I do not think there is any doubt he was casting shade at Whipple. And with good reason in my view. Whipple's play calling in the run game was atrocious, with run after run between the tackles for no gain. Grant had one long run and that was it. We did run a few plays to the perimeter and they were more successful. Then Smothers comes in and runs one play well. And given the fact that NW could not handle our QB run game or our option game last year, then why the heck don't you leave him in and see if he could ignite a spark?
All that said, this is the very reason why Alberts laid a turd last year in not firing Frost then. By forcing him to hire new coaches and by in essence forcing him to give up his status as play caller, he has neutered his head coach precisely as a head coach. This bullshit we have been reading about how the new offense would be a "meshing" of the Whipple and Frost offenses is nonsense, because what we saw yesterday was Whipple's offense entirely. For his entire career Frost has favored a zone-read offense with a dual threat QB. I actually like that offense and I think it works well when you have a better QB than the one we had and a better offensive line. Watching the more pro style offense of Whipple flounder in the second half must have been galling for Frost who probably felt like intervening but did not dare to lest he be accused of interfering in the play calling, which he had been forced to give up.
The entire situation is just dysfunctional as hell and is a recipe for more trouble. There is just a whole bad vibe surround the Whipple-Frost relationship which kind of smacks of an infantilized Frost taking orders from his elder statesman coach. When Whipple enters the press room there is a whole vibe of "finally, there is an adult in the room" and when Frost enters the vibe is "Oh here comes the spoiled, arrogant kid again."
Frost is a lousy head coach. He should have been fired. But his legacy as a Husker saved his ass. It is time to admit that the entire Devaney/Osborne thing is dead, dead, dead. It is time to stop these hires that try to relate us again to that era. And I include the hiring of Alberts in that as well. If Alberts can't find the balls to fire Frost then he should be fired too. Clean house and open the checkbook for a new AD and a new head football coach who know how to build a football program from scratch. Because that is where we are now. We need a complete reinvention of Husker football from the ground up. Because based on what I saw yesterday I see us going 2-10 or 3-9. And if that happens watch how fast our current recruiting class goes up in smoke and how many guys transfer out.
This dumpster fire was created by Steve Pederson and Sean Eichorst who both fired our only two successful coaches post Osborne. Were Pelini and Solich great coaches? No. But they were solid coaches. Neither one could compete against elite teams, but at least they beat the teams they should and got us to bowl games. Now we need an AD with some balls and some fire and a real vision. **** the sell out streak. **** the tunnel walk. **** the balloons. Find a coach and a staff who know how to build a program.
