class C)

• Wrestling (81 teams)

• Boys Golf (80 teams, 153 in Classes C and D)

• Track (92 teams)

So, the question becomes why is the cross country number so low? (See above) The newsletter doesn’t know but would gladly listen to rationale. Generally, this has been a 32-28 (A, B) classification and it appears that very few seemed to think it was a big deal. Four districts of seven, three teams in each to state, move on down the road.

That all changed last year with the addition of Omaha Buena Vista and Westview, two teams that opted up to Class A based on being in the Metro Conference. Since the number is locked in to 60 teams total, this left Class B with just 26 teams (girls) and 25 boys.

The difference being that in cross country they count each school once in the top-60. So Creighton Prep is in the girls “60” and Marian and Duchesne and Mercy are in the “boys” 60. The reason here, and it’s a good one, is that you don’t want Seward (current smallest Class B school) in two different classes.

Another conundrum has happened this year. With the addition of Gretna East (and, again, we knew this would happen LAST YEAR), another school has shifted down and it’s a worst-case scenario, because it’s Elkhorn Mt. Michael. Because Mercy and Duchesne are both in the “60” it makes Class B boys this year just 24 schools — 12 will advance to Kearney. You can decide if that’s good or bad, I guess. Class B football will have 16 teams make the playoffs.

Class B coaches and athletic directors seem to have three options:

• everything is fine (maybe the author is the silly one)

• change the number cutoff (have to get other classes on board for this but adjusting up to 70 would seem reasonable as all of those teams are in Class B for track), keeping Class C at 60 which would get Class D back down to 110.

• adjust the post season so the district races have more than 36 runners. Easy fix. Keep the same “one site” format except run one race with 12-13 teams. Top five teams go to state as would the next 10 runners not on a qualifying team; 80 runners to Kearney. A good “reward” and size for the state race in a class that has the lowest total teams.

A reminder that any proposal made and submitted to the NSAA by October 1st would have the chance to be approved for adoption by next school year. (wink emoji)

In Case You Missed It

HUSKERS EN ESPANOL: The Nebraska men’s basketball opened their trip to Spain with an 89-84 overtime win over the Madrid All-Stars. The shorthanded Big Red (Cale Jacobsen jumped center) rallied from a six-point halftime deficit. Jacob Padilla recap thread // The ladies had plenty of fun in Greece, too. A 101-49 win over Athens All-Stars.

PRACTICE IS HERE!! While most fall sports don’t get rocking with practice until Monday, August 7 there are 14 football games on August 18th which means those 28 teams got rolling yesterday. And, you can bet that Mike Sautter was there to see the two biggest Week Zero participants: Bellevue West and Omaha Creighton Prep.

JULIA THE JAY: We’ll do our best to track down as many Division I commitments as we can for the Newsletter (so if you see one shoot us a DM on Twitter or send an e-mail). Elkhorn North standout Julia Karmazin committed to Creighton earlier this week. She finished second in Class B last fall and was the Nebraska Junior Girls Champion at Lochland Country Club in Hastings last month.

The next newsletter will be next Wednesday, August 9th. If you love our content share this with a friend. Have a story idea or want to promote your business to our fans? Shoot us a message: [email protected].

Parting Shot

OMAHA: The newsletter will readily admit that we don’t know a whole bunch of boxing, but Terrence Crawford is that man. What a night it was Saturday to see his absolute dominance over Errol Spence. Crawford became the first man to knock Spence down and after the TKO 9-round victory, he now has four title belts at 147 pounds. A rematch seems to be in the cards. All of Nebraska will be waiting.