UCF head football coach Scott Frost clearly doesn’t feel that his time with Nebraska was a good fit in hindsight.
“Don’t take the wrong job,” Frost told reporters at Big 12 media days on Tuesday when asked what he learned during his time with the Cornhuskers.
Frost added more insight on that remark, per Chris Vannini of The Athletic, who also added more insight.
“I said I wouldn’t leave (UCF) unless it was someplace you could win a national championship. I got tugged in a direction to try to help my alma mater and didn’t really want to do it. It wasn’t a good move. I’m lucky to get back to a place where I was a lot happier.”
Frost signed a seven-year, $35 million deal to leave UCF for his alma mater, Nebraska, in December 2017. He went 16-31 (10-26 in the Big Ten) in four-plus seasons in Lincoln before being fired three games into the 2022 season following a 1-2 start and a 45-42 upset loss at home to Georgia Southern.
The 50-year-old is now back in Orlando on a five-year deal after the resignation of ex-Knights head coach Gus Malzahn.
Frost excelled at UCF in his two years there before leaving for Nebraska. In the year before his arrival (2015), the Knights went 0-12. They improved to 6-7 in Frost’s first year (2016) before going 13-0 and capping the 2017 season with a Peach Bowl win over Auburn. UCF finished sixth in the final Associated Press poll that year.
Frost did not find that same success at Nebraska. At first, he was welcomed with open arms, as he was born in Nebraska and was raised in the state before leading the team to a national championship as the starting quarterback in 1997.
However, Frost’s tenure with the Cornhuskers was a five-year struggle. Their best season under Frost was a 5-7 campaign in 2019. Nebraska also infamously went 5-22 in one-score games in the Frost era, including 0-10 in 2021 (0-8) and 0-2 in 2022 before he was let go. The Cornhuskers also went winless against AP Top 25 teams (0-13).
For whatever reason, the Frost tenure in Nebraska didn’t work out. Regardless, he’s moved on, and so have the Cornhuskers, who are entering year three under Matt Rhule.
UCF opens Chapter 2 of the Frost era on Aug. 28 at home against Jacksonville State.
