FRISCO, Texas — Eight years in the past, as UCF gained the American Athletic Convention championship, then-Knights coach Scott Frost was in tears on the sector. He would quickly go away for the Nebraska job, and everybody knew it. UCF’s stadium had Nebraska followers littered all through.
Frost stated after that 2017 sport he didn’t actually need to go away, however his alma mater was calling. UCF was undefeated and rolling, however he couldn’t flip down an opportunity to return house.
Now Frost is again at UCF for a second likelihood on the proper place. He lasted simply greater than 4 seasons at Nebraska, with a 16-31 report, then spent 2024 as an analyst with the Los Angeles Rams. Frost stated Tuesday that he didn’t need to speak about his time at Nebraska, however questions have been unimaginable to keep away from with the way it connects to his UCF story.
“I didn’t need to go away UCF,” he advised The Athletic. “I at all times stated I’d by no means go away except it was some place you might go and probably win a nationwide championship. I obtained tugged in a course to go attempt to assist my alma mater, and I didn’t actually need to do it. It wasn’t an excellent transfer. I’m fortunate to get again to a spot the place I used to be loads happier.”
Frost has stated in earlier interviews that he felt stress to teach Nebraska on the urging of his ex-teammates, in addition to his faculty coach and mentor, Tom Osborne. Frost led Nebraska to a share of the nationwide championship as a quarterback in 1997.
Frost was employed at Nebraska by Invoice Moos, the athletic director who retired in 2021. Frost and Trev Alberts, the AD employed to switch Moos, have been recognized to have had a strained relationship, based on sources near this system, earlier than Alberts fired Frost. After he employed Matt Rhule as Frost’s substitute, Alberts left Nebraska in March 2024 to run the Texas A&M athletic division.
“Don’t take the fallacious job, that’s what I discovered,” Frost stated. “Be sure to’re working for and round good individuals.”
Throughout his re-introduction at UCF final yr, Frost declined to speak immediately about Nebraska, saying solely that it was tough to depart Orlando in 2017.
“We had it rolling in an excellent course,” Frost stated Tuesday. “I’m happy with that entire group, and what they did positioned us in a spot the place we could possibly be thought of to maneuver up a league.”
Frost’s UCF groups have been loaded throughout his first stint. After the undefeated 2017 season, the Knights had 4 gamers chosen within the subsequent NFL Draft, three within the first three rounds. He admits that protecting that group collectively would’ve been exhausting in at this time’s switch portal period as a Group of 5 group. However now, within the Massive 12, that dynamic has additionally modified.
“We’d have misplaced half that group, however that’s as a result of we have been within the American,” he stated. “We’re (in) the Massive 12 now. Children are leaving different Energy 4 colleges to come back again to Florida and are available play for us. When youngsters come to UCF, they don’t need to go away.”
Frost is aware of that feeling all too effectively.
(Photograph: Stacy Revere / Getty Photos)
