Will Bolt's chair had a "reserved" sign taped to it as he sat with numerous other Nebraska coaches and athletic staff on the third floor of Memorial Stadium.
As he did so, the Nebraska baseball coach found himself agreeing with a lot of what new Husker athletic director Trev Alberts had to say Wednesday during his introductory news conference.
"The toughness piece of it that we're looking to instill in the entire athletic department," Bolt said. "The no-excuses part of it — show up and work hard everyday type of mentality. Those are things that he touched on that, I'm kind of nodding my head sitting out there, saying, 'These are things that we talk about in our program all the time.'"
Those things worked pretty well for Bolt and the Huskers in a 34-14, Big Ten title-winning season.
And while Bolt met Alberts for the first time Wednesday, the two are both former student-athletes at Nebraska and played for some of the best teams in their respective programs' histories. That type of intimate knowledge was something all of Nebraska's coaches, from baseball to women's bowling, felt was an important quality in whoever the new AD ended up being.
TREV ALBERTS HIRED AS AD
"That was a consensus among the coaches that, just speaking together as a group ... having some continuity, and having someone here that understands the uniqueness of Nebraska, and has been here as a student-athlete before, and embodies a lot of those things that the entire state of Nebraska is all about (was important)," Bolt said.
"I think it's incredibly important that he has a knowledge of this place."
Men's basketball coach Fred Hoiberg is more of a contemporary of Alberts, having gone to college and played professionally at roughly the same time as the former NU linebacker. The two were both pros in Indianapolis in the mid-1990s, Hoiberg with the NBA's Indiana Pacers and Alberts with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.
While the two have crossed paths a couple of times, they aren't deeply familiar with each other, Hoiberg said. Still, Alberts' life experiences and his deep love for Nebraska were evident.
"I think that's an important part of leadership, is when you've seen it from different people," Hoiberg said. "I know how important this place is to Trev. Being an All-American here, being a guy that was here in the program’s heyday, I know he’s going to do everything in his power to get all the programs competing for championships, and that’s what it’s all about."
Photos: Nebraska introduces Trev Alberts as its athletic director
Nebraska associate women's basketball coach Chuck Love (from left), football assistant coach Barrett Ruud, and baseball coach Will Bolt smile during the Big Red Blitz on June 16 at West Point-Beemer.