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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/TheUltimate721 on 2025-07-09 17:07:34+00:00.
I’m still angry at his comments from yesterday and I’m bored at work so I made this breakdown. This isn’t comprehensive, so my fellow Huskers, if you can think of anything else, please add it in the comments.
Background: The Prodigal Son Returns
Nebraska Football was at a critical juncture in 2017. Mike Riley had just been fired after another losing season. While Riley was well-liked, he always seemed in over his head in Lincoln, and Nebraska fans were desperate for a return to relevance.
The name at the top of every list was Scott Frost. He had helped orchestrate high-octane offenses as Oregon’s OC under Chip Kelly (including during Marcus Mariota’s Heisman season) and had just completed an undefeated 2017 season at UCF, culminating in a Peach Bowl win over Auburn. The Knights even declared themselves national champions, a move some ridiculed, but with Auburn having beaten both Alabama and Georgia, the two teams in the National Championship game, they arguably had a point.
But beyond the résumé, this was a homecoming. Frost was a Nebraska native, a legacy, and the quarterback of the 1997 national championship team. When he accepted the job in December 2017, celebrations erupted across the state. “If he did that at UCF, imagine what he can do with the superior resources at Nebraska”.
2018 – Arrogance, Mismanagement, and a Brutal Start
Frost arrived proclaiming that “the Big Ten will have to adjust to us,” setting the tone for five years of misplaced arrogance.
In just his first year he mishandled the QB competition between Tristan Gebbia and Adrian Martinez, leading Gebbia to transfer just days before the season opener. It’s very unusual for QBs to transfer before their true freshmen season even starts, but that’s what Gebbia did. It was an odd move at the time, and even more odd in hindsight because Martinez missed significant time with injury, which would have been a huge opportunity for Gebbia. I don’t believe we know the full reason he transferred, but there has to have been more to it than losing the QB Battle and the blame still ultimately falls on Frost.
Nebraska’s home opener against Akron was canceled, making the next game, against Colorado, Frost’s real debut. Despite promise from Martinez, Nebraska blew a late lead and lost to their hated rivals.
Then came a stunning home loss to Sun Belt team Troy.
They got blown out by Michigan, with Jim Harbaugh seeming to take some comments personally from the last time the two had faced off (Frost said that he thought his UCF team played more physically than Michigan in a 51-14 loss in 2016).
Despite the chaos, Adrian Martinez showed real flashes of potential. His talent was evident: strong arm, good mobility, but it went, undeveloped under Frost in future years.
Nebraska finished 4–8, the worst season since before Bob Devaney. Frost began blaming the structure he inherited from Mike Riley as the root cause of his own shortcomings, an excuse he’d continue to repeat for years.
2019 – Hope, Regression, Blame Games, and a Rewarded Failure
Frost opened the season with a win, but after being ranked (The last time Nebraska would be ranked in five years), he blew another lead at Colorado and lost in Overtime. But he bounced back and beat Illinois and was at 3-1 going into a matchup against a Top 5 Ohio State team. It was a close game the last time the two played, and College Gameday was in town to celebrate the occasion. But Frost’s team never showed up and got blown out 48-7. This is the last time Gameday came to Lincoln.
He then proceeded to lose four of the next five, setting him up with a 4-6 record. He needed to win his next two against Maryland and Iowa to make a bowl game, which was the Big goal of the season. And it looked to be well-in-hand with a big win over Maryland, and a lead against Iowa.
But he missed that goal again after a last-second loss to Iowa, which Frost blamed on Iowa’s defenders clapping to mess with the snap count. Technically he’s correct in that disconcerting signals by the defense is a penalty that was never called, but it’s one that rarely occurs because it’s such a simple adjustment to fix. A clear cop-out for being thoroughly out- coached by Kirk Ferentz.
Despite back-to-back losing seasons, Frost received a contract extension at this time. This was baffling, even at the time, because even if you were the most optimistic Nebraska fan you couldn’t deny the results weren’t there to justify this. Bill Moos was doubling down on a move that already looked like it might not be paying off.
At this time Nebraska was also investigated by the NCAA for using unauthorized staff in practices. Frost denied responsibility and mocked the NCAA in the press, acting far more arrogant than he had any right to be for a coach with a losing record. Conspiracy theorists, myself included, believe this led to a grudge against Nebraska by the Big Ten for embarrassing the conference on a national level.
Also notable, Adrian Martinez regressed significantly, showing poor mechanics, decision-making, and confidence. Frost had no answers, and no development plan. Sophomore Phenom Wandale Robinson also jumped ship to Kentucky after seeing the growing dysfunction.
2020 – Culture Collapse and COVID Controversies
COVID sucked. Should be enough said there, and there is plenty to criticize about the Big Ten’s handling of everything that year, but Frost, like he usually did, ran his mouth and made things worse. When the Big Ten announced they were cancelling the Football season, Frost said they would look at other options to play Football, including potentially joining the SEC for the season (It would have been a disaster, but hilarious to see). This, of course, was not liked by the Big Ten Conference, who publicly reprimanded Frost and Nebraska for the comments. Still though the Big Ten eventually relented and played Football (when the pandemic was getting worse versus summer months, but again this is about Frost and not the Big Ten’s handling of COVID).
To Frost’s credit, during this time had done a decent job at recruiting. There were future pro players all over his lineup:
Adrian Martinez, Luke McCaffery, Cam Jurgens, Brenden James, Cam Taylor-Britt, Luke Gifford, Jojo Dommann, DiCaprio Bootle, Ty Robinson, etc.
Buuuuut he still finished 3–5 in a shortened season despite only facing one ranked opponent. Another loss to Iowa, and an eighth straight loss to Wisconsin as well.
Frost was later sanctioned for violating Big Ten COVID protocols, which we should have seen coming in hindsight. To make matters worse, he repeatedly stirred controversy with his off-field behavior.
Around this time he attempted to siphon resources from other sports, including trying to shut down the athletic training table for the Volleyball team, which caused significant internal resentment for the Football program. The Volleyball team, who are perrenially National Title contenders in their own sport, questioned why Football was being given preferential treatment when they can’t even make it to a bowl game.
He was known around this time to hog the Athletic Department’s golf simulator alongside friends, much to the chagrin of the actual golf program who wanted to use it to practice their sport.
Despite the crappy record, Nebraska was invited to a bowl game thanks to the three Big Ten wins they did get. However, they had a team poll and the players decided to decline the invite. I cannot overstate this enough, the team that had not been to a bowl game in four years declined a bowl invite. If that doesn’t show you where Frost’s team culture was, I don’t know what will.
The QB situation went from alright, to bad, very quickly. Martinez regression continued. Eventually Frost tried playing true freshman Luke McCaffery, but he simply wasn’t meant to be a QB. Frost tried to convert McCaffery to receiver, but he wasn’t having it and transferred out. When Frost critized him for it, his big brother and NFL All-Pro brother Christian pointed out Frost’s hypocrisy, as he transferred from Stanford to Nebraska in 1995 when Bill Walsh tried to convert him from QB to Safety. Another embarrassing season and more egg on Frost’s face.
2021 – “The Greatest 3–9 Team Ever” and Peak Dysfunction
You know what happened here.
Nebraska went 3–9, losing all games by less than 9 points, setting an NCAA record for one score losses.
They were competitive in every single game, but won NONE of them. They almost beat a #3 ranked Oklahoma team in the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Century. They lost in Overtime to #20 Michigan State, had a brilliant battle against a playoff bound #9 Michigan in a night game at memorial, but lost in the last moments, leading to yet another blown loss and a chance at a signature win lost again. [Frost’s facepalm](www.google.com/search?q=scott+frost+Michigan&udm=……
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