 Following his playing career, Powers was an assistant coach under both Devaney and Tom Osborne at the Nebraska from 1969 through 1976.After leaving Nebraska, Powers took his unranked Washington State Cougars into Lincoln and knocked off the fifteenth-ranked Huskers in the season opener at Memorial Stadium.The following year, he went to Lincoln with another unranked team, the Missouri Tigers and he pulled off a victory over a second-ranked Nebraska team.