NFL alum Trev Alberts has had an interesting career as a college administrator. He started as athletic director at Nebraska-Omaha but they eliminated the football program in 2011 for budgetary reasons. Last week in a surprise announcement, he was named athletic director at Texas A&M in football-crazy College Station.
Alberts had left Omaha in 2021 to move up to the athletic director’s post at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He had starred there as linebacker and future first round draft choice in the early ‘90s. Alberts’ jersey number 34 was retired by the university in 1994. Most Nebraska fans believed he had landed his dream job at age 51 and would stay in Lincoln for a long tenure.
However, events changed quickly in recent weeks after Texas A&M President Mark Welsh, a retired U.S. Air Force four-star general, targeted Alberts for the vacancy at his university.
“I had not applied for the Aggies’ job and wasn’t trying to leave Nebraska,” Alberts said after the announcement. “These are hard jobs –they’re even harder now than they’ve ever been-and leadership is just critically important. Maybe not to everyone, but it really is to me. General Welsh sold me on a really compelling vision. Everybody’s looking for some crazy reason why I left Lincoln but that’s it. General Welsh’s vision and the fact that it’s a unique opportunity at a great school with defined leadership.”
General Welsh returned the compliments last week: “I can’t imagine a better individual to lead the Aggie Athletics program into the future. Trev has a profound understanding of the intricate business of athletics and the evolving landscape of college athletics, particularly in the realm of name, image and likeness.”
Nebraska has not had a permanent school president since last summer when the then-president announced he was leaving for a similar position at Ohio State.
Alberts had a limited number of conversations with key individuals connected with Nebraska before the public announcement was made. His hardest such talk was with his former Cornhuskers coach and the retired athletic director at Nebraska, the legendary, 87-year old College Hall of Famer Tom Osborne.
“Coach (Osborne) is like a second father to me,” Alberts says with emotion in his voice. “He gave me an opportunity to come to Nebraska when he recruited me as a high school senior and that changed my life. I will never forget him.”
We at NFL Alumni are looking forward to Trev Alberts’ tenure at Texas A&M. He will be responsible for 20 varsity sports at College Station with football, of course, being at the top of the list. It is a challenging task but, tough assignments have not stopped the former Colts linebacker so far in his playing days or collegiate administrative career.
