Assistant coach Mickey Joseph will serve the remainder of the season as Nebraska’s interim head coach. Frost’s Nebraska teams were awful in close games, losing 10 straight one-score decisions to close out his tenure. The Cornhuskers fell 45-42 against Georgia Southern on Saturday, allowing an 8-yard touchdown with 36 seconds left to fall to 1-2 on the season. The loss snapped a 214-game hitting streak for Nebraska when scoring 35 or more points at Memorial Stadium. It also pushed Frost to 5-22 in one-score games overall. With Frost fired on Sept. 11, the Huskers are now required to pay him a hefty $15 million buyout. That amount would have been reduced by 50% if Nebraska had waited to fire Frost until Oct. 1. However, athletic director Trev Alberts opted to pay the bill before the program’s showdown with Oklahoma next weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska. “Earlier today, I met with Coach Frost and informed him that we have made a change in the leadership of our football program, effective immediately,” Alberts said in a statement. “Scott has poured his heart and soul into the Nebraska football program as both a quarterback and head coach, and I appreciate his work and dedication. After a disappointing start to our season, I have decided that the best path forward for our plan was to make a change in the position of our coach.” Under Frost, Nebraska finished no better than fifth in the Big 12 West from 2018-21 and never qualified for a bowl game with their best record being 5-7 in 2019. Frost overhauled his staff after a miserable 3-9 campaign in 2021, but the results didn’t get any better to start his fifth season. Nebraska’s only win in three weeks was over FCS North Dakota, 38-17. Its two losses have come in that win and both have come by three points: 31-28 to Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland, in Week 0 and to Georgia Southern at home in Week 2. Now, the Huskers can put themselves in position to hire a coach right after the 2022 season and get on the hiring trail before other teams making coaching changes.
Nowhere was left for a point
Frost was hailed as one of the best recruits of the 2017-18 cycle and a potential game-changer when Nebraska took the former title-winning quarterback. It was a homecoming for the Nebraska native and a chance to bring the program back into the national spotlight. Almost from the beginning, however, there were excuses. First was quarterback Adrian Martinez not being deployed. Then it was the pitching staff that failed to develop players at a high enough level. Before the 2022 season, Alberts allowed Frost to bring in a new offensive coordinator, several new assistants and a new quarterback. Unfortunately, the results did not change at all. It’s hard to fathom how badly Nebraska wanted this recruitment to work. Frost was a favorite son and the seemingly chosen one for this program. Unfortunately, his winning percentage is down as the worst of any full-time head coach at Nebraska since the Eisenhower administration.
“The Huskers are facing existential questions
There are only eight consensus blue-bloods in college football, and Nebraska appears on every list. This is one of only eight FBS programs with 900 program wins and five contested national championships to its name. But after six losing seasons in 11 years in the Big Ten — matching the same number in the previous 52 years — the ‘Huskers are facing an identity crisis. Frost was hailed as a bright offensive mind by the Chip Kelly coaching staff who could modernize the Cornhuskers’ offense. Unfortunately, it failed in a particularly conspicuous way. Previous hires have been a very good coach from Oregon State (Mike Riley), a smart defensive coordinator (Bo Pelini) and an NFL offensive line coach (Bill Callahan). None worked particularly well. Perhaps the next phase should involve less looking at the Southeast and more at former Big Eight colleagues. Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas State have all found incredible success through building development programs. Extreme ability should be the biggest priority for a new era.
