Unlike some of his cohorts who coached together in 2003 at Nebraska, Jeff Jamrog's return to Lincoln included a major change in roles.
A defensive line coach in his previous four-year stint with the Cornhuskers, Jamrog went on to become the head coach from 2004-07 at NCAA Division II Minnesota State. Now back at Nebraska, the Omaha native and former Husker is an assistant athletics director in charge of football operations.
So far, the 42-year-old Jamrog said he's enjoying his new job. However, he admits that the adjustment might become a little more difficult next week when Nebraska begins spring practice and he won't be on the field with a whistle around his neck working with players.
"I imagine the toughest part is when you get into spring ball and you're watching practice rather than being in it," Jamrog said. "But that's just part of the job."
Jamrog was in Grand Island on Wednesday morning as the guest speaker for Builders' 17th annual contractor show and breakfast at St. Mary's Cathedral Square. He said his new job involves many of the same aspects he dealt with at Minnesota State. The meat of his job is to be the right-hand man for first-year Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini.
"Bo wants to coach ball and the thing that I'm excited about is that he's given me a lot of responsibility because he has confidence and trust in me and I think I know what most of his answers will be," Jamrog said. "My job is to try and help him be a better head coach by taking on some of these administrative duties and other things that take up his day so he can concentrate on coaching football."
As one might imagine, Nebraska's football operations job requires Jamrog to wear many different hats. He handles everything from making travel arrangements for the team on road games to budgeting, setting up NU's upcoming spring coaches' clinic and summer football camps and overseeing compliance, strength training, equipment and academic support staffs.
Jamrog has also been tasked with the additional duty of heading up Nebraska's revived walk-on program something that the former Husker walk-on said he's extremely excited about.
"That's obviously dear to me because I lived it," Jamrog said. "I feel good about the class we've got coming in from the scholarships and the walk-ons."
NU's 2008 recruiting class is expected to include 25 scholarship players and as many as 30 walk-ons.
"We actually took probably a few more walk-ons than what we originally anticipated, but I like Bo's philosophy," Jamrog said. "He said that if we're going to err on the number we take, let's err on the high side rather than the low side, so it's going good."
Jamrog said Nebraska's coaching staff is excited about the depth and quality of the non-scholarship players.
"A lot of the walk-ons we took were just a step away from being a scholarship player," Jamrog said. "In some cases, they might have been scholarship players in some years, but we just couldn't take as many.
"Ideally, the walk-ons we want to take are the ones who turn down scholarships at other places. We had a couple of cases where guys even turned down Division I scholarships or guys who would've torn up Division II."
As Nebraska athletics director Tom Osborne has stressed since taking over last October, Jamrog said walk-on players often tend to add to a team's overall chemistry in ways that might be difficult for outsiders to initially understand.
A walk-on himself at Nebraska, Jamrog played on the freshman team in 1983, redshirted in 1984 and then went on to be a three-year letterman as a defensive end. He started as a senior, record 66 tackles, eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss while earning first-team academic All-America honors.
"If you have scholarship players who see walk-ons working their tails off in the weight room, the classroom and on the field, that seems to kind of rub off on them," Jamrog said. "Some of them might come from out of state and they begin to realize that if this thing is that important to players who are paying their own way, then this thing must be pretty special."
Jamrog said he really likes the makeup of the coaching staff that Pelini has assembled.
"There are a lot of different personalities, but the one thing that we have in common is that everyone gets along well," Jamrog said. "In some cases, it's almost like you feel like you've known these guys all your life. Everyone has bonded very well."
Jamrog said that aspect can be critical to a team's success.
"If you don't have great chemistry among the staff, it's tough to get it with the players because they see it," Jamrog said. "That's the thing that's really encouraging with this staff. There are no egos. Everyone is fighting for the same cause and that's to make the University of Nebraska the best possible football program it can be."
The Jamrog File
Date and Place of Birth: Feb. 4, 1965, in Omaha.
Family: Wife, Connie; Daughter Elizabeth (16); Sons Brett (14) and Jared (12).
Education: B.S. in business administration, Nebraska, 1987; master's in business administration, Nebraska, 1990
Playing Experience: 1983-87, Nebraska
Administrative Experience: 2008, Nebraska, Assistant Athletic Director for Football Operations
Coaching Experience: 1988-89, Nebraska (graduate assistant coach); 1990-93, South Dakota (assistant coach/inside linebackers, special teams, academic coordinator); 1994-96, Nebraska-Omaha (assistant coach/defensive coordinator, defensive line, inside linebackers); 1997-99, New Mexico State (assistant coach/defensive coordinator, inside linebacker); 2000-02, Nebraska (assistant coach/defensive line); 2003, Nebraska (assistant coach/defensive line, defensive ends, special teams coordinator); 2004-07, Minnesota State (head coach).
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