Scott Frost had ‘no interest’ in college football coaching after Nebraska exit, explains UCF return

Scott Frost is a college football coach once more. His return to UCF marks the dawn of a new era for a once-heralded riser in the industry, whose trajectory took a nosedive during a catastrophic stint at his alma mater. Frost said that after the failed Nebraska tenure, there was no motivation to step foot on the college sidelines again. That changed, however, when the UCF job opened up following Gus Malzahn’s departure to become Florida State’s offensive coordinator.

It was with the Knights in 2016 and 2017 that Frost made a name for himself in the head coaching ranks. He debuted with a six-win campaign and followed it up with the first undefeated season in school history. All of that came after Frost inherited a roster that went winless the year before his arrival.

“I had no interest in coming back to college,” Frost said to Sports Illustrated. “I was going to stay in the NFL. Then my agent called me and gave me a heads up that this might happen. This is probably the only college job I would have taken because we were happy here. We love Orlando, like being in Florida, the growth potential of UCF. And rather than chasing jobs around the country, [my wife and I] could raise our kids here.”

The UCF homecoming makes plenty of sense given Frost’s background with the program. All he did in Orlando was improve the Knights’ stock. That rise ultimately led to a Big 12 invitation, placing UCF at the power conference level after years as one of the most prominent Group of Five operations in the sport.

Frost said this spring that the Big 12 presents a unique opportunity for UCF, paving a road to the College Football Playoff as an underdog program. The conference’s competitive, wide-open nature backs that claim — Arizona State‘s unforeseen climb to the postseason last season is a prime example — and could lend itself to a pleasant bounce-back tenure for a coach that fell out of favor with even his biggest fans during the dark days at Nebraska.

While he stepped away from the college game following his 2022 firing, Frost was not a stranger to football during the time off. He made his NFL debut in 2024 when Sean McVay welcomed him to the Los Angeles Rams as a senior analyst, primarily to assist with the special teams unit but also to work with the offense and defense.