LINCOLN, Neb. — He got the football signed.

Although it was not on Chris Kabourek’s to-do list when he took over the presidency of the University of Nebraska system on Jan. 1, he checked the item off last week as Trev Alberts visited Varner Hall, office of the president, and put pen to leather on Kabourek’s souvenir.

That football, which has been in Kabourek’s possession for three decades, was thrown to him by Alberts before the Nebraska athletic director’s final game as a star linebacker at Memorial Stadium. Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel got the details last week from Kabourek — who spoke individually with multiple members of the media in his first month as interim president.

He sat down Tuesday with The Athletic in the office vacated a month ago by Ted Carter, the Nebraska president of three years who left to take over at Ohio State. Kabourek may not lead the four-campus system for an extended period, but his time in this role is set to rate as an abnormally important period in Lincoln, amid the changing landscape in higher education and high-stakes athletics.

Here’s the first thing to know about Kabourek as it pertains to sports: He values them.

“The next president has to be attuned with the importance of athletics to this state and this institution,” said Kabourek, who has been the university system senior vice president for business and finance and CFO since 2018. “We have to be aligned in our leadership across the university.

“It can’t be academics vs. athletics. The two have to go hand in hand.”

Kabourek, 50, coaches his sons’ football, basketball and baseball teams. He officiates high school and small-college basketball. Kabourek was the first from his David City, Neb., farming family to attend college.

His office is adorned not only with the newly signed football from Alberts but also with a framed piece of the court from Volleyball Day in Nebraska, a Jordan Burroughs “man in the arena” placard, a Nebraska football pennant that belonged to Kabourek’s grandfather and memorabilia connected to teams at the Nebraska-Omaha and Nebraska-Kearney campuses.

In the academic and research world, Kabourek faces a budget shortfall and the reality of administering cuts.

Nebraska athletics, under the direction of Alberts, generated $204.8 million in revenue in the 2023 fiscal year, a record for the state’s flagship institution, and a $13.9 million surplus. Both financial figures place Nebraska into an elite category nationally.

And still, Kabourek is concerned.

This week, the university system announced that University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha plan this year to report federally funded research expenditures as a combined figure to the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

It matters because Nebraska had been the only Big Ten institution to separate research dollars tied to its main campus and the medical school. The distinction contributed to the 2011 removal of Nebraska from the prestigious American Association of Universities, of which it had been a member since 1909.

Every other Big Ten member, including the four schools set to join from the Pac-12 in August, belongs to the AAU.

The reclassification of research expenditures gets Nebraska “in the ballpark,” Kabourek said, with other Big Ten universities. But the process to regain AAU membership requires a “broader strategy to align” the Lincoln campus with the rest of the university system, Kabourek said.

The decision last year to shift oversight of Nebraska athletics from the UNL chancellor to the system president illustrates an additional effort to align campuses.

Kabourek participated this week in his first gathering of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors.

“It’s a little vulnerable to walk into that meeting and know that you’re representing the only school that doesn’t look like the other 17,” he said. “Those are our peers, and we’ve got to make sure we’re competing with those peers.”

University leaders must do more, according to Kabourek, or they could risk Nebraska’s solid footing in the Big Ten. Ultimately, they could jeopardize the school’s membership.

“Nebraska shouldn’t — and we don’t — take a backseat to anybody,” Kabourek said. “So even though I’m the interim (president), I’m going to go in there representing Nebraska’s interest and make sure our voice is heard.”

No scenario is entirely farfetched. Conference realignment, the expanding College Football Playoff, the name, image and likeness (NIL) revolution and erosion of the NCAA model have set in motion perhaps the most disruptive era in college sports.

Could the Big Ten expel Nebraska over its missing AAU label? Yes, if the other league members were looking for a reason to share multimedia rights revenue with fewer schools.

Kabourek surely won’t encounter such a plot in 2024. But Alberts could face anything imaginable before his time in Lincoln is done. Kabourek worked last fall on the contract extension and raise awarded to Alberts by Carter before the former president departed.

Aside from collecting Alberts’ signature for display in Kabourek’s office, he said he’s thrilled to work alongside the AD.

“I’m not going to go back over our history over the past 20 years,” Kabourek said, “but we probably had some missteps in terms of football coaches or athletic directors. With Trev, we have the right leader at the right time. He understands this place. He loves Nebraska.

“He understands the importance of our culture, the people, just like I do. And he’s at the table on these important discussions.”

On NIL, Kabourek said, “it’s very challenging.”

“We’ve got to make sure we’re not taking a backseat to anybody and that we have the resources and a plan in place to go compete,” he said. “From my seat, it seems a little bit like the wild west.”

Kabourek said he’s open to all conversations, including the talk of turning student-athletes into university employees.

“We’d better be thinking about that,” he said. “Sticking our head in the sand is not going to help us at all.”

On the plan to demolish the south end zone seating at Memorial Stadium next year and begin full-scale work on a renovation announced last fall to come with a price tag of $450 million, Kabourek said he’s aligned with Alberts.

“We are really committed to this project,” Kabourek said. It’s critical.”

Fan experiences are changing. As a school and as a state, Kabourek said, Nebraska must ensure that its younger generation of fans invests in the stadium that represents the school’s national brand.

“I support Trev being bold on this,” he said. “We need to start being bold at Nebraska on athletics and academics and research. And this is a bold investment.”

Kabourek is a Nebraska Wesleyan graduate. He earned his MBA from UNL and began work for the Nebraska administration in 1997. He said he’ll treat this interim job like he’s got the green light to think big.

Would he like to be considered a candidate as the Board of Regents conducts a search for the next president? On that one, he didn’t offer a direct answer.

“My job,” Kabourek said, “is to give the time and space that they need.”

Settling into his chair in this second month, he’s got all the time the regents need him to give.

(Photo: Mitch Sherman / The Athletic)