Nebraska Football: taking a look at Scott Frost through Jim Harbaugh

Examining Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost’s expectations by comparing him to Jim Harbaugh. What insights can we draw from Harbaugh’s recent years?

Nebraska Football fans are celebrating the return. The return of a starting quarterback. The return of a national champion. The return of a man who’s coached both sides of the ball. The return of an offensive guru. The return of the only undefeated coach in the FBS in 2017. The return of several 2017 coach of the year awards. The return of the prodigal son. The return of Scott Frost.

All the puzzle pieces are there. This is the recipe for guaranteed success, right? This must be the golden ticket.

But what if it isn’t?

Scott Frost and Jim Harbaugh are in a very similar position. They are both experienced coaches with impressive accolades. They are both coaching their alma mater where they were star quarterbacks. Frost and Harbaugh played at Nebraska and Michigan, respectively. Both programs happen to be two of the winningest programs in college football history. Both have fan bases that have very high passion and expectations. Both programs have been in a championship slump for over a decade. Both fan bases are tired and hungry. Both coaches are trying to restore the championship culture.

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While Scott Frost has just embarked on this journey, Jim Harbaugh has been at it with the Wolverines since 2015. Based on Harbaugh’s experience so far, what insights can we draw regarding Frost’s expectations as head coach of Nebraska football?

Since 2015, Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines are 28-11 overall. That’s a very respectable .717 win ratio. On the other hand, Harbaugh is 1-5 against rivals Michigan State and Ohio State, and 1-2 in bowl games. He has not won the East division once, let alone the conference.

Some fans are remaining patient, but many others have their doubts about Harbaugh. There were rumors after the 2017 season that he’d be leaving for the NFL. Some fans are already campaigning for his firing. I think we can all agree that firing the ex-star quarterback would be a very awkward firing.

Does this impatience remind you of any other fanbase? *Cough, cough* Nebraska. Nebraska Football fans have never been known for their patience. So the question becomes: when will Nebraska fans get impatient with Scott Frost, and what must he do to avoid that?

Because of who he is, I’d say Nebraska Football fans give Frost at least a comfortable 4 to 5 year runway. He should remain on a nice cool seat pending that he is able to do some things that Jim Harbaugh hasn’t up to this point.

The first thing is getting to bowl games, and winning most of them. Most should agree that going to a bowl game every year for the next 4-5 years is a very reasonable expectation for Frost. Now, if he can post a .500 or better record at these bowl games, that’s a thumbs up from everyone.

The second thing, and perhaps the most important is winning the big division games. This is probably the biggest reason for Michigan fan’s doubt of Harbaugh. If Frost can post a .500 record or better against Iowa and Wisconsin over the next 4-5 years, he’ll avoid that awkward doubt.

Beating Iowa and Wisconsin leads me to the next expectation, as the Hawkeyes and the Badgers are the biggest things standing in front of it: division and conference championships. These are two things Harbaugh has not been able to obtain at Michigan and is now sweating because of it. If Frost can lead the Huskers to at least one or two division titles in the next four years, Nebraska football fans would likely remain unanimously faithful. A conference title would be a bonus.

If Frost can do the things mentioned above, he should avoid the strain on that’s on Harbaugh now.

Next: Nebraska Football’s All-Time Top 5 Tight Ends

The hirings of Frost for Nebraska football and Harbaugh at Michigan are fairytale hirings, they excite everyone for the future. However, fairytale hirings can potentially lead to awkward and heartbreaking firings. I’m aware that I may eat everything I’ve just said about Jim Harbaugh if Michigan gets their quarterback situation figured out in 2018. None the less, there are interesting parallels between the two coaches. It would be very interesting if they happened to meet in the 2018 Big Ten championship game.

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