OT: Nebraska/Scott Frost fires OC, QB, OL, and RB coaches
Looks like retaining Frost came with an ultimatum of cleaning house on the offensive side of the coaching staff. Nebraska parts way with:
- OC/WR Matt Lubick
- OL/RGC Greg Austin
- QB Mario Verduzco
- RB Ryan Held
The only offensive coach retained is TE coach San Beckton who will immediately assuming WR coaching responsibilities as well.
— Josh Peterson (@joshtweeterson) November 8, 2021
November 8th, 2021 at 8:09 PM ^
I naturally assume Scott Frost's mom will be taking over QB coaching duties after she did so well with her son.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:30 PM ^
May be tough to fit on her plate after being the only author of the media guide as well as the SID, but I'm sure she's up to the task...
November 8th, 2021 at 9:34 PM ^
mrs frost don't know jack
...sorry....sorry
November 8th, 2021 at 8:11 PM ^
“I got my extension, but ya’ll suck and you’re fired”
November 8th, 2021 at 9:35 PM ^
Just like Harbaugh last year!
November 8th, 2021 at 11:33 PM ^
Did he get extended though? He got a pay cut and a lower buyout.
November 9th, 2021 at 8:48 AM ^
It does appear that extension is the wrong term here. I don’t believe the length of the contract was changed. Frost took a pay cut from 5 to $4mil a year and radically reduced his buyout. He is still contracted thru 2026. Harbaugh was extended, Frost was restructured.
This is actually a huge olive branch by Frost.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:12 PM ^
Better late than never they always say.
Let's see who he hires.
Hope he gets an OC that knows how to run a play successfully without having 5 men in the backfield.
November 8th, 2021 at 9:20 PM ^
Given that we're stuck playing these guys for the next 6 straight years, I rather hope that he continues to suck. Or at least only kinda suck enough not to beat us but also be kept around lol
November 8th, 2021 at 9:22 PM ^
Never forget 1997. May he suck forever.
November 9th, 2021 at 12:04 AM ^
It's almost like he sold his soul for that kicked ball vs Missouri and now the devil has come to collect.
November 9th, 2021 at 7:54 AM ^
Dude is still being paid million dollars to suck. The devil's deals are getting better over the centuries.
November 9th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^
Urban Meyer can attest.
November 9th, 2021 at 12:03 PM ^
Dude is still being paid million dollars to suck
Touche. Though I wonder how much money I'd need to have an entire state of people -- who once were the only ones who loved me -- now hate my guts and want me gone
November 9th, 2021 at 10:15 AM ^
I remember watching that game live.
November 8th, 2021 at 11:20 PM ^
What you want is "Million Dollar Suck."
Not good enough to beat Michigan, but not bad enough to get fired and potentially replaced by someone much better.
November 8th, 2021 at 10:36 PM ^
Honestly i thought Nebraska was a pretty good team this year. I know their record doesnt show it, but they play everybody extremely tough and their resume is full of close losses to really good teams:
They lost by a touchdown to Oklahoma, by 3 to MSU, by 3 to UM, by 5 to Purdue and by 9 to OSU, which is their biggest margin of loss all year.
To me, they felt like one of those teams that is poised to turn a corner and suddenly they are 10+ win team next year.
Of course fans, demanded a round of firings as punishment for making them feel bad all season, but you gotta wonder if it will do them as much harm as good.
November 8th, 2021 at 11:35 PM ^
Except they did most of the damage with Adrian Martinez, and I bet he ain't coming back. So they'll have to ride with either a freshman or a transfer.
November 9th, 2021 at 9:34 AM ^
Sometimes when you have one player doing everything it's too much for him. When they leave it's a blessing in disguise when you distribute that weight amongst the rest of the team.
Having a new Offensive brain trust will help the transition. It's a good move imho. They are close, and I'm not looking forward to us playing them while Frost is there.
November 9th, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
I totally agree. They seem to be similar to MSU - except with absolutely no luck. MSU might be the luckiest team out there.
I cannot think of an example where a coach got one more year and it actually worked out. The timing seems bad.
November 9th, 2021 at 12:24 AM ^
Better late than never they always say.
It could have waited until the season was over. They only have a couple more games to go. Now he'll have a hard time hiring good assistants because no one wants to work for someone who scapegoats their assistants and fires them mid-season.
As much as we criticize Harbaugh, this is one thing he's really gotten right. He gets rid of assistants when he has to, but he tries to do so amicably and help them move on to another job. The Hoke-approach of complete loyalty will screw you over, but so will scapegoating your assistants and firing them in the middle of the season. I would be surprised if the Nebraska coaching staff is improved next year.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
Wow, firing 4 offensive coaches before the season is over. Should really help their offensive execution over their last few games!
November 8th, 2021 at 8:17 PM ^
November 8th, 2021 at 8:28 PM ^
At some point, you realize you’re 3-7 and you realize you have to do something to make a statement to the fans and recruits that something is being done about that. With Iowa and Wisconsin remaining, it’s unlikely a win on the field is going to accomplish that.
I wouldn’t say it’s “poorly timed.” It doesn’t hurt them in any way. Obviously doesn’t “help” them, but it’s a PR move that gives the illusion that they’re doing something about the issue to appease the fans.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:38 PM ^
Agree to disagree. Unlike in the NFL where tanking will get you better draft position, however, if they lose these last 2, it cannot help recruiting to have the team finish 3-9, vs. possibly winning the last 1 or 2 and then firing them after finishing potentially at 5-7.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:54 PM ^
It’s not going to help recruiting to fire the guys recruiting them either. I’d rather go to a school that went 3-9 than a school that went 5-7 and kept guys around to recruit me, only to fire them anyway. And that’s best case scenario they go 5-7.
You’re 3-7. If you’re going to beat Iowa and/or Wisconsin, you probably have just as good of a shot without these guys as you had with them. You might even increase your odds with more motivated replacements (grad assistant/analyst trying out for the job vs guy knowing he’s fired soon) and fresh faces to motivate the players (probably not too thrilled with the results they’d been getting with those other guys).
November 8th, 2021 at 9:11 PM ^
I agree with your point about recruiting.
Not as sure about coaching. You saw that Saints game where their offensive staff was all out w covid. Total train wreck. While college and pros are different, I’m not convinced they can get other quality coaches in and familiar with their system yesterday. Or that their current grad assistants are ready to game plan.
November 8th, 2021 at 9:40 PM ^
I agree with this. Any "good will" generated towards the fans/recruits will be lost quickly with a couple of shut outs and very lopsided losses. Unless Frost has replacements ready or near ready to go (who would have thought TCU would fill their vacancy so fast), then the downside of having no offensive staff for the final games will be tough to overcome.
November 9th, 2021 at 5:01 AM ^
Offensive staff out with illness is a pretty different situation than offensive staff being fired after a 3-7 start
November 9th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
Probably not. I've never been on the inside, but just a cursory glance at any P5 roster would indicate this is a helluva PR move.
These programs have 85 scholarship players without covidshirts (I don't remember if they temporarily allowed exceeding the limit). Either way, throw in walk-ons and you're managing over a hundred college-aged kids. There's game prep, workouts, meetings, NCAA compliance. . . a college football program has the bureaucratic demands of a small corporation. Oh, I'm sure every program has support staff, grad assistants, etc., but still, even a bunch of Hoke-hired ninnies are vastly more useful on staff than fired midseason, if only because there's just so much to do. What's Frost gonna do, coach the QB, OL, and RBs on top of everything else? Or is he just gonna have GAs do all that?
This could wind up backfiring, as the resulting implosion makes the fired coaches look much better in retrospect.
November 9th, 2021 at 12:03 AM ^
Well they only have nine recruits in this upcoming class, so it probably doesn't matter much either way.
Last in the conference, 71st overall.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:33 PM ^
I would assume it has to do with recruiting. Do you want them out there bonding with recruits or put some staffers on the job? In the recent past, you'd wait for recruits to sign, then fire their position coach/recruiter. With transfers so easy now, that probably leads to more problems than it's worth.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:44 PM ^
From scanning the Husker board, fans seem to think it's a PR move. Frost went 4-8 in his first season and that was supposed to be rock bottom, yet here in Year 4 he's in danger of finishing with a worse record than that. That would make extending him especially awkward. Firing the assistants now might create the perception that he was shorthanded for the last two games so they "don't really count" and that his season effectively ended with the OSU game.
I'm not sure if that logic makes sense but this is the school where the N stands for Nowledge.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:24 PM ^
It does seem strange. It doesn't seem that it would provide any advantage in hiring replacements and I can't imagine that it will be good for team morale or improve the chances of winning any games.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:32 PM ^
3-7 with Iowa and Wisconsin remaining. I don’t think “chances of winning” with coaches that weren’t going to be kept around anyway is much of an important issue for them.
The flip side is, teams can get motivation from coaching changes just as easily as it can hurt morale. TCU just upset Baylor after Gary Patterson left. I just question how much “morale” there is to be lost in a 3-7 locker room and what negative impact it can have on the remaining games.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:49 PM ^
I think that kind of thing happens more when the head coach is fired though. I'm not sure firing an assistant will rally the troops the same way (unless they hated his guts).
November 8th, 2021 at 8:58 PM ^
And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. If it does, you give yourself a shot at an upset. There’s just no real downside to it is my point. At 3-7, there’s no benefit to keeping guys around that you’re going to fire anyway. You don’t want them out recruiting guys and then disappearing in a couple weeks. Better to get them out now.
November 9th, 2021 at 5:54 AM ^
It’s a bad look for Nebraska overall. Canning coaches during the season is for egregious behavior/performance. The only thing they did wrong was lose a lot of close games. It could have been handled with class, but Nebraska said “fuck that”.
November 9th, 2021 at 2:06 PM ^
Have you seen Nebraska’s record since Frost took over? “Performance” is more than enough to warrant the firings. It should have extended to Frost himself if you ask me. They’ve been AWFUL since he got there. Losing a lot of close games doesn’t change anything. They’re paid to win, not lose close games.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:48 PM ^
They're out of going to a Bowl. If I was a player on Nebraska this would inspire me. I mean, someone playing for the team not even getting into a Bowl Game.
Either way, they are in a very tough spot--at Wisconsin on the 20th.
I think he was right to let go of them. Besides, better now than at Christmas season. It has to be tough on both sides to do it at that time.
November 8th, 2021 at 10:09 PM ^
My exact thought. Why not keep them for the final two games? Is Frost going to take all their coaching duties the rest of the season? Poor timing by them and another shot in their foot
November 8th, 2021 at 10:19 PM ^
Nebraska AD Trev Alberts (former teammate of Frost's) speaks out:
Key quote: "There's not a lot of empirical data out there to suggest this will work, let's be honest. But I also think, if there's a decision point - whether it's football or anything else, you know, Scott's a brother, he's a Husker, and he's a Nebraskan."
— Sam McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) November 9, 2021
November 9th, 2021 at 9:09 AM ^
Does that mean Frost gets the benefit of the doubt and won’t get fired since he’s a Husker and Nebraskan?
November 8th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
The Harbaugh/Warde Manuel model.
See, we are the leaders and the best.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
But will they still out-hit everybody?
November 8th, 2021 at 8:14 PM ^
So who's coaching the rest of the offense the remainder of the year. What weird timing!
November 8th, 2021 at 8:17 PM ^
I'm guessing he was given some kind of ultimatum before getting the extension.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:45 PM ^
I assume Frost will assume OC role for the rest of the season. They don't coaches on offensive for what they do down there.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:19 PM ^
When Nikita Khrushchev was forced out as leader of the Soviet Union, he sat down and wrote two letters to his successor Leonid Brezhnev. He said, “When you get yourself into a situation you can’t get out of, open the first letter, and you’ll be safe. When you get yourself into another situation you can’t get out of, open the second letter”. Brezhnev soon found himself in a difficult situation, so he opened the first letter. It said, “Blame everything on me”. So he blamed Khrushchev for everything, and it worked. Eventually, he got himself into a second difficult situation he couldn’t get out of, so he opened the second letter. It said, “Sit down, and write two letters”.
November 8th, 2021 at 8:21 PM ^
Bo Pelini and his cat are rested and ready for their triumphant return.