Nebraska has hired Trev Alberts, a former All-American linebacker for the Cornhuskers, as athletic director, the school announced Wednesday.
"Other than my faith and my family, everything I have materially and otherwise is a result of an opportunity to be a student at the University of Nebraska," Alberts said at a news conference. "I don't take this responsibility lightly."
Join us in welcoming back one of our own to the Big Red Family:
— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) July 14, 2021
Trev Alberts, Athletic Director.#GBR pic.twitter.com/jPoCtAAKJt
Alberts, who will start his new job Monday, voiced support for another former Husker, football coach Scott Frost, who is off to a lackluster start in his return to Lincoln. Nebraska has posted four straight losing seasons and has rarely been a factor in the Big Ten race, much less the national championship runs that Cornhuskers fans became accustomed to a generation ago.
But Alberts pledged never to micromanage the football program, focusing instead on big-picture concerns in the department.
"I want to be helpful," he said. "I will not call a play. I don't tell coaches who to recruit."
Alberts, 50, previously led the athletic department at Nebraska-Omaha, which dropped its football and wrestling programs in 2011 and completed a move to Division I in 2015-16. He replaces Bill Moos, who retired June 30.
Playing at Nebraska from 1990 to 1993, Alberts won the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker in 1993. He was a consensus first-team All-American that year and was selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1994 NFL draft. Injuries limited Alberts to just three NFL seasons with the Indianapolis Colts.
He began a career as a broadcaster and spent three years at ESPN. Nebraska-Omaha hired him as athletic director in April 2009.
"Since his winning days in Memorial Stadium, Trev has been passionate about Nebraska and has gained tremendous experience in college athletics," Nebraska chancellor Ronnie Green said in a statement. "He knows how to build competitive, winning programs and is committed to long-term success. He knows how to navigate complex financial aspects of a media-driven business. He remains a student-athlete at heart and prioritizes student success, on and off the playing field."
Alberts becomes Nebraska's fourth athletic director since joining the Big Ten in 2011, following Tom Osborne, Shawn Eichorst and Moos. He said his goal over the next two to three years is to expand the trust, unity and work ethic within the athletic department.
"We have to be the hardest-working athletic department in the country," he said. "That's something we can control."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.