When new Nebraska football offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen gave his first press conference as a staff member, he made a joke that got all the attention. Some of that attention is good, some of it was unfortunately quite negative.

Holgorsen was asked why he took the offensive coordinator job with three weeks left in the season. He started his answer with the thing that has gotten all the attention. “I was bored.”

That response led some people to think his bluntness was exactly what the program needed. Others were immediately negative and decided that the Nebraska football program had made a huge mistake. Of course, both responses were premature conclusions. After a brief pause to let the joke land, he explained the real reason.

For starters, Holgorsen confirmed that there was talk late last year about the former West Virginia and Houston head coach joining the Huskers staff. Holgorsen admitted that at the time he didn’t think he had the drive to do the job and instead took a job as an analyst at TCU.

However, his “boredom” stemmed from not being a coach once he got there. Not being involved in the decisions and just watching from the sidelines or a suite. In other words, this isn’t someone who just got a little bored and took the first job that came up.

It was someone who had previously talked about joining Nebraska, and who needed some time to regain his composure. He has it now.

“Coach Rhule called and said, ‘Let’s come try to figure this out. I need your help.’ I was grateful that he said, “I needed your help.” I think about him a lot. I think about this program a lot. I was excited to jump on it. Rules allow it now. In years past, the rules would not have allowed this. I just wanted to put myself out there and try to help Coach Rhule and help this football team and help this great program.

If you’re counting, that was approx four times in a 30-second response praising Nebraska’s football program. Some are now concerned that there is an OC on staff who doesn’t really care about getting things right. Others consider him a rock star. The truth is, he’s a man who hopefully will help turn the offense around in the next two weeks. And then stick around to keep it going for next season.