ORLANDO, Fla. — Everybody loves a sequel, and it appears that UCF does, too.
According to sources close to the situation, the university is bringing back Scott Frost as its next football coach.
Frost, 49, would be reunited with the program he led to new heights in 2016-19, including a national championship based on the Colley Matrix in 2017, before leaving to return home to coach at Nebraska.
He would replace Gus Malzahn, who resigned on Nov. 30 after four seasons in charge of the Knights.
His hiring would end a coaching search that began in earnest following Malzahn’s departure. The 59-year-old compiled a 28-24 overall record at UCF but had lost eight of his last nine games and failed to qualify for a bowl game for the first time since 2015.
He was named Florida State’s new offensive coordinator on Monday.
News of the possible move has excited the fan base, who watched Frost lead UCF to a 19-7 record in two seasons, including a 12-4 mark and an American Athletic Conference championship in 2017.
Frost left the program in 2018 to return home and coach his alma mater, but he was never able to capture his success at UCF and was fired after five seasons with the Cornhuskers in 2022.
During his time at Nebraska, the team never had a winning record. It finished with a 16-31 mark, including a 10-26 mark in the Big Ten.
The Los Angeles Rams hired him as an assistant to special-teams coach Chase Blackburn, but he would also work with the offense and defense.
Frost takes over a UCF program that is much different from the one he had when he arrived in 2016.
The Knights are set to enter Year 3 of the Big 12 and have worked to expand their athletic budget to contend in a Power Four conference. The department has been working with a partial revenue share from the conference over the past two seasons — about $19 million annually — but will begin receiving a full share of about $38-$40 million a year starting in 2025.
The Mission IV fundraising project has helped the department progress on several facility upgrades, including a new $90 million renovation of the Roth Tower connected to FBC Mortgage Stadium. That project, part of a larger football campus, has been funded by Orange County’s Tourism Development Tax.
Fundraising continues for the Hagle Football Gateway project, which is part of the proposed football campus. It will feature the Taylor A. Gerring Football Center, which will house the football administration and coaches.
The Gateway will also feature Nicholson Plaza and McNamara Cove, providing athletes with a recovery river and hydrotherapy.
A lot has happened with name, image and likeness in the two seasons that Frost has been out of college football, including the expansion of the one-time transfer window.
UCF has worked tirelessly to grow its NIL budget but still needs to catch up with the other P4 programs in the Big 12 Conference.
Then there are the challenges, with the impending $2.6 billion settlement from the NCAA v. House lawsuit set to be finalized in April and revenue-sharing taking shape. The Knights are in a much better position now than as members of the AAC, thanks to the increased revenue stream from the Big 12.
On the field, Frost’s up-tempo no-huddle offense was all the rage at the time in 2017, with UCF finishing near the top of the country in scoring offense (48.2 points per game), total offense (530 yards per game) and passing offense (331 ypg.).
He never achieved that same sort of success at Nebraska, where the Cornhuskers finished near the bottom of the Big Ten in scoring and total offense.
UCF finished this past season ranked 47th in scoring (30.4 ppg.) and 16th in total offense (447.8 ypg.). The Knights were 98th in passing, averaging less than 200 yards per game in 2024.
Quarterback Dylan Rizk was one of the first players to react to the news, posting, “Let GOOOOOO!!! #GKCO.”
