Troy Dannen makes first comments of Nebraska football’s 2026 offseason

Troy Dannen, on Thursday evening, made his first appearance on Huskers Radio Network since Nebraska football’s 2025 season ended in Las Vegas.

It was a fairly loaded interview segment for the Huskers’ athletic director on the latest edition of the Sports Nightly Coaches Show.

Below are the highlights.

Quick snippet on new Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea

One of Dannen’s most high-level, most important roles has nothing to do with Nebraska (well, so far, that is) as a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee. This past week, one of his assigned duties as a member of the CFP committee was to spend four days in Miami – which included meetings and attending Indiana’s win over the Hurricanes in the national championship game.

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During that time, Dannen says he got some unprompted thoughts from fellow committee members about new Nebraska transfer quarterback and former UNLV starter Anthony Colandrea.

“I had a chance to meet the quarterback and his family when they were in on their visit, and he has a presence about him, to be sure,” Dannen said. “… The (CFP) committee’s split into leagues. … When I was at the meetings in Miami (last) weekend, the folks on my committee that evaluated the Mountain West Conference took the time to come up and say, ‘the quarterback was the most impressive player we saw.’ They loved everything they saw. And they watched every game, just as I did with my leagues. People really like the quarterback.”

Thoughts on Huskers’ transfer portal haul

Dannen’s quick-snippet anecdote about the feedback he got on Colandrea was part of a larger response regarding the Huskers’ transfer portal haul.

The vast majority of transfer signings is now complete. The hay is in the barn, so to speak. So, now that the portal window has closed, what is Dannen’s overarching view of Nebraska’s haul?

“You never know,” Dannen said. “Men’s basketball is a great example. Last year, with all of the NIL signees, did those new players all return in the way you would have hoped? Some, but not all. This year, maybe you have a different answer. Maybe all – not some, but all. So, until you start playing games, you don’t really know.

“… Time will tell. It’s not just a one-time thing – it’s how the players are developing in the roster, who else do you have on your roster to move into some of those spots, and where are you at with your ‘27 class and ‘28 class? So all these things interconnect. But, for what (the staff’s) targets were and what they felt their needs were, I think they felt good. But until we start playing games, you’ll never really know.”

Early spring game, potential schedule conflict with Nebraska basketball

Matt Rhule announced during his radio show appearance last week that Nebraska will, in fact, have a legitimate spring game (doing away with the short-lived, one-time event Husker Games that landed with a dud) and that it will be held on Saturday, March 28.

Now, the following is – just to be clear – putting the cart MILES before the horse. But … nonetheless!

Nebraska basketball is in the midst of its best regular season in program history, carrying a 19-0 record and No. 7 national ranking into Saturday morning’s road game at Minnesota. Every reliable bracketologist in the country has the Huskers currently pinned as a No. 2 or 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament with 12 games left before the Big Ten Tournament.

Nebraska has its most difficult stretch of the season coming up. After traveling to Minnesota, the Huskers hit the road game for a matchup at No. 3 Michigan (Jan. 27). Then, they face No. 11 Illinois at home (Feb. 1), Rutgers on the road (Feb. 7) and No. 4 Purdue at home (Feb. 10).

Right now, though, the Huskers have positioned themselves for an optimal setup when March Madness rolls around. Nebraska, as a hypothetical No. 2 seed, would be theoretically projected to advance to the Elite Eight.

The Elite Eight games will be played on March 28 and 29. If the Huskers were placed in either the South Regional (Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games to be played in Houston) or the West Regional (San Jose, Calif.), and if they were to win three consecutive games in the Big Dance, then that would coincide with Nebraska football’s spring game. The Midwest Regional (Chicago) and East Regional (Washington D.C.) will host their Elite Eight games on March 29.

So, in a perfect world, yeah, Nebraska basketball would earn a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament, land in the Midwest Regional, rattle off three straight wins, and Nebraska fans could have it all: Attend the spring game in person, snag a direct to O’Hare or Midway and burn the United Center down the next day while celebrating an upset win over Arizona to reach the Final Four.

But if the Huskers get placed in one of the two regionals in which Elite Eight games are played on the same day as the spring game and that becomes an actual scheduling conflict, it means Nebraska won its first, second and third NCAA Tournament games literally ever. Which also means anyone who actually complains about – and is actually angry about – such a scheduling conflict can drink a tall glass of shut the hell up and just enjoy the fact that there actually IS a scheduling conflict … because it means program history was made and the ride was electric along the way.

If he could, I’m sure Dannen would love to say something along those lines to convey how he actually feels in regard to fielding complaints about a potential scheduling conflict. Instead, I’ll allow him to say it in his own words as an athletic director.

“First-world problems, to be sure,” Dannen said. “We won’t know if there’s a potential Elite Eight game on the day of the spring game until, one, Selection Sunday – we’ll know how it plays out. But even if there’s a game on that day, we know those Elite Eight games are late afternoon and evening. So, the one thing we can’t have is any conflict, and there’s also events going on on campus that day. I would anticipate, at the very least, it’ll be an 11 a.m. type kick for the spring game. So, there’s definitely no overlap along with any Elite Eight game, whether or not the spring game actually has to move off of that date. We do know there is some absoluteness, though. know those games are going to be late afternoon and evening.

“We also have softball, baseball that day. Softball plays UCLA (a potential Top-10 matchup with Nebraska ranked No. 9 and UCLA ranked No. 10 in the preseason national rankings), and baseball plays Indiana. So, (two) big series that I also would like to avoid conflicting with games. And if you can play (the spring game) at 11 a.m. and let everybody get out and watch softball and baseball, and then get home and watch the Huskers fight to get into the Final Four, that would be an ideal situation for all of us.”