Scott Frost is returning to UCF to take over the program he led to its best season, two years after being let go by Nebraska.
Frost’s first head coaching job was at UCF in 2016, where the Knights finished with a 6-7 record. The following year, UCF went 13-0, winning a conference championship, a bowl game against Auburn, and finishing the season ranked No. 6. On Saturday, UCF hired Frost to help turn around a team that has had a losing record in its first two seasons in the Big 12.
“Today marks an exciting reunion for UCF Football as we welcome back Scott Frost, a coach who ignites the spirit and passion of Knight Nation,” UCF athletic director Terry Mohajir said in a release.
“Scott’s love for his players along with his leadership, enthusiasm and vision were pivotal in making the decision to bring him back to UCF,” Mohajir added. “Throughout this national search, his passion for UCF was clear. I believe no one wanted to lead our program more than Scott.”
The first turnaround Frost led at UCF made him a top coaching candidate, and he accepted Nebraska’s offer to return to his alma mater and lead the team he once quarterbacked to a 1997 co-national championship.
His time as Nebraska’s coach was a failure. He was fired three games into the 2022 season, leaving with a 16-31 record. Frost has not coached at the college level since then and has worked as a coaching consultant with the Los Angeles Rams this season.
The 49-year-old Frost replaces Gus Malzahn, who left UCF after four seasons to become the offensive coordinator at Florida State. Malzahn had two successful seasons with back-to-back nine-win records, but the Knights fell to 6-7 last year and 4-8 this season.
UCF just finished its second season in the Big 12, while Frost’s success came in the American Athletic Conference.
Josh Heupel, who followed Frost at UCF, went 28-8 in three seasons. Though the Knights were ranked in the Top 25 each year, they never recaptured the magic of the 2017 season under Frost, when UCF went unbeaten. Frost had been Oregon’s offensive coordinator before he was hired by UCF after George O’Leary’s 2015 team went 0-12.
In Frost’s first season at UCF, with McKenzie Milton as quarterback, the team set the foundation for future success. In 2017, UCF averaged 48.2 points per game to lead the nation, winning most of their games by large margins and defeating three ranked teams.
Nebraska announced Frost would replace Mike Riley as head coach shortly after UCF won the AAC championship over Memphis. Frost stayed on to coach the Knights in a 34-27 win over Malzahn’s Auburn team, making UCF the only unbeaten team in the country. Frost was named The Associated Press national coach of the year.
Nebraska fans were excited about Frost’s return to his home state. He grew up in Wood River, Nebraska, and was a record-setting high school quarterback before initially signing with Stanford.
He later transferred to Nebraska, where he helped the Huskers win a national title in 1997 under coach Tom Osborne. Frost briefly played in the NFL and coached at several places before becoming Oregon’s offensive coordinator.
Frost’s hiring at Nebraska was highly anticipated, but he struggled to meet expectations. His first Nebraska team lost six straight games. He never won more than five games in a season or more than three Big Ten games.
The 2022 season started with a 31-28 loss to Northwestern in Ireland, remembered for Frost’s poor decision to call for an onside kick while his team was leading by 11 points in the third quarter. He was fired the day after Nebraska lost to Georgia Southern.
