Big 12 Media Day Notebook: Scott Frost calls for reform in ‘Wild West’ era of college football
Scott Frost has seen college football from every angle. Now as a head coach navigating the chaos of the NIL and transfer portal era, he believes the game needs structure.
Speaking last week at Big 12 Media Day in Frisco, Texas, the UCF head coach didn’t hold back when asked about the current state of the sport. From NIL negotiations to player retention, Frost described the current model as unsustainable.
“It’s the Wild West,” Frost said. “Trying to navigate it, I think you’ve got to be a real problem solver and just hope and pray for a time when everybody actually has a salary cap and it’s a level playing field and you can figure it out.”
Frost recounted his own experience this past year managing player contracts, including one situation where he said he renegotiated a deal six different times.
“There was a couple kids this year that I negotiated a new deal with six times,” he said. “Because you come to agreement, and they’re not even in the portal, but the school will call them and an agent will tell them that a school offered them more, and they’re back in your office asking for more.”
“And then the second portal comes around and you’re dealing with the same thing,” Frost added. “At least in the NFL, you sign a kid and they sign a contract, they’re locked into that contract.”
Despite the uncertainty in the sport, Frost says he’s committed to being part of the solution.
“Hopefully there’s smart people out there like (College Sports Commission CEO) Bryan Seeley and other people that are trying to put some guardrails around this and get it back to a place where it’s manageable,” Frost said. “And they got my full support.”
Social media has made the game tougher on young athletes
Beyond roster management, Frost spoke about another side effect of the modern game: Online harassment, perhaps fueled by the rise in sports betting. He said players today are exposed to levels of criticism that didn’t exist in years past.
“That thing you recorded me with right there, that cell phone, has given everybody a voice, ugly opinions,” Frost said. “It used to be really easy not to read the newspaper. It’s even harder to block it all out now when it’s in your hand 24-7.”
Frost acknowledged that some players, particularly in the NIL and sports betting era, are receiving direct criticism from fans who treat them more like fantasy football commodities than college students.
“You take it on the chin in this business, and it’s worse than it used to be,” Frost said. “That can be dangerous. It’s dangerous to young kids… It affects our players, too. It affects our coaches, too. There’s not a lot you can do about it other than shut it all off and try not to pay attention to it.”
For Frost, who endured heavy scrutiny during his time at Nebraska, the message to players is simple: focus on what really matters.
“Nobody cares what the guy in the 52nd row is saying, and I certainly don’t want our players to care about that,” he said. “It affects me if I let it affect me. I’ve been through it about as bad as you can go through it, and you learn not to pay any attention or really care what those people think, as long as you’re true to your faith and your family and are working as hard as you can. It’s not the critic that matters.”
Frost said he takes inspiration from a conversation he once had with Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who emphasized that pretending criticism doesn’t exist isn’t realistic in today’s world. The better approach is to address it directly and even find humor in it.
“Mike Tomlin talked to me several years ago now about how they handle it,” Frost said. “With cell phones in your hand all the time, it’s impossible to get away from it. So he addresses the elephant in the room instead of pretending that it doesn’t exist anymore. And we’ll probably take a similar approach to it.”
Frost said he’s open to using light-hearted “mean tweet”-style segments with his team to take the sting out of criticism and use it as a motivator.
“We’re not going to put the worst ones up there,” Frost said. “There’s been some things said about me that I wouldn’t want to read either, that are completely untrue, by the way. But we’ll pick the right things, use it as motivation, and also we can get a couple laughs out of it, even at our own expense.”
Frost to face former NFL coach Belichick at UNC
Scott Frost was asked about Bill Belichick, the legendary NFL coach who is now embarking on his first college head coaching job at North Carolina.
Frost played under Belichick in the late 1990s when Belichick was defensive coordinator and DBs coach with the New York Jets. That was Frost’s first stop in the NFL after being drafted out of Nebraska.
What stood out then still stands out now.
“Probably my No. 1 memory of him is just how smart he is,” Frost said. “We’d have a different game plan every week for people, and he did really good at taking away another team’s strength and making people beat us left-handed.”
Belichick’s move to the college game raised eyebrows, but Frost believes his former coach will find a way.
UCF, of course, hosts North Carolina on Sept. 20.
“He’s dealing with a lot of things. Everybody in college football is right now, but he’s a smart guy, and he’ll figure it out,” Frost said. “I’m glad we have him at home.”
Rich Rodriguez back at West Virginia
UCF wasn’t the only Big 12 school that brought back a former coach in hopes of returning to glory. Frost was asked for his thoughts on coaching against Rich Rodriguez, who returns to West Virginia to lead the program he helped elevate in the early 2000s.
“Rich Rod is great,” Frost said. “I’ve had a lot of respect for him for a long time. I think he was an innovator. I’m excited for him to get another chance, too.”
Rodriguez, like Frost, has experienced the highs and lows of the coaching profession, and Frost sees a parallel in their journeys.
“He had a lot of success. Like I was talking about with (UCF defensive coordinator) Alex Grinch, he went to a place and it didn’t go well, and people were hard on him. I’m sure it wasn’t all his fault. Sometimes you just land in a situation where you can’t get it done, and that’s coaching.”
Frost added: “A lot of times it can get personal. I’ve lived through that. I’ve been accused of a lot of things. I think he’s had a similar experience. The world loves a redemption story, and Rich Rod winning at West Virginia again will be a great redemption. I’m rooting for him.”
UCF hosts West Virginia on Oct. 18.
Frost sees shared trajectory in UCF-Cincinnati rise to Big 12
UCF’s rivalry with Cincinnati intensified after Frost’s departure, but he recognizes the parallel paths that helped propel both programs into the Big 12. The Knights had their undefeated season and back-to-back American Athletic Conference titles in 2017 and 2018, followed by the Bearcats’ two-year run from 2020 to 2021, which culminated in the first College Football Playoff appearance by a Group of Five team.
A reporter asked Frost which team was better: 2017 UCF or 2021 Cincinnati?
“I didn’t watch ’21 Cincinnati enough to know,” Frost said. “But I’m proud of both schools, to be honest. We had it rolling when I was at UCF and we thumped Cincinnati pretty good, and then Cincinnati got it rolling with Coach (Luke) Fickell and had an unbelievable stretch.
“I think both schools just did a lot of things right to put themselves in position to get adopted by the Big 12. Now we’re both trying to find our footing here. But I think based on what has happened before, both schools have the capability of doing it.”
UCF visits Cincinnati on Oct. 11.
