Scott Frost has UCF on the right course in his first year as a head coach
by Dick Weiss
When UCF director of athletics Danny White hired new coach Scott Frost last winter, it was considered a major coup in college football.
Frost was one of the hottest coaching commodities in the country when he was the offensive coordinator at high powered Pac-12 contender Oregon. On the same day that he received his job offer from UCF, he was courted by at least two other schools. But Frost chose a program that didn’t win a game in 2016 because he could nonetheless see a huge upside -- a school located in Orlando, a destination city in Florida with no professional football team, a gold mine for blue chip high school prospects and a team that had won back-to-back conference titles just a year earlier.
“This town loves this team and I think if we keep improving, there will be a ton of enthusiasm,” Frost said. “We are the football team in this town.”
It's happening quicker than expected.
The Knights, who are 3-2 after defeating East Carolina, 47-29, on the road, host Temple in a conference game this Saturday at Bright House Networks Stadium on campus. If UCF wins, there will suddenly be two Florida schools in contention to win The American’s East Division.
Frost has an exceptional pedigree. He was an Academic All America who was the starting quarterback for Tom Osborne's unbeaten Nebraska Cornhuskers team that shared the national championship with Michigan in 1997. Frost then played six years in the National Football League with the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played for or coached under icons like Osborne, Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick and Jon Gruden.
The knowledge he picked up from his association with great coaching minds and his close relationship with Nike founder Phil Knight, who sat in the press box with Frost during games, put him on a fast track up the coaching ladder.
Frost took a position at Northern Iowa in 2007 as linebackers coach before being elevated as the Panthers’ co-defensive coordinator one year later. His defense finished the 2008 season tied for third in the FCS in takeaways (40) and ninth in the country in scoring defense (17.7 points a game) and finished with a 12-3 record.
Frost joined the Oregon coaching staff as a wide receivers coach in January of 2009. He worked for innovative head coach Chip Kelly and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich as a wide receivers coach when the Ducks advanced to four straight BCS bowls.
After Kelly left to take an NFL job with the Eagles, Oregon promoted Helfrich to head coach and Frost was elevated to offensive coordinator in January of 2013 before moving across the country to rejuvenate a program that just four years ago outscored Big 12 champion Baylor, 52-42, in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Frost is typical of the several head coaches in The American, which has built a reputation by hiring creative offensive coordinators and skill position assistants on the rise. Tom Herman of Houston, who coached the quarterbacks at Ohio State in 2014 when the Buckeyes won the national title, is 18-2 in his second year with the Cougars. Mike Norvell, the former offensive coordinator at Arizona State, has coached Memphis to a 4-1 start in his first year. Philip Montgomery, the former Baylor offensive coordinator, has coached Tulsa to a 4-1 start in his second year. Chad Morris, the former Clemson offensive coordinator, has exponentially increased the Mustangs’ tempo and effectiveness. And Frost and Willie Fritz, the new coach at Tulane, have breathed fresh air into their programs.
UCF has improved every week and has a chance to be one of the surprise teams in The American.
“We should feel like we have something to prove,” fifth year defensive back T.J. Mutcherson said..”After we were picked to finish last in the preseason, I think everybody had a chip on their shoulders.”
Frost is still trying to trying to decide on the starting quarterback between freshman McKenzie Milton and senior Justin Holman, but he received huge contributions from his defense and special teams until the offense could get in gear against East Carolina.
The Knights held East Carolina, the league's most productive offense, to 48 rushing yards, had five sacks, nine tackles for loss and saw Brandon Hayes return an interception 4 yards for a touchdown. But dynamic freshman running back Adrian Killins, Frost's first recruit from Mainland High in Daytona Beach, stole the show with a highlight film 100-yard kickoff return.
Killins, The American's Rookie of the Week last week, has scored three touchdowns, each over 60 yards, He is the Knights' best big play threat and Frost is using him in variety of ways.
“Whenever they call my number, I try to execute do my job,” Killins said. “I feel like when I have the ball in my hands, I can make amazing things happen.”
“We recruited him hard at Georgia Southern,” Fritz said of Killins, whom he will face Nov. 5 after last week’s scheduled game was postponed in advance of Hurricane Matthew. “He has world class speed. He's a 10.3 guy in the 100 meters.”
This is a team worth tracking. The Knights have scored 100 points in their last two games, wins against Florida International and East Carolina.
Aside from Killins, UCF's most intriguing player has been outside linebacker Shaquem Griffin, who has been a disruptive force from his outside linebacker spot. The converted safety already has five sacks and seven tackles for loss. Griffin was all over the field at East Carolina, making five stops, one sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Griffin's performance is even more impressive when you consider he does all this with one hand. He suffered from amniotic band syndrome, which is when a strand of amniotic sac comes free and entangles itself with part of a fetus. Eventually, he ended up having much of his left hand amputated at the age of four.
Frost is hopeful that Killins can supply the speed UCF will need to accelerate its offense against Temple, as the Knights look to remain in stride following an unexpected open week..
“I felt like our team was on a roll a little bit, coming off of two road wins and having a game back at home,” Frost said. "I felt really good about our mojo. Now with a little bit of time off, we've got to re-capture that. We're still going to play the same teams we were before, just in a little different order, so it shouldn't change the outcome at the end.