Scott Frost introduction: Quotes
Bill Moos’ opening statement
“Okay. Seems like we’ve been doing this a lot lately. But this is fun, this is a celebration for several reasons. But I want to offer some thanks first to some people very instrumental in getting this all accomplished. President Bounds, Chancellor Green, Coach Osborne. Turnkey Search and my good friend, Gene DeFilippo, and of course my staff did a fabulous job, continuing to do this great job as we go through the process. As I mentioned, this is a celebration. It’s a celebration for the University of Nebraska and for Husker football. Certainly a celebration of bringing one of our own home, favorite son. But I need to tell you this, if I were the athletic director at Missouri, Oklahoma State, or UCLA, my sights would’ve been on this guy. Doesn’t matter that I’m at Nebraska. He is, in my opinion, not only the premier young coach in America, I believe he was everybody’s first choice, and I got the pick of the litter. We got the pick of the litter. I need to tell you, that when we went into the weight room, and Scott didn’t know that the football lettermen were going to be in there, and there were over 100, it looked like there were 200, that choked me up. And we’re going to have a lot of fun, we’re going to build this program back, and it gives me a great deal of pleasure at this time to introduce the 30th head football coach at the University of Nebraska, Scott Frost.”
Scott Frost’s opening statement
“Thank you, Bill, it’s an honor for me to be here. Can’t tell you how special this is for a kid that grew up in Nebraska, basically grew up on this campus when my mom was a track and field coach here and I was running around, getting into trouble and getting run over on the Devaney Center track. From there to playing here to being other places coaching for as long as I have to get an opportunity to come back here is special to me. Words can’t describe how much it means to me to be back here in a place that I love, a place that I understand, a place that I want to represent. I want to thank Coach Osborne for all he’s done for me, thank Matt Davison for helping make this happen. I want to thank Ronnie and Hank and Bill for choosing me and believing in me to lead this program. I sincere thank you to all former players that showed up, my friends that showed up in the weight room to welcome me. My first thought when I walked in was this is unbelievable, and my second thought was most of these guys have been eating too much. I’m thrilled to be back because I think the time is right for this, and it wasn’t always that way. With Hank and Ronnie and Bill, I think the leadership is right, I think the time is right, I think this state is hungry for unity. When I was here under Coach Osborne, there was unity in purpose, and unity in belief, and unity of understanding and unity of support for this program, what it stood for, and what it was accomplishing. This program needs that again, this state needs that again, and when I walked into that weight room and saw all those players there, it really made me excited about the fact that we can get this entire state behind this football program, get this entire state pulling for these players, get this entire state excited about what’s going on, and we’re going to put a product on the field that this entire state can be proud of. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, it’s going to take a lot of dedication from a lot of people, but there is a formula that worked here for a long time, and times have changed a little but some of those things, the same things are going to make this work again, and that’s a lot of good people that care about this place working really hard, it’s toughness, it’s dedication, it’s work ethic, and that’s what Nebraska is, that’s what the people of Nebraska are, and that’s what this place is going to stand for while I’m here, so thank you.”
Frost on Tom Osborne’s influence to come back to Nebraska
“Coach has been a mentor to me my whole life and he has definitely played a part in this. What I respect about him the most in this process is that I think if he wouldn’t have believed this was the right time and the right place for me, he would’ve told me. Even though he probably would’ve liked to have me back, if those things weren’t all taken care of and this wasn’t the place that he thought I should be, he wouldn’t have told me to come, and it was still a hard decision, but I think Coach felt good about, like I said, the leadership here and the direction, and that made me a lot more comfortable with taking this job.”
Frost on his message to the players earlier today
“I had a good meeting with the team. I saw a lot of fire in their eyes, I saw a group that was excited. I let them know that there’s going to be a lot of hard work to be done, that things were going to change, a lot of things are going to change, but it’s going to be a really fun process. I’ve seen it happen before and I know it can happen here. They looked excited, a lot of them came to my office afterwards, my new office afterwards, and I talked to them individually. I told them to go home over Christmas and enjoy the time off but I want them to come back ready to go to work.”
Frost on the extra weight or pressure placed on him
“I played here, I understand it. I saw the best of this place. I also saw some hard times that maybe other people hadn’t. But that’s what makes this place great, is the passion people here have for it. Watching it from afar, I’m not sure that that passion was unified, that that passion was always completely supported. It’s my hope that by returning this to its roots, and maybe with me coming back, that we can get that passion all pointed in the right direction. When that happens at Nebraska, this is the best place in the country to be, and I hope I can bring that to this place.”
Frost’s emotions the last few months
“I think that’s capped it all off, by you asking that question. 2017 has been one of the best years of my life. Having a child, my first child, at my advanced age, is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I coached a really special group of players down in Florida this last year and we had an unbelievable season. I’m looking forward to doing that here. The staff that I’m going to bring in here is going to be a bunch of guys that these players will love, a bunch of guys that have tremendous character, that are going to care about these guys, that are going to mentor them and teach them and help them get better on and off the field. I’m looking forward to that, and I don’t know if I’ll ever have another year as good as 2017, but we’re going to work really hard to make that happen.”
Frost on how he’s prepared now more than he was three years ago
“That’s a multilayered questioned. I wasn’t considered for this job last time it came open, and I’m glad I wasn’t. I didn’t get a phone call the last time this job was open and I’m glad I didn’t. The pieces are in place now. I believe a lot in Bill, I believe in Hank and Ronnie, and I think this state is ready to see this place return to what it was. Like I said that doesn’t mean we’re going to win every football game, but I want this program to be something that the people of this state can get behind and be proud of, that these former players can be a part of and be proud of. And we all know what goes into that, the guys that played here. It’s toughness, it’s pursuit of excellence, it’s unity. Those are the type of things that Nebraska stood for when we all played for when we all played here and that’s going to happen again.”
Frost on the challenges of the upcoming weeks with the early signing day
“I think they’ve done a pretty good job recruiting here. We took a look at what they have committed and we’re excited about that. The early signing period is going to change a lot of things particularly for coaches who are going from one job to another. We’re going to have to get to work. We already have boots on the ground getting out to see recruits and letting them know where we are and who’s going to be here. The response already has been tremendous and I think even with a short amount of time that we’re going to be able to get a lot of things done.”
Frost on his message to potential walk-ons
“That’s one of the things I talked to Bill and Coach Osborne about. When we were here we had a lot of players, and a lot of players were working hard at practice and nobody was sitting on a knee. We had a lot of kids from Gothenburg and from Minden and from Scottsbluff and from Wood River and from Columbus, could go on and on. But this place needs that. I’m looking forward to trying to build the walk-on program and make it what it was before. When you have a bunch of kids from the state of Nebraska that are in this program, those are the type of players that would bleed for this place and are going to work hard to make this work. Guys that are really pulling for Nebraska. When I was growing up, every kid in the state of Nebraska dreamed about running out here on this stadium, on this field wearing a red ‘N’ on their helmet. There’s too many kids from this state right now playing at other schools and we are going to do everything we can to make sure that those kids are here.”
Frost on how closely he has kept a watch on Nebraska football while he’s been away
“When you’re coaching, you’re pretty busy with your own team, but I was able to watch this from afar. From afar, it didn’t look like the Nebraska that I knew. I haven’t been in this building to see all these changes. This place is spectacular. They’ve done an unbelievable job with these facilities. I think, I say the time is right because everything is set up here for us to do what we have to do to get this place back and I know with all the support of the people in this state and all the former players and the leadership on this university, I know we can get it done.”
Frost on where he was and when he was offered the job and accepted it
“This was a hard process for me because it’s unbelievable, the timing of having to make these decisions. The interest starts coming about midway through the season and I was busy coaching a football team. And I care about my players and the last thing I was going to do was let that process distract me from helping my team win games. I was loyal to that and didn’t give it much thought until the very end of the season. And then the decision had to be made. Obviously I was very interested in this job. I talked to Bill, I think the last week of the season or the second to last week of the season for the first time. I didn’t make a decision to come here until this past week. I wanted to give everything I could to honor my players at UCF and make sure that I was giving them 100% of my effort and it worked out really well. But I’m glad I made this decision and I’m looking forward to it.”
Frost on if he could lay out the plan ahead as he deals with a bowl game and recruiting
“I think we still have some talking to do as far as it relates to the bowl game down there. We’re looking forward to recruiting for the next couple weeks until the dead period. I don’t want to leave the players down there without a coach. They deserve to have the best chance they possibly can, especially in the bowl game they qualified for. So it all works out, I’ve got to go back and help those kids one more time. It’s a neat and special group down there that we all feel very strongly about. It coincided with recruiting, so hopefully we can get some recruiting done and get back down there and it all works out and help, and then get back on the road up here.”
Frost on if he has any assistants in place and if he’s ready to name any coaches
“I’m going to take a little time to name those guys, but I will tell you that the staff I hired at UCF is a group of men that are unbelievable coaches that have unbelievable character. If it wasn’t that way then we wouldn’t have been able to make the turnaround that we made. A lot of coaches when they get a bigger job or change from one school to another think they need to go out and hire some different people. The guys that helped us win there can help us win here and I expect the majority of them to come.”
Frost on how he would modify his system to work within the Big Ten
“I’m hoping the Big Ten has to modify their system to us.”
Frost on the role Matt Davison played in getting him here
“I’ll give you a simple quote. Matt’s role was pestering me until I got here.”
Moos on what he took away from the whole experience meeting Scott Frost
“Well I felt that I needed to have a face-to-face visit with Scott before I would offer him the job. I did have various conduits that were getting my message to him, one was just mentioned in the last question. And Matt did a great job for us and you can tell he is a Husker through-and-through. I really appreciated his help. We moved it on and to be quite honest, I’ve been around this business for a long, long time and I had and continue to have a lot of appreciation to keep distractions at a minimum for Scott who, if you haven’t caught that, a major undefeated college football team this season and I didn’t want to be the one to disrupt that. But at the same time I felt I needed to see him. I was willing to fly to Orlando and work it out with his schedule but Matt really worked it out for us to meet in Philadelphia. I had an opportunity to sit down with Scott and now he’s in the room. Actually my wife Kendra was there, and she gives a tough interview and it was very, it was casual, there were no notes, it was just I wanted to get to know this guy and I thought that maybe he wanted to get to know me too. It wasn’t long, maybe an hour or so, and then we continued on to play Penn State and Scott to play Temple the next day.”
Frost on how he felt during his meeting with Bill Moos and after
“Like I said before, my number one priority during that whole process was my team. So I didn’t want to let it distract me, we made sure we got our work done that week and I knew a decision was coming soon so I needed to sit down with somebody. Bill was nice enough to come up there after we got everything done on Friday night and we spent a little bit time together. I didn’t need to know a lot about this program, I’m from here, I did it, I know what it’s all about, what it could be, what the potential is. So it just took me being comfortable with the leadership here, and the timing. It was a hard decision for me because some of the players I was coaching down there are special to me. We built something special at UCF but when it came down to it, this is home and I can’t think of anything more rewarding than in my career and turning this place around.”
Frost on meeting with the current guys
“I had a meeting with the team today, I got to meet some of them for the first time. A bunch of them came into my office to say hello and shake my hand. I told these guys they need to go home and enjoy Christmas, a lot of things are going to change, and when they get back I want them to be refreshed and ready to go to work. We got a lot of work to do. We got a lot of ground to cover. There’s going to have to be a lot of shared experience before we can earn trust with one another, but we’re going to work harder than everybody else, that’s what Nebraska’s about. We’re going to be a more united team than anybody else, that’s what Nebraska’s about. We’re going to work our tails off in the weight room and be stronger and more physical, and tougher, than other teams, because that’s what Nebraska’s about. A lot of these guys will jump on board and do those things, maybe some won’t, but the ones that will, are going to enjoy the ride enjoy the ride, we’re going to have a lot of fun and get this place back to where it needs to be.”
Frost on his No. 1 worry about coming into this job
“Sitting in these chairs. I don’t have a worry because I know we are going to do things the right way. We’re going to do things in a way that the people of Nebraska can be proud of. We’re not going to win every game that I coach here, and we’re going to lose a few. We might make some mistakes, but I know that the people are going to be able to get behind what we’re doing here because we’re going to do everything the right way and we’re going to do everything with the right moral compass, and we’re going to do everything in a way that’s going to make Nebraska proud.”
Frost on if he knew how much the whole state wanted him here
“I was busy coaching a team, so I heard things, saw a couple of corny videos on YouTube. People here are passionate and nobody here knows that better than me. The men that I’m going to hire here, and the players that we’re going to have, we’re going to do it in a way that Nebraska people can get unified and behind it. There’s been, in my opinion, a lack of unity of focus about this place for a while, and if I can bring that back that’ll be really rewarding.”
Frost on if seven years on contract was crucial to him coming to Nebraska
“At the end of the day this is where I want to be. There was interests from other places, there was a big part of me that didn’t want to move my baby after he was born a month ago, and my wife being happy, but this is where we want to be, and contract length is nice because it helps me to have confidence that they’re going to give us the runway that we need to get this program off the ground and back to where it needs to be, but at the end of that day none of that matters, because when I made a decision about what I wanted to do, this is where I wanted to be, and I wanted to be home. That’s the decision made, we’re going to go 100 miles an hour and full speed from here.”
Moos on why Coach Frost is one of the premier coaches in the nation
“Well for several reasons, and some of them he touched on here. We all know that he has a passion for Nebraska, and we know that he is a very, very good football coach. He’s got great integrity, he’s got great morals. He cares about his players, I mean you’ve heard him talking here and he just get back to the fact that he genuinely cares about the players and all those things are important. I said back when I had my press conference that the style of offense that will capture the attention of the Big Tebn is the Chip Kelly, Scott Frost, offense. You saw it, and if you didn’t see it last night, I mean my heavens it was a track meet, and the options going, and the quality quarterback, and the tight ends, and very good play, all of that is going to be very exciting for our fans. May I just say this, to our fans, you are the best in the country. You’ve been patient, I know you’ve been frustrated, but I hope you’re going to rally around Scott, and what he’s going to do because we’re going to keep that sellout record alive, and hopefully one day add more seats and even expand it. As I look at Scott’s resume, and you have read it and I’m going to reiterate. He played on both sides of the ball, he coached on both sides of the ball. His mentor’s, beginning with Coach Osborne, and through those of in the professional ranks, and Chip Kelly himself. He was ready. I felt he was ready three years ago, but now he’s shown taking a program that was 0-12 and is now 12-0, never been done before in major college football, that’s saying something. Like I said, there’s a lot of names going around. Let me say this, there were others that really, really wanted Scott, and some prestigious programs, and there were some prestigious coaches that really, really wanted Nebraska, but this is a fit, and we talk about fit here and it has substance. You got to fit at Nebraska, and I don’t know any better fit than this gentleman on my left.”
Frost on the difference between turning around a place like UCF and a place like Nebraska
“I don’t think there’s much of a difference, we need to make sure the culture is right, we need to make sure the unity is right. We need to get to work in the weight room and on the field. We’re going to practice hard and fast. I told the players today that everything we’re going to do is going to be difficult, but they’re going to have more fun than they’ve ever had. Once you get that kind of unity and togetherness, and you but in the work, success and everyone follows. Listen, we’re going to go faster than everyone else. Practices are going to be fast, meetings are going to be fast, it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to start building some of those same things here that have been with me over the past two years.”
Moos on getting his first choice for coach
“First of all, I’ve never seen this many top programs open up. These things tend to be cyclical, but this time around it’s been somewhat crazy and it still continues there’s going to be more opening, and there’s going to be more movement, and that’s why, if you recall, I spoke, upon my arrival, wanted to look at all the options that I had, and started to look at some people that would work here very well, I never felt, and I will reiterate, that we didn’t need to make a coaching change in the middle of the season, look at the places that did it. They can’t find a coach and some settled for their third choice. All my things were lined up and is it got further along in the process, I knew Scott was the coach that I wanted. I had talked to the chancellor and the president and they were behind me 100%, and I think really the fact that we let Scott take care of his business of coaching his team and giving him that space, was the right thing to do and here we are today. I feel really good about it.”
Moos on his candidates and the salary
“Again, I had people that talked to other agents and other coaches. I did have conversations with a couple. I did not offer the job to anyone other than Scott (Frost). Scott never asked for money, what you see is what you get. What I felt that Scott wanted the most was enough time to get this done and do it right. He, like I, believes that there are no quick fixes. We will build this football program with solid footings and if we do stub our toes it is not going to be a house of cards. I felt that we needed seven years and if I am going to hire on of the premiere coaches in the country, then we are going to pay him a premiere salary. This is Nebraska. This is as good as it gets and I think we have got as good as it gets and we are going to compensate with that.”
Moos on his past couple of weeks with Scott Frost
“First of all, when I did talk to Scott we were sitting around a table in a suite. He was very genuine and his concerns were with merit about Nebraska being the Nebraska it should be and the Nebraska it once was. That was the bulk of our conversation and I know I came away from that feeling very good about Scott Frost. I think he came away from it feeling very good about the commitment that we have at Nebraska to ensure that that happens; and then left him alone. I think that I sent him one text saying, ‘Have a good week of preparation.’ I don’t expect him to remember it. But, I worked with my staff and an individual that Scott had just to put the numbers together and really it was a very simple process. It went very easy which really a credit to Scott about what his morals are here and where his head is.”
Frost on his last 24 hours
“Yeah, I haven’t slept in a while. I haven’t eaten much. I haven’t lifted weights or run in a little bit. I haven’t gotten a haircut, there has been a lot going on. Yesterday was an emotional day for me because I genuinely care about the team I was coaching. It was an unbelievable victory and it was a really difficult task to say goodbye. Then I got on a plane to come down here. We got in late last night. What I am most excited about is having the same kind of impact on a group here and develop the same kind of relationships with the group here. Leading the charge to make sure we can have the same kind of success here. I want to run out of this tunnel again in front of a bunch of fans that are cheering for us and applaud the other team and all the things I love about Nebraska. I am looking forward to that. But first, I am going to get a good night of sleep.
Source: Nebraska Athletics