Mickey Joseph Becomes First Ever Black Head Coach of University of Nebraska’s Football Team

Nationwide — Mickey Joseph, who once played football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the past, has been named the interim head coach of the team, making history as the first Black coach for the University of Nebraska’s football team.

Joseph, who is a native of Marrero, Louisiana, attended college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he played quarterback for its football team from 1988 to 1991.

Since 1995, Joseph had been coaching several high school and college football teams. He was hired at the University of Nebraska as an associate head coach and wide receivers coach in December 2021. He was recently promoted as the interim head coach after former coach Scott Frost was fired.

The University of Nebraska, which was founded in 1896, established its football team in 1900. Since then, there had been no African American coach on any of its sports teams and Joseph made history as the first.

Now as the interim head coach, Joseph said he is focusing on “feeding confidence” to the players who had previously become accustomed to losing.

“My No. 1 focus is the boys, the players, that we make sure they’re OK,” Joseph told The Athletic. “This is about Nebraska football. It’s bigger than me or anyone else.”