Texas A&M has hired Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts for the same position, the school announced Wednesday. Alberts replaces Ross Bjork, who left to become the athletic director at Ohio State in January. Alberts a former Nebraska football legend.
“With Trev’s expertise, the Aggies are poised to not only excel on the fields, tracks and courts, but also successfully navigate the multi-faceted intersection of sports, commerce and student-athlete empowerment,” Texas A&M president Trev Welsh said in a statement released by the school. “He 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 (NIL).”
Under Alberts’ watch, the athletic department underwent a period of strong improvement. Alberts fired former Nebraska star Scott Frost and hired former Baylor and Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule, who posted strong returns in his first season despite a 5-7 overall record. Alberts also organized Nebraska Volleyball Day in August 2023, when the university hosted the most-attended women’s sporting event of all time with more than 92,000 fans inside Memorial Stadium. Nebraska women’s basketball is set to make consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 2014, while the men’s team could reach the Big Dance for the first time since the same year.
“From my perspective, there has never been a more consequential time in history for higher education and the evolving landscape of intercollegiate athletics,” Alberts said in a statement released by the school. “Leadership matters now more than ever before. My interest in Texas A&M is not only due to its prestigious reputation but also because of President Welsh’s compelling vision in which, I believe, Athletics can play a small but important role in helping Texas A&M achieve unprecedented success.”
Alberts has led Nebraska’s athletic department since 2021 when his alma mater hired him away from Nebraska-Omaha. The hire was somewhat surprising as Alberts had no prior administrative experience at the FBS level. Nebraska-Omaha eliminated its football program while transitioning up to the Summit League.
Notably, Alberts agreed to a contract extension with Nebraska in November 2023 taking him through 2031 and paying him more than $2 million starting in 2026. Texas A&M had to pay a $4 million buyout to get out of Alberts’ Nebraska contract, according to Yahoo Sports.
Alberts was a standout linebacker at Nebraska in the 1990s whose No. 34 is retired by the program. In 1993, Alberts won the Butkus Award and was named a unanimous All-American.
