UCF Coach Scott Frost Discusses Most Important Element Of Team

In a time of change for college football featuring the transfer portal and revenue sharing, UCF Knights coach Scott Frost is doubling down on culture building.

In an appearance last week on "The Jim Rome Show," Frost did not mince words about his thoughts on the state of college football, calling it "off the rails and out of control." However, because the transfer portal and revenue sharing made it harder to build a culture, it only emphasizes its importance even more, he said.

"We had a lot of players in our meeting rooms that didn't even know each other's names because of the number of new players we had," Frost said. "So as hard as it is now, I think it's even more important than it was before."

Luckily for Frost, remnants of his culture from his first stint in Orlando remain plastered onto the walls of UCF's facilities, including the phrase "Ride and Conquer." He said the phrase was inspired by Oregon's "Win the Day" motto, from his time with the Ducks under coach Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich, and that both phrases essentially mean the same thing.

"I want our guys to approach every day, attack the day, try to be better than they were the day before, and then put their head on the pillow and get ready to do it again," Frost said. "We preach those things all the time, but it's nice that it's still up on the walls. We didn't have to do any painting over anything, and it's still right there for them."

However, culture building does not mean people won't leave. It's just a factor in this new college football reality. Frost said culture-building will be a challenge every year and hopes that "some culture keepers and kids that stayed around" can help him do it.

"It's nice that we're in Orlando, in a place where people want to be, where it's sunny and there's palm trees, so that's going to help us with retention, but I think you also have to build an environment that kids enjoy being in, and they know that they're cared about," Frost said.

However, those same factors that help with retention can also help with recruiting. Frost ended up having to rely on the transfer portal to bring in many new players for his first season back in this new college football environment.

"In a lot of ways, that's a challenge and not a lot of fun, but in some other ways, you can go get the guys that you want and rebuild the team the way that you want to quicker," Frost said. "So we've been putting a lot of work into making sure we take a group of individuals and try to turn them into a team, and seeing how fast we can grow up and become a cohesive unit. The guys have been working hard and excited to get an opportunity to prove ourselves."

The Knights' first opportunity to prove themselves on the field comes on Aug. 28 in their season-opener against Jacksonville State.

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