Nebraska Cornhuskers head football coach Matt Rhule has filed a $5 million arbitration claim against his former NFL team, the Carolina Panthers. The suit, submitted in January 2023, alleges that the Panthers failed to pay offset severance compensation following Rhule’s firing in October 2022.
Rhule originally signed a seven-year, $62 million contract with the Panthers in 2020, but was fired in the 2022 season after compiling an 11-27 record. At the time of his dismissal, he was reportedly owed around $34 million for the remainder of the contract.
Shortly after, Rhule accepted the head coaching job at the University of Nebraska, agreeing to an eight-year, $74 million deal. The Panthers argue that Rhule’s new contract was structured to minimize the amount they would need to pay in severance, due to the offset clauses in his NFL agreement.
Rhule’s legal team disputes this, and the case is now set to be resolved through arbitration under the NFL’s dispute resolution system. The league will decide the forum and arbitrator for the case.
This legal battle has drawn attention across both college and professional football, with implications for how future coaching contracts and severance agreements may be structured.
