The Nebraska football program is in a state of flux even if the program isn’t officially in a state of flux. After the Huskers forgot to bring anything resembling a defense to the game against Georgia Southern, the 45-42 loss to the Sun Belt team that won three games last year seems to have sealed Scott Frost’s fate.
The entirety of Nebraska football nation seems to have arrived at that conclusion. This article, about why Scott Frost needs to go is going to be one in a sea of articles about how he’s going to go eventually. However, when I went to bed last night, I was legitimately torn on whether I’d be arguing to keep him through at least October 1 or to get rid of him now.
After weighing the pros and cons of both, I’ve come down on the side of “Scott Frost needs to be shown the door today.” And it’s not just because I personally am ready to have him get all the way away from this program.
Nebraska football needs to end the noise
The first and number one reason to start yet another rebuild of the Huskers’ program today, not later this week, but today, is because everyone knows it’s coming. Nothing good can come of Frost or his coaches or his player being asked about it every single day.
Didn't expect to find myself perusing the box score to the 1985 Division I-AA national title game tonight, but here we are.
— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) September 11, 2022
That's the last time Georgia Southern had a QB throw for 400 yards before tonight.
And anyone who believes they won’t be asked about it is fooling themselves. There’s no chance it won’t be the first thing mentioned after practices this week.
Heck, it’s been at the forefront of press conferences and interviews since the season started. But at least there was still some doubt whether it would happen.
First ever Nebraska home loss when scoring 35+ points. 214-1
— James Stevenson (@JamesStevenson) September 11, 2022
After a loss to Northwestern and then a game that saw the Huskers look far too beatable against North Dakota, Frost has made many comments about “cancelling out the noise.” The noise he was referring to were calls for his job. That noise is about to become a cacophony, and even if he can continue to ignore it, his players shouldn’t have to try and do the same.
Getting the jump on the next guy for Nebraska football
No, the Huskers will not have their head coach this season. That’s not the reason to fire Frost today. However, getting rid of him now will allow the Cornhuskers to start the process of looking for the next guy while also still seeing if there’s anything that can be salvaged for this season.
Scott Frost is 13-31 against FBS teams at Nebraska.
— Husker Corner (@theHuskerCorner) September 11, 2022
It doesn’t appear that Mickey Joseph getting named the interim head coach is going to suddenly give the Cornhuskers a chance at a bowl game. There’s simply too many holes on the offensive line and the entirety of the defense for that.
But firing Frost and putting Joseph in place allows Trev Alberts to start making the next moves right away, rather than having to use subterfuge, or – even worse – sit on his hands out of “respect” for the man who still has the job.
I’ve never spoken About Scott’s job but it time to go. Pay him his money and let him go. Man watching this shit really hurt.
— FABIAN WASHINGTON (@FABEWASH31) September 11, 2022
Making the move today, this afternoon, allows Alberts to start contacting agents of coaches and beginning what is going to be a long process of finding the right guy. There is going to be quite a few steps in this process. There’s going to be talking to the agents to gauge interest. Then eventually there’s going to be conversations with the actual coaches to see if a deal can be reached.
Eventually, the end of the regular season is going to arrive and it can’t be a situation where it takes weeks after that to name the next guy. The biggest reason is that the next guy is going to have to do some serious work to do to keep the players he wants to stay with the Nebraska football team. There’s also shoring up a recruiting class that is going to be taking a hit.
None of this is going to be fun for Nebraska football
It’s important to note that this isn’t going to be a fun process. Rebuilding a program like this is never fun. Some are going to argue against firing Frost right now simply because they don’t want to start the long trudge towards “what happens next season” already.
That’s understandable. The Huskers have only played three games this year. This was supposed to be the year that Frost and his new staff and new players finally turned things around. It absolutely sucks that the season is essentially over already.
But that doesn’t mean the Nebraska football program should delay the inevitable, even if that delay could save the school more than seven million dollars. The process needs to begin now so that the healing can begin soon. And after hitting a new low last night, this program desperately needs to start healing.