Nebraska assistant says Scott Frost turned down Florida job over loyalty to staff
Scott Frost did an impressive job in his two seasons at UCF, and his success with the Knights led to job offers from some of the nation’s most storied programs. Many felt the Florida head coaching job was the best of the bunch, and we may now have a better idea of why Frost turned it down.
Sean Beckton, a tight ends coach and one of the many assistants Frost brought with him to Nebraska from UCF, told fans this week that one of the reasons Frost turned down the Gators is that they were not willing to let him bring his entire staff to Gainesville.
Sean Beckton says Florida asked Scott Frost to be head coach. But Florida would not allow him to bring all his staff, so Frost said no. #Huskers
— Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) June 12, 2018
For the record: I imagine there were more factors than this. Beckton mentioned this as an anecdote to show how loyal Frost is to the coaching staff.
— Christopher Heady (@heady_chris) June 12, 2018
As Heady noted, the coaching staff issue probably wasn’t the only factor. Scott played college ball at Nebraska and won a national championship as the team’s quarterback, so there is obviously plenty of history there. However, the fact that Florida was unwilling to let him bring his entire staff along probably made his decision easier.
After he took the Nebraska job, Frost spoke about the importance of not leaving people behind.
“I’ve watched a lot of coaches take the next step in the big job and either they take a few coaches along with them, but they don’t take everybody, or they leave people behind and they get fired,” he said in December, via Scott Christopherson of 247Sports.com. “That’s not the right thing to do in my eyes. The right thing to do is to give every one of my coaches an opportunity to come. And if they’re good enough to take an 0-12 program to 12-0 in two years, they are good enough to coach anywhere.”
Frost is a very loyal guy, and we have seen that with the way he continues to defend his former team against some of the most powerful voices in college football. The fact that Beckton shared that anecdote about the coach shows how much Frost’s staff appreciates it.
