Nebraska football assistant coach Mickey Joseph, the team’s interim head coach for most of the just-completed Husker season, made his first court appearances on Thursday on charges of domestic assault and strangulation.
Joseph appeared via Zoom from his Lancaster County Jail cell and had bond set at 10% of $20,000 with his next court appearance on January 30. He was also ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim or the home where the incident occurred.
Joseph is accused of putting his hands around the throat of a woman – reportedly his wife – pulling her hair, and punching her at their home Wednesday afternoon. He was not present when officers arrived and was arrested later not far away.
A police affidavit says the woman told officers they were arguing when Joseph pushed her onto a couch and choked her. She said she was able to push him off and began walking away when he grabbed her hair from behind, pulling some of it.
She said she fell to the ground and Joseph punched her with a closed fist before leaving. The affidavit states the officers observed “visible redness and swelling around (the) left eye which was consistent with being struck.”
The affidavit also says a third person, a relative of the woman, was present and told police about seeing Joseph grab the woman by the throat and trying to flush a cell phone down the toilet. A phone was found in a bag of rice, a way often used to try and dry phones that have been in water.
Nebraska fans have been waiting to hear whether Joseph was going to be retained by new head coach Matt Rhule, officially introduced at a Monday news conference.
Rhule told a radio show Thursday afternoon that he was surprised when he heard about the arrest and was actually scheduled to talk to Joseph the day of the incident.
He gave no indication whether he planned to retain Joseph, who was placed on administrative leave by Athletic Director Trev Alberts under department policy.