Matt Rhule Gives Remarks at Sheldon Museum of Art's 'Go Big Red' Exhibition Preview
University Communication and Marketing
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08/16/2025
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Head football coach Matt Rhule sees in the photograph “Football Kick” by Harold Edgerton “a pivotal moment in the game — one that every coach has experienced, whether in triumph or heartbreak.”
Rhule is one of 45 community co-curators for the exhibition “Go Big Red,” opening Aug. 16 at Sheldon Museum of Art. For the show, each co-curator or team of co-curators selected a work from the museum’s collection that features red, the school color chosen by University of Nebraska students in 1892. Read more about the exhibition at https://news.unl.edu/article/husker-spirit-will-shine-in-sheldons-go-big-red-exhibition
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- [00:00:00.375]Go Big Red!
- [00:00:08.500]As a football
- [00:00:09.000]coach, you don't often get thought that you would appreciate art,
- [00:00:12.125]that you would want to come to an art museum.
- [00:00:15.333]I believe Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life.”
- [00:00:19.875]That's pretty real for me because I literally had dirt on my hands
- [00:00:22.208]a couple hours ago, out on the practice field.
- [00:00:26.791]But I think it's such a wonderful what a wonderful statement that this entire,
- [00:00:31.375]this entire museum but this entire day is to our city, to our community.
- [00:00:35.250]One of the first, I think the first month that I was here,
- [00:00:37.666]I was invited by some students to come listen to a,
- [00:00:40.708]visiting lecturer speak.
- [00:00:42.541]And the way in which our, our institutions,
- [00:00:45.291]not just sports, but our institutions of art,
- [00:00:47.500]of community, of music, how they bring people together.
- [00:00:49.791]So I'm grateful, very grateful that I was asked to be here today and
- [00:00:53.583]asked to be a part of this.
- [00:00:56.250]You know, I do have to say one thing.
- [00:00:57.750]If I may, walking around, I saw Doctor Chatters
- [00:01:00.791]and he picked a Keith Haring piece, and I'm an old New York City kid.
- [00:01:03.291]An old graffiti kid.
- [00:01:04.541]I used to go up on the Upper East Side and,
- [00:01:06.666]you see Keith Haring painted on the walls. When I first got here,
- [00:01:09.625]I do like to go out every once in a while and be a regular person.
- [00:01:12.125]I went down to the Occidental and I walked in.
- [00:01:14.250]I saw up on the wall, I saw Keith Haring art on the wall on Occidental.
- [00:01:17.541]I said, “You know what?
- [00:01:18.416]Lincoln is going to be a great home for me.” So,
- [00:01:22.416]But you know, I wasn't they didn't tell me I had to do the football kick,
- [00:01:24.958]but I pretty much assumed it should be me that did the football kick.
- [00:01:28.833]And, and and obviously for me, this is something that
- [00:01:31.500]that that brings tremendous memories, both good and bad, to life.
- [00:01:35.666]I've had some of the best days in the world when a kick went through
- [00:01:38.750]these uprights that are made out of metal that are 16ft, eight inches apart.
- [00:01:44.125]I've also had some tough days when the other team
- [00:01:46.333]kicked the ball through the upright at the end of the game,
- [00:01:48.500]but we'll talk about that some other time. But
- [00:01:51.958]when I look at the piece, this is Harold Edgerton, you know,
- [00:01:55.208]Fremont, Nebraska, created in 1938.
- [00:01:59.000]Obviously it’s something that iconic
- [00:02:00.416]that we know it's it's someone making a football kick.
- [00:02:02.500]But I love just the detail, the baggy pants, the socks pulled up,
- [00:02:07.166]the the high, high toed shoes that it's an era gone.
- [00:02:11.166]We no longer kick toe straight on.
- [00:02:14.208]But but I love the detail.
- [00:02:15.666]I love the fact that the ball is depressed in such a such an amazing way.
- [00:02:20.125]Like that would never actually really happen.
- [00:02:22.916]But I think in the kickers mind, as they go up there to make a kick
- [00:02:25.541]and what feels like life and death, though the museum will be open afterwards,
- [00:02:28.916]we can come have a drink whether we win or lose, so it's fine. So.
- [00:02:34.083]But so much riding behind it.
- [00:02:36.000]You see the the clenched fist of the kicker.
- [00:02:38.125]All their work, all their preparation,
- [00:02:39.875]all their toil comes down to one moment like, did I hit the ball on the laces?
- [00:02:43.583]Or do I hit it to the left or the right?
- [00:02:45.666]So much detail, so much emotion.
- [00:02:47.333]And finally, for me, on a personal note, the fact that everything else is gone,
- [00:02:52.791]there is no tee the ball standing upright by itself.
- [00:02:55.000]That's impossible.
- [00:02:57.041]There is no tee, there is no holder.
- [00:02:59.250]But in that moment, to me it's it's a memory.
- [00:03:03.125]When we when we dream, we don't always dream in detail.
- [00:03:04.958]We just remember key moments and that clenched fist,
- [00:03:07.583]it's really sometimes
- [00:03:08.416]how I feel as as our guys, the guys that I love and believe in
- [00:03:11.625]as I watch them go out to, to show their craft off
- [00:03:14.291]and take their moment and seize the opportunity,
- [00:03:16.875]whether it was 70, 80 years ago, as, as this uniform, suggests,
- [00:03:22.125]or it's in two in two weeks on a Thursday in Arrowhead Stadium
- [00:03:28.291]memories,
- [00:03:29.416]memories, opportunities, great moments that we'll remember.
- [00:03:33.375]But this one is remembered in isolation.
- [00:03:34.791]So this is one to me that obviously speaks to me.
- [00:03:37.708]And the things that I believe in, but I, I love the art, I love the,
- [00:03:41.125]I love the imagery, but I love the fact that it's isolated and it's a memory.
- [00:03:44.250]And so,
- [00:03:45.000]you know, you now know what I think of when I lay my bed, my head to bed,
- [00:03:48.541]I close my eyes at night.
- [00:03:49.666]So thank you very much for having me.
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