When Central Florida hired Scott Frost to be its next football coach on Nov. 29, it was only a matter of time before he and his former roommate turned the plans they hatched a decade ago -- to run their own program -- into reality.



"It's been planned for a long time," said new UCF defensive coordinator Erik Chinander, who coached Oregon's linebackers for the last time Jan. 2 in the Alamo Bowl -- a game Frost watched from the sideline. "Will we know everything? No. We're gonna have to learn a lot on the run, but it's going to be an awesome ride."



Calling Oregon, where he'd been an intern or graduate assistant for three years until 2012 before returning as a full-time assistant in 2014, a place "dear to my heart, a very hard place to leave," Chinander told reporters in Orlando that he could not pass up the opportunity to work with Frost. The two first worked together as Northern Iowa assistants in 2007 and have "been as close as friends as you could have."



"As soon as he took the job, I knew I wanted to come with him," Chinander told the Orlando Sentinel. "I knew I wanted to be part of it. But I had a job to do and it wasn't fair to the kids and all that kind of thing to make that bowl game about me."



It will take a serious reversal of fortunes to get UCF back into its own bowl game after an 0-12 season.



Chinander left an Oregon defense ranked 115th in points allowed (37.5) to lead a UCF unit that finished two spots lower, allowing 37.7 points. The Knights ranked 100th or worse in 11 defensive categories owing to little ability to rush the passer (1.3 sacks per game, 110th) but also few answers when dropping into coverage (four interceptions all season for the 126th-ranked passing defense).



During Frost's first month on the job, he extolled a mantra of fast and "fun" football to catch the eye of Florida recruits who otherwise would overlook the Knights, who were 0-12 in 2015. Chinander, whose schedule was so busy he'd yet to visit the UCF campus, wants to build a defense to mirror that offensive philosophy using advice he learned, chiefly, from former UO and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro, whom Chinander assisted in 2013.



In general terms, Chinander envisions using "multiple" schemes that shift between three- and four-down linemen and brings pressure.



"In this day and age of the way offensive football is going, the way to win games on defense is sacks plus turnovers minus explosive plays," he said, according to the Sentinel. "We want to get the ball back in these guys' hands as much as possible, so we have to be aggressive, we have to take some chances."



Oregon has two openings on its defensive staff after losing Chinander and demoting Don Pellum from coordinator to solely linebackers coach, his longtime post.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif