Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost was hired as the University of Central Florida’s head football coach on Tuesday.
Frost had previously not been a candidate for the job at UCF and was reportedly in the mix for the job at Syracuse. Other finalists for the UCF job were former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano and Bowling Green coach Dino Babers, according to UCFSports.com, which first reported the hiring. Florida co-defensive coordinators Geoff Collins and Randy Shannon, and Nevada coach Brian Polian were also finalists.
"UCF is an excellent opportunity for me because our student-athletes can succeed immediately, both competitively and academically," Frost said in a statement, the Associated Press notes. "We've had great recent success -- I vividly remember watching the Fiesta Bowl victory. With our student-athletes, football staff, facilities, fans and supporters, I know we will bring exciting and winning football back to Orlando."
Frost had been a coach at Oregon since 2009 and was the receivers coach under Chip Kelly. When Kelly went to the NFL, Frost was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Oregon made two national championship game appearances and won the Pac-10/Pac-12 championship four times while Frost was there, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
This is Frost’s first head coach job, and he takes over for George O’Leary who retired in October and Danny Barrett who was the interim coach for the final four games of the season.
UCF went 0-12 this year, the second winless season for UCF since 2004.