Jim Rome Says UCF's Scott Frost Still "Wounded" By Nebraska Failure

As Scott Frost prepares to begin his second stint with the UCF Knights, discussion about his previous collegiate coaching job persists.

On the Aug. 5 episode of "The Jim Rome Show," Frost spoke about time under Sean McVay at the Los Angeles Rams and the death of a legend of Frost's favorite MLB team, the Chicago Cubs' Ryne Sandberg. However, following Frost's interview with Rome, the host gave his thoughts on Frost's Nebraska situation.

Rome, a longtime sports radio host, said it was "so disappointing" that Frost did not have success as the coach of his alma mater.

"He's still wounded by that. He's moved on. He has a new challenge," Rome said. "He's in a place where he's had success before. Clearly, he's much happier now, but you can tell he's still wounded by the way things went at Nebraska, and why wouldn't he be; he was a legend."

Based on other times Frost has addressed his time at Nebraska and his departure from UCF, Rome proceeded to extrapolate the thought process that went into Frost's decision to leave Orlando in 2017.

"I don't want to speak for Scott Frost, but I've seen him intimate, and I've seen this suggested, that there was a small part of him that didn't really want to leave UCF," Rome said. "Not that he didn't want to go back to Nebraska, but didn't want to leave UCF, and why would he? He's in Orlando, they were 13-0, working a miracle. He just said it himself, 'We love the area. We loved everything about it,' and I'm sure he was getting a lot of pressure."

So, while his time at his alma mater did not work out, Frost has another chance to succeed in the place where he succeeded in the first place. He'll have an opportunity to get his return off to a winning start in UCF's season-opener against Jacksonville State on Aug. 28.

Former UCF Receiver Gives Strong Thoughts On Scott Frost As A Coach

A former UCF Knights star who started his college career during UCF Coach Scott Frost's first tenure is back in Orlando.

Former UCF wide receiver Gabriel Davis was on 96.9 The Game's "In the Zone with Brandon Kravitz" on Friday. Davis, currently an NFL free agent, spoke about his journey in free agency and his training facility, which he opened in Winter Park in 2023, The Draft Academy.

Davis also spoke about his visit to one of UCF's practices, now once again headed up by Frost. He played under Frost only during his freshman season in 2017, though he still caught 27 passes for 391 yards and four touchdowns, showcasing his penchant for big plays. Davis called Frost "one of the best head coaches I've ever had."

"With Frost, you knew that he truly did care about you, was genuine on your success, no matter on and off the field," Davis said. "When you have a coach like that who really does care about his players, it just brings the team together. It brings the staff and the teams and the players together and, you know, you guys want to fight for each other; I feel like that's the biggest thing."

That admiration ran deep enough that, when the topic of Frost's time at Nebraska came up, Davis said that if NIL had existed at that time, "a bunch" of UCF's players would have followed him there.

"When he announced that he was leaving, in the team room, you know, Frost was all red," Davis said. "I mean, everybody was in there crying, you know, it's like we were upset, like we were hurt because we didn't want him to go, that's how important he was to us and our team, and a lot of guys, you know, it just hit us hard, man. I remember I went up to his front office and I was crying and gave him a hug, told him I love him and gonna miss him and, you know, wish I could have kept playing with him."

While Davis might not have gotten the opportunity to play more seasons under Frost, this season's crop of Knights gets to have that opportunity.

"I only got to play with him one year, unfortunately, but now look at him," Davis said. "Now he's back home, and I'm just happy to see that, see all the guys back from the strength staff, you know, Trent [Mossbrucker]'s now our GM, and good to see all those guys coming back here."

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