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12-0... A Peach Bowl berth... A Scott Frost departure to Nebraska... And a Josh Heupel arrival to succeed him.
What a wild 72 hours!
Welcome to the Orlando Sports Weekly Rundown, I'm David Baumann.
Scott Frost was always going to leave...
You were fooling yourself if you thought otherwise.
Especially when you ultimately saw the $35-million price tag on the 7-year contract offer at his alma mater.
How could he turn that down when he was making $2 million at UCF?
University of Central Florida was a stepping stone.
But my gosh he sure helped the program take steps of its own.
From 0-12 to 12-0 in a matter of two years is just incredible.
"What they just did was not just improbable, it was was impossible," is how Frost described his players' effort after the 62-55 overtime win over Memphis in the AAC Title Game.
Frost then almost immediately hopped on a plane bound for Omaha, NE, to be introduced as the next Huskers head coach.
I would imagine there are several players who are very happy for Coach Frost, who gets to go back to the place he calls "home," the place where he won a National Championship as a player.
Orlando Sports Weekly Rundown: UCF Coach Scott Frost Trades Orlando For Nebraska
But I've also heard some stories about UCF players who are extremely upset about not only Coach Frost's departure, but nearly the entire coaching staff leaving to Nebraska too.
And I can't blame those players for being mad.
Imagine putting your faith and trust in coaches who bolt for greener pastures after just two years. That must hurt.
And by "greener," take a look at these eye-popping salary increases for Frost's assistants.
Erik Chinander's pay jumps from $425,000 to $800,000.
Greg Austin from $275,000 to $475,000.
Mike Dawson from $130,000 to $475,000.
Jovan Dewitt from $230,000 to $475,000.
Mario Verduzco from $200,000 to $350,000.
Travis Fisher from $140,000 to $300,000.
And Ryan Held from $140,000 to $300,000.
All the while, let's remember that players get paid $0.
But this coaching shuffle isn't something that's exclusive to UCF.
If you look around the Sunshine State, the longest tenured head coach at any of the seven Division I programs is now Mark Richt at Miami, who's about to finish only his second season there!
The sixth-longest tenured coach in the state is UCF's new 39-year-old head coach Josh Heupel.
He comes to Orlando from Mizzou, where he was a successful offensive coordinator.
Heupel won a national championship and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up as the quarterback of Oklahoma back in 2000.
I think UCF should expect to continue their prolific offense in the NCAA under Heupel's guidance.
Heupel, to his credit, took Mizzou from the 124th-ranked offense in 2015 to 13th in 2016... to 7th in 2017.
He now inherits the #1-ranked offense in the entire country.
From most accounts, it appears Frost is still scheduled to coach the Knights against the 7th-ranked Auburn Tigers in the Peach Bowl.
Though it seems like there are plenty of conflicts of interest if this plan proceeds.
Is he going to try and take UCF's recruits with him to the Midwest?
He's reportedly already offered at least a couple of UCF commits the opportunity to come play for him at Nebraska, according to landof10.com.
That's a nasty part of a coaching transition.
Heupel won't coach UCF in the bowl game. There's simply not enough time to get himself immersed in the program.
He says he'll be watching the game with UCF AD Danny White.
My gut tells me assistant Troy Walters should be best suited to coach this team, since Walters hasn't officially committed to coach anywhere next season yet.
But again, the plan is to stick with Frost for now.
I really think the players should decide who coaches them. And I'm curious to whom they'd choose.
And that leads me to this... I'm rooting for the UCF players to beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl and finish a perfect 13-0.
I don't think they've gotten the credit they deserve this season. They've been overlooked because of the season-long Coach Frost coaching carousel rumors.
And I'm challenging the ESPN broadcast team to mention the word "Nebraska" once and ONLY ONCE during the Peach Bowl broadcast.
Say something like, "Scott Frost has become the 33rd head coach in Nebraska history," and THAT'S IT. Get on with it. We get it.
Everyone's already heard it.
I'm issuing this challenge because Cornhuskers athletic director Bill Moos recently said the Peach Bowl will be like a "3.5 hour commercial" for Nebraska, according to KTNK radio.
That comment is incredibly disrespectful to the UCF players who've worked their tails off for their unbeaten record...
They've EARNED the right to play on New Year's Day, while Moos and the Cornhuskers sit home with a 4-8 record, their worst record in 56 years.
Enjoy watching the game Bill.
Sure hope you're dead wrong about that comment. You're dead wrong for making it in the first place.
David Baumann is a Sports Columnist for 407area.com and can be heard on EK Sports Tuesdays 7-9pm on 96.9 The Game FM. He can be seen Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 on Spectrum Sports 360's Face Off segment on Spectrum channel 1013.
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