Central Florida coach Scott Frost's tenure was fast, fierce and fleeting.
Frost, 42, is leaving the Knights to become Nebraska's sixth head coach since his idol and former head coach Tom Osborne retired in 1997. Former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy was the first to report Frost's departure, releasing it as the No. 14 Knights were battling No. 20 Memphis in overtime of the American Athletic Conference Championship Game. UCF won, 62-55, in a double-overtime thriller.
The confirmation of Frost's departure ended weeks of speculation Frost would return to coach his alma mater pending the termination of previous head coach Mike Riley.
White will look to move quickly on the search for UCF's fourth head coach since 2004. Two sources close to the program told the Orlando Sentinel White hired Parker Executive Search, the same company the school used to identify Frost as a candidate, as early as last week when it was clear Frost would accept Nebraska's offer.
White is facing a tight window to hire a new coach, with the first college football early signing period starting Dec. 20. UCF will be competing with numerous other schools trying to land a coach, but the Knights are confident they've demonstrated it is a prestigious job.
Frost's relationship with UCF was brief, but he made a big impact.
He inherited an 0-12 football team at the end of the 2015 season and quickly turned the program around, helping the Knights earn their first 11-0 regular-season record in school history and a No. 14 ranking by the College Football Playoff committee _ the highest mark by any Group of 5 school since the playoff system started in 2014.
Frost was unanimously voted the conference's coach of the year Wednesday for his efforts.
During just two seasons, Frost amassed a 17-7 record, qualified for two bowl appearances and hauled in the No. 2 and No. 1 recruiting classes in the American Athletic Conference in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
His zone-read offense helped make Hawaii native McKenzie Milton one of the most productive quarterbacks in the country. UCF finished the regular season as the No. 1 scoring offense in the country. The sophomore quarterback was named the conference's offensive player of the year.
And Frost assembled an impressive assistant coaching and support staff that allowed senior linebacker Shaquem Griffin to become a national college football star. Griffin, whose left hand was amputated during his childhood, was buried low on the depth chart as a safety under previous coach George O'Leary. Under Frost and new defensive coordinator Erik Chinander, Griffin was moved from safety to outside linebacker and become the AAC's 2016 defensive player of the year.
Beyond his on-the-field accomplishments, players lauded Frost for restoring the brotherhood and pride within the UCF football program.
One of his first moves as a head coach was to add players' names to the back of their jerseys again after O'Leary removed them. Frost also leveraged his relationship with Nike executive Phil Knight to upgrade the school's uniforms, generating excitement among players and fans.
UCF is slated to have one final new uniform reveal for the team's bowl game appearance.
Frost and his staff executed several makeovers to the stadium, recruiting lounge and football offices, with signage boasting the school's new UCFast and UCFierce campaign.
But one of his most important decisions was making an aggressive push, along with athletic director Danny White's support, to get a nutrition center for all athletes. UCF is expected to open the Bob and Carol Garvy Nutrition Center in 2018.
Frost, who previously worked as Oregon's offensive coordinator, passed on other opportunities before taking his first head coaching job at UCF. He said he chose the Knights because it was an ideal place where he knew he could succeed. He just didn't expect to do so this quickly.
"This is a tough business. It's also a very rewarding business when it's done the right way. I can't tell you how much pride I take in the fact that we came here and took on the task of fixing something that wasn't in a good place when we took it over," Frost said ahead of UCF's AAC title game matchup with Memphis.
"I don't think that the players were in a good place and this university is special. And this community is special and it gives me a lot of pride to know that we came in and righted the ship. I knew this place could be the type of place to compete for conference championships every year.
"I gotta tell you I thought it would take a lot longer than this to get it to this point. But we've made the right choices on the steps we made along the way. The biggest part is I'm thrilled for these players, especially these seniors, because they've been through a lot now.
