Bill Busch is now back as a full time coach at Nebraska. Hopefully he is able to significantly upgrade the special teams unit which has been abysmal since Frost arrived.

It has long been rumored and expected but now it is official as Nebraska announces that Bill Busch will lead the special teams for Nebraska going forward.

He has no shoes to fill in a way as the special teams at Nebraska the past several seasons (exception of Connor Culp in 2020) were simply abysmal.

Last season the scheme did not appear to be the problem but the specialists had a particularly rough year in both the place-kicking and punting game.

Last season Bill Busch served as a defensive analyst and helped Mike Dawson with special teams. It may cause some to wonder why Nebraska would hire a guy who had a hand in special teams last season when they were terrible to serve in a related role?

Like stated above, the only reason I can wrap my head around would be that the scheme was not the issue. It was the specialists. So if you fix the specialists then maybe you fix special teams.

Though that punt-block-return-for-a-touchdown by Iowa probably was not the fault of the punter.

In the past Bill Busch served as a safeties coach at LSU and was one of the best secondary coaches in his time at Utah State.

Some have thought that maybe he would take over a role to coach the nickle position (Jojo Domann’s old position) as it appears to be one of the most important positions on an up and coming defense.

This will not be his first time as special teams coordinator at Nebraska as he served in that role under Bill Callahan.

Here is the the statement from the Athletic Department:

Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost announced Monday the hiring of Bill Busch as the Huskers’ special teams coordinator. Busch moves into the role as a full-time assistant at Nebraska after spending the 2021 season as a defensive analyst in the program.

Frost also announced that Mike Dawson will continue to coach Nebraska’s edge rushers, while adding the duties of tutoring in the interior defensive linemen. Dawson previously coached the NU defensive line in 2018.

Busch brings three decades of college coaching experience to the Nebraska staff and is in his third stint with the Cornhuskers. During Busch’s career he has worked for three national championship coaches including Tom Osborne, Urban Meyer and Ed Orgeron.

“Bill Busch is a strong addition to our full-time coaching staff,” Frost said. “Bill has brought a veteran presence to our staff over the past year in his role as an analyst. I look forward to him coordinating all aspects of our special teams moving forward. Bill’s experience and track record as both an outstanding coach and recruiter speaks for itself.”

Busch has previously worked at Nebraska as a full-time assistant from 2004 to 2007, and as a graduate assistant coach from 1990 to 1993.

“I worked my entire professional career to get the opportunity to coach football at the University of Nebraska,” Busch said. “Now, I have been blessed to do that twice—how cool is that?”

Before joining Frost’s Nebraska staff in February of 2021, Busch spent the previous three seasons as the safeties coach at LSU and helped the Tigers to a national championship in 2019. Under Busch’s guidance, LSU led the SEC in interceptions in both 2018 and 2019 and safety Grant Delpit was a back-to-back first-team All-American in 2018 and 2019, while capturing the Thorpe Award in 2019

Off the field, Busch was one of LSU’s top recruiters and played a key role in the Tigers landing Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow as a graduate transfer quarterback.

Before his time at LSU, Busch spent the previous five seasons in the Big Ten Conference, with stops at Rutgers (2016-17), Ohio State (2015) and Wisconsin (2013-14). Busch worked with the defense at each stop and assisted with special teams with the Badgers.

Busch was at Utah State for four seasons from 2009 to 2012, serving as the defensive coordinator for two seasons and working as the special teams coordinator and safeties coach in 2011-12.

Busch worked as an assistant coach at Nebraska from 2004 to 2007. He was the special teams coordinator all four seasons, while also working with the safeties and outside linebackers. In those four seasons, the Huskers blocked 16 kicks, including seven in 2005. Nebraska ranked in the top 25 nationally in net punting (24th in 2006) and punt returns (17th in 2005) under Busch, and NU’s kickoff coverage unit was ranked in the top 25 in both 2005 and 2006.

Busch also worked as an assistant coach at Utah under Meyer from 2001 to 2003 and had full-time positions at New Mexico State and Northern Arizona. He was a graduate assistant coach at Nebraska from 1990 to 1993, helping the Huskers to three Big Eight championships. He spent one season as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin.