I have just gotten word from my source inside the Nebraska A.D.'s office, Mike Riley has been sacked.
There is thus going to be an interesting tug-of-war for UCF's Scott Frost. A three-way tug of war, I do b'lieve. UCF is going to try to keep him; Florida is going to try to entice him two and one-half hours north to Gainesville, and Nebraska is going to try to entice him home to Lincoln.
Frost sure does not sound eager to me to cash in on his two years in Orlando. This has been a magical season for him in the Magic City and the potential there is enormous.
There are a few other factors that I bet come in to play. One, supporters expectations. Frost RULES at UCF, there is a real bond there. UCF folks are giddy about him. By contrast, University of Florida people will be starting FireFrost.com if he doesn't win the SEC his first year. Florida honestly may be the most pressured job in college coaching. Gator supporters are fucking nuts. Steve Spurrier, native son, tells the story that after a ten-win season but no SEC title, callers to his radio show were asking him "What happened?" That ran Spurrier off. Urban Meyer, who won two national championships at Florida, got his ass kicked by Alabama in an SEC championship game and had to be hospitalized for stress! Meyer, I think, had a bit of a nervous breakdown. He first said he was quitting coaching to take care of his health, then that he was taking like the equivalent of a sabbatical. He finally decided to coach the next year but on a reduced schedule. Florida went 7-5 and Meyer left for good. Frost is Nebraska's native son but Nebraska people are not insane like UF people. He'll be given time.
An adjunct of expectations is the gold fish bowl effect. Scott Frost could not go anywhere in the state of Nebraska or in Gainesville without people recognizing him, asking for autographs, pictures, giving him advice. Frost likes his anonymity in Orlando.
Second is location, location, location. When you leave home and home is Barnesboro, Pennsylvania or Lincoln, Nebraska, and you move to the state of Florida, you notice differences. Frost does not seem to have a longing to return to Lincoln. He has a new baby and he lives next to Disney World? Sounds like that could work. For a college football coach location means preeminently where the recruits are. Frost could throw a football in Orlando or Gainesville and hit more prospects than he could traversing the entire state of Nebraska. However, I read just today that some sports pencil talked to "someone close to" Frost who said if Tom Osborne, legendary ex-Husker coach and Frost's coach when there, were to place a call, Frost would have a devil of a time turning Osborne down. That makes sense. Given the little I know about Nebraska people they are good people, they have heart, they have heart strings that can be tugged.
Last, but not least, in fact most importantly Frost could win a national championship at Nebraska if duplicated this year's undefeated season. He will not win or even compete for a national championship at UCF this year or any year in the foreseeable future. Nebraska plays in the Big Ten conference, one of the "Power Five" conferences. UCF plays in the American Athletic Conference which is in the "Group of"...Five or Six, I forget, but it's a Group Handicapped in competition with the Power Five for a spot in the national championship playoff.
My hunch, no, my certainty, because I have his personal cell phone number--In fact he has a separate cell phone just for calls from me--is that Scott Frost is going to go back to Nebraska.
There is thus going to be an interesting tug-of-war for UCF's Scott Frost. A three-way tug of war, I do b'lieve. UCF is going to try to keep him; Florida is going to try to entice him two and one-half hours north to Gainesville, and Nebraska is going to try to entice him home to Lincoln.
Frost sure does not sound eager to me to cash in on his two years in Orlando. This has been a magical season for him in the Magic City and the potential there is enormous.
There are a few other factors that I bet come in to play. One, supporters expectations. Frost RULES at UCF, there is a real bond there. UCF folks are giddy about him. By contrast, University of Florida people will be starting FireFrost.com if he doesn't win the SEC his first year. Florida honestly may be the most pressured job in college coaching. Gator supporters are fucking nuts. Steve Spurrier, native son, tells the story that after a ten-win season but no SEC title, callers to his radio show were asking him "What happened?" That ran Spurrier off. Urban Meyer, who won two national championships at Florida, got his ass kicked by Alabama in an SEC championship game and had to be hospitalized for stress! Meyer, I think, had a bit of a nervous breakdown. He first said he was quitting coaching to take care of his health, then that he was taking like the equivalent of a sabbatical. He finally decided to coach the next year but on a reduced schedule. Florida went 7-5 and Meyer left for good. Frost is Nebraska's native son but Nebraska people are not insane like UF people. He'll be given time.
An adjunct of expectations is the gold fish bowl effect. Scott Frost could not go anywhere in the state of Nebraska or in Gainesville without people recognizing him, asking for autographs, pictures, giving him advice. Frost likes his anonymity in Orlando.
Second is location, location, location. When you leave home and home is Barnesboro, Pennsylvania or Lincoln, Nebraska, and you move to the state of Florida, you notice differences. Frost does not seem to have a longing to return to Lincoln. He has a new baby and he lives next to Disney World? Sounds like that could work. For a college football coach location means preeminently where the recruits are. Frost could throw a football in Orlando or Gainesville and hit more prospects than he could traversing the entire state of Nebraska. However, I read just today that some sports pencil talked to "someone close to" Frost who said if Tom Osborne, legendary ex-Husker coach and Frost's coach when there, were to place a call, Frost would have a devil of a time turning Osborne down. That makes sense. Given the little I know about Nebraska people they are good people, they have heart, they have heart strings that can be tugged.
Last, but not least, in fact most importantly Frost could win a national championship at Nebraska if duplicated this year's undefeated season. He will not win or even compete for a national championship at UCF this year or any year in the foreseeable future. Nebraska plays in the Big Ten conference, one of the "Power Five" conferences. UCF plays in the American Athletic Conference which is in the "Group of"...Five or Six, I forget, but it's a Group Handicapped in competition with the Power Five for a spot in the national championship playoff.
My hunch, no, my certainty, because I have his personal cell phone number--In fact he has a separate cell phone just for calls from me--is that Scott Frost is going to go back to Nebraska.
