Nebraska football: Scott Frost is just a poor man’s Jim Harbaugh
Nebraska football coach Scott Frost should have the Cornhuskers playing better but it’s growing clear he might be the Big Ten West version of Jim Harbaugh.
Scott Frost was supposed to be the guy to get Nebraska football back to a point of national prominence and get the Cornhuskers competing for conference championships and College Football Playoff berths in short order. After a year and a half, it’s clear that there will be no quick fix in Lincoln and the days of Tom Osborne running out 10-win teams without difficulty is long gone.
Similar expectations were had in Ann Arbor where Jim Harbaugh was brought in as the head coach of his alma mater but Michigan is still looking for their first division title under Harbaugh five years later.
Will Frost be the Big Ten West version of Harbaugh and realize that just because you’re coaching at your alma mater, success won’t come easy, or even at all?
It’s quite possible, especially after hitting rock bottom (with Frost) after losing to a 2-6 Purdue. Frost is now 8-13 (3-8 in one-possession games) which makes Mike Riley’s 19-19 tenure look appealing.
I think it is too soon to throw in the Big Red towel on Frost and his ability to coach, recruit and develop talent at Nebraska, but it’s clear tabbing them as preseason Big Ten West favorites was wildly optimistic, not too mention, not smart.
Then again, Frost was there to raise expectations, but so far, he hasn’t delivered on the results.
Compared to Harbaugh, Frost is basically a poor man’s version of the man perpetually on the hot seat.
Think about it, Harbaugh rebuilt Stanford into a perennial power and had built his rosters full of NFL talents like Andrew Luck and an endless supply of tight ends and offensive linemen. He won and he won big in a power conference. He set the program up for sustained success with David Shaw to carry on the legacy of what he built. Before that, he won 29 games, including back-to-back 11-win seasons at San Diego. When’s the last time you heard about San Diego football? That’s right, Harbaugh made them relevant.
Forgetting about what Harbaugh accomplished in the NFL with the 49ers and appearing in a Super Bowl, he’s far more accomplished than Frost was at UCF before getting the Nebraska job.
Look, Frost was outstanding at UCF where he turned around a winless Knights team to an undefeated one that won the Peach Bowl two years later. That is remarkable coaching and it paid off in him getting one of the most prestigious jobs in college football at his alma mater.
It was the right hire then and they shouldn’t have any regrets about Frost being the head coach, but it’s also important to keep things in proper perspective and context. If Harbaugh is a much better coach with a longer resume of results, and he’s struggling to get Michigan to the point that’s satisfactory for the majority of Wolverines fans, then it stands to reason, Nebraska football fans could be experiencing a period where they do some nice things but fall short of doing great things.
That may be okay in the short-term where eight-win seasons can provide a modicum of hope and optimism that the glory days are making a return. But at the same time, getting to eight wins this year is going to be nearly impossible with Wisconsin and Iowa remaining on the schedule.
Losing to Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue is never supposed to happen at Nebraska. Certainly not after hiring one of their own to save the program. Can the Huskers manage to get to six wins to get bowl-eligible? Maybe. When Illinois and Northwestern are the most impressive wins so far, it goes to show you how far Nebraska football has fallen and how far they have yet to go. Making a bowl game, regardless of the result, would be incredibly beneficial for Frost so he can have a few extra weeks of practice with a team that definitely needs it.
Some Michigan fans have grown used to their new normal of third or fourth-place finishes in the division. Could Nebraska fans tolerate that level of mediocrity or will they be calling for Frost’s head this time next year?
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