Frost’s home finale a bittersweet sendoff
What a happy, sad, grinning, winning, crying, sighing, exhilarating and excruciating day for the UCF Knights.
On one of the most conflicting, contradicting days any college program has ever experienced, the Knights said goodbye to head coach Scott Frost just minutes after finishing off a school-first unbeaten season with a euphoric 62-55 double-overtime victory against Memphis in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game.
It was one of the biggest victories in UCF history and one of the saddest days in UCF history all wrapped up in a big ball of rival emotions. One minute there are
cheers after winning a game featuring the top two scoring teams in the country, who combined for 117 points and 1,479 yards. And the next minute, there
are tears after losing your coach to his beloved alma mater — the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
As Frost hoisted the American Athletic Conference Championship trophy after the dramatic doubleovertime victory, black-andgold confetti rained from above just as the tears rained from Frost’s misting eyes.
“I think we’ve given a lot to this program and these kids, but this city, this university and these kids have given even more to us,” Frost said with a cracking voice.
Said freshman wide receiver Otis Anderson, who came to UCF because he wanted to play in Frost’s high-powered offense: “It’s bittersweet. Coach Frost made us who we are today. He fixed everything that was wrong with this program.” Did he ever. He made UCFast. He made UCFierce. And he made UCFun. UCF athletics director Danny White said he wants his next head coach to play a similar style of fast, freewheeling football and that his national search will be conducted quickly but thoroughly. He says the job has already garnered tons of interest, including head coaches from Power 5 conferences.
Even so, it’s going to be difficult to replace Frost, who miraculously turned around a program that was in the abyss after a 0-12 campaign in which longtime former coach George O’Leary was shoved into retirement before the season was even over. In two years, Frost took a winless team with the lowest-ranked offense in the country and turned it into an unbeaten team with the highest-scoring offense in the nation.
“To do what these guys have done is not just improbable, it’s impossible,” Frost said.
UCF’s student section chanted, “We want Frost! We want Frost!” throughout the much of the game on Saturday, and, afterward, the entire stadium chanted in rapid succession, “Stay! Stay! Stay!”
Sadly, though, this was just wishful thinking. Frostto-Nebraska has been the worst-kept secret in college football for the last week. Initially, there was hope among UCF’s administration and boosters that the Knights would be able to keep Frost, but those disappeared quickly when Nebraska athletics director Bill Moos fired Mike Riley and — much to UCF’s chagrin — publicly stated Frost was his target.
It’s never good when you lose a coach of Frost’s caliber, but at least Frost seemed to genuinely struggle with the decision. On the surface, it seemed like a no-brainer Frost would accept a $5 million-a-year job to coach at the rich, powerful Big Ten school he grew up rooting for and quarterbacked to a national championship, but it was clear he was emotionally conflicted. One UCF staffer said Frost contemplated calling Nebraska on Saturday morning and telling Moos he had changed his mind.
Let’s face it, Frost could have pushed harder for the Florida job or the Tennessee job or he could have waited around for the FSU job or perhaps the Oregon job. He chose none of those over UCF, but he simply could not resist the immense magnet of his home-state ’Huskers. The deciding factor, Frost told friends, was that he desperately wants his aging father Larry — a wingback for iconic Nebraska coach Bob Devaney in the 1960s — to see his son coaching the ’Huskers.
“It’s fair to say the pull of the alma mater is what won the day,” White said. “It was very hard for him to walk away from the opportunity he has here. I don’t think it had anything do with the size of Nebraska’s budget or the conference they play in. I don’t think he went to something bigger and better; I think he went back to his alma mater.”
And who can really blame him for that? This isn’t like Jimbo Fisher bailing on FSU after an awful season for a cash grab at Texas A&M. This is Frost leaving after a 12-0 season to take a bigger job in a better conference coaching the school he grew up idolizing.
It was 1993 when the ’Huskers recruited Frost out of nearby Wood River High School in Nebraska. During one game, Frost scored on touchdown runs of 50, 45 and 34 yards and also blocked a punt to lead his Eagles to a 35-26 victory. The following week, Sports Illustrated did a story on the Nebraska prep phenom with the headline: “Frosty the Showman.”
Now, here we are 25 years later, and Frost is still putting on an offensive show that has made UCF one of the most explosive, exciting, dominant and dynamic teams in the country.
But now, sadly, it’s time for him to take his show to a bigger stage with brighter lights.
“This has been fun,” Frost says. “This has been the best year of my life.” Us, too, Frosty. Us, too. Frosty the Showman. Frosty, you go, man. You will be missed. You already are.