12/30/2022 football Edit

Per report, Bob Wager hired as Nebraska TE, assistant special teams coach

Steve Marik • InsideNebraska

Staff Writer

Steve Marik is a staff writer covering football and men's basketball for Inside Nebraska. After covering prep sports for seven years, he made the transition to college and hasn't looked back.

Per a report from Matt Stepp of texasfootball.com, longtime Texas high school football coach Bob Wager has resigned from his position as head coach of Arlington Martin High School and will join Matt Rhule's Nebraska staff as the tight ends coach and assistant special teams coach.

Wager becomes the eighth known full-time assistant on Rhule's staff, joining Marcus Satterfield (OC and QBs), Tony White (DC), Ed Foley (ST coordinator), EJ Barthel (RBs), Donovan Raiola (OL), Terrance Knighton (DL) and Evan Cooper (DBs).

The Huskers have yet to officially fill their receiver and linebacker coaching roles.

According to Stepp, Wager has a 206-100 career record as a Texas high school football coach and has made 17 straight playoff appearances with stints at Tolar, Kaufman and Arlington Martin.

As Inside Nebraska reported on Dec. 20, Wager has been involved in coaching the last seven Under Armour All-American Games in Orlando, as well as serving on the game’s board of directors.

Wager served on the Board of Directors of the Texas High School Coaches Association as well, which is something Rhule has drawn a strong connection to.

Rhule's first Nebraska staff has largely consisted of assistants he's worked with before. But Rhule also has shown a willingness to hire people outside of his circle to help him lead a new program.

A good example of that was at Baylor, where he hired three key power players from the Texas high school football ranks in Shawn Bell, Joey McGuire and David Wetzel. McGuire is now the head coach at Texas Tech and just beat Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss team in the Texas Bowl.

Bell, McGuire and Wetzel were instrumental in showing Rhule around his new surroundings and introducing him to who he needed to know. The result was a sped-up transitioning process and strong recruiting classes. According to Rivals, Baylor finished third in the Big 12 recruiting rankings in 2017 and fourth in both 2018 and 2019.

Now, Wager is the next former Texas high school coach who will help Rhule — this time at Nebraska.