Nebraska’s athletic director needs to pump the brakes.
It’s perfectly understandable that Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos is excited to have Scott Frost in charge of his football program. The idea that the former UCF coach has Big 10 coaches like Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh running scared is another question altogether.
Moos got a little ahead of himself this week at a luncheon at the Omaha Press Club. He told everyone in attendance that Nebraska is prepared to recapture the “golden era” of its football program with Frost at the helm.
Things would have been fine if Moos’ comments had ended there. Unfortunately, he kept talking. He went on to explain his belief that both Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh are running “a little bit scared.” With all due respect to Moos and Nebraska, nothing about Frost and his program is causing their Big 10 rivals to quake in their boots quite yet.
Yes, Frost did an excellent job with UCF during his brief tenure in Orlando, but competing against Ohio State and Michigan for Big 10 titles is very different from battling Memphis for an American Athletic Conference crown. It’s likely going to take Frost a few seasons to get the Cornhuskers program up and running.
The idea that his boss believes he’s going to make Nebraska relevant again immediately should be a bit unnerving for Frost. Football isn’t a sport where you can drastically change the roster in one offseason. The size of the squad combined with the time needed to convert recruits to players ready to compete against opposing juniors and seniors makes it different from college basketball.
Moos and the rest of the higher-ups at Nebraska need to start to manage everyone’s expectations for next season. Making bold claims in private to boosters is totally acceptable. Going on the record at a press luncheon about Frost’s ability to intimidate other coaches is a very poor decision.
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All Moos has managed to do is heap pressure on Frost before his job really gets started at Nebraska. Keeping his mouth shut and tempering expectations would be a much better philosophy for Moos moving forward.