Nobody had this twist on their coaching bingo card. Just a few months back, Scott Frost was drifting in football limbo—somewhere between forgotten headlines and analyst roles nobody tracked. After 5 straight Ls with Nebraska and a pink slip that nearly tanked his career, he could’ve stayed on the shelf for good. But somehow, someway, Scott Frost found himself back under the big lights. Not just back—but right where his legend first popped off. And that $22 million UCF comeback? Blame Sean McVay for that one.

Scott Frost is officially back at UCF as head coach, nearly seven years after riding out as the golden boy behind their Cinderella 2017 season. This time, the return wasn’t born from hype—it was birthed from healing. On August 5, he sat down with Jim Rome and peeled the curtain back on how his 2024 stint with the Los Angeles Rams—yes, as a low-key senior analyst—saved him from football burnout.

“It was great being in that building,” Frost said, straight up glowing about the Rams. “[Sean McVay’s so smart and the organization is so good. Top to bottom in that building. They’re just a class act, and everybody’s working together and pulling the rope in the same direction. It was a great experience for me just to be around it and see it. And it made football fun for me again for the first time in a while.”

Frost was literally cooked after Nebraska. He went 16–31. The worst run in 60 years. The man looked done. So instead of begging for another college gig, he snuck into the NFL world, worked under one of the brightest minds in football, and just soaked it all in. Offense, defense, special teams—he was everywhere, learning, watching, breathing football with no pressure, no critics, and free haymakers and strays from Cornhuskers nation on a daily basis.

Sean McVay saw the value right away. He brought Frost in as a senior analyst in 2023. Not flashy, not front-facing—just a football brain given room to reset. The Rams went 10–7 and made the divisional round. In a building full of stars, Frost found something way more valuable: purpose. “It kind of reignited my passion to get back involved in it in a deeper way,” he told Rome. “And then this job opened late in the season, and they were nice enough to let me interview for it. And I got offered the job. My wife and I loved it here the first time and decided we wanted to take another crack at it.”

UCF was reeling when Gus Malzahn dipped for an OC gig at FSU in December. Nobody expected that. And nobody expected Frost to be the call-up. But AD Terry Mohajir looked at that Rams stint and dropped a good $22 million bag for UCF’s golden son. And now, he’s tasked with saving a squad that went 4-8 last year. But this isn’t just about second chances. It’s about what you learn when nobody’s watching. And what Frost learned in L.A. under McVay might just be the secret sauce to rewriting his legacy.

Scott Frost on NFL and college football: “College football isn’t really there”

Now let’s talk about what really got Scott Frost fired up. Rome asked him straight: What hits differently about the NFL compared to college? Frost didn’t dance around it. He put the whole CFB world on blast—in his own chill way.

“They do such a good job in the NFL, making a good product,” Frost said. “It kind of relates to college football right now… one of the reasons the NFL is such a good product is its fair.” And that’s the keyword: fair. In the NFL, everybody gets the same playbook. Same rules. Same cap space. You win by balling, not bankrolling. Meanwhile, in college? It’s the Wild West. NIL deals, transfer madness, and booster billionaires are flipping the whole game.

Frost didn’t sugarcoat it. He said what a lot of coaches whisper behind closed doors: college football’s turning into a money war. The richer the donor, the stronger the team. That old-school idea of building a program with grit, culture, and 3-star kids? It’s getting washed out by bidding wars and one-year rentals.

“College football isn’t really there right now. And I wish it was. I hope it gets there,” Frost added. And you can tell that hope’s hanging by a thread. The gap between haves and have-nots is wider than ever. Schools like UCF don’t have Bama or Texas oil money. They’re playing chess while the blue bloods are launching missiles. And that right there is why Frost’s NFL stint mattered so much. It reminded him what balance looks like. In L.A., he saw systems, structure, and straight-up order. That football purity that college used to have? It still lives in the league.

“A huge part of [NFL] games come down to the last drive,” he said. And he’s not wrong. Parity is the NFL’s biggest flex. You can’t just out-money your problems. Gotta coach, scheme, draft, and develop. In college, you can just Venmo your way to 10 wins.