Scott Frost’s time as Nebraska’s head coach has come to an end.
On Sunday, Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts announced the Huskers are parting ways with Frost, who compiled a 16-31 overall record with a 10-25 mark against Big Ten Conference competition and a 6-17 mark against Big Ten West opponents.
Alberts and Nebraska elected to not wait until Oct. 1 to fire Frost when his buyout would decrease from a little more than $15 million to a little more than $7.5 million.
Mickey Joseph will take over as interim head coach.
"Earlier today, I met with Coach Frost and informed him we were making a change in the leadership of our football program, effective immediately," Alberts said in a statement. "Scott has poured his heart and soul into the Nebraska football program both as a quarterback and head coach, and I appreciate his work and dedication.
"After the disappointing start to our season, I decided the best path forward for our program was to make a change in our head coaching position. Associate Head Coach Mickey Joseph will serve as our interim head coach for the remainder of the 2022 season."
Frost was 0-4 against two of the top teams in the Big Ten West, including Iowa (0-4) and Wisconsin (0-3). He was also just 1-3 against both Purdue and Minnesota.
After last season's 3-9 finish, which saw Nebraska lose all nine games by nine points or less (including eight losses by one possession), Frost overhauled his coaching staff by bringing in a new offensive coordinator (Mark Whipple), running backs coach (Bryan Applewhite), receivers coach (Mickey Joseph), offensive line coach (Donovan Raiola) and for the first time as Nebraska's head coach, adding a full-time special teams coach when he moved Bill Busch into that role.
In addition to bringing in 15 scholarship transfers – one of the highest number of transfers in college football in the offseason – it was a multi-million dollar facelift that was supposed to inject new life into the program and lead to a momentum-building turnaround season.
Instead, the Huskers began the season with a 31-28 loss to Northwestern marked by Frost's questionable decision to call an onside kick while holding a 28-17 lead early in the third quarter, and a close game followed the next week against an FCS foe in North Dakota which played the Huskers to a tie at halftime and then another tie with just a few minutes left in the third quarter before they pulled away with a 38-17 win.
The final straw came on Saturday night. The Huskers' defense was torched for the most total yards allowed in the four-plus years of the Frost regime (642 yards) – and the most the program had surrendered since 2012 when UCLA totaled 653 yards – en route to a 45-42 loss to Sun Belt opponent Georgia Southern, led by Clay Helton.
It wasn't hard to see the writing on the wall after that loss. It wasn't that difficult to see following the season-opening loss to Northwestern, either, and Frost admitted that during his postgame press conference in Ireland.
"You've got to win in this business to keep your job, that's the way it is," Frost said. "I love Nebraska, I love the state of Nebraska, I love these fans that made the sacrifice to come over here."
When asked at the end of that same press conference if he would ever consider stepping down as head coach of the Huskers, Frost shook it off that possibility adamantly.
“No. Absolutely not,” Frost said. “I love Nebraska. I’m going to fight with the guys as long as I can fight.”
Alberts and the Husker administration have made that decision for him, and Saturday night saw him fight as Nebraska's head coach for the final time.
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