Why Husker Fans Aren't Ready to Move On From Talking About Scott Frost

On this week’s edition of I-80 LIVE, Josh Peterson and Jack Mitchell celebrated hitting 1000 YouTube subscribers by removing the paywall from this week’s episode! It ended up being an odd week to do so, given Josh’s column on Scott Frost and the reaction it elicited.

After unpacking much of the discourse and why it bothered Jack like it did, they discussed it on its merits. Jack disagreed with Josh. Why? Find out below, in a lightly-edited transcript of their conversation.

Josh: I will say this; the “once a Husker always the Husker” thing I've always thought is a bit contrived, but if you feel that way, I look forward to the rational conversations about Trev Alberts. Because wow, do people love saying horrible, horrible, horrible things about that guy. You can also talk [crap] about Mike Riley. That's okay too. But you know, a couple of them, please do not talk [crap] about that.

Jack: See now, I have a hard time with critiquing any of them.

Josh: I have a soft spot for Callahan and Riley more than any of the others. And I guess Solich to some degree.

Jack: I do for all of them… Well, I don't for Pelini, but the rest of them I do. Even Frost.

Josh: Yeah, I don't.

Jack: I know. No [crap], I read your article, Josh! Jeez! The only opinion we know is yours. Let's hear someone else's. But now, after we got through that whole stupid prelude that we had to do this week, now is what we should have been doing, is arguing about your takes. Because that’s what we do!

Josh: What did you disagree with?

Jack: I guess there's a little bit of the “once a Husker, always a Husker” for me. It is. I have extremely mixed feelings, but like going out and saying, “I am rooting against [him];” I can't do it.

Josh: Well, for the record, I never said I'm rooting against him.

Jack: What was in the headline?

Josh: I said you shouldn’t root for him. I'm just saying, Jack. I never said to root against the guy.

Jack: Can you tell me what that meant then?

Josh: It means don't root for him. And I don't know why you'd want to. The guy never took any blame and he still won't take any blame. He's never going to take any blame for the situation. You know, I don't like people like that, man. I don't like people who talk like that or act like that. You know, I also don't think it's going to go very well.

Jack: I don't disagree with that part, but I don't think any of your points are wrong. I'm just saying, I think I've got a little bit of what your critics had in my heart. Not the dumb [crap] about [how] you “shouldn't write an article what about people don't want to hear about.” That was terrible. But what they were really masking is what they didn't say; a blind loyalty. And I kind of do too.

Josh: [Subscriber] Dilo says for those who truly love the program, I think it's very plausible to not love the guy who quit on the program. What has Dirk [Chatelain] said, Jack? We've had Dirk on before, and there's one thing he says that always sticks with me, and that is he thought that Scott Frost would either turn the program around or die trying, and instead he quit on them and kind of rolled over when things got really hard. And he's always been surprised by that.

Jack: I think here's what's hard, Josh, a little bit. What maybe is a little bit hard for people is that while certainly, plenty of the things that didn't go right and haven't gone right were his doing, it just feels like he's kind of going through a crisis, I think. And, I mean, let's be totally honest about it, right? Like people, I don't know if they're true or not, it's not, there obviously have been tons of allegations that have been put out there. He lost his dad while he was here. I've got sympathy for that.

He's clearly going through some [crap]. I'm often going through some [crap], okay? You can probably tell that I am pretty often. And that's the part of me; it sounds cheesy and I probably don't apply it to other athletes and other coaches. And if Shedeur Sanders was going through some stuff, maybe I would have treated that whole thing differently when I just openly hated him. Maybe it's just because of the familiarity and sort of “he's one of us” sort of thing that it is hard for me to just go all in and just be like, “Hey, you know, I hope his career goes to hell” or anything like that.

And I know that's not what you were saying, but I think that's how some people took it, probably.

Josh: Oh yeah, for sure. I understand what you say, right? I'm lucky enough as a 36, almost 37-year-old to still have my father and I know that you sadly lost your, your dad about a decade ago now.

Jack: Ten years ago, Friday.

Josh: Yeah. I've always wondered how much that comes up when you're thinking about it, right? And so, whatever I say next, I hope it doesn't come across as just like complete total a-hole, but he also has agency on whether he goes to meetings or not, you know, when they're over in Ireland.

Jack: That’s why I did that prelude. I've screwed up and I've had issues in my life too. There were definitely times I had agency and did it, but I don't know. I don't think I would do it like that. And there are things that annoy me. What still annoys me is that he brought up the Frankie London thing and the fans booing him as often as that.

Josh: That's the other thing too, Jack. I know that I buried my head in the sand a little bit when he got hired, but I know former players, right? We all know former players, if you're in this business; some you have relationships with that are pretty good. And some it's just a passing relationship. I knew enough that played with him that were like, “Yeah, I don't really like the guy.” Itt seemed like a lot of sour grapes. He was the good-looking kid from Wood River, Nebraska; had all the hype, went to Stanford, came back, was wearing the Stanford jacket. You know, in that group, they were frustrated because they had had all that success without him. And then he came running home and he redshirted during 95 and the Lawrence Phillips stuff happens.

And I know that there was a lot of frustration not to mention a lot of other stuff that former players have just never told a story about publicly.

Jack: Which is part of the intrigue by the way!

Josh: Absolutely it is. And all of that to say, he was he was who he was long before 2020 when the stuff happened in his personal life. He was who he was long before that. He was that guy in 2018, the hoodie stuff happened in 2019. That’s who he was. He was always that guy looking for excuses and finding reasons other than himself.

And so, you know, that's why it's always been easy for me to say, “well, this is who he is.” You know, this is who he is. Cause this is who he's always been.

Jack: I have a fight going on, sort of in my head, about that. There are different sides of the coin in terms of how I feel about him.

Watch the entire episode below!

At the end of the podcast, they also announced big summer plans, including a new mini-series called The Groin Kick Chronicles, special guests, and so much more. To get access to it all, plus bonus episodes of Volleyball State, become a patron today: patreon.com/i80club

Want to reach out to Josh or the I-80 Club? Send emails to joshpeterson.huskermax@gmail.com or interstate80club@gmail.com!

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