No fear of failure for Nebraska and Scott Frost

Paul Myerberg | USA TODAY

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LINCOLN, Neb. — Scott Frost brought it up just days into his two-year stint at Central Florida and again during his early meetings at Nebraska. If Frost “ever goes and coaches at Wood River High School,” his alma mater 100 miles west of here, “it would be the first thing he said there, too,” said Nebraska inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud.

At UCF, it was part of the Knights’ Oath, a pledge made by a roster that went from winless to unbeaten in a two-season span. Here at Nebraska, a once-proud football program fallen on hard times, Frost has hammered home the mantra: We will play with a desire to excel and no fear of failure.

“I want our guys to make big plays, splash plays, plays that impact the game, and not worry about failing if they shoot their guns and take their chances,” Frost said.

“We’re not going to get on the guys for mistakes. We tell them we want them to make mistakes so we can teach them and learn from them. The only thing we get on them about is bad behavior and lack of effort. If they give us those things the rest we’re going to be patient with. It just takes a while.”

It’s a simple message, but the brief phrase contains insight into the mindset behind Frost’s rapid rise in coaching. It also helps to explain the changes underway in his four months back at Nebraska, where a back-to-the-future approach has locals again dreaming about crystal footballs — and while this fan base always thinks big, this time somehow feels different.

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“The way they teach us to practice football, to play football, it’s a way of life,” defensive lineman Ben Stille said.

Frost watched the decline of Nebraska football from afar and, as when in the stands during the program’s humbling loss to Kansas in 2005, up close and personal. When he returned in December, “it just didn’t resemble the Nebraska I remembered,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to get there.”

Added running backs coach Ryan Held, “We have to get back to hard work, discipline and physicality. It’s a mindset, it’s a culture we had back when this thing was rolling. When people saw the ‘N’ on the side of the helmet they knew what they were getting into.”

It doesn’t start with schemes, plays and formations, though that’s clearly an important part of the process. As important an aspect of the rebuild, if not more so, is a renovation of the Cornhuskers’ psyche: Frost doesn’t want his team to be scared.

Of Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa. Of the hard work it’ll take to get back to some level of prominence. Of making a mistake. Of losing — and Nebraska’s done its fair share of that in the many years since the program last factored in the championship race.

“They went 4-8 last year. They shouldn’t be afraid to lose anymore,” Frost said.

“They shouldn’t be afraid to lose or miss a shot or miss a tackle. That’s paralyzing. I want our guys to be resilient and to go out and be the best they can possible be. To be afraid of the result doesn’t help you in any way, shape or form.”

It’s a lesson Frost first heard from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant Mike Tomlin, now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it spoke to the college quarterback turned journeyman defensive back. Tackling had been an issue during his first six years in the NFL; Frost didn’t consider himself a solid tackler until he got to Tampa, under coaches who taught him proper technique and a better mental approach — don’t be afraid to make a mistake as long as you’re going full speed, Tomlin told Tampa Bay’s cornerbacks and safeties.

“He knows what impact that had on him as a player, so he brings that into everything he does in coaching,” Ruud said. “That’s a big deal in our whole approach to coaching. Everything’s fast, everything’s sudden, everything’s attacking.”

Frost heard the same message echoed by Chip Kelly during his stint at Oregon, if not in word then in the overarching confidence that vaulted the Ducks through one of the great four-year runs in Pac-12 Conference history. In a way, the approach borrows liberally from Frost’s former coach, Tom Osborne, who “coached out of mentorship and love and trying to make everybody the best they could be,” Frost said.

At UCF, the constant harping on playing without fear wasn’t truly embraced until last August, just weeks before the Knights embarked on a perfect season. The mindset might have found a waiting audience at Nebraska, among players hungry to move past a stretch of two losing seasons in three years.

Players here were “ready for newness,” said offensive line coach Greg Austin.

“I haven’t had one day where I walked in here like, ‘These guys don’t get it,’ or, ‘They’re not buying in.’ Not one day. Not one period. Not one instance. Not one iota,” he said.

Maybe the no-fear mentality came at the right time for Nebraska. It’s definitely a key part of Frost’s offensive scheme, which asks skill players and linemen to run at a breakneck pace to wobble and weaken opposing defenses.

“If there is any hesitancy, it’s probably magnified because of our approach,” Frost said. “It’s coming. It doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t happen all of a sudden. It’s got to be little by little, guy by guy.”

And while the offense will help Nebraska win games — realistically, maybe six or seven this fall — it’s the shift in confidence and conviction that’s most vital to the program’s long-term goal of reclaiming its place in the national conversation. It’s also the hardest part to pin down. Frost knew this coming in.

For now, he’s seeing a team with a strong willingness to improve hampered at times by timidity. Asked what he needs to see before September, Frost said he’s still waiting for this team come out of its shell. I want them to have more confidence, he said.

“I want them to be themselves,” Frost said. “I want them to be the version of themselves they can be and not be reserved, not hold anything. I want them to attack. I want them full speed, guns blazing all the time. I can live with the consequences if they’re doing the best they can, the hardest they can do it.”