Former Nebraska quarterback and head coach Scott Frost is returning to where he made his name as a head coach. UCF, where Frost was National Coach of the Year in 2017 before being hired as the Huskers head coach, announced that Frost will return as head coach for the 2025 season.
The Wood River, Neb., quarterbacked Nebraska to a national championship in 1997, its most recent national title and the final season under coach Tom Osborne. Frost rose through the ranks as an assistant coach, working at UNI and then Oregon as an offensive coordinator before being hired as the head coach of the Knights in 2016. UCF had been winless the year before, but after going 6-7 in his first season, Frost guided the Knights to an undefeated 13-0 season in 2017, garnering a No. 7 national ranking, a Peach Bowl championship, national coach of the year honors and attention from major conference schools, including Florida and Nebraska, to take over as head coach.
His alma mater, Nebraska, hired him, but Frost struggled to replicate the success he had in Orlando. After the 2018 season opener against Akron was canceled due to severe thunderstorms, the Huskers lost their first six games before defeating Minnesota to earn Frost’s first win as Nebraska head coach. NU mustered only a 4-8 record. After finishing 5-7 in 2019, COVID hampered the program’s development and the Huskers finished just 3-5. After a 3-9 season in 2021, Frost started the 2022 season on the hot seat, and losses to Northwestern and Georgia Southern in the season’s first three games led to Frost’s firing as head coach, the first mid-season firing in Nebraska football history. Frost received a $16.4 million buyout, and did not work in the football the following season. This season, Frost was a senior football analyst for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.
Frost replaces Gus Malzahn, who was hired as Florida State’s offensive coordinator.