From start to finish, it’s a Frost lovefest at Nebraska
86,818.
Yes, all this was for Frost, who grew up 90 minutes LINCOLN, NEB. — As always, west of here in Wood Nebraska fans showed up in River, quarterbacked the big numbers for the spring 1997 Cornhuskers to a 13-0 game. The vibe was differ- season and a share of the ent this time, though. national championship in
This cool, misty Saturday Tom Osborne’s final year was all about native son Scott as coach, and returned to Frost and his first appear- Nebraska in December as ance coaching in Memorial the hottest coach in the land Stadium, albeit in nothing after leading Central Florida more than a scrimmage. to a 13-0 record.
Frost led the team for the “It’s like Frost is the sec- traditional “Tunnel Walk” ond coming of Tom Osborne. entrance with a rocked-up You can just sense it,” said version of “Come Together” tailgater Jess Zeiss, 47, of blaring as he made his way Omaha, who has been going from the locker room to the to games since he was a child. field. He received a standing Frost hype began to ramp ovation as he walked back up before Mike Riley finished into the tunnel at the end, the 4-8 season that led to his and he returned the love by firing. “Come Home Scott raising both arms. Frost” flashed on a message
“Personally that was speboard outside an Omaha cial for me, walking out of the store that sold T-shirts saytunnel and hearing the fans,” ing “Frost Advisory: Make Frost said. “That brought Nebraska Great Again.” back more memories than The state’s largest newsa lot of other things have. papers run daily stories on Just the smell of the stadium, the Huskers, and the Omaha with the food in there, it took World-Herald is even selling a me back a long time. It was $4.99 comic book telling the a pretty special day for me.” story of how Nebraska lured
How much anticipation Frost back to his alma mater. was there among one of the All this brings words of caunation’s most passionate fan tion from Gary Mouden, who bases? Spring game tickets attended his first game in went on sale the first week 1945 and is president of of February and were gone the Las Vegas Nebraskans in 25 hours. Asking prices booster group. on the secondary market “They’re taking the field for the $10 tickets initially with a team that won four ran into the hundreds of games last year,” Mouden dollars. Attendance was a said. “I’m hoping everyschool spring-game record one will factor that in and realize they probably aren’t going 11-1. This is a murderous schedule Nebraska is facing this fall. You like the enthusiasm this staff brings, and they’ve had a lot of success. But I hope people just relax for a while and let all this unfold.”
As far as the spring game went, it had the regular fare of penalties, missed assignments and botched plays. However, the Huskers might have seen the future of Frost’s up-tempo spread-option offense in freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez. He ran for a game-high 60 yards and three touchdowns and completed 10 of 13 passes for 114 yards and a TD.
Frost spent most of the afternoon standing in the offensive backfield with his hands in his pockets. Offen- sive coordinator Troy Walters called the plays.
“I was kind of enjoying the day a little bit as a fan,” Frost said. “I don’t get to just watch football very often. I was coaching some but also just taking it in and enjoying the experience.”
The 43-year-old Frost is the fifth coach in 20 years since Osborne’s retirement. He signed a seven-year con- tract paying him $5 million annually. Given his track record as Oregon’s offensive coordinator and UCF’s head coach, and his national championship pedigree as a player, the fan base is all in.