UCF put to rest any rumors about its vacant head coaching position, hiring Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost on Tuesday.
It was a strange 48 hours in the UCF coaching search. Rumors popped up that Bowling Green’s Dino Babers was coming to Orlando to revolutionize the offense.
Those proved to be unfounded and shot down relatively quickly, leaving everyone wondering what would happen following Friday’s MAC Championship Game.
The Knights did not wait that long. The rumors proved to be unfounded. UCF named Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost its new head coach.
“UCF is an excellent opportunity for me because our student-athletes can succeed immediately, both competitively and academically,” Frost said in a press release. “We’ve had great recent success — I vividly remember watching the Fiesta Bowl victory. With our student-athletes, football staff, facilities, fans and supporters, I know we will bring exciting and winning football back to Orlando.”
The Fiesta Bowl memories seem pretty distant at this point after the Knights went winless in 2015. UCF’s lack of depth and skill and injuries to key players caused the team to spiral downward into a hole it only dug deeper as it climbed out.
George O’Leary, the coach who built the program up to that Fiesta Bowl berth and back-to-back American championships, resigned mid-season, stepping down from both the coach and athletic director position.
Frost comes in to a program that is very much in transition with Danny White just taking the helm as athletic director.
Frost though comes from one of the most innovative and powerful offenses in the country.
Frost has been with Oregon since 2009 where he started as the wide receivers coach. He took over as offensive coordinator in 2013.
The Oregon machine though kept churning with him in the lead chair. The Ducks had the seventh best offense in 2013, second best offense in 2014 and eighth best offense this year according to Football Outsiders’ S&P+ ratings. The Ducks went to the College Football Playoff last year and quarterback Marcus Mariota won the Heisman Trophy.
“He gets the big picture,” Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said in 2014. “Two things that just jump out to me are that he’s tough and he’s smart. He’s a great communicator. Guys love playing for him.”
It is not clear at this point how much of Oregon’s offense Frost will bring to UCF. Certainly the Knights do not quite have the personnel for it.
But Frost has plenty of experience running different kinds of offense. He was quarterback at Nebraska from 1995-97, helping lead the Cornhuskers to a national championship in 1997. He also spent time as a defensive coordinator at Northern Iowa in 2008 before joining Oregon.
This will be his first time as a head coach at any level though.
There is undoubtedly going to be a new energy about the program with the potential for such a high-powered offensive system to come to UCF. That should energize the fan base for sure.
“Scott’s success on the field and his ability to earn the trust and respect of his fellow coaches, players and recruits make him the ideal coach to lead our football program into the future,” UCF president John Hitt said. “UCF has a tradition of student-athlete academic success, and Scott has impressed me with his dedication to ensuring his student-athletes succeed in the classroom and on the field.”
