It’s Christmastime.
It’s that time of year when we have warmth in our hearts, a spirit of togetherness and the urge to reconnect with loved ones. A time to express gratitude for the people who made us what we are. A time to rediscover the magic of coming together once again.
The perfect time for Frosty the Showman — aka Scott Frost — to load up his pyrotechnic offense and dashing sideline demeanor to make his triumphant return to Orlando.
Everybody sing along:
“Frosty the Showman, made UCF dreams come true,
With a playbook bold, of Black and Gold,
He’s back to start anew!
There must have been some magic in that UCF hat he wore,
For when Frosty placed it on his head,
The Knights began to soar.”
We can only hope.
We can only hope that Frosty can rediscover the magic and resurrect the fading Knights like he did before — while also re-igniting his own once-promising coaching career.
There were certainly many UCF fans and donors at Frost’s introductory news conference Sunday night who are willing to take that leap of faith. The marching band was there, the cheerleaders were there and the room seemed to hum with hope, like a pep rally to celebrate the future — and to commemorate the past.
“It feels surreal,” said Frost, who left his job as an offensive analyst for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams to return to UCF as the head coach. “It feels like it was 100 years ago and yesterday at the same time [since he was at UCF]. I wouldn’t have come back to just any place, but this place gave me a start and — in a certain way — maybe I had a hand in giving UCF a start.”
Call me a hopeless romantic or a sappy sentimentalist if you want, but I love that UCF is bringing back Frost. I commend UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir for making such a bold, bodacious decision.
It would have been very easy for Mohajir to pick a safer candidate — maybe an up-and-coming Group of 5 coach (see Liberty’s Jamey Chadwell), or hot Power 5 assistant coach (see SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods), or even a more proven retread (see former FSU coach Jimbo Fisher), but he was willing to take a chance on Frost’s ability to rebuild and redeem.
As I’ve said in previous columns, we all acknowledge that bringing back Frost is a gamble after he famously failed when he left UCF following the undefeated “national championship” season in 2017 to return to his alma mater at Nebraska. Then again, who hasn’t failed at Nebraska since Tom Osborne retired more than a quarter-century ago?
Besides, it’s not like Frost ever really wanted to leave UCF. But, honestly, who can blame him for returning to his home state to try to resurrect his once-proud alma mater while also spending quality time with his aging and cancer-ridden father who has since passed away? Frost, who was the hottest coaching candidate in the nation at the time, faced a lot of urging from his former Nebraska teammates and coaches, and he felt a sense of obligation to leave UCF and try to return the Cornhuskers to their glory days. Plus, Nebraska gave him a 7-year, $35 million contract that more than doubled his UCF salary.
“There was a lot of pressure [to take the Nebraska job],” Frost says now. “It was hard for me to leave UCF. It was emotional. You know, when you’re climbing the ladder of success in life, sometimes they forget to tell you to stop when you’re happy.”
The critics of this hire will say that Frost has lost so much stature in the coaching profession that he has not been a candidate for any other coaching opening except UCF. This may be true, but so what? You simply cannot ignore his UCF connections and what he means to Knights fans.
Don’t kid yourself, Frost is perhaps the main reason UCF is in the Big 12 today. Without him, the Knights would likely still be in the American Athletic Conference — right alongside Memphis and USF — with their noses pressed against the glass, begging and pleading for a seat at college football’s big-boy table.
Frost came in after George O’Leary’s winless and grinless final season, recruited a quarterback named McKenzie Milton and, within two years, had the undefeated Knights beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl. When Frost departed for Nebraska, he left successor Josh Heupel with a roster that included stars such as Milton, Adrian Killins, Gabe Davis, Greg McRae, etc., and the Knights went unbeaten again in the 2018 regular season.
Those back-to-back undefeated seasons put UCF in the right place at the right time and were a major catalyst in the Knights finally gaining admission into the Big 12 three years later. Those seasons weren’t just victories on the field. They were the foundation of UCF’s rise to prominence; a statement and a declaration that the program belonged on the national stage. Frost’s relentless pursuit of excellence and his ability to galvanize a program transformed UCF from an afterthought into a contender.
That’s why his return is more than just a reunion; it’s a chance for Frost to rewrite his legacy and to once again ignite the fire that brought the Knights to the Big 12’s doorstep. The question is: Can he now elevate UCF from the depths of being a Big 12 doormat?
College football is a completely different game from when Frost was here before. Back then, UCF had one of the biggest athletic budgets in the American Athletic Conference but now has one of the smallest budgets in the Big 12. UCF is competing against programs with more history, heritage, resources and NIL money.
Let’s be honest, shall we? UCF’s program is in such bad shape right now that Gus Malzahn got out while the getting was good. After going 4-8 this season, he bailed and left $12 million of contract-buyout money on the table because he knew the Knights were facing a total and complete rebuild. He quit this season before likely getting fired next season.
Anybody who’s expecting lightning to strike twice and for Frost to come in and coach UCF to an unbeaten season within two years is delusional. This is going to take some time. Frost was a miracle worker when he took over in 2016 but now he must be a program builder.
“I hope everybody doesn’t think we’re going to go undefeated immediately,” Frost cracked.
Frost kept it real on Sunday night and did not make any outlandish promises. He actually said that he’s “not looking for an immediate turnaround at the expense of long-term success.”
Nobody knows if that long-term success will ever come, but at least in the short term this hire is already a success. Frost is UCF royalty and hinted on Sunday night that he would like to bring back Milton — another UCF legend who is now an offensive analyst at playoff-bound Tennessee — as an assistant coach. The fan base has been re-energized and Mohajir said Sunday that many donors have already pledged to start giving more. Optimism and hope — whether it’s nostalgia-induced or not — is always a good thing.
One of the most nostalgic descriptions I’ve ever heard about how Knight Nation embraces Frost came when thousands of UCF fans showed up at the downtown “national championship” celebration on Church Street after the 2017 season.
One of those fans — UCF alum and local historian Charles Tolman — compared the 2017 Knights to another iconic group of Knights: King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, who resided in Camelot.
In American history, the term “Camelot” is often used to refer to the presidency of John F. Kennedy. In an interview after the assassination of JFK, his widow Jacqueline referenced a lyric from the Broadway musical Camelot to describe the Kennedy White House.
Tolman, in an emotional moment while celebrating UCF’s greatest season, quoted that lyric:
“Don’t let it be forgot,
That once there was a spot,
For one brief shining moment,
That was known as Camelot.”
Lamented Jackie Kennedy after her husband’s death: “There will be great presidents again, but there’ll never be another Camelot.”
Maybe now there can be.
Maybe now Camelot has been resurrected at UCF.
It is, after all, Christmastime.
It’s that time of year in which the echoes of yesteryear can be heard even as you speed down the road to tomorrow. It’s a time when joy and nostalgia come together, uniting the past, present and future in a way no other time of year can.
Christmastime is also a season of harmony and hope. It’s a time to believe in miracles and dream of new beginnings and a brighter future.
It’s a time to believe in the magic of Frosty.
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