College football coach Mike Ekeler is returning to his home state.
Several local and national outlets reported Monday the Blair High School graduate is set to rejoin the Nebraska football program after last coaching Cornhuskers in 2010. Up until the move, he'd coached Tennessee Volunteer linebackers and special teams players for the past four seasons.
Back at Nebraska, though, Ekeler will be head coach Matt Ruhle's special teams coordinator, according to the Omaha World-Herald. He was a linebackers coach during his last NU stint, developing future NFL standouts Lavonte David and Will Compton among others.
Ekeler's college coaching credentials also include stops at Oklahoma, LSU, Indiana, Southern Cal, Georgia, North Texas, North Carolina and Kansas. Before that, he played linebacker at Kansas State.
The 1990 BHS grad was a multi-sport athlete during his prep career. Notably, he was a member of the Bears' lone state championship football team in 1988.
A Look at Times Gone By entries in both the Pilot-Tribune and Enterprise have featured Ekeler in recent years, too. One article noted a third-place junior high wrestling finish in 1985, while another recapped a 1990 BHS varsity basketball win against No. 2 Nebraska City in which he scored nine points. One more detailed how he coached Arlington High School graduate Thomas Grove at Nebraska in 2008, too.
Ekeler and his wife, Barbie, have four children — J.J., Cameryn, Abby and Bella. Abby just completed her senior season on the Tennessee Volunteers' volleyball team. She started nine matches as its libero.
