Central Florida finished 13-0 in Frost’s second year. He didn’t hesitate to credit Duval. Frost brought Duval along to Nebraska; Frost praises the strength coach at every turn, which lends an air of mystique to a coach who turns down interview requests.

“He’s elite at what he does,” Frost said. “He’s taken the Husker Power approach and made it more scientific and more current, more up-to-date. He just does a great job planning out what our players are going to do and motivating them.”

Frost’s affection for and affirmation of his strength coach is shared by other Big Ten head coaches, many of whom have had the same guys for years. The strength coach tends to become one of the head coach’s closest friends and top confidants.

“I probably talk to him more than I talk to my wife Stacy,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said of his strength coach, Jay Hooten, who has trained all three of the Wildcats’ 10-win teams under Fitzgerald.

“The one guy single-handedly responsible for the success I’ve had as a head coach,” Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck said of his strength coach, Dan Nichol, who, like Duval helped Frost, helped Fleck to a 13-win season at Western Michigan.