When Gus Malzahn left his head coaching job at UCF and gave up a $5 million salary to be offensive coordinator at Florida State, it left the college football fans scratching their heads. Just when they were yet to wrap their heads around it, another big surprise came. Scott Frost filled Malzahn’s shoes. The move reunited the Knights with one of their most successful coaches in program history.

Frost coached UCF from 2016 to 2017 and led a remarkable turnaround in his second year, guiding the Knights to a perfect 13-0 season. The head coach kept climbing the ladder and earned national coach of the year honors for that achievement, and went 19-7 in his two seasons. After that, Scott Frost swapped wagons to coach his alma mater, Nebraska, in 2018, but was fired during the 2022 season after a poor run. And he had taken a break from college football since then. Now that Frost is back with a five-year, $22.1 million contract, what does the future hold for him?

On the June 17th episode of the Sons of UCF podcast, Ari Temkin, co-host of Big 12 Today, did not sound confident about Frost’s comeback in the Knights’ squad. “With Scott Frost, we last saw him he was on the scene in Nebraska and was being fired in a pretty, not a great situation. So I know he has spent some time with Sean McVay and the Rams; he spent some time kind of around different programs and has taken a master’s degree, so to speak, and gotten a sense of what some of his blind spots. But then he comes back, and I think he brings back some of the same coaches that he had previously. So I don’t know, just some of the things that have happened from the start of this that rubbed me the wrong way.” Yes, that might be a big turn-off.

Frost’s former defensive line coach from his first tenure at UCF, Mike Dawson, will hold the new title of Defensive Run Game Coordinator and Edge Coach. He had also followed Frost to Nebraska as a defensive line coach in 2018. Also, Sean Beckton is re-teaming with the head coach for his second stint as the Knights’ wide receiver coach in Orlando. Then there is the Knights’ offensive coordinator, who is the former Boise State assistant QB coach, Steve Cooper. He, too, is familiar with Frost, working his way up from offensive quality control (2018-21) to interim QB coach (2021) to senior offensive analyst (2022) on his staff at Nebraska. On top of this, we must remember one thing…

The 50-year-old coach is reuniting with a program after an eight-year absence. Now, with this, Frost will be stepping into a bed of hot coal, as things are already heated up in the Knights’ after their disappointing 2024 season (4-8). Even though under Malzahn, the Knights finished fifth in the nation and on top of the Big 12, they struggled massively with the passing game. Almost all of the key starters are gone.

On that note, Temkin shared, “I’m going to allow Frost some time here, a little bit of grace. Because he’s just taken over, but 40 new players on the roster. You expect that with a new coach coming in, and I just don’t know what we’re going off of from past successes beyond what he did at UCF, which was a lifetime ago.” On top of this, a quarterback battle is looming at UCF. And the analyst shared his thoughts.      

Who will bring the spark that Scott Frost’s second stint is in dire need of?

So what’s the situation right now? Well, only Frost knows how difficult it is to be spoiled with choices. There is Tayven Jackson (Indiana), who has enough experience and running ability to step in right away. However, Frost will be further confused as Cam Fancher (Florida Atlantic) is a baller who can move, although he throws too many picks. Then there is Jacurri Brown, who under Malzahn finished second in rushing last year. Now, who, according to Temkin, has that edge?

He shared, “To me, I feel like, and correct me if I’m wrong here, like Tayven Jackson’s probably the like if he wins. I think that’d be really good news for UCF, like I think just there’s a lot more upside there than there probably is for Brown. I know Brown was also highly recruited, but Jackson, I think, was a four-star coming out of high school, hasn’t showed much in Indiana, but I guess, I get the sense that Jackson has much more upside at this point.”  

From the moment Tayven Jackson stepped on campus in January as a midyear transfer, the junior quarterback found a sense of familiarity with Scott Frost’s squad. Not just in the offense, but in the people around him. His mentors are now the head coach, who had trusted him as a high school star, and McKenzie Milton, the quarterbacks coach and a UCF legend. If Jackson claims the starting role, will Frost be raising a toast to his UCF reunion—or wondering why he rolled the dice again?