Scott Frost finally got the win that had eluded him for nearly eight years, and he used the moment to say something every coach on a hot seat already knows.
UCF knocked off #2 BYU 39-31 in double overtime Saturday night in Orlando, the first win over a top-five opponent in program history. It was Frost's first win over a ranked team since January 1, 2018, when his undefeated Knights beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl during his first stint with the program.
Between those two games, he went 0-19 against ranked opponents, including 0-14 during his five seasons at Nebraska.
Speaking with CBS Sports after the win, Frost declined to rehash his time in Lincoln.
"Again, you're kind of bordering on getting me to talk about something I don't wanna talk about, but there's a lot of good coaches. There's a lot that goes into winning," Frost said.
"There has to be alignment at the university, you have to get support from campus, you have to have a good AD, you have to have the right players, you have to have the right assistants. You have to be at the right place at the right time, and there's been a lot of coaches that have done average jobs and won a lot because they're in the right place at the right time. And there's been a lot of coaches that have done everything they possibly can do and haven't won and lost their jobs."
"That's this business. I'm seeing a lot of good coaches that are on the hot seat and getting fired. When you take a job like this, that's what life's like. And one thing I've learned is it's not all about the head coach."
Frost has lived both ends of that. He went 6-7 in his first season at UCF in 2016, then 13-0 in 2017, and parlayed that into the job at his alma mater. Nebraska went 16-31 under him before firing him three games into the 2022 season. He spent 2024 as an analyst with the Los Angeles Rams before UCF brought him back in December 2024. The Knights went 5-7 in his first year back.
The relationship with Nebraska still isn't settled. In December 2025, Frost sued the university's Board of Regents, claiming he is owed $5 million in buyout money. A judge in July allowed his breach-of-contract claim to proceed.
The day after the BYU win, Baylor fired Dave Aranda following a loss to Kansas, ending his tenure in Waco after seven seasons and handing the program to defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman on an interim basis. UCF hosts Baylor on Friday.
Frost also pointed to the money side of the equation, noting there are "teams spending $45 million and other teams spending $15 [million]" on rosters, and adding that UCF needs "to find more ways to have more resources in the athletic department."
He's right, and while the resources may be talked about in millions, resources aren't just a college football issue. Any high school coach who has worked for a supportive principal and AD, and then for an administration that wasn't, has seen how much of a program's ceiling gets set outside the building. The head coach gets the credit and the blame, but alignment from the top down decides a lot of outcomes before the first snap.
UCF sits at 4-3 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play, with offensive coordinator Steve Cooper and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch in their second seasons on staff. A win over Baylor on Friday would put the Knights one win from bowl eligibility with four games left.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.