Former Nebraska special teams coordinator left for 'challenge' at USC

[ASFN Admin]

Former Nebraska football special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler discussed his reasons for moving to the USC Trojans during the offseason. Ekeler says he was looking for a challenge at this stage in his career.

Ekeler was hired by the Huskers in January 2025. He made the most of his one season with the team, engineering a remarkable special teams turnaround for the program. Even with the unit's success, Ekeler told reporters earlier this week that he wanted a greater challenge at USC.

"That was the first time in my career that I had never coached on defense. I enjoyed that and enjoyed the experience and they had been down for several years on special teams and quite frankly I wanted that challenge, and we flipped it. We turned it around, we identified, we taught them and brought in some people and it was on a very solid foundation from a special teams standpoint and it was kind of on cruise control."

Nebraska already turned the page at the special teams position. Brett Maher will serve as the special teams coordinator, and Nick Humphrey has been named the co-special teams coordinator. It will be interesting to see how they impact special teams in the wake of Eckler’s departure.

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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: Former Nebraska coach Mike Ekeler left Huskers for 'challenge' at USC

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