Nebraska

Nebraska CIO on Preparing for Future Talent, Tech Needs

Published

1 month ago

December 18, 2025

Nebraska CIO on Preparing for Future Talent, Tech Needs

Nebraska officials have spent 2025 focused on laying the groundwork to advance IT talent pipelines, AI implementation and more in 2026 — and on reducing IT costs while doing so.

State CIO Matthew McCarville was tapped to lead Nebraska IT in 2024, in part with the goal of delivering cost savings to taxpayers. He views diversity, in a broad sense, as a mindset through which to find new technology solutions and talent.

Nebraska IT is in a position to modernize now, McCarville said, and that is in part a result of IT work in recent years. When he came to the state, systems were almost entirely on-premise mainframe. Since his arrival, work has begun to get the state off mainframe and into a cloud environment in the next calendar year; a vendor selection is expected in January. That will be key to state adoption of emerging technologies like AI.

“[The cloud environment] enables us to leverage all of that data in a new way we’ve never been able to before,” he said, explaining that using AI on an on-premise mainframe is “cost-prohibitive.” Now, state data can be used more effectively, enabling predictive analytics and AI in a cost-effective way.

The other piece of the AI puzzle is the skillset needed to implement it effectively. In Nebraska, roughly one-third of full-time employees qualified for retirement about a decade ago, according to McCarville, so the talent question is a high priority.

The state has a Data and AI Center of Excellence in Omaha, which enables officials to launch an internship initiative as an early talent pipeline for people who may not have worked with state government. The internship is expected to launch “full-bore” in January, and the first-ever statewide IT apprenticeship program is expected to arrive in 2026.

The apprenticeship program is GI Bill-qualified, so its funding will support the state’s collaboration with educational entities to train exiting military members — and the broader public — on AI, data and cybersecurity. The program is also intended to encourage people to stay in Nebraska.

These initiatives, McCarville said, aim to help the state address modernization needs while dealing with a soon-to-retire workforce, cost-effectively.

Part of modernization is implementing a mindset shift to one that is more forward-looking, he said. For example, rather than remaining entrenched in vendor agreements created 20 years ago, state IT is diversifying its ecosystem and moving away from such long-term relationships.

Diversifying vendors does require knowledge about more products, but it better positions the state to tackle new projects by being able to work with the lowest-cost provider. This shift is not a critique of previous vendors, McCarville said, but reflects meeting modern needs.

The state launched its first Joint Security Operations Center in 2024, powering a whole-of-state model through which state IT officials serve all 93 counties and their cities, plus more than 250 K-12 supporting organizations, governor’s cabinet agencies, and non-cabinet boards, agencies and commissions.

“So, we are building a kind of ‘Field of Dreams’ for cyber,” said McCarville of the state’s approach — creating the infrastructure in an effort to attract organizations to participate.

There has been much discussion of potential changes at the federal level that could affect state cybersecurity funding, but McCarville said state cybersecurity must rely on sustainable funding sources — and federal funding is not always that. He said he views federal funding as an “added bonus” for state cybersecurity.

Although the state is investing in IT, doing so in a cost-efficient way is a priority to address budget constraints. The state Legislature is facing a $471 million deficit in the annual budget, and the governor has established a goal for cabinet agencies to cut $500 million a year over the next two years.

The Nebraska Office of the CIO (OCIO) is in a unique position because rather than receiving a general fund appropriation, agencies pay for its services from general funds they receive. Still, OCIO is reducing its rates and expenses to offer them discounts — cutting $2.5 million in annual recurring overhead so far, with the goal of reaching $13 million. This was not mandated, but is OCIO’s way of helping the state address the deficit.

“Cutting dollars in IT doesn’t always end up having an added benefit,” McCarville said. “But we are trying very hard in modernization, which typically costs more money, to lower our expenses — but yet modernize and do all of these initiatives at the same time.”

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Nebraska

Nebraska Shows It’s a Team on the Road to Possible Greatness

Published

2 hours ago

January 24, 2026

Press Room

Nebraska Shows It’s a Team on the Road to Possible Greatness

Teams take many paths to greatness. What Nebraska did at Minnesota on Saturday afternoon is how a good team — a very good team — becomes great.

When a team defeats a quality opponent at a tough venue like Williams Arena, without one of their main players and three others with three fouls, and comes from behind to do it, you have a team taking their own gilded path to greatness.

The seventh-ranked Huskers, an astounding 20-0 on the season, showed all of this and more in their 76-57 win over the Golden Gophers. Nebraska trailed, 36-30, at the half, then outscored the stunned Gophers, 46-21.

“We challenged them. We challenged them hard at halftime,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said in a postgame news conference. “Championship teams respond the right way and that’s exactly what our guys did.

“I felt fortunate to only be down six at halftime … We didn’t play a great offensive game in that first half and we were only down two possessions. So that’s what I left it with. If we went out and turned it around and got it back to being who we are, we were gonna have a chance to win the game.”

Pryce Sandfort, stepping up again with valuable reserve Braden Frager out with a sprained ankle, scored 20 of his 22 points in that fateful second half.

Sandfort was so hot that after making yet another basket in the second half, gave the Michael Jordan shrug with his arms outstretched and a big smile to his bench and the large number of Nebraska fans in Minneapolis.

“We were going to keep going to him,” said Huskers guard Jamarques Lawrence, who had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. “We keep believing in him.”

Sandfort also had a career-high 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“I thought we rebounded the ball well,” Hoiberg said. “I love Pryce. His 22 points is great, but the 10 rebounds, the four blocks, that shows toughness.”

Huskers’ all-around game

There was more to like about the Huskers. How about 24 assists on 29 baskets. And 48 percent shooting from the floor. Nebraska only had eight turnovers. Nebraska also made all nine of its foul shots.

“I think this team is very mature,” Huskers guard Sam Hoiberg said in a postgame news conference. “We’ve talked about that and I never felt any sort of panic in our body language. Coaches jumped us at halftime, thought they [Minnesota] were playing harder than us. That’s all it really was. There was no panic, though.”

And the Nebraska defense? Simply, it was terrific.

“I thought our defense was really on point,” Fred Hoiberg said.”That’s what I thought turned the game around. We weren’t taking the ball out of the net every time down the floor and we got Pryce loose finally after missing a couple.

“That’s the confidence he’s playing with right now. I think it was 0-for-4 or 5 to start and he got rolling and our guys did a really good job finding him.”

Minnesota shot 9-of-31 from distance (29 percent) and 21-of-53 from the floor (40 percent). The Huskers had eight blocks. They had five steals.

Sam Hoiberg scored 14 points in the first half. He finished with 14 points. Several times in his scoreless second half, the point guard had opportunities to drive and maybe force a shot. He didn’t. Instead, he kept the ball moving, hit the open man and the smooth-flowing offense cooking.

Nebraska outrebounded the Gophers, 39-31. “We ended up outrebounding them after being down at halftime,” Fred Hoiberg said.

“The good teams, they find a way. Things weren’t going great but again the second half, we’ve done a really good job coming out of the locker room and I just thought we played with so much more urgency.”

Nebraska guard Jamarques Lawrence celebrates his three-point basket against Minnesota during the second half at Williams Arena. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Nebraska had excellent ball movement which led to so many open shots. And with so many excellent shooters, the Huskers are going knock down more than their share of open looks.

“The fact that they’ve done this now on the road a couple of times and just had that killer instinct,” Fred Hoiberg said. “It’s important to know you can do it.”

Now, Nebraska gets its possible season-defining game Tuesday at third-ranked Michigan.

“You know, I asked them the same question I always ask in the locker room,” Fred Hoiberg said. “Are you satisfied? To a man, they said no. And you know we got an unbelievable opportunity in front of us against what I think is arguably the best team in the country.”

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No. 6 Nebraska wrestling breaks attendance record in loss to No. 4 Iowa

Published

14 hours ago

January 24, 2026

Press Room

No. 6 Nebraska wrestling breaks attendance record in loss to No. 4 Iowa

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – A record crowd packed the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Friday night in Lincoln, but sixth-ranked Nebraska came up short in a 22-14 loss to No. 4 Iowa in a marquee Big Ten dual.

The announced attendance of 7,891 set a new program record, breaking the previous mark of 7,094 set in December.

Nebraska claimed four bouts on the night, highlighted by Brock Hardy’s milestone victory.

Hardy, ranked No. 3 at 141 pounds, earned a 1-0 decision over No. 10 Nasir Bailey to secure his 100th career dual win. The victory made Hardy the 33rd wrestler in Nebraska history to reach the milestone.

Iowa built an early advantage by winning four of the first five bouts.

The Hawkeyes clinched the dual at 184 when Gabe Arnold defeated No. 7 Silas Allred 4-1 to extend the Hawkeyes’ lead to 22-6.

Nebraska will remain at home Sunday to host No. 2 Ohio State. The dual is scheduled for a 1 p.m. CT start and will stream on B1G+.

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