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Scott Frost Knows Sold-Out Spring Game is First Step on Nebraska's Long Road Back
by Bill Bender, Sporting News
Some college football fans might not see much value in a spring game. You won't find those people in Nebraska -- and especially not in Lincoln.
Those fans at noon ET on Saturday will welcome first-year coach Scott Frost at the Red-White Game: one of college football's most intriguing spring games and one that sold out in a little more than 24 hours. Nebraska conducted a lottery for returned tickets, and the event is sure to be a sellout considering Frost, who led the Cornhuskers to their last national championship as a quarterback in 1997, is back on the sideline.
"I watch other spring games on TV and see crowds that aren't very big," Frost said on the Big Ten teleconference April 11. "That's one of the things that makes Nebraska special. We're going to have a sellout for our spring game, just like we have for every game since 1962 in this stadium. You won't find fan support like that anywhere."
There's that infections blend of school pride, quarterback cool and matter-of-fact bluntness -- bordering on cockiness -- that makes Frost the perfect candidate to coach a program seeking for a full-scale restoration in the College Football Playoff era.
That's too easy, however, and Frost knows it. The 43-year-old coach knows one spring game isn't going to reestablish a new identity for the program in the Big Ten.
"We're in this for the long haul," Frost said. "It's a long fix. We're going to fix it the right way, and there are a lot of fixes along the way."
Frost used the word "long" repeatedly. Long fix. Long haul. Long road. That's the right approach for a program that has lost four games or more every year since 2003 -- Frank Solich's final season with the program. The Cornhuskers played a game of Goldilocks with three coaches since in Bill Callahan, Bo Pelini and Mike Riley, but none was just right.
At that point, Frost wasn't the right hire.
"It was the only hire," former Nebraska defensive end Grant Wistrom told SN in January. "I think it soothes a lot of feelings not only within the program and administration and heals a lot of wounds, but you also get a great coach. Nebraska loves their own. They always have."
Nebraska fans love the promise of a resurgence, and it's impossible not to look at the two-year path Frost took at UCF, where he flipped the program from a winless bottom-feeder into an undefeated team that wanted a spot at the Playoff table and claimed a national championship. Oh, and they did that with an offense that scored 48.2 points a game in 2017.
Frost did that with all the pride, confidence and a matter-of-fact bluntness that leads you to believe this will work out at Nebraska — if expectations don't spin out of control. It's not all that different than Jim Harbaugh at Michigan or Mark Richt at Miami. Whatever success Frost has early will be overshadowed by the losses. All three are former quarterbacks expected to bring their programs out of the '90s and into modern times.
"I just want our guys to come out and be better than they were the day before," Frost said.
That sounds like Harbaugh.
"When a kid commits here, I want it to be final," Frost said. "I want them to be done looking."
That sounds like Richt.
Frost says the right things about academics, off-field conduct and offers his opinions on all those issues confronting college football. His is one of the voices that carry, too.
That should be the indication that this will work in the long term. But at Nebraska — like Michigan and Miami — that standard hasn't changed from the 1990s. The key for Frost will be managing those expectations against that brick-by-brick path.
n the meantime, it's OK to enjoy the spectacle of this weekend's spring game. It means a lot at other places. At Nebraska, however, the attendance speaks for itself.
"It wasn't really a surprise to me," Frost said. "I've been watching Nebraska football since I was a little boy, and I've been watching the excitement that the fans have and the fan support here. There's really nothing like it this entire state has one team and that's Nebraska football."
Scott Frost Knows Sold-Out Spring Game is First Step on Nebraska's Long Road Back
by Bill Bender, Sporting News
Some college football fans might not see much value in a spring game. You won't find those people in Nebraska -- and especially not in Lincoln.
Those fans at noon ET on Saturday will welcome first-year coach Scott Frost at the Red-White Game: one of college football's most intriguing spring games and one that sold out in a little more than 24 hours. Nebraska conducted a lottery for returned tickets, and the event is sure to be a sellout considering Frost, who led the Cornhuskers to their last national championship as a quarterback in 1997, is back on the sideline.
"I watch other spring games on TV and see crowds that aren't very big," Frost said on the Big Ten teleconference April 11. "That's one of the things that makes Nebraska special. We're going to have a sellout for our spring game, just like we have for every game since 1962 in this stadium. You won't find fan support like that anywhere."
There's that infections blend of school pride, quarterback cool and matter-of-fact bluntness -- bordering on cockiness -- that makes Frost the perfect candidate to coach a program seeking for a full-scale restoration in the College Football Playoff era.
That's too easy, however, and Frost knows it. The 43-year-old coach knows one spring game isn't going to reestablish a new identity for the program in the Big Ten.
"We're in this for the long haul," Frost said. "It's a long fix. We're going to fix it the right way, and there are a lot of fixes along the way."
Frost used the word "long" repeatedly. Long fix. Long haul. Long road. That's the right approach for a program that has lost four games or more every year since 2003 -- Frank Solich's final season with the program. The Cornhuskers played a game of Goldilocks with three coaches since in Bill Callahan, Bo Pelini and Mike Riley, but none was just right.
At that point, Frost wasn't the right hire.
"It was the only hire," former Nebraska defensive end Grant Wistrom told SN in January. "I think it soothes a lot of feelings not only within the program and administration and heals a lot of wounds, but you also get a great coach. Nebraska loves their own. They always have."
Nebraska fans love the promise of a resurgence, and it's impossible not to look at the two-year path Frost took at UCF, where he flipped the program from a winless bottom-feeder into an undefeated team that wanted a spot at the Playoff table and claimed a national championship. Oh, and they did that with an offense that scored 48.2 points a game in 2017.
Frost did that with all the pride, confidence and a matter-of-fact bluntness that leads you to believe this will work out at Nebraska — if expectations don't spin out of control. It's not all that different than Jim Harbaugh at Michigan or Mark Richt at Miami. Whatever success Frost has early will be overshadowed by the losses. All three are former quarterbacks expected to bring their programs out of the '90s and into modern times.
"I just want our guys to come out and be better than they were the day before," Frost said.
That sounds like Harbaugh.
"When a kid commits here, I want it to be final," Frost said. "I want them to be done looking."
That sounds like Richt.
Frost says the right things about academics, off-field conduct and offers his opinions on all those issues confronting college football. His is one of the voices that carry, too.
That should be the indication that this will work in the long term. But at Nebraska — like Michigan and Miami — that standard hasn't changed from the 1990s. The key for Frost will be managing those expectations against that brick-by-brick path.
n the meantime, it's OK to enjoy the spectacle of this weekend's spring game. It means a lot at other places. At Nebraska, however, the attendance speaks for itself.
"It wasn't really a surprise to me," Frost said. "I've been watching Nebraska football since I was a little boy, and I've been watching the excitement that the fans have and the fan support here. There's really nothing like it this entire state has one team and that's Nebraska football."
