It’s hard to believe it’s been 28 years since Scott Frost threw that last-minute touchdown in the 1997 game against Missouri, which sent the game into overtime. Fans still remember “The Flea Kicker” like it was yesterday, especially since Nebraska won that nail-biter in OT. That season was huge for Frost and the Cornhuskers; they finished 11-0 and shared the championship title with Alabama. While Wiggins definitely made some big plays in that Missouri game, it was Frost who was the driving force behind the offense all season long, earning him legend status in college football. So when the Cornhuskers needed a new head coach, Frost jumped at the chance to come back!
However, the stint wasn’t what Frost would have expected to be after he took over in 2018. Nebraska hadn’t won a championship since that ‘flea kicker’ season, and one of their own legends who had tasted the title’s success was coming. Surely everything would go on smoothly from there on, right? Hardly so. The Big 10 was not a cakewalk and still isn’t, so Frost struggled, and after 5 consecutive losing seasons, the Cornhuskers said enough. But in the background, something more grim was taking place, something fans weren’t aware of.
“There was a lot of pressure [to take the Nebraska job]. It was hard for me to leave UCF. It was emotional. You know, when you’re climbing the ladder of success in life, sometimes they forget to tell you to stop when you’re happy,” said Frost in an interview. Frost had a perfect season with UCF, finished 11-0, and won the ACC championship game in 2017. In short, Frost was thriving and was happy at his job at UCF. Still, his decision to come to Nebraska was more inspired by Nebraska being his alma mater than by Frost really wanting that job.
ESPN reporter Andrea Adelson spilled the beans on what was really happening in the background as she recalled an interview with Scott when she appeared on the May 23rd episode of ‘Sons of UCF.’ At first, the ex-Cornhuskers head coach was reluctant to talk about the topic, as Andrea recalled. “Not want to talk about the rest of the things. You want to ask me, but I’m not going to answer it.” But Andrea, having known Frost for a long time, insisted and got some “kernels” from the whole conversation.
“I think that he learned first and foremost that he needs to be in a place where he can be completely happy, and that was not the case at Nebraska. And I think when he was at UCF, he was happy; he was content… I didn’t think that he was gonna go deep on how that changed his life because it has to change you in some way when you go back to your alma mater,” said Andrea. Well, Frost’s reunion with the Cornhuskers might have come at the very wrong time.
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The head coach was thriving at UCF and raking in performances after performances. What was the need to go and coach a program, even your alma mater, which hasn’t seen significant success in more than two decades? Well, it seems like for Frost, the decision was more emotional than driven by pragmatism. How Frost’s legacy is now viewed in Nebraska is an open question. But the man is now happy at UCF, now that he has joined again as a head coach in 2025. However, achieving success now could be trickier compared to 2017 because of NIL and the transfer portal.
Former Cornhuskers AD Trev Alberts provides the harsh reality of Scott Frost’s tenure
Scott Frost at Nebraska sure had challenges and a murky record, but it wasn’t like all was gloom in his tenure. The head coach showed recruiting success with 4 of his 5 classes sitting in the top 25 nationally. Moreover, the losses that marred Frost’s tenure weren’t that glaring to begin with. The head coach lost close games with 22 games lost just by a single score; add to that the 12 games he lost by five points or less, and you start to think, ‘What if?’. Still, he was fired because on-field results matter the most. Trev Alberts, former Nebraska AD, opened up on the whole thing.
Trev acknowledged the hard work that Frost put in. “Now, Scott worked really hard here. Scott loves Nebraska… Our donors wanted it to work, and everybody wanted it to work.” But Alberts pointed out the business that we are in and how results are the only thing that matters. “I think at the end of the day, there has to be accountability. When you run a professional organization that has high standards, accountability has to matter…(A) 16-31 (record) obviously was not at a level that was acceptable to us.”
Well, now Frost is at UCF, probably his happy place, and will do everything to make it work. He has a tough task to handle after Gus Malzahn exited, producing a 4-8 season last year and a 6-7 season in 2023. It certainly won’t be easy, but Frost describes the program where his “heart lies.” So, he will certainly find a way to wade through the troubles and lead them to success.
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