The Nebraska football coaching staff under Scott Frost has been announced, sort of.
On Monday afternoon, Scott Frost announced seven members of his Nebraska football coaching staff. On the one hand, it answered a lot of questions.
The biggest question out there was “who is throwing out all these scholarship offers?” Since the new staff has been hired by the Huskers, they have been offering players left and right.
We could deduce some of who had been hired based on the players that were offered. One player even tagged the Cornhuskers’ new quarterback coach in his tweet.
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On the other hand, the seven coaches named today leave a lot of questions as to who Frost is going to fill those remaining openings with. There are certainly guys fans and current players would like to see added.
Some of the coaches that were named on Monday rule out several guys on Mike Riley‘s staff coming back. Some of those men, such as Bob Diaco likely won’t be missed. Others not returning could have a profound effect on just what the Huskers’ roster looks like in 2018.
There are jut a few slots left on the Huskers’ coaching roster. It’s a safe bet the fanbase is going to be holding its breath until Scott Frost lets the word get out on just who is going to complete this crew.
There is an added degree of difficulty because we don’t know what the new Nebraska football head coach is thinking with those final slots.
Nebraska football’s defensive staff is getting turned over again
The defensive staff appears to be just about set for the Nebraska football team. Erik Chinander is DC, Mike Dawson is coaching the defensive line, Jovan Dewitt is outside linebackers and special teams, Travis Fisher is defensive backs, and Barrett Ruud is likely going to be inside linebackers.
That means coaches like Donte Williams, Trent Bray and John Parella are all likely saying goodbye as well. Parella might be the biggest shock of the group, considering Frost likely has at least some kind of friendly relationship with the former Husker player.
There were people who wanted Donte Williams brought back because of his recruiting prowess. Frost is clearly valuing working with people he knows over that kind of thing. When you look at the players the new staff is going after, the head coach clearly feels pretty confident they can recruit all by themselves.
If there is a guy that you might want to feel sorry for, it’s Trent Bray. It doesn’t appear there is room for him on the coaching staff. That means he stayed behind and ran the ship only to be told he was out of a job just days after he thought he might have gotten a reprieve.
Obviously, we don’t know for sure that Scott Frost has formalized that defensive coaching lineup for the Nebraska football team, but it certainly seems to be the case.
We still don’t know who will be the offensive coordinator for the Nebraska football team under Scott Frost.
Most of the offensive staff for the Nebraska football team has been set by Scott Frost as well. Greg Austin will coach the offensive line, Ryan Held will coach running backs and Mario Verduzco will coach the quarterbacks.
What we don’t have any idea about is who is going to be the team’s offensive coordinator. This past season, Troy Walters was Frost’s OC at UCF. At the moment, he’s the Knights’ interim head coach.
There has been quite a bit of talk that Frost might turn around and hire Matt Lubick for the job. Lubick and Frost worked together when they were coaching at Oregon and they are quite close. We also know that Frost calls his own plays, so filling the offensive coordinator job isn’t as time sensitive as it might be with some other coaches.
The bad news, for those who want to see a return of Keith Williams is that both Walters and Lubick tend to coach wide receivers alongside their offensive coordinator roles. It’s possible that Williams could be brought in as a tight ends coach, but that might be a misuse of his talents.
Could Scott Frost decide that Lubick or Walters can focus on the offensive coordinator position for the Nebraska football team and still allow Williams to coach the receivers? What current Husker players are telling Frost might help determine the final call here.
Scott Frost is filling the Nebraska football staff with his friends
During his introductory press conference, Scott Frost made it clear the Nebraska football coaching staff wasn’t going to be an all-star collection of strangers. Instead the former UCF head coach made it known he was hiring his friends.
This might make some Husker fans nervous, if only because it’s a bit reminiscent of what Bo Pelini did when he came to Lincoln. The big difference between the two is that Bo hadn’t just put together a 12-0 regular season as a head coach.
As Frost said, this staff has done well at UCF and it can do well at Nebraska. The downside, as we said earlier is that guys like Donte Williams, Trent Bray and possibly Keith Williams aren’t getting jobs.
People who are nervous about this approach have something to be nervous about. The UCF defense might have been an improvement over their 0-12 season but the Knights’ ‘D’ certainly wasn’t the best in the country.
Under Erik Chinander, the UCF defense was ranked 73rd in the country. Some Husker fans might have wished to see Frost take a look at who was out there and see if he could get a super star here or there.
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For now, there’s little the Nebraska football fanbase can do beyond trust that Scott Frost knows what he’s doing.