"Spectacular failure," as AP wrote. But that is not the point. It is literally inexplicable. It is as if Frost had the football coaching portion of his brain lobotomized. He turned things completely around in Orlando. Turned UCF, 0-13 the year before Frost arrived, into 13-0, self-declared national champions two years later.UCF wasn't a high school stop or a Division II or even a Division I-AA. UCF was not a "Power Five" conference member but it played those big boys and it beat them. The "Knights" could play with anyone. They were certainly better than the Nebraska team Frost inherited.Why couldn't Frost improve Nebraska, say, half as much as he did UCF, half? His UCF players loved him; as soon as he arrived in Lincoln they started transferring. Loyalty to Mike Riley? To Mike Riley? Those who stayed didn't give full effort. Had young coach Scott Frost lost his ability--from just the year before--to relate to young people?
He was torn about leaving UCF. Loved it there. Thought he needed a couple more years seasoning. "But when mama calls..." as Bear Bryant said. Frost never looked happy at Nebraska. When UCF beat whoever it was (Auburn?) in their bowl game his last year he was beaming as he walked off the field. When he got off the bus in Lincoln he was not beaming, not even smiling. There was not much to smile about when he coached Nebraska but I do not remember ever seeing a photo of Frost beaming at Nebraska. He looked uncomfortable, like he had hemorrhoids. Really!
But as I said, you cannot reverse engineer this and find a compelling cluster of causes. Choosing a college football coach is so anxiety-producing it gives AD's hives. Some of them throw their hands up and hire search firms to make recommendations. So the most frightening question of all is what lesson(s) there are for athletic directors to take from the Scott Frost Error. Particularly for the one in Lincoln. What was Nebraska's error? Not one AD, nor anybody else in the country, can tell you. Tom Osborne told SI or ESPN Frost's first year, "There are people here who think if Scott can't turn it around, no one can." Is that the lesson the AD in Lincoln takes from this? Where does Trev Alberts turn now? Urban Meyer? Bill O'Brien? Pat Narduzzi? Most importantly, what criteria does Alberts use to make this new hire? Alberts told ESPN's Andrea Adelson, "there is a proven formula for winning in the Big Ten." As simple as taking remedial chemistry and learning a formula, huh Trev? That is not the lesson for godssake. There are no lessons may be the lesson.
