Miles on Moos: 'It’s a very good relationship in my book'

Somewhat lost in the excitement of Nebraska’s 66-51 road upset of No. 25 Indiana on Monday night was the fact that NU athletic director Bill Moos was in Assembly Hall, sitting right behind the Huskers’ bench, to watch it unfold in person.

Despite winning 22 games and going 13-5 in the Big Ten last season, Moos declined to lock up head coach Tim Miles with a long-term contract extension and upped his deal by just one year through 2020-21.

Moos’ reasoning was he needed to see “sustained success” from Miles’ program before feeling comfortable in fully committing to the seventh-year head coach.

But with the Huskers now off to another impressive start this season at 13-4 overall, and Moos having just witnessed arguably their best win of the year, Miles said his relationship with his new boss was very positive.

“It’s a very good relationship in my book, and I think it is with him, too,” Miles said. “Bill is a hands-off guy. He’ll tell you, ‘I’m not going to be looking over your shoulder at practice.’ When I need Bill, I ask him.

“He doesn’t always say yes, and I know that’s kind of the Yin and Yang of being a head coach and an administrator, but he’s very helpful, too, and is great at providing resources that we need to be successful. I think we have a good relationship, and I look forward for it to continue.”

Moos has said publicly that he’s not viewing this season as an NCAA Tournament-or-bust situation for Miles to earn that long-term job security, but he has made it clear that he believes the table is set for Nebraska to not only match its success of last year, but take it to the next level.

“We’ve got everything in place... And Tim knows,” Moos told HuskerOnline.com this summer. “We had a conversation about the last time he got here (in 2014-15), it didn’t stay. I’m not saying we need to win 22 games again, that’s not easy. But to be in that upper end of the Big Ten, I think that’s important to establish a tradition and some attention in recruiting…

“I don’t do (ultimatums), and I don’t say you’ve got to win so many games, either. If he’d have won 22 games (last year) and had a bunch of guys that were renegades and flunking out of school and all that, he’d be gone. All of those things are being taken care of to my liking, and we’ve just got to continue to make the scoreboard look good.”