Dungy thinks Frost should stay at UCF.
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Tony Dungy, one of Scott Frost’s mentors, seems to believe UCF’s head coach will refuse a potential offer from Nebraska after the season to stay in Orlando.
I know it’s hard to believe Frost would reject a chance to return to his beloved alma mater as the head coach, but the circumstantial evidence keeps piling up. The most recent indication came from the Twitter feed of Dungy, the former Tampa Bay Bucs head coach whom Frost has said is one of the most influential role models in his life.
Dungy sent out a Twitter link to a column I wrote earlier this week about UCF firing a preemptive financial strike at Nebraska and other potential Power 5 suitors. Underneath the link, Dungy tweeted: “Nebraska missed its opportunity to hire
Frost. Just as several Power 5 teams did. They are building something special at @UCF_Football.”
It was a totally unsolicited comment from Dungy, who knows Frost as well as anyone in the profession. Add that to something Frost told me on our Open Mike radio show this week, and I’m becoming more and more convinced he will stay at UCF after this season.
I asked Frost about UCF AD Danny White announcing this week that the school will aggressively try to raise more than $1.5 million a year from donors for the school’s “Football Excellence Fund.” Much of that money would be used to increase UCF’s salary pool for assistant coaches — a cause near and dear to Frost’s heart. Frost has sacrificed some of his own salary in the past so that his talented group of assistant coaches could be better compensated and now he is contributing to the Football Excellence Fund for the same reason.
“I contributed because I care so much about my assistant coaches and I appreciate them so much,” Frost said. “I’ve got a great group [of assistants] and a lot of what’s been happening around here has to do with those guys doing an unbelievable coaching job. … We want to keep the band together. … It wouldn’t be as much fun for me to do my job without the guys I have around me.”
This is why I think Frost is staying at UCF — at least for another year or two. Would he really be contributing money to a football program that he plans to leave after the season? Would he really be trying to get UCF donors to dig deep into their pockets and kick in a bunch of money to pay his assistants if he and his assistants were leaving? It’ll be interesting to see if UCF boosters ante up to keep Frost and his assistants happy. It would be embarrassing if the Football Excellence Fund turns into the Football Indifference Fund.
SHORT STUFF: A moment of silence, please.
Helen DeVos, the wife of Magic owner Rich DeVos, has gone to That Big Community Service Convention in the Sky. This sweet, gentle woman gave her time and money to churches, children’s hospitals, service clubs, food banks, music, arts, education and so many other charitable causes. She will be missed. She already is.
MIKEY LIKES: UCF over Navy by 10, Louisville over FSU by 3 in Upset Special, Bye Week over the Gators by a Nussmeier, Miami over Syracuse by 21, USF over Tulane by just 5, Alabama over Tennessee by 100, Bills over Bucs by 7, Jags over Colts by 5, Dolphins over Jets by 4, National Anthem over NFL Players by 200 years. … By the way, did you see where Jaguars team president Mark Lamping wrote a letter of apology for the team’s national-anthem protest during a recent game in London? That’s all well and good, but I’m still waiting for the Jags to apologize for drafting Blaine Gabbert and Justin Blackmon. MORE STUFF: Three most pathetic figures in sports: (1) Guy who walks out in the middle of the preacher’s sermon on Sunday to make a last-minute fantasyfootball trade; (2) Recruiting nerd who goes on Twitter and trolls a 17-year-old kid who doesn’t choose the nerd’s school on National Signing Day; (3) Rick Pitino during his interview with
Jay Bilas. … Speaking of the FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball, Miami Hurricanes coach
Jim Larrañaga just received a federal grand jury subpoena. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that grand jury subpoenas rank with “not boxing out” among those things college basketball coaches hate the most.
Did you see where the Magic chose not to extend the rookie contracts of
Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton? Yet more proof of how disastrous the Rob
Hennigan error, er, era was in Orlando. Not only did Hennigan preside over the worst five-year stretch in team history, but there’s a chance that next year there won’t be a single player on the roster he drafted. Hennigan makes John Weisbrod look like Jerry West.
LAST WORD: Who has the least job security — a road-map maker, a VCR repairman or an Orlando City B-League player?