OPINION: Scott Frost Did Not Diss Nebraska At Big 12 Media Days

What happens when you ignore your gut and listen to your head?

UCF coach Scott Frost has drawn shock and indignation across the college football world with comments in The Athletic about his time at Nebraska and how the biggest lesson he learned there was, "Don't take the wrong job."

"I got tugged in a direction to try to help my alma mater and didn't really want to do it," Frost said. "It wasn't a good move. I'm lucky to get back to a place where I was a lot happier."

Frost has said repeatedly that he and his family loved being in Orlando and at UCF. ESPN's Mitch Sherman reported back in 2017 that Frost "harbored deep reservations" about leaving. A quote from legendary Nebraska coach Tom Osborne citied the thought of leaving his players was hard for Frost. It took some lengthy conversations, including with Osborne, to get Frost to go through with it.

Now, between the Osborne conversations and Frost's recent comments, it can sound like Frost is implying he was forced to take the Nebraska job. Now, that is obviously not the case, but given the number of reservations Frost had, as Sherman reported, Nebraska did quite the job selling him on the idea.

Let's put ourselves in 2017 Scott Frost's shoes. Disregarding anything brought up in conversations with Nebraska leadership and Osborne, Frost had a lot of reasons to say "yes" to the Cornhuskers.

1. It was a chance to elevate himself to a Power Five coaching job, as UCF was not yet invited to the Big 12.

2. His father, also a former Nebraska player and a Lincoln native, was a few months away from turning 71, and coaching at Nebraska would bring him closer to him.

3. His alma mater was ready to give him a hero's welcome. While Sherman reported that Osborne "said he did not ask Frost to take the job" and "did not say he would be disappointed if Frost chose to stay at UCF," Frost taking the job still would make a lot of people around him, people that he respected and admired like Osborne, happy and proud.

Even if you were already happy with where you are, would you say no to that? Could you say no to that?

I highly doubt Frost regrets spending this part of his life in Lincoln, even if it was just because he got to spend his father's final years close to him. Larry Frost passed away from cancer in 2020, at the age of 73. To get an idea of how much his father meant to him, Frost said he declined induction into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame so he could wait to be inducted with him.

However, ignoring any behind the scene issues I have no way of being privy too, there is no denying that his Nebraska tenure did not work out on the football field. That's where the "wrong job" and "wasn't a good move" comment comes into play, especially when put into the context that Frost had very deep reservations about leaving in the first place.

It can be hard to accept that you made a wrong decision, not because of something anyone else did but because you are the only one who can hold yourself accountable, especially when your gut was telling you not to make that decision. Hindsight is 20/20. So, when Frost says that he learned not to take the "wrong job," he is taking accountability for the decision he made.

Professionally, coaching Nebraska was the "wrong job" for him and "wasn't a good move" for him. This is not an indictment of the Nebraska football program. It is a message that Frost has learned to trust himself and make decisions that make him happy, and coming back to UCF and Orlando makes him happy.

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