Matt Rhule has had an impressive coaching resume. Nebraska Cornhuskers HC started his coaching journey at Temple University. After leading Temple to a bowl victory, Rhule moved to Baylor University, followed by a stint in the NFL at Carolina Panthers. Each of his coaching journeys in college football involved early hardships followed by eventual success. In his interviews,

Rhule glowingly mentions his parents for shaping his worldview and being a guiding force throughout his career. Here is everything you need to know about Gloria and Denny Rhule, parents of Huskers HC.

All about Gloria and Denny Rhule

Matt Rhule’s parents, Gloria and Denny Rhule, hail from Kansas City. The couple moved to New York to serve their faith in the 1970s. Matt Rhule was born in New York in 1975. A Nazarene minister, Denny accepted a position at Lamb’s Church next to Times Square. Both Gloria and Denny have backgrounds as educators.

As Denny got involved in church activities, Gloria also helped support the young family by working in the non-profit sector. With time, both had to take multiple part-time jobs to fend for their family. Over the years, the couple has traveled across the US and abroad for what they deem the ‘calling of their faith’. Denny grew closer to his faith after he saw his parents cope with the loss of his brother. Their strength and resilience inspired Denny to get more involved in the Nazarene faith.

Matt has a younger sibling in Dana, who works as a ParentsCorps manager and clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Health. Dana has a P.hD in psychology from the University of Washington.

How did they impact Rhule’s career and life?

Matt Rhule’s mother is a 20-year survivor of breast cancer. He often talks about the time he received a phone call from his mother telling him about her diagnosis. “It was the worst phone call of my life,” he told The Charlotte Observer in 2020. Thanks to early detection, Gloria Rhule has been cancer-free after undergoing an operation to remove her tumor. This wasn’t the Rhule family’s only experience with breast cancer. In 2012, Rhule lost his mother-in-law, Donna Nibert, to breast cancer. Matt’s wife, Julie, remembers her mother as a “great sounding board.”

These experiences have shaped Matt Rhule’s advocacy for breast cancer awareness. At Temple, Rhule got his whole squad involved in a charity event to raise funds for breast cancer treatment. Perhaps the most known advocacy moment is his viral speech on breast cancer in November 2023. A video showed the Nebraska HC deliver a poignant address to his team, hailing the breast cancer patients as ‘warriors’. “I saw my mom fight. I watched my wife’s mom fight, knowing she was probably never going to win the fight… she was just fighting for ten more minutes with her grandkid,” Rhule said in the video.

Matt Rhule’s father has been a constant at his coaching stints. In Temple, Denny Rhule helped the athletes in his son’s program with a bible study group. The parents also did the same when their son got the coaching job at Baylor and even his NFL gig with the Carolina Panthers. In his interviews, Matt Rhule often credits his father for showing him how to be a good father and bringing him closer to his faith.